Who is Access Self Storage

Access SelfStorage has been operating our self-storage facility since 1985. Our storage facility was one of the first storage facilities to open and operate in Victoria.

Access Self Storage has been in the business for over 25 years, which means we have a wealth of experience for you to draw on. Our staff are self-storage experts, and are here to help – if you’re just starting out with storage rental, or have any questions about our storage units or the Access Self Storage facility, one of our experts will be sure to help you out.

Our storage facility in South Melbourne holds several storeys with over 700 storage units available, in 60 varied sizes. Access Self Storage provides our clients with insurance cover, up to $5000, expert advice and service, and a fully secured and alarmed facility. Our location in South Melbourne puts Access Self Storage in the prime position for people near the Melbourne CBD, St Kilda, Port Melbourne and Southbank. Access Self Storage offers a free move in van and  7-day access to our storage facility.

Access Self Storage is also a founding member of the Self Storage Association of Australasia, representing over 80% of self-storage operators in Australia and New Zealand. Our membership at this association means we remain committed to the professionalism of the self-storage industry. Access Self Storage is proud to benefit from the shared knowledge, expertise and education that the association provides.

How Storage Units Can Help Your Hobbies

We've discussed using a storage unit to house collectibles and sporting equipment, and a running theme is beginning to form. Using a storage unit to house your hobby and professional equipment can save you space at home, and will also give you a central location to return to when you need to do things.

I don't just mean a storage unit can house precious statues, war medals, or skiing equipment. A storage unit can be handy for all sorts of hobbies and interests. Film and drama students might find a storage unit useful to keep costumes, set pieces, camera equipment and lighting technology. A storage unit could be shared between a number of students, who could access the storage unit freely whenever they have need of it.

Maybe you're a teacher who frequently decorates their classroom, maybe you're a Halloween enthusiast who keeps a lot of fancy dress outfits hidden in their closet. Maybe you want to keep the Lego and matchbox cars and dollhouses your children seem to have grown out of, just in case. A storage unit is the perfect opportunity to clear these things from your home, to give you and your family more space. And when they're kept in a storage unit, you'll know exactly where everything is, so you can easily find them again when you need.

Hiring a storage unit can help to keep your hobbies under control, and give you home a bit more space. Start looking into a storage unit today.

Access Self Storage's Centrally Located Facility

There are a number of reason's why Access Self Storage's centrally located facility near Melbourne's CBD makes it an incredibly convenient storage facility. And it's not just because it's in close proximity to Melbourne suburbs like St Kilda, South Yarra and Windsor.

Although it's near to the CBD, Access Self Storage isn't located in the CBD. So when you need to return to your storage unit urgently, you won't be hindered by heavy CBD traffic. But its central location does mean it's easily accessed even if you're not coming from home. A trip to the Access Self Storage facility could easily become part of your route to or from work in the Melbourne CBD. You could incorporate a visit to the grocery shops in South Melbourne with a visit to Access Self Storage, and pick up an unused dining table from your storage unit before you buy food for your dinner party.

Location is really important when you're considering a storage facility, which is why Access Self Storage chose their location carefully. It's easy to get to, so fetching your storage from Access Self Storage is never inconvenient. It's easily accessible by main roads, on the corner of Normanby Rd and Montague St, so moving vans will have no problems driving to and from Access Self Storage. And it is conveniently located to numerous suburbs in Melbourne, which means Access Self Storage is a very convenient location to many Melbourne residents. Check out the Access Self Storage facility today, and find out just how convenient using self-storage will be.

A Variety of Storage Unit Sizes at Access Self Storage

Access Self Storage offers 60 different sizes in storage units at our storage facility in Melbourne. Is it really necessary to have quite so many differently sized storage units?

Obviously our answer is 'yes', but let's take a look at why. Bigger units are slightly more costly, and the smallest unit is also the cheapest price. But rather than just offering a bigger storage unit and a small storage unit, Access offers a range of sizes, because no two storage rentals are the same. When you book your storage rental with Access Self Storage, our experts will ask you questions, so we can understand exactly what you want to get out of your storage rental.

We'll want to know the size of your bulkiest items, so we can find you a storage unit that will match their width or length. We'll want to know the amount of storage you'll be keeping in the storage unit. We'll also want to know how often you'll want to access your unit - whether you'll be returning frequently to go through your storage rental, or if you want to just hire a unit and leave it there. If you're wanting easy access to your storage unit, that's going to make a difference to the size of storage unit you'll want - because you'll require more space.

