Wednesday, July 25th, 2012
Regardless of whether you live in a mansion or your parent’s box room, there just never seems to be enough space! However, the answer need not be as drastic as moving to a bigger house. We’ve compiled a list of simple solutions that can increase the space in your home and give it that fresh feel.
First things first…
Move nonessential items out.
We all have things that we use a few times a year then leave in a corner for the rest of it. Whether it’s those woolly jumpers for winter or the paddling pool we can rarely enjoy in the British “heat”, not all items need to be within immediate reach at all times. Attics, garages and garden sheds; all of which are still close enough just in case the sun comes out, are great home storage solutions.
Buy multifunctional items.
There’s heaps of choice on the market for products with more than one function. Do you have too many DVDs and magazines in the living room or maybe too many cushions? Why not buy a footrest which doubles up as storage? Many furniture retailers now offer these handy additions in their ranges; see Harveys’ Paloma range for some stylish inspiration.
Talking of “two become one items” why not fold away your home office clutter?
For those of you who don’t have the luxury of a separate office, ‘fold away’ offices are ideal. Keeping all your work in one fold away place not only allows you to escape from the constant reminder of having that email to get back to, but it also allows you to relocate your office as and when space is needed.
Stack onwards and upwards.
The less floor space a room has, the smaller it feels. Go with your natural instinct and pile it high. Not only can you get a number of brilliant storage units that make the most of ceiling space, but even simple storage boxes can now be part of the decor thanks to the huge amount of choice on offer. Think woven baskets for a traditional feel or cool blue plastic to compliment a modern interior.
Don’t just change your room, change your habits.
Regular clearouts may seem like the boring option but the less stuff there is to store, the more space there’ll be! You’d be surprised by what can be achieved just by going around the house once a month removing clutter.
Remember, not everything is destined for the bin. Donate anything that is in good condition to your local charity shop and help others as you clean. On the other hand, you could consider storing your extra items at Big Yellow with storage space starting from just £5 a week.
Tags: big yellow, de-clutter, Space savers
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Tuesday, March 6th, 2012
Are you drowning under a mountain of paperwork, do you struggle to find things you need in a hurry, is your desk looking like the base of a bonfire?
Fear not, help is at hand with our top tips for spring cleaning your home office and organising your desk. Follow these and you could save time hunting for that missing file you were after and improve creativity at the same time!
Starting out:
First off, spend a day getting organised and de-clutter. Arm yourself with a roll of bin liners, some archive storage boxes (from as little as £3.74) and handy tidy trays. Decide what you need daily, once a week, occassionally or never (but need to keep) and put them to one side, everything else – chuck!
Be ruthless, what do you really need, old bus tickets, flyers, invitations to events that have long gone can be binned. Tidy up loose cables and take off any accessories, old chipped coffee cups etc that you don’t need.
Shelving:
If you have space, build some storage shelves to tidy away files and documents you need to access on a regular basis, leaving your desk space clear for working on. There are plenty of options online and Big Yellow Self Storage also has a range of easy to assemble light but durable shelving that can store all your files, books and miscellanous items starting from just £50.
If there’s other stuff you just can’t get rid of (eg receipts, old tax returns etc.) these can be safely and easily stored away at Big Yellow Self Storage in one of our lockers from as little as £7 per week
Once you’ve de-clutterd it’s on to the fun stuff! Make your home workstation somewhere fun to work and brighten it up a bit. Here’s some inspirations:
• stylish frames to hang photos on the wall like this one from Habitat for £10
• handy desk tidy from Muji £6.95
• Owl notebooks £7.00
• cat highlighters £2.50
• colourful polka dot pens £4.00
• bird-themed sticky notes £6.00
• bird-themed ring binders £3.00
• butterfly paper clips £2.00
• Buro stapler £11.00
• Buro hole punch £11.00
Add a quirky twist with some funky desk accessories and gadgets for when you need a break from the work for inspiration
• Cordless retro phone (no unsightly cables) £89.99
• Canon camera lens drinking flask £17.99
• Times crossword jigsaw puzzle £24.99
• Gyroscope mini helicopter £28.79
Now you’ve got a de-cluttered office, take a deep breath and enjoy your new found space.
