The Best Tips to Declutter for the Festive Season

It’s getting close to the best time of the year for shopping sprees and gift exchanges, so you might want to get rid of old stuffs to make way for the new ones. As you make preparations for Christmas decors and retouching your home’s interior, decluttering should be top on the agenda. What’s more, decluttering will also help rid your home of things that might bog down the mood in your home this festive seasons.

To help you swing into a decluttering mode anytime, here are some decluttering hacks you should know of.

Declutter with a Rationale

Many factors can determine how you can declutter your home satisfactorily. If you’re decluttering to make way for Christmas decor, you might just want to focus on seasonal items you’ll likely not use within the season. Ask yourself what are the main features and functionalities you want in your home, and mark out anything that doesn’t contribute to those. The purpose of your decluttering activity can also determine how you put away some items. For instance, if you want more room for the kids to play around in, you can move some furniture or fittings to a corner or a specific space.

Get Everyone Onboard

It’s easy to decide what to move out when we have the home all to ourselves, but when there’s family, then we might want to tread more softly. If you’re living with loved ones, you might want to involve them closely in the decluttering process. Ask them which of their items they’d love to keep and why they’d prefer any item to take up their precious space. Also, when decluttering, return borrowed items, and do away with the belongings of others who’re no longer with you, like your ex, your grown up children who’ve moved out, your late relatives, etc.

Ditch Indifferent Items 

If you feel indifferent to an item, then perhaps it’s time to let go of it. Move out anything that doesn’t move you. Look around you and ask yourself if you’d be proud to use, wear, or flaunt an item, especially if you’ve not used it for a long time. If not, then you won’t feel any guild or displeasure moving it out.

Give Your Items a Second Hand Value

Make sure you ditch your cleared out items the best way possible. Anything that’s still in good condition can make you some money, or can earn you the gratitude of charities. But don’t just dump your items at a charity, ensure their condition is good enough for you to present to a friend first. If an item doesn’t have a second-hand value, then it’s best to leave it in a bin.

Declutter by Category

The method you use to declutter can significantly affect your decluttering habit. You’ll grow wary of decluttering when it becomes a boring chore. One way to keep our minds engaged when decluttering is using categories. You can use the four box method, where you keep items in four different boxes for relocating, storing away, giving away, or dumping.

Tax Time & EOFY Archiving Tips

It’s tax time, and your deductibles can help you to spend a whole lot less on tax. Unless you have an accountant working for you, chances are, you’ve been saving up all those slips and documents over the course of the year, and now you have to capture all the information and report your earnings. You’ll also have to keep the proof of tax related transactions. But this can involve a veritable avalanche of paperwork.

Generally speaking, you can divide your paperwork up as follows:

·       Papers to keep for one year max: Bank deposit slips, credit card receipts and ATM slips need only be kept until you’ve reconciled your accounts. Insurance and investment statements can be kept until you have fresh ones. When you discard documents, shred them to avoid identity theft.

·       Papers to keep for longer than a year: statements on loans should be kept until the loan is paid off. For big loans, this can be quite a long time. Car papers have to be kept until you sell the car, and proof of investment purchases should be kept until investments are sold.

·       Papers to keep for five years: Keep your tax records for five years to be on the safe side.

·       Papers you should never throw away: Birth certificates, death certificates, divorce decrees, your copy of your will, life insurance details and other insurance policies are among the papers you will keep indefinitely.

Where to keep it all

Just as a backup, it’s a good idea to scan all important tax-related documents including proof of income and tax deductible expenses and keep them stored in the cloud. But to be absolutely safe, you also need to store the hard copies.

Over the years, these documents mount up, turning your house into a paper-packed ‘office’. Shelves drawers and cupboard space fill up with papers that you might just need one day, creating clutter as you struggle to find space to store things you use more frequently.

Even offices can get so clogged with paper that finding places to store them all become a problem. You end up with a “clutter room” packed with boxes and boxes of old files.

It’s very tempting throw all those old files away, but what if you have to prove you didn’t play fast and loose with the tax man?

Archive EOFY information safely for next to nothing

To help you solve the knotty problem of document storage, Storage King has designed a handy archive box that lets you store your documents neatly in an organised way. And since Storage King lets you store small as well as large volumes of things you don’t need all the time, it won’t cost much if we tuck them away for you.

Storage is secure as well as being weatherproof, so your original documents and the information they contain are perfectly safe. Organise documents according to date and according to how long they need to be kept so that you can thin down the accumulation of documents you won’t be needing again.

With storage locations all over Australia, you’re sure to find a convenient branch of Storage King to keep your EOFY papers safely in a place where they can’t get in your way.

SIZE DOES MATTER!!!!

Trying to determine the size of a storage unit is not always about what you are storing but also about the flexibility of the space that’s needed.  One of the questions I always ask people to think about is, do you need to move around in your unit? Or do you only want to rent enough space to cram everything in?  If you are going interstate or overseas then obviously it’s not important to have room to move but if you are in between houses, need to declutter for sale or simply storing because you need more space, then you may want access to your papers, Christmas tree etc.

Having a plan before you move into storage can also be very useful on the day to help keep your stress levels down and to maximize the size of the space you are renting, think of it like a game of  tetris (showing my age now) where you start at the back wall and slowly build up (most units are between 2-3 metres high) moving towards the front of the unit to make the most of the space and again if there are things that you know you will need access to over the time that you are storing, you may want to put those things right at the very front of your unit.