Rather than just offering two variations in storage units, and getting you to adapt your storage items to fit one of the sizes of storage units, in a way Access Self Storage is able to adapt to you. After all, surely 60 different options is a much better way to go than a one-size-fits-all kind of deal.

Packing Boxes for Self-Storage

Speaking of packing materials earlier, it might be useful to look at the variety of packing boxes available to the self-storage user. Packing boxes are not all a standard shape, standard size and standard use. I mentioned in an earlier post that Access Self Storage has 11 varieties of packing boxes alone, and no doubt you'll be able to find many other shapes and sizes for your self-storage.

Different boxes are best for different things - mini tea chests can be used for the heaviest items in self-storage; port-a-robe's are great boxes for keeping your clothes neatly protected in the storage unit; tall boys for the tall thin items in self-storage that won't quite fit in a square shaped box; an archive box, with a hinged lid and handles either side, is perfect for storing archived papers and documents in self-storage. You can find picture cartons - the perfect size and shape to house pictures and framed paintings; specially designed 'cubes' to house electronics and computer monitors in self-storage; boxes to house wine bottles flat so the cork remains preserved; single layer boxes perfect to store books, CD's and heavy breakables.

So you can see, all self-storage boxes are not created equal. Certainly you could pack up all of your self-storage items into the commonly used, rectangular shaped tea chest - but it wouldn't be the most useful way to pack up your self-storage. A variety of boxes are available because you'll be placing a wide variety of things into self-storage.

Packing Materials and Self-Storage

Mention packing materials when talking about self-storage, and people's minds immediately jump to packing boxes. There are certainly a wide variety of boxes to choose from when it comes to packing materials. At Access Self Storage alone, we offer as many as 11 varieties of cardboard packing boxes for your self-storage needs. But "packing materials" doesn't just mean boxes.

There are a variety of packing materials available at Access that will make your self-storage much easier. For irregularly shaped items, you could go for storage bags instead of boxes, to keep your self-storage protected, and avoid boxes full of wasted space. Plastic tubs are available for a bit of added protection, for anything just a bit more breakable or valuable in self-storage. Mattress and lounge covers are also on offer, to keep away the dust and to protect them during the move into self-storage. Bubble wrap is obviously a very important packing material in self-storage, along with packing paper (or butcher's paper) and tissue paper. Vacuum space saver bags are fantastic when space saving is one of your top priorities for self-storage - they'll save you about 75% more space. Packing tape and packing knives are an essential component to both packing up your things into self-storage, and coming back to retrieve them. And never forget the marking pen, so you can carefully label all your boxes in self-storage.

Obviously you won't want to use everything listed here for your self-storage, but there are certainly some useful options available, other than just the packing boxes, which you might want to consider before using self-storage.

Spot On Storage with Access Self Storage

Access Self Storage promises to give you spot on storage in Melbourne. Whatever your storage needs are, Access will provide spot on storage solutions. With a range of storage units (60 different sizes) in an incredibly convenient location near Melbourne's CBD - Access can provide spot on storage in a well-maintained storage facility.

Spot on storage means our storage facility is well secured, with security and fire alarms, and on-site storage managers keeping your storage well looked after. You keep the key to your own storage unit - security is completely in your control. Access Self Storage provides free insurance cover up to $5000 as well. Access your storage seven days a week - so if you suddenly remember that you've left your favourite cardigan in amongst your storage on Sunday afternoon, it's no problem to come and get it back. That's why you'll get spot on storage with Access.

We'll provide a free move-in truck with your storage rental, so if you're using storage rental to keep your furniture temporarily, moving it into the unit will come at no extra cost. We provide quality service, can give you helpful advice, and have a range of packing materials on site, to help your storage rental go smoothly. These are all great reasons why you'll get spot on storage with Access Self Storage.

For spot on storage, use Access Self Storage for all your storage rental needs. Whether it's document archives, spare clothes, old equipment, or large amounts of furniture, Access Self Storage will get you spot on storage.

Emptying Your Storage Unit Back Into the House

If you've used a storage unit to house things temporarily while you moved houses, there are a few helpful tips to make moving it all into your new home much easier.