Tags: big yellow, de-clutter, Home Office, office
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Friday, August 12th, 2011
On the 19th of August at 7am four of our staff members will be taking on an amazing feat for charity. The Big Yellow Fellows (Mike FitzGerald (the team leader), Richard Shubrook, Paul Holmes and Luke McLaughlin) will, along with badminton coach Stephanie Cartwright, be riding 191 miles visting 34 Big Yellow Self Storage stores within the M25. All this is in aid of national charity Get The Kids Going!
Get Kids Going! works to enable disabled young people to get involved in all kinds of sports, anything from powerlifting to tennis. They’re currently preparing for the London paralympic games in 2012.
The company’s Chief Executive Officer, Jane Emmerson, loves the idea. “It’s absolutely fantastic to see what the Big Yellow Fellow boys are doing – they are certainly putting themselves to the test! We receive no funding from the Government or the Lottery and rely solely on donations from public so the money that Mike and the team raise will directly boost GB medal hopes at next year’s Paralympics helping to buy much needed equipment and sports grants.”
The Big Yellow Fellows endurance cycle is one of six Olympic events they’ll be recreating this year. This is all part of the Gold Challenge. This initiative challenges the public to take part in Olympic and Paralympic events to raise money for sports charities and promote sports among young people.
Good luck to everyone on the Big Yellow Fellows team!
If you’d like to get involved in the cause then you can visit their donation page. All contributions, no matter how small, will be greatly appreciated. (If they reach £1000 then Mike will be having a leg wax. Just a little extra incentive for you there).
Tags: big yellow, Big Yellow Self Storage, boxes, byss, clutter, de-clutter, declutter, News, personal storage, self storage, self storage blog, Self Storage UK, storage solution, student storage, UK storage, Yellow Fellows
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Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011
Just like cleaning the bathroom – isn’t there always something else that’s more important to do rather than de-cluttering? As you squeeze another t-shirt into your already stuffed drawers, why not take the plunge and seriously deal with your personal storage?
Keep yourself entertained – Turn on your favourite tracks, switch on the radio and get busy with clearing up. Tackle the floor and surfaces first, then open up some cupboards and do a proper review. Starting with clothes in the bedroom should be easy… Just remember the six-month rule! You can keep special items with real, sentimental value in self storage units, see www.bigyellow.co.uk/personal.
Grab a regular cuppa – After the initial blitz, make yourself a cup of tea. Looking around with fresh eyes can often make all the difference. Personal storage at Big Yellow is ideal for all those things that you simply can’t bring yourself to throw away. Like your Mum’s old china? If you’re not using it for tea and cake, donate it to Charity or put it in storage for your own children.
Get your friends involved – to help and to donate to. Everyone knows that ‘Many hands make light work’. You’ll find that the things stored and cluttering up your rooms may be real treasures to someone else, and you can have a good catch up at the same time.
Change rooms regularly – by switching from room to room you can keep busy and cover the whole house. The home office can be the most difficult job. Visit www.bigyellow.co.uk as we can help with personal and business storage needs.
De-cluttering isn’t easy, but if you can keep your precious items safe in Big Yellow storage, there is real satisfaction and positivity created in having clean lines and empty surfaces in the home.
Image via shino 誌野 on Flickr
Tags: armadillo self storage, at home, big yellow, Big Yellow Self Storage, book storage, boxes, byss, clean, clutter, de-clutter, declutter, home, personal storage, self storage, self storage blog, Self Storage UK, tips and tricks, UK storage
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Tuesday, July 26th, 2011
Sports equipment is traditionally one of the most difficult things to store, as it tends to be rigid, and usually takes up a lot of space. For those with smaller sports equipment, just dumping balls, rackets, or a boxing kit into a bin or bucket is unsightly and not good for the equipment either.
In order to make full use of the space and equipment you have available to you, create an area in your garage or basement that can be used as a sports centre. You may even think about investing in a well-built storage system which you can use to store your sports equipment, as well as other clutter.
If you do not wish to splash out on a full storage system, there are alternative ways of storing different types of sports equipment. For example, ball claws are a clever, modern invention that you can attach to your walls, to hold onto footballs and basketballs, or for cricket bats, you could use a bat storage systems that usually rest over fence tops, making use of handy areas you would not usually consider for storage.
