Clean

It’s always worth sending your heavy winter overcoats to the dry cleaners before you store them away for the summer months. Moths are mostly attracted to natural fibres like wool and cotton but they also enjoy a good munch on organic stains so make sure any food spills or stains on coats and winter clothes made from synthetic fibres are thoroughly cleaned-off before storing.

Store

The quickest, simplest and possibly cheapest way to store and protect your winter woollies, suits and overcoats is to protect them in a simple garment cover. STORE’s cotton suit covers are ideal as they allow the clothes to breathe and are also great value, starting at only £3.

For that bit of extra protection a lidded plastic storage box such as our robust crystal clear sweater storage box makes for an ideal container to pop on the top shelf of a wardrobe for seasonal storage. Alternatively, if space is at a premium STORE’s range of vacuum bags are a great alternative and ideal space saver.

And if you’re looking for something suitable to store-away the winter duvet, look no further than our award winning giant under bed storage box or at just £7 our under bed storage chest.

Protect

Cedar wood offers a really effective and environmentally friendly solution to help protect your winter woollies from moths and bugs.  Whilst the aromatic sent of cedar is pleasant to people and pets, months and bugs hate it! Our pack of six Cedar Rings offer another really cost effective solution to protect your winter clothes in the wardrobe and simply slip over a coat hanger or can be popped inside a storage box.

For more neat ideas to securely store your winter wardrobe and bulky winter duvets and blankets and save a bit of precious space at the same time, visit our STORE’s or shop online at www.APlaceForEverything.co.uk

The theory goes that the inside of your home is a reflection of you and the organisation within should reflect the life you want to live.  Getting organised and decluttering your pad could therefore be the answer to enjoying the space you live in this New Year and maybe also allow you to take a little more control of your life.

With this in mind, if you’re one of the 21% of UK residents who’s New Year’s Resolution is to be a bit tidier and more organised in 2011 here’s a few tips to help:

Just be You!

Some of our shop customers looking for storage solutions to solve their clutter problems confuse being organised with being perfect. Others confuse being organised with being neat. There’s also plenty of neat freaks out there (including myself!) who are also disorganised. What you actually need to strive for is simply being neater than you are currently.

Doing something practical to declutter your space whether it’s your office desk or your entire home is going to make you feel a whole lot better about yourself this New Year but if you’re not the kind of person who’s going to keep things super-tidy then don’t pretend you’re going to change overnight. Instead try to find small simple ways to effectively manage the clutter you create on a daily basis. For example, something as simple as a small plastic storage box or container to store and manage the daily post is simple but very effective.

The Three Box Rule

Whether you’re intending to spend the entire weekend tackling a room full of clutter or simply wanting to reorganise your shoe storage collection, start your de-cluttering in bit sized chunks so you don’t feel overwhelmed. Don’t try and re-organise the entire house in one go but concentrate your efforts in one area trying not to “zig-zig de-clutter” by moving things from one space to another creating even more mess!

The 3 Box Rule is a great trick we often share with our STORE customers and it goes something like this:

When decluttering and reorganising a room, put each item you move into one of three cardboard boxes,

Definitely Keep Box – This is the “I’m 100% sure” temporary storage box for items that are definitely being returned into the space you’re decluttering.

Attempt to Sell Box – Would you rather continue to hoard that shiny new squash racket you’ve not used in the last 2-years since trying to get fit or have the cash? If you haven’t used it in the last 12-18 months then it’s time to go! Ebay, car-boot sale, postcard on the notice board at work, etc. etc. just be decisive and be realistic…you’ve never used it so let someone else enjoy it and you can enjoy the cash!

Charity / Recycle Box – Have a good look through your Attempt to Sell box and be realistic, some of your decluttered items may just be a bit too tatty to sell. Instead, why not take them to the local charity shop or donate them to your local primary school etc. and if they’re just tatty or worn-out then recycle.

But my New Year’s Resolutions usually only last a month or two

Wrong!…Last year Sheila’s Wheels car insurance undertook a survey of 2,000 UK residents that suggested our will power ran-out on average in less than 12 days! If you think you’re going to falter try reading my post on Staying Organised after you’ve Decluttered or follow this simple tip which I gleaned from a storage professional across the pond:

Think of that pile of unopened post or stack of untouched paperwork on your desk that needs organising in the same way as you think of your kitchen sink. Most of us (even STORE’s warehouse manager Kevin) have a natural tolerance for how long we leave dishes cluttering-up the sink and draining board. For some people it’s a day or two and others can’t stand to go to bed at night without doing the washing-up. Have this same tolerance threshold to your household post or paperwork: open, read, action and decisively discard or file and you’ll notice the differences within a few days.

The more you perform this simple decluttering task, the more your awareness will grow of better organisation and the longer your New Year’s resolution to be a bit more organised might last.