SPRING IS IN THE AIR...time to de-clutter

It's Spring time again and this is the time which I look forward to the most... SPRING CLEANING or as others may say SPRING de-cluttering.

I begin at one end of the house and work my way through. My plan of attack is to have cardboard boxes on hand as it helps me realise that my house will look fantastic when it's de-cluttered and those items which I remove, I can still keep by utilising storage.

• To start, my personal style is to empty each cupboard and by doing this, it creates a clean empty space to work with.

• Next I sort through the items of what I no longer need or want and this is where I can utilise boxes and storage. My motto is “If I've not used it, touched it, worn it in 12 months but would like to keep it... then store It!”

My advice is have a plan of attack, great music on the stereo, a good week to go through each room and cupboard in the house, plenty of boxes and tape ready and if needed also a storage unit on hand as many people can’t part with their possessions straight away... and when I'm done, I relax by having a nice glass of red wine.

Boxes, tape and bags scattered everywhere, more mess than you can imagine but then the final product is rewarding.

Shipping Container vs Self Storage Facility

Today’s blog is about storing goods in shipping containers. 

On the weekend my husband and I had shipping container delivered to our farm to store unused furniture etc… to de-clutter our farm house. 

Once the container was delivered my husband began making a roof over the container. I was baffled!

 

Why would we need to put a roof over the container made of steel? He said metal containers are not designed for long term storage!  They designed for long haul shipping. When the container is closed its airtight. Temperatures rise rapidly inside. Goods stored in the container that are exposed to these temperature fluctuations will most likely be damaged, was the reply.  

• Did you know that most household and personal items that you store will contain moisture ie; linen, towels, clothes, shoes and furniture. 
•  Matresses, for example, contain several litres of fluid absorbed from the bodies that slept on it, horrid thought I know!!
• Even the air trapped inside a metal container contains water!!
•  Temperature fluctuations cause condensation that eventually drips onto the goods inside.

We decided on a storage container as our farm is a long way out of town. Putting a roofing cover over the top is the only way to be certain that our goods are not damaged by constant exposure to weather.


When considering what type of storage is best for you, I think it is very important to consider the ramifications of temperature. Self storage facilities are built specifically to store household goods in an environment that is not detrimental to the longevity of our goods. 

There are many different types of storage facilities and units to select from.  Discuss your needs with a reputable company; they will be able to advise you of the best option for your needs. Make sure you consider all your needs and remember to always insure you belongings

Getting the most out of your Self Storage Unit - Seasonal Changes

One can only imagine how people have stuff stored in their self storage units! My Guess is that it is full of stuff piled up in no particular manner.

I read an article recently with some fabulous ideas on how to make your storage unit work for you all year round. The main idea was to make your Self Storage unit a seasonal storage unit.  The one requirement for this idea though is a drive up unit, so some investigation may be required to see if your local facility has this option.

The best way you can do this, and with the least amount of effort and time is to store seasonal garden tools, such as leaf blowers and lawn mowers, etc… on a utility trailer. Investing in a utility trailer, and loading it with all the heavy, bulky garden tools etc.. that are not used for the duration of the season is well worth it. Sometimes there may even be room left on the trailer to add the seasonal clothes or decorations that  are not needed and can be  put in storage as well, like Christmas tree, pool equipment and toys, camping gear etc... Then simply roll the entire trailer into the storage unit and leave it there. Then bring it home at the beginning of the next season, roll  all the items and other equipment off the trailer, then load all the past seasons equipment or other items on, and then drive the trailer back to the storage unit. With good planning, the whole changeover for the seasons can take an hour or less.

I am sure we are all for de clutter and seasonal de cluttering is a fabulous opportunity to use your home the way it is meant to be,  that is no tripping over things and shoving things into every nook and cranny in your home.

If your unit is not a drive up unit you may need to re think the transport strategy. You may need to load and unload the items individually into your storage unit. It is still a great way to store goods and requires a visit to the storage unit only once per season. A lot of facilities have forklifts, trolleys etc. that can help with the moving of your items.

So seasonal use of your unit may be an option to consider and one very important piece of advice would be to ensure that any goods you do intend using throughout each season should be stored at the front of the unit and easily accessed.

Happy Storing

Home Alone!

It is the time of year when you either love or hate the festive season. It is also the time of year that children are finishing school and further education. It is a time when many of our children are leaving home.

It is a time of change for all in the family. Those cute little kids are all grown up and are leaving home to travel the world or take on the world in their new career. They are now adults. 

This time can be a lonely time for parents who have dedicated their lives to their children, but hey think of the positives you can finally rid your house of the clutter and games that our kids have had hiding in the cupboards and under the beds, get rid of all that old school files and text books they no longer need.  Here are some hints:

• Like many families, your house is filled with your children's belongings. You don't want to totally rid your house of your kid's things, but you should move them all into one dedicated area.

• Their bedroom should house all of their familiar things, so when they come home to visit, they don't feel like you totally wiped them from your life.

• If you do need the space or want to use the room for something else, like an office or guest bedroom, you should talk to your child first about redecorating their room. That way it's not a total and complete surprise.

• Anything extra that isn't in use, but you can't get rid of it for sentimental reasons, you should look into putting it into self storage. It may be that big old desk they don’t use anymore or that Cello that they no longer play. There may be things you want to keep to pass down through the generations.

Remember to enjoy the new life without the children at home. Invite friends over for intimate gatherings. You will soon realize that when children leave home it is an opportunity for a new lease on life and an adventure.