Planning ahead is key. When you pack up your storage unit, write out a plan. Note where everything belongs, what you've packed first, which room each box has come from. Be thoughtful about your labelling - make it very clear what each box contains, and where it should go when you unpack again. Your storage unit should be full of boxes with very detailed labels, and you should keep a plan of your storage unit, to give a basic idea of where everything is inside the storage unit.

When you unpack the storage unit, do it in an organised fashion. Keep boxes from the same rooms together, and when you unload them into the house, put them straight in those rooms. Refer back to your plan, so you know which boxes should be unpacked first. You could keep some of the unnecessary boxes in the storage unit while you unpack the essentials, which will also help to keep the house less cluttered.

Above all, make sure you've set a deadline for completely emptying the storage unit. Otherwise, unpacking could carry on indefinitely while you leave various boxes in your storage unit while you deal with other things. Setting a deadline will help to ensure the unpacking of your storage unit will eventually get done in good time.

Unpacking Your Storage Unit Over the Long Term

When your need for a storage unit comes to an end, the obvious thing to do is empty out your storage unit in one fell swoop, and return it all to your house. Right?

In some cases, it might actually be easier to empty your storage unit much more slowly. If you've chosen to get storage rental to help make moving a lot easier, then unpacking your storage unit gradually is only going to help this process even more. Rather than getting everything out of the storage unit and filling your new house up with boxes, you could take your time, and unpack with an organised plan.

Depending on how you sort your storage unit to begin with (each box labelled by room, or ordered by most essential to least essential), taking your time to remove and unpack the boxes might help to make unpacking a little bit easier. If your storage unit is labelled room by room, you could easily take boxes related to one room from the storage unit over a couple of weekends. If by essential to least essential, you can remove the essential boxes at first, and take your time with the others.

Taking your time to empty your storage unit won't add much to your storage rental cost, and will help to make the job go much more smoothly. Why stress yourself out with unpacking when you can take your time? Making moving house easier is what storage rental is all about, so make the most of it.

Spring Cleaning in Melbourne

Spring is hitting Melbourne as we speak - the perfect season for cleaning out the cobwebs, ready for the summer months. And using self storage could be just the thing to get you motivated. You could give the house a whole new look – buy new furniture, hang new pictures, give it a new paint job. The thing that usually prevents us from going the extra mile with our spring clean: what to do with all the things already in your house. Using a storage unit this season will help your spring-cleaning efforts go much more smoothly.

Storage rental is a great solution. It gives you a decent sized space to get all of your furniture right out of the way. Leaving you free to clean the house, the floors, buy whole new furniture – whatever you want to do. You could use self-storage to keep your bigger furniture out of the way while you clean, or even to clear out your house room by room, to get every corner dusted and vacuumed. The storage unit will prevent the complications involved with moving the furniture around to other parts of the house.

Storage units can help you repaint the house, thoroughly clean each room, or even to re-organise. Simply by providing another space to put your temporarily inconvenient furniture, spring-cleaning jobs become much easier. And for a great place, and a convenient location near Melbourne’s CBD, Access Self Storage can be your first stop when you begin your spring clean. 

Using Storage to Work Interstate

Self storage is most obviously useful when you work overseas or interstate. If you’re only moving temporarily, you won’t want to bring all of your furniture with you. But if you’re selling your house or renting, you also won’t have anywhere else to keep it.

Nothing could be worse about working away from home than having to shuttle your belongings back and forth, from Melbourne to Brisbane, or even Melbourne to London. With storage rental, you can keep everything you don’t need while you travel for work in a storage unit, in one central location – and your things will still be there when you get back.

Keeping things in storage this way will save you time, energy and money. You won’t have to sell half your furniture, nor pay a large fee to a moving company to get all your things from one place to the other, and then back again not long afterwards. And you can easily access your things as well, if you happen to be around to visit.

Storage rental will keep your belongings secure as well. Most storage facilities, Access Self Storage included, offer highly secure units, with secure locking systems and professionals on site. A storage unit offers more protection and security while you’re away than keeping your possessions in an empty house, or in a storage room in your house while other people rent it.

Storage rental will most importantly help ease the stress of working temporarily interstate, or overseas. And really, isn’t that the best bit?

The Best Self Storage in South Melbourne

What’s the best self storage space in South Melbourne? Access Self Storage. 

If that’s not your answer already, it will be soon. Why? Well, let me show you.

South Melbourne, first of all, doesn’t have a lot of surrounding options for self storage. But what Access Self Storage can particularly offer is what helps it stand out from this limited crowd.