This transferable organisational skill can be used in other areas of your home too and over time you’ll naturally become more conscious about what you bring into the house and indeed what you spend your hard earned pennies on. You see, decluttering and reorganising is a money-saver too!

Finally, a very Happy & Organised New Year from all at STORE !

The festive season is almost upon us, indeed a quick jaunt around your local high street and you’d probably be forgiven for thinking it was Christmas Day next week. I’m afraid us retailers are always good and early at getting organised for Christmas but are you ready for the family and perhaps also a few unexpected guests descending on your space during the Christmas holidays?

Here’s our 5 minute guide to getting your home neat and organised for Christmas:

Deck the Halls…

…with shoe racks and overdoor hooks.

cost effective shoe storage at just £12

There’s nothing worse than tripping over piles of shoes to get to the front door. Invest in  an inexpensive extendable shoe rack to temporarily store guests shoes and when they’ve finally gone (let’s hope it’s before the New Year!) you can pop it under the stairs or in the bottom of your wardrobe…no-one can have too much shoe storage.

Likewise a cost effective over the door hook is an ideal place to store guest’s coats and scarves if your hallway coat hook is already bulging with the family’s winter coats. It looks neater than hanging a huge pile of coats over the banister or even worse the sofa and can be removed in the New Year when your pad is returned to an oasis of calm and organisation.

Clear the Clutter when Company Calls

Picture the scene, it’s Boxing Day afternoon, several dozen of the kids new toys are carpeting the lounge floor, there’s extended Christmas TV guides and weighty Sunday newspapers all over the sofa and probably a box of chocolates that you want to keep to yourself and not offer to the unexpected guest who’s about to ring the door bell!

Lidded storage cubes make for a great clutter swallower when company calls and are great to use as temporary storage for toys, magazines etc.  Keep one close to hand for extra storage and whilst we don’t advocate the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mentality, if you’re after an instant clutter clearer then our faux leather or pandan storage cubes are ideal. Better still they make for attractive side-tables to rest all those additional glasses of wine, cups of tea and turkey sandwiches you’re about to make.

Guest’s Glad Rags

Your guests are going to need somewhere to hang their clothes in the spare room and if like many guest bedrooms we’ve seen, you’ve crammed the place to the gunnels with your own clothes then we think we have the answer. Forget garment rails and canvas wardrobes, you can even forget our fabulous elfa wardrobe internals, unless you’ve got the room they’ll just clutter the place-up even more. Instead opt for an over the door (no screws required) valet rail. Capable of holding a couple of suits, party dresses and other clothes from the weekend suitcase, this simple temporary solution is going to give you what you want (extra wardrobe storage space) without the hassle.

Great for guest bedrooms, our over door valet rail in a brushed silver finish is just £20

Bathroom Bliss

At only £10 this corner shelf makes for a great bathroom storage solution

If you’ve invited company for the festive season, chances are your bathroom is going end-up covered in lotions, potions, travel wash-bags and get really cluttered. The age old solution to a cluttered bathroom is to simply pile all the shampoos on the side of the bath but this tends to look messy and is not ideal when you’ve got guests.

Instead opt for a simple clutter-clearer like our Mesa Bath Organiser. Granted, it’s not the prettiest storage solution in our range but it will help keep your bathroom looking a wee bit tidier. Better still, this clever bathroom caddy is simply affixed with suckers so is quickly removed when life is returned to normal after 1^st January.

Kitchen Nightmares

Too many cooks, too much booze and not enough worktop space. A common question asked by STORE customers is just how they can regain more kitchen work surface and clear the clutter. It’s an even bigger problem at Christmas with generous portions of extra food and bottles of plonk all over the place.

Simple storage solutions work best in the kitchen and the key is to think vertically.  Try stacking shelves inside cupboards to free-up additional space for extra tined food or plate storage.  You’re also going to be generating a lot more recycling with all those sweetie wrappers and gift wrapping paper, so go for a set of stacking recycle bins with a small footprint rather than a huge metal recycling bin.

It may sound bizarre but our range of bathroom storage caddies are ideal to stick to kitchen tiles for storing spices, salt and pepper etc. and keep the work surfaces clutter free

Finally, why not invest in a small additional wine rack to pop in a porch, garage or under the stairs for all those extra bottles that’ll be sunk over the festive period.

Oh, and it’s around 15-20 minutes per pound for cooking the turkey or around 45-50 minutes per kilo in modern money.

Have an organised Christmas!

But how do you organise someone who just simply has no idea about timekeeping in the mornings? Whilst searching for our neat new range of travel accessories this summer we stumbled across another neat organisational solution that may just be the answer.

Apparently the average UK householder  spends 8.5 minutes in the shower each morning and simply by organising your time a little better with the help of our new Shower Coach you could save over 31.5 litres of water each week and a lot of gas or electricity used to heat your water. Better still it’s a great way to organise your morning routine, saving precious time to get to the bus stop for the 8.05am and make sure your utility bill’s a little smaller each quarter.

our 5 Minute Shower Coach just may be the answer for a disorganised family member who likes to hog the bathroom

Like most lofts, ours had rapidly become a catch-all storage dump for those things we meant to get rid of over the years but just didn’t or felt we couldn’t.