The list is endless including racket racks, and weight, rope and matt storage extensions or cages. Using these can help de-clutter your home or garage space as well as protect your expensive sports equipment from unnecessary damage in the long term.
If you need to store large sporting items such as children’s bicycles they have grown out of, goal posts, or even tennis nets you could benefit from investing in a Big Yellow Self Storage room of your own. Other cumbersome equipment such as skis, snowboards, surfboards and even yachting equipment could also benefit from a dedicated storage space.
We offer special deals at the moment for new customers of 50% off the first eight weeks. Do not let sporting clutter take over your life; please visit our website at www.bigyellow.co.uk/personal for further details.
Tags: at home, big yellow, Big Yellow Self Storage, clutter, de-clutter, garage space, self storage, self storage blog, sports equipment, tips and tricks
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Monday, July 25th, 2011
Every parent has the same problem with young children getting sick of their toys, or simply growing out of them. The problem is that the house ends covered in toys rendered useless, and simply gathering dust. If this sounds familiar, and you cannot bear to just throw these expensive toys away then Big Yellow Self Storage are here to help.
We offer units in a range of sizes, starting from just ten square foot, so if you plan to have more children you can store these toys for them, instead of shelling out more money in the future. As well as saving you money, this can also help to reduce dust which clutter, such as toys, tends to gather.
Cleaning your home can become quite a chore when you have to do it on your own. Working with other people to clean and organise your home makes the bain of your life suddenly become a more manageable task, and with a few minutes of planning also a great family activity.
While children are on holiday for the summer, getting them to help with fun cleaning games, such as using sock puppets to make dusting fun. You could also incorporate cleaning into play by allocating time to create the sock puppets before the cleaning begins.
Racing is another engaging way to get family members on board. For this you will need to plan and prepare- set a task, establish your expectations and introduce any rewards and forfeits before the game begins so that everyone involved knows the rules and plays by them. A great example of this is to set the task of collecting 5 items from one room each and racing to be the first to put them back in their rightful place. Within 10 minutes the whole room will be clean. You could also incorporate relay style races and team races to vary the games week by week.
Musical cleaning is an excellent way to make chores entertaining and enjoyable. Create a circuit or running order of chores and establish individual starting points for each participant. Begin the music and explain that when the track changes you move on to the next chore.
A combined effort not only allows cleaning to be completed more quickly but it also means that you have combined two of what should be daily tasks into one. Keep checking back to our Big Yellow Blog for more tips and tricks on cleaning and de cluttering during the summer months. For self storage solutions that match all your needs, check out http://www.bigyellow.co.uk/personal.
Sock puppet via Pinprick on flickr
Tags: big yellow, Big Yellow Self Storage, boxes, byss, childhood memories, clean, clutter, de-clutter, declutter, family clutter, home, kids, personal storage, self storage, self storage blog, Self Storage UK, storage, storage solution, tips and tricks, UK storage
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Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
We are already half way through summer, and the party season is in full swing, with garden furniture coming out at every opportunity. However, what with the disappointing weather it’s nearly that time again for the age old question of where to store the garden furniture.
The problem with the traditional methods of storage such as the garden shed, or just left covered in the corner of the garden is that when you come back to it next summer, it is likely that you will find it covered in rust or mould, and that it has to be thrown out.
Big Yellow Self Storage could prove to be an economical way to store your garden furniture, rather than replacing it each year. Our Self Storage units will guarantee prevention of rust or mould developing as each room is dry, clean and safe from undesirable weather conditions.
If you are worried about the costs of the length of storage for a year, just check our website for the latest deals as you can get discounts for renting the unit in certain blocks of time, and there is no maximum time limit either.
If it is just your garden furniture you want to store we can accommodate for this as our rooms come in a range of sizes starting from 10 sq foot going all the way up to 500 sq foot. You also have the option to increase the unit space if you find you have more items to add in the future.
Please visit www.bigyellow.co.uk/quote-and-reserve/ to get a free and quick online quote, and let us help you save your garden furniture, and some pennies!
