Anyone who has seen “Storage Wars” on TV has likely dreamed about the possibility of finding buried treasure in their family storage unit. Recently, a near-mint copy of Action Comics No. 1, the first comic in which Superman appeared, was found by the winner of storage unit auction in Los Angeles. It sold for over $2,000,000. Continue reading
Using a self-storage unit for document storage makes so much sense for businesses both large and small, and offers big advantages over either storing records onsite in your offices, or offsite in a document storage warehouse.
Although the digital age has had a big impact on the way most companies do business, there still seems to be a lot of paper floating around. Some of it can go right into the shredder or the recycling bin, but sometimes you have to keep it. Knowing what to keep and what to toss can vary from business to business; this IRS article on small business recordkeeping is very useful, as is this set of guidelines for record retention from Smead. Continue reading
Do you love to decorate for the holidays? If you do, you have plenty of opportunities. “Decorating for the holidays” is not just about Christmas and Hanukkah anymore. It can mean Halloween, Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, or the Fourth of July, just to name a few. It is pretty ingrained in us to recognize the change in the seasons: the bounty of fall (turkey and pumpkin pie!), the bright, glowing ornaments of Christmas that light the long, dark nights of winter; the lovely pastels of Easter eggs that mirror the new growth of spring; and the red, white and blue of the Fourth of July, a full-on celebration of summer as well as a marker of the birth of our country. For many people, the fun of transforming their home during the winter holidays has given them the bug to spread out the fun all year long. Continue reading
September always puts me in the mood to organize. I guess part of it is the old association with the beginning of the school year – a new backpack; clean, crisp notebooks full of potential; unbroken crayons in all the good colors. But unlike spring cleaning, which is all about squeaky clean surfaces, autumnal organizing brings out my creative side. It makes me want to decoupage that old wooden crate before I stow away my vinyl collection in it. It makes me want to put stickers on the old baby wipes container to make a new home for my kid’s marker collection. You get the idea.
So, if like me, September makes you want to sharpen a few pencils and get crackin’ on some “homework”, you might want to take a look at this article on Bob Vila’s website about creative storage solutions that feature clever, re-purposed items, like old books, dish drainers, cake pans, worn out luggage – and even last year’s cast off lunch box! These fun ideas will help you get organized and get your creative juices flowing. Who needs finger painting?
When you get done organizing, if you have a few things you need to transfer to your storage unit, don’t forget that Dollar Self Storage has boxes and packing supplies, including specialized items, such as dish packs and wardrobes, which will make that job easier. When they are all packed up, you can put some stickers on them!
Give your college student the benefit of extra storage all year long.
Back to school. The same simple phrase that strikes terror into the heart of school-age children everywhere brings secret delight to parents. Back to order. Back to routine. Back to a cup of tea in a quiet house.
If your child is a college student, back to school means back to campus – perhaps in another town, even another state. College students have a special relationship with storage units. Many college students who go to school far from their homes have to figure out what to do with their belongings over the summer break each year. Self-storage is a smart and handy solution that makes these times a little more hassle-free for both students and parents.
If you take advantage of self-storage in this way for your college student, you might want to consider keeping that storage unit all year long for them. There are several benefits to this idea: Continue reading
In a previous post, we talked about digitizing home movies and video, and how best to store the original media. In this post, we will discuss your photographs, particularly those taken in the pre-digital age.
Just about everybody has a few shoeboxes full of old family photos and negatives. It can be positively overwhelming to even get started when faced with a disorganized jumble of hundreds of family photos, but cardboard, wood, and many plastics give off gases that will damage your photographs, so it really is worthwhile to set up a system that will preserve your old photos and negatives, and that will preserve your sanity as you move forward with your digital collection.
Take a deep breath and dive in. You will be glad you did. Here are a few steps to help you along the way: Continue reading
There are many advantages to apartment living, but lots of storage space is usually not one of them.
In expensive urban environments, apartments are the standard for housing. Certainly, the younger segment of our population, who often are more transient as they establish their careers, enjoy the flexibility of renting. And, in fact, attitudes toward home ownership are shifting – we may be approaching a time when it is no longer a requisite part of the American Dream.
Apartment Therapy is an interesting website whose stated mission is “Helping people make their homes more beautiful, organized and healthy by connecting them to a wealth of resources, ideas and community online.” They recently featured an article on using storage units to make apartment living more workable that we wanted to share with you.
News flash: according to Today Money, “Americans are expected to spend about $7.4 billion less on gifts and goodies for dads this Father’s Day than they spent on moms for Mother’s Day last month, according to the National Retail Federation.”
Are you shocked? Probably not. It’s not that we don’t love our dads. The article does go on to point out that there is more stuff to buy for mom, and men are notoriously harder to shop for. Truth be told, most dads would probably rather get a nice Starbuck’s gift card than another questionable tie anyway. But over the years, your dad has probably accumulated a fair amount of “stuff”, courtesy of Father’s Day: knitted golf club covers; “World’s Greatest Dad” emblazoned coffee mug, t-shirt, key ring, and mouse pad; a mounted singing big mouth bass; a complete set of unredeemed, hand-made, personal coupons good for back rubs, etc.; a Snuggie in a manly blue color – you get the idea. Continue reading
How not to store your clothing.
Storing seasonal clothing is a great idea, especially if you have limited closet space. It’s one of those times when less is more. By that I mean, when you go to your closet to pick out something to wear, and you can actually move the hangers around and see what is in there, you suddenly feel like you have more options. If you are a woman, you might even see outfit combinations you hadn’t thought before. Come to think of it, I guess guys might do that, too.
But if your closet is so jammed with clothes you can barely extract an item without the Jaws of Life, you are going to get frustrated and just grab something that is easy to get to. Again. Or, worse yet, you will be tempted to buy something new, compounding your problem. Continue reading
Flowers and candy are nice, but what do Moms really want? An age-old question to which there is no single answer, but one thing is for sure, a little help around the house is always appreciated. Whenever I used to ask my mom what she wanted for Mother’s Day, she always answered “I want you to clean your room.” I thought that was a joke, so I ignored it, but now I think I get it. Moms are frequently held accountable for the appearance of the home, at least in their own minds. Other members of the family look only at their own clutter and think “what’s the big deal?” but Mom sees all of it. She may spend hours getting one area cleared up, only to turn around and find her work undone within minutes. I can see how that might be frustrating. Continue reading