Containers | Self Storage Blog

Tips & Tricks: What To Do If You’re Moving Abroad

Friday, November 5th, 2010

Moving to another country can be extremely exciting but can also be very stressful if you don’t have everything under control – follow these tips and tricks to ensure your move goes smoothly:

To pack your things for shipping, use sturdy boxes and label each side so you know what is in every box, making it easier to unpack in your new home. For a full range of boxes and packing equipment visit our Boxes Etc page or visit your local Big Yellow store.

Keep all the things you will need to access immediately separate such as passports, travel documents and tickets. Shipping can take a few weeks, so ensure you pack enough clothes and necessities in your suitcase so you can access your essentials from the minute you arrive in your new country.

If you are downsizing your home, then you will have to get rid of some of your belongings, or use storage for the things that you don’t want to throw away. Large electrical items such as fridges, washing machines, dishwashers etc may be quite expensive to ship out and it is likely that your new home will already be fitted with these. If you do not want to get rid of these appliances, consider putting them in self storage.

At Big Yellow Self Storage you can be sure your belongings will be safe. Not only do we have 24 hour digital CCTV, but every room has its own alarm for your piece of mind. We have coded electronic gates, perimeter fencing, smoke detectors and fire alarms to protect your belongings. To find out how you could benefit from self storage go to Quote and Reserve Online or visit us in store.

Tags: armadillo self storage, big yellow, Big Yellow Self Storage, boxes, byss, clutter, containers, de-clutter, declutter, furniture storage, moving abroad, moving home, personal storage, self storage, self storage blog, storage, storage solution, tips and tricks, UK storage
Posted in Tips and Tricks | 1249No Comments »2010-11-05+15%3A54%3A29Big+Yellow+Blogger

Get Inspired To Clear Out Your Home During National Declutter Week!

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

National Declutter Week kicks off this Saturday 23 October until Sunday 31 October and is a great chance for the entire nation to get rid of some rubbish.

With the kids off school for half term and Christmas just around the corner, there has never been a better time to make a start on decluttering. Set aside a day to clear out your home and realise the benefit of a clutter free home.

Big Yellow Self Storage has taken inspiration from National Declutter Week and compiled five top tips for de-cluttering your home from our self storage blog archive:

1. Tackle the task section by section, otherwise it can seem too overwhelming. Ensure you finish each part before you move on to the next

2. Throw out all the bottles, toothbrushes and soaps etc which are old or empty and only keep the essential toiletries on display in your bathroom

3. Keep a basket by the front door for shoes which are worn everyday and put any shoes which are worn less often away in the wardrobe or under the bed

4. Be ruthless when clearing out your wardrobe – if you have not worn an item for over a year, sell it or donate it to charity

5. Install good habits into your children; make them throw out an old toy every time they get something new

As National Declutter Week coincides with half term, it would be a good idea to get the children to help out. Give them each a small task and reward them once they have completed their job, with a treat or a trip out to the park or cinema. Remind your children that they will be getting lots of new toys for Christmas and encourage them to donate toys which they no longer use to charities. You could turn decluttering into a game if you have more than one child, challenging them to see who can find the most toys to give away.

Whilst the children are busy clearing their clutter, use the time to tidy one of the rooms in the house. Label four boxes with a marker: ‘keep’, ‘sell’, ‘donate’ and ‘throw out’. For all the items that you cannot bear to part with, consider using self storage.

Big Yellow Self Storage can help with all your storage needs, whether you would like to rent one of our self storage rooms or just need some extra storage boxes or vacuum storage bags to store your stuff in. Visit us in store or order online at our online box shop.

Tags: armadillo self storage, at home, big yellow, Big Yellow Self Storage, boxes, clutter, containers, de-clutter, declutter, furniture storage, personal storage, self storage, self storage blog, storage solution
Posted in News | 1206No Comments »2010-10-22+11%3A09%3A16Big+Yellow+Blogger

Self Storage Rooms As An Office

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

The one thing you’ll inevitably need if you’re planning to set up your own business from home is a lot of space. With the help of commercial self storage, you can make this process a lot easier by storing papers and documents securely offsite.

