Using storage rental for renovations

Renovating, rather than buying a new house, is often a more preferred option nowadays. It’s a cheaper and less stressful process than trying to sell your property and afford a different one in today’s market, and can sometimes given your house the fresh change it needs. Storage rental can be a massive benefit when it comes to renovating. You can use storage rental to quickly and easily move furniture from one area of the renovations – and by using storage rental, you don’t have to clog up the rest of your house while the job gets done.

Storage rental is really the perfect solution for making renovations easier. While your kitchen gets upgraded, and all your utensils get taken out of the cupboards so new ones can be put in, it’s unlikely you’ll choose the moment to make a lemon meringue pie. So putting most of your cooking utensils into storage rental will help to clear the kitchen, and will ensure you don’t have to deal with everything that was in the kitchen covering every other surface of the house while you get new cupboards – instead, it’s hidden away in storage rental.

If it’s a major renovation, storage rental can serve as a constantly rotating storage room. Kitchen utensils can come out once the kitchen is finished, and then the contents of your bathroom cupboards can fill up your storage rental instead. You won’t even have to think about it – just as the renovation can take place room by room, so too can your storage rental. It’s the perfect renovation solution.

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 to Avoid Inconvenience with Long-Term Storage

When you’re using long-term storage, the nature of self-storage changes. Rather than frequently returning to your storage unit to go through your self-storage, or returning your packed boxes to your living area after a couple of months, your long-term self-storage might stay in the storage unit for years, completely untouched, besides the occasional visit.

Long-term storage can mean several things for your self-storage. First, that your furniture, precious objects, old clothes, crockery – whatever – is going to be sitting in self-storage, unmoving, for a very long time. Pack your self-storage well to stop it from degrading, protect it from dust and dirt, keep the clothes in shape and not scrunched up. Consider just how long your things will be staying in long-term storage while you pack them up.

Long-term storage also means you have to be really careful about labelling. Because when you come back to your self-storage some five years later, there’s no way you’ll remember what you’d packed with what, or where it all came from. Clear and precise labelling is really important when it comes to long-term storage. Pack your self-storage well, in sturdy boxes, so that five years later if you do come to collect, the boxes won’t have all collapsed in on themselves.

Pack carefully, with precise labeling, and in strong boxes when you’re using long-term self-storage. Always keep in mind how long your things will have to stay in boxes, and don’t pack up anything you think won’t survive.

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.

Finding the Motivation to Get Started with Storage Rental

So, you agree that storage rental seems like a great idea. It's affordable, simple to use, and you've got a storage facility that's closely located to you. You've got plenty of things to put into storage rental, and you've got plenty of ideas for the extra space storage rental will give your home. The only thing lacking is the motivation to set it into motion.

But storage rental doesn't have to be an effort. If you break it down into a few small steps, the storage rental process can be done over a couple of weekends.

If you've been thinking about storage rental for a while, chances are you've already got a storage facility in mind. If you don't, it's just one extra step. A quick web search will let you know how many storage rental places are available near your area. Access Self Storage is located in South Melbourne, but there are plenty in and around Melbourne as well. Take a day, check a few facilities out, and compare their prices and the size of their units. Next step is booking the storage rental facility. That's just a quick phone call.

Cross off a weekend to pack up your storage rental items into boxes. Cross off another weekend to move your things from home into storage rental, and set up your unit how you'd like it. And that's it. It really wouldn't take more than a couple of weekends. Storage rental can become part of your life in those few easy steps. Stop putting it off, and book a storage unit today!

Using Self-storage for Seasonal Gear

Winter has nearly hit us ('Winter is coming'), and even though it's still sweltering hot in Melbourne this week, it's probably time to think about changing over for the new season. There are actually a variety of ways self-storage can make the changing seasons much easier to deal with.

The end of summer means the end of beach trips, surfing holidays, singlets, and thongs. Instead of leaving all of these things in your home, why not look into self-storage? Rather than keeping the short shorts and the surf boards sitting at home clogging up your self-storage space, when instead they could spend winter in a self-storage unit, and your home could have so much more space. Come summer time, winter clothes, ugg boots, snow gear and heating equipment can be kept in self-storage throughout the season, and claim its rightful place in your living area when winter comes around again.

Keeping your seasonal belongings in a self-storage unit will help give your home space, give you more room for all your winter or summer things, and will be easy to find if you decide to take a tropical holiday in mid-July, or a winter getaway in December. Seasonal clothes can be kept in wardrobe boxes in self-storage - easy enough to dig through should you need them again while they're in self-storage. Beach gear can be stored and kept safe in self-storage while skiis and snowboards take up space in the cupboards at home, and vice versa. Self-storage is the perfect solution to clear out your seasonal belongings and welcome in the new season.

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.

Storage for Your Camping and Sporting Gear

About this time of year, shortly after Christmas, a lot of us will start to pack up our cars with tents and sleeping bags, kayaks and water skis, and carloads of food, and head out into the wilderness for a filthy week of camping. The tents and sporting equipment will be pulled out of storage, their cramped little hiding spots, and loaded up into the car.