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful” said William Morris and with this famous mantra in mind I set to work on a mission to reduce the number of storage boxes up there and generally tidy-up.

The first thing to do when tiding a loft is to take a good long look at what you’ve got stored up there and think about the last time you used it. If there’s bin-bags full of out of season clothes that haven’t been worn in the last year or two it’s time to go to the charity shop. Likewise, if like us you’ve half a dozen storage boxes full of children’s clothes waiting for little Johnny to grow-up it’s probably time to have a purge. Swallow your pride and declutter by getting rid of those hand-me-downs that are obviously not going to be de rigueur when Johnny hits his teenage years and never worn.

elfa's freestanding shelving really has helped with storage in this loft

Ok, so there may be one or two garments you just can’t bear to get rid of,  everyone’s allowed one or two memorable garments (like my tartan trousers that I’ll never fit back into…were they really ever fashionable!?!) but do set yourself a limit.

Our loft was like many is full of plastic and cardboard storage boxes full of all sorts of clutter, some of which were simply taken straight up there when we moved into the house a few years ago and worse still…have never been touched since!

The secret to dealing with storage boxes full of clutter in the loft is to sort then purge in bite sized chunks.  Sifting through boxes full of memories is going to take some time so bring a few boxes out of the loft at a time and work through them slowly.  Set yourself a target such as, one box a night over a week whilst you’re watching your favourite soap opera or perhaps whilst the kids are at school. Once again, ask yourself if you will really use or need each item again, if not then pass to a charity shop or recycle so that someone else can get some use out of whatever it is.  If there’s sentimental value, how about creating a ‘family memories’ storage box as you de-clutter but be ruthless and stick to one memory box and include only the most important items that will really mean something to the next generation.

Visibility – Choose storage boxes and containers that are transparent so that you can easily see what’s inside when you come back to retrieve whatever you’ve stored.

Accessibility – Storing the various different possessions you use daily in easily accessible places and spaces will help save valuable time and may just save your sanity too!

Flexibility – Invest in storage solutions that are flexible like our modular elfa shelving system. As your needs and requirements change over time, flexible storage will work with you and may just save you a bit of money too as they’ll last into the future.

-A mix of closed and open wicker storage will hide what’s awkward and highlight what’s beautiful. We’ve used wicker log baskets and segrass magazine racks as well as some lidden pandan boxes for DVD and CD storage in our in-store display.

-Keep children’s toys in a big beautiful wicker or wood storage trunk in the living room. It can serve as a coffee table too. Our large Colonial style wicker chest works a treat!

-Use an oversized wicker or seagrass basket to store magazines and newspapers from the floor and coffee table. Have a clear-out once a week to keep the pile in check. We’ve taken one of our traditional wicker log baskets and used it as an oversized magazine basket in our store display.

-If you’re looking for effective, functional and good-looking storage for your living room, invest in a set of giant rattan boxes or cubes (leather if you prefer a more modern look). They’re perfect for storing away clutter and make great occasional tables too.

Our new glossy card toy storage boxes with chalkboard fronts on them come complete with chalk and a board rubber and also offer a fun way to encourage the kids to clear-up after themselves.
Using coloured, fun shaped or unusual storage boxes such as our chalk board toy storage boxes to assist keeping your little darlings organised may though just save your sanity as well as a bit of storage space!

When purchasing storage boxes for kids toys etc., assign each child a different coloured or shaped storage box for their clutter to keep their belongings in and encourage them to be responsible for tidying-up after themselves. You never know, if decluttering and organising  by coloured storage boxes works for your kids, it may even just help get you organised too!

I found this acronym in an old book on storage and organisation.

It’s cheesy but good to remember the next time you’re trying to declutter your S.P.A.C.E…

1. S ort out  – Have a good tidy up and decide what you want to keep
2. P urge  -Be ruthless! Throw everything away that you don’t want.
3. A ssign a home  – Give everything a suitable home
4. C ontainerise  – Put things in boxes, on shelves and in an organised manner
5. E njoy  – Sit back, relax and enjoy your new ordered space and mind!

...S.P.A.C.E The Final Frontier

Hallway storage is mostly short-term – a place for things you use, and indeed lose, every day. The key to maintaining order is making it easy and automatic to be organised at the start and end of the day.

Our cubby organiser has space for coats, post and the keys etc

For the optimum amount of family co-operation (!), place storage at every level: hooks to hang hats and jackets, a table or say wicker storage basket for post and keys, a basket or stand for umbrellas, a side table with storage for a briefcase or rucksacks below etc. And when it comes to smaller items, little storage containers – bowls, jars or pots designed to hold pens and pencils, post and keys – go a long way towards taming the chaos.