It’s a great way to store documents safely, and also provides the opportunity to many to not only change the way they work – but also expand their businesses. Records are important and have to be maintained, but storing them requires a lot of space. Self storage allows you to keep your files organised in one location – that’s easy to sort through when needed.

This isn’t only relevant to smaller businesses either. Is your business expanding or simply overstocked? You could use a facility for space for equipment, promotional material or to archive documents.

What if you need to free up valuable office or work space for something else – or are simply renovating, relocating or decorating your business? The possibilities are endless, and well worth considering in both the long and short term.

Tags: big yellow, Big Yellow Self Storage, business storage, clean, containers, de-clutter, personal storage, self storage
Posted in Features | 764No Comments »Self+Storage+Rooms+As+An+Office2010-04-28+07%3A30%3A24Big+Yellow+Blogger

Travelling to work with Big Yellow

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

As part of Big Yellow Self Storage’s ongoing CSR efforts, we’ve been working with the HR and Operations team to raise awareness of the social and environmental impacts of our business. After our company policy was distributed to all stores in 2008 and presented during the annual 2009 Spring Conference, all employee inductions now include an introduction to our CSR objectives.

One of the interactive aspects of this policy is the recent Employee Work Travel project, which took the shape of an Intranet-based survey in Autumn 2008. It covered a variety of questions to help build a profile of the distance people travelled to and from work, how much business travel was carried out during working hours and the different modes of transport use.

Employee response came back at a very impressive 85%, indicating that prior education had been successful, as well as an existing level of interest and concern for the environment.

The estimated total carbon footprint of employee travel has been increasing year on year due to the development of new stores, as well a growing employee numbers. In 2007, 191 employees produced 422 tonnes of CO2, whereas in 2009, 230 produced 524 tonnes.

As this forms one of largest contributions to Big Yellow Self Storage’s overall carbon footprint, this was an area we wanted tackle in earnest. Once the findings from the employee feedback have been reviewed in more detail by the CSR Committee, the company will be able to develop new strategies to achieve this.

This could include making greener travel easier or more appealing by installing showers or secure cycle racks in more stores, encouraging the use of public transport. Additionally, steps like providing employees with water bottles could vastly reduce this carbon output, as purchasing bottled water en route is one of the biggest contributors to unnecessary waste.

Travel plans are already implemented where traffic congestion in inner city or urban environments are an issue and transport plans can offer information on modes of transport other than the car. But now Big Yellow Self Storage wants to broaden the scope of this to produce a reduction of carbon output for employee work travel for 2010.

Tags: big yellow, Big Yellow Self Storage, boxes, business storage, byss, clutter, collectibles, containers, de-clutter, declutter, fine wine storage, furniture storage, music storage, personal storage, self storage, self storage blog, Self Stroage, storage, storage solution, storage uk, student storage, UK storage, wine storage
Posted in Features | 660No Comments »Travelling+to+work+with+Big+Yellow2010-02-11+17%3A00%3A12Big+Yellow+Blogger

Did You Know: Shipping Storage Containers Could Be Recycled?

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Steel shipping storage containers outlive their usefulness after 5 years, and they used to sit abandoned at shipyards gathering rust. Now, because they’re so durable, light weight and easy to stack, a new recycling trend has emerged. Everything from shipping container sculpture, homes, hotels and museums have started to appear. The possibilities are seemingly endless.

The simple, boxy shape of shipping containers makes them perfect for housing, whether creating a small recycled dwelling out of just one container or stacking multiple containers for a larger home or complex of small living spaces. Just as they can be transformed into housing complexes, shipping containers are perfectly suited for use as hotels. The world’s first shipping container hotel was built in Uxbridge, West London in 2008. The 8-story Travelodge was built from 86 modified shipping containers, and the whole process was said by the company to be 25 percent faster and 10 percent cheaper than conventional hotel buildings.

You can slap a door on a shipping container and call it a house, but it takes a bit more creativity to transform it into art. Check out these two examples from artists in Rotterdam and Yokohama, Japan.

Homes & Structures