An enormous range of storage units – rooms for large furniture storage, to rooms for paper-based business storage – are contained in the Access Self Storage building. It’s almost an absolute guarantee that you’ll find the right size you’re looking for.

Access Self Storage has been in the business for a long time, and we employ staff who know what they’re about. If you need help or advice, our guys will be of great service, easily helping your storage rental to be as successful as can be.

Access Self Storage is easy to get to, and well supplied with the packaging materials you’ll need. For first time storage users, Access staff will make things much easier, and the materials available on site will help you recover from anything you’ve missed. For those who have experienced storage rental, Access offers well looked after units, storage staff who know what they’re talking about, and a range of storage units to suit your every need. There shouldn’t really be a question of “where is the best self storage space in South Melbourne”. Because the answer is all too obviously: Access Self Storage.

Access Self Storage Presents: The March of the Pedestal Fan

It looks like we may have finally hit summer. Melbourne’s temperatures have been steadily rising, and although we’ve been mired in rain for the past week, times are probably about to change.

It’s around this time that an amazing parade starts happening at Access Self Storage. It travels along Montague Street, around to Normanby Road, and into the storage facility itself, before circling into each storage unit and parading back out again.

It’s quite a thing to see. And it’s pretty easy to get involved. It will probably make your life much easier. We call it “the march of the pedestal fans”.

Those pedestal fans stayed in their storage units throughout the winter months, biding their time, and waiting it out. Because come Spring, when it’s time for the march, the storage unit doors will creak open, heaters will be wheeled in, and the fan’s time will come.

Held up high on shoulders in the shining sun, waving gently in the breeze – the pedestal fans march out of their units, and out of Access Self Storage, for the next six months of warm weather and sunshine.

It doesn’t take much to get involved in the march. Just come on down to Access Self Storage, and you too can have your own storage unit, in which you can keep your pedestal fans. Don’t leave them in your houses, unused, while their heating counterparts smugly whir in the lounge room.

Give the fans their march next summer. Hire a storage unit. You won’t regret it. 

That's Going Straight to the Storage Unit!

When Daryl Kerrigan defended his castle from the expansion plans of Melbourne Airport, he wasn’t just thinking about bricks and mortar. He was thinking about the storage of memories and love that had generated in the house. No doubt he was also thinking of his pool room, which housed his storage of treasured gifts, memorabilia, and relics from proud moments.

Mr Kerrigan won his house back from the evil corporate souls of Melbourne Airport – but what would have happened if he’d been forced to move? To a new house, maybe a smaller one, one with no self-storage room to keep his treasured objects?

If your pool room is just not big enough to become a storage unit for all those memories you can’t bear to throw out – your children’s first scribbles, photos of your first holiday in Portsea, a favoured football now beaten up beyond repair – then storage rental might be worth considering. Access Self-Storage could be the solution.

 It may not look nearly as attractive as Daryl Kerrigan’s pool room was, but it’s a much better plan to put those precious memories safely in a storage unit, than be forced to throw them out because you’ve run out of space. And if you live near Melbourne’s CBD, your memories can be stored close to you, at Access Self-Storage in South Melbourne. It’s the best way to keep them safe, or even just to make room for more treasures in your pool room at home.  

Location Considerations for Storage Units

Making the move into a storage unit doesn’t have to be as arduous as moving house. Why should it be, when you’re moving less stuff into a smaller, and frankly less decorative, space. Rather than having to fuss with the positions of the furniture, and unpacking the boxes, you simply have to load your stuff, potentially hire a removalist, and pack it efficiently in your storage unit. What could be simpler?

Storage rental is most successful when you use a storage facility located conveniently. Which is why Access Self Storage is the best storage solution for Melbourne suburbs such as South Yarra, St Kilda, Middle Park, the Docklands, and other suburbs near to South Melbourne.

Having a conveniently located storage unit has a number of benefits. Firstly, it will make the moving process much easier. You’ll either save money on the removalist, or you could forgo hiring one altogether and just transport it to the storage facility yourself.

A closely located storage unit will also make it much more convenient to retrieve your stored items whenever needed. A ten-minute drive to South Melbourne is much more achievable than a half hour trip to a storage facility at Chadstone, just to retrieve a photo album your aunt mentioned she wanted to borrow.

Considering a closely located storage facility should be a top priority when assessing storage rental, not only because it will save you money, but also because it will make for a far more satisfying storage experience.