Tags: at home, big yellow, Big Yellow Self Storage, clean, clutter, de-clutter, declutter, Did you know?, garden furniture, mould, rust, Self Storage UK, Self Stroage
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Monday, June 27th, 2011
There are lots of ways in which Big Yellow Self Storage could help your business, as you might need somewhere to store goods on a temporary or semi-permanent basis. All businesses go through periods of change and reorganization. The current state of the economy is not helping and it has been a hard couple of years for many companies. Take a look at these ideas about how self storage could help your business:-
Free up space for new equipment – When you need space for new furniture or equipment such as a photocopier or drinks machine, you may find yourself visiting Big Yellow. Businesses, like homes, inevitably accumulate an excess of clutter over time, from boxes of papers to redundant tools. For things that you simply cannot throw away, or that you have to keep for a period of time, self storage can help. By storing goods on a short or long term basis, your equipment and valuables are kept safe and your business kept clear.
De-clutter and improve working conditions – Maintaining a tidy and clutter free office is difficult, especially when space is tight. By improving the organisation of your office storage, you can reduce dust, improve working conditions and increase productivity. Having a minimalist office can also instill a sense of calm. Utilise every inch of a room, especially areas that are slightly out of the way. You can find a range of boxes and vacuum bags to store products online at https://www.bigyellow.co.uk/boxshop/.
Storage for decoration and renovation- If an office or business needs to be decorated, it needn’t cause a major upheaval. Short term self storage rooms are available at Big Yellow. Goods and furniture can be stored in rooms from 10 sq ft to 500 sq ft or more. The best part is that you only pay for what you need. Everything in the rooms is accessible seven days a week between 8am to 6pm. You can even extend access hours for a small fee.
Seasonal variations in requirements – For many companies, seasonal variations in goods can cause problems. Christmas and Easter are busy times for any business working in the gift or chocolate markets for example. For expanding cottage industries, keeping up with demand or maintaining stocks of gift boxes around the festival period may well cause issues with storage.
Self-storage rooms at Big Yellow could provide an ideal solution, have a look at the website and get a personalized quote direct at http://www.bigyellow.co.uk/business/
Tags: big yellow, Big Yellow Self Storage, boxes, business storage, de-clutter, decoration and renovation, seasonal variation, self storage blog, space
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Wednesday, June 15th, 2011
It’s now that time of the year, when you begin to realise that those January Sale purchases were unnecessary and you need to decide what needs to go. Using self storage is a useful solution for those items you don’t want to throw away but you can’t find a home for. In order to help you decide what should stay and what should go, follow this simple rule – six months and you’re out!
This golden rule can be used when managing other areas of the home, whether you’re updating your wardrobe, clearing the garage, emptying the garden shed or even moving your office. However, getting rid of some objects may be harder than you imagined and thankfully for those things that really have to stay there are other options. Consider storing items in a secure environment away from the home or multi-functional furniture that may provide not only storage compartments for those precious items but also additional seating.
The majority of our unused items tend to get stored on the unreachable shelves or in the dark corners of the house we steer clear of, knowing what mess lies there. It is these areas that should be targeted first when de-cluttering your home and organising your life. Ask yourself, when was the last time you used the item? If it has been longer than six months then the chances are you won’t be needing it any time soon.
Tackle the clutter in a systematic way, working from one room to the next and keep high traffic areas of your home clear of clutter. This ensures that you will be able to monitor your progress and if a break is needed, you can come back to the same point. It is advised that in order to successfully complete the task of de-cluttering your home, a full day is taken but with busy lives getting busier and time getting shorter, this is not always an option.
To find out how you can benefit from self storage, visit our Quote and Reserve Online page to get started.
Tags: big yellow, Big Yellow Self Storage, business storage, byss, clutter, de-clutter, declutter, home, personal storage, self storage, self storage blog, Self Storage UK, storage, storage solution
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Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
A family of blue tits have found a new home at our Big Yellow Colchester store in a wall mounted ashtray.
The tiny birds have been chirping away and a sign has been put in place to make sure people don’t use it while they are nesting.
We’ve decided not to charge rent, so the blue tits are welcome to stay until they’re ready to leave the nest!
Tags: big yellow, Big Yellow Self Storage, byss, clutter, de-clutter, declutter, personal storage, self storage, self storage blog, Self Storage UK, storage, UK storage
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