When you get back, packing it all up into storage seems much harder. The garage is probably already full of the storage of other equipment; it's probably going to seem impossible to squeeze all of that camping gear back into the storage areas it came from.

So how about storage rental as a solution? Rather than getting home and stuffing your garage full to the brim, come home from Marysville or Ninety Mile Beach and take all your gear to a storage unit. It could be like having an entire spare garage. Pile the tents, the sleeping bags, the kayaks and the water skis - even the trailer, if your storage unit is big enough - all inside the storage unit, ready to access again next holidays.

Using a storage unit to house your camping gear will make it easier to pack and unpack, and leave much more storage space in your garage at home. As a storage solution, storing camping gear isn't always something people would consider, but storage rental really will help make the whole process much easier.

Keeping Storage Rental Safe in the Long Term

If you're planning to use storage rental in the long term, there a couple of things you should consider to keep your storage items safe and well maintained.

The first and most obvious step is to pack them well. If you're storing smaller objects, wrap everything carefully and keep them in boxes. Pack boxes with packing material or bubble wrap, so if anything falls or is moved during the storage rental, your things will still be safe.

It's also a good idea to give the storage unit a clean out once in a while during your storage rental. It may seem silly to be dusting out your storage unit, when the furniture in it is just going to stay in storage rental, but it will help to keep the furniture in good condition.

Keep in mind that certain items may not survive well in a storage rental environment, especially in the long term. Computers shouldn't really be stored for longer than six months. Clothes, if they haven't been packed carefully in a clothes box, may come out of storage rental a little worse for wear.

As long as you check on your things fairly frequently, long-term storage rental should work out fine. At Access Self Storage, our storage units are well maintained and very clean. Just remember to follow these few steps, and to check up on your storage unit every once in a while, and your long-term storage rental should definitely work out successfully.

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.

Packing Up Self-Storage into the Truck

One major step in using self-storage is transporting your goods from your home to the storage unit. This may seem like a relatively simple task, and certainly it is if you've chosen to use removalists. But sometimes when you use self-storage, and only have to transport a few items, it can seem easier to hire a truck and move it yourself. Here are a couple of tips on packing up your moving truck to make moving your self-storage a little bit easier.

If you're putting mattresses into self-storage, load them up first and against the walls. The heaviest of your self-storage items should be loaded up the front, and longer furniture against the longer walls. Drawers and doors should face the walls of the truck, so they don't swing open. Keep the heavier boxes for self-storage on the floor, and lighter boxes on top. Fill any gaps with smaller items, to minimise movement on your way to the self-storage facility.

Remember to spread out the weight relatively evenly, so the trip to self-storage is as safe as possible. If there's a lot of room left when you've packed everything up, keep it all stacked low. Using blankets, sheets and towels as packing pads is a good idea, and pack rugs on last, so you can put them straight on the floor when you arrive at the self-storage facility.

Just a few steps to help making the transportation easier, and help to make your self-storage experience a little more stress free.

Drawing Up a Plan for Your Storage Rental

Planning your storage rental is going to seem obvious, but it's such an important step in making the storage rental process much easier.

Having a plan to pack up, a plan to pack the storage unit and a plan to unpack again after your storage rental will help make things run smoother. It doesn't have to be complex and detailed. As long as you note down what storage is going into what boxes, and where those boxes should be kept in the storage unit, your storage rental will go along much more smoothly.

Having a plan can mean making a list of all your labels and what they mean - which "kitchen" box has which kitchen utensils, for example. Noting down everything that you're putting into storage rental, which boxes they've been stored in, and where these things will need to be unpacked once you have finished with your storage rental is a pretty easy, but important, step.

Drawing up a plan for your storage rental will also help you think about where your storage is going to go once you unpack. Maybe some things that belonged in the bedroom in your previous house might serve better in the living room in your new place. Plans will help you think about these things, and ensure you stay on top of everything while you use storage rental. This way, your storage rental can be hassle free.

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?

Storage Rental for Students

Exams are finally winding up, and the summer holidays are stretched out ahead of you. Storage rental is probably the last thing on your mind. If you’re anything like me, you would have walked into your room after your final exam, and almost tripped over the mass accumulation of paper and text books and notes strewn all over your desk, floor, and bed.

Storage rental is something worth looking into this time of year. God knows I never knew what to do with all the paperwork from the previous semester – I wish I’d known more about storage rental at the time.

Storage rental just gives you something to do with it all. Rather than spending hours going through it, trying to decide if countless drafts of previous assignment are actually worth keeping – pack it all up in some clearly labelled boxes, and stick it in storage rental.

Having storage rental booked will also help get you motivated to sort it all out, too. It was always the stress that I’d throw out something vital that stopped me from taking it all and chucking it in the bin. With storage rental, there’s somewhere to dump it all, without having to worry you’ll lose something important. Storage rental just helps you get all that paperwork out of your room. You can keep it in storage rental for the rest of the holidays, or even