The following guest post is by Drew Davies.

After 61% of people questioned in a Big Yellow Self Storage survey last year admitted to hoarding useless items around the house, it’s no surprise that so much of our home space is filled with useless clutter. Just under a third (26%) of us that have a whole room in our home filled with junk and the research found that over a third (41%) would definitely rent out a room to make money to help in these tougher financial times. Looking at these figures it could well be time to those things from out of the spare room…

Storing Clothing
Cupboards are generally bulky and take up a lot of room, so organise your unit so that you can place linens and clothes within them for extra self storage. Otherwise, clothing should be stored in closets or wardrobe boxes, on hangers, to retain their original shapes. Keep out of season clothes accessible, as you may need to store your clothing for longer than anticipated. Finally, place some moth balls inside the boxes where you store your clothes to prevent any damage.

Storing Handbags
One of the best ways to store handbags is to put them in plastic boxes which allow air to circulate. Just make sure the boxes are big enough so that you are not folding over the bag handles. Purses you don’t use so often can be wrapped in cotton pillowcases or cloth storage bags before putting them into self storage. Do not put them in enclosed plastic dry cleaning bags, or boxes without airflow as this will damage leather. To help keep their shape, stuff the bags with tissue paper or any alternative acid-free filling, but do not use old newspapers. Bubble wrap is better than tissue paper for padding out or wrapping bags, as it doesn’t attract moths in the same way as tissue paper.

Storing Books
Books can be surprisingly heavy if too many of them are stacked together, so the best way to pack these is to use small boxes for efficient use of the self storage space. You may need more boxes, but they’ll be easier to move about should you need to. Making these alphabetical will also make finding one specific book far quicker, as will organising by theme if you’d prefer. Stack smaller books over larger books and make sure that they’re arranged horizontally (never vertically) because improperly storing them can damage the spine.

Wooden Furniture
Before placing any kind of wooden furniture into storage, wax well with wood varnish. This prevents moisture from affecting the wood. Likewise, if your furniture can be dismantled easily, then do so as it will prolong the life of that piece. If you dismantle furniture, collect the nuts and bolts of each item into a plastic bag and tape it firmly to the dismantled set. In addition, place thick cloth (such as old carpets) between wooden pieces to prevent them scratching one another.

Self Storage Rooms As An Office
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 business self storage, you can make this process a lot easier, by storing related papers and documents securely offsite. Records are important and have to be maintained, but storing them requires a lot of space. With self storage you can keep your files organised in one location without having to upgrade to a bigger home or office. This isn’t only relevant to smaller businesses either. Expanding businesses can use a facility for equipment, promotional material or to archive documents.

At Big Yellow Self Storage you can store things of all shapes & sizes, with room sizes from 9 sq ft up to 400 sq ft for as long as you’d like for as little as a week, month, year or as long you’d like.

This featured post is presented by Fabulously “Broke” in the City.

To be honest, I don’t want too much choice.

I mean, I want choice. I want about 3-6 choices, and that’s it. I don’t want to be shown 50 different things, because there are a couple things that could go wrong:

1. I end up liking all 50 and now have to go through and rank them until I pick the top choice
2. I get confused and end up not wanting anything at all

So how does this play into decluttering my life?

Continue reading Guilty choices at Fabulously “Broke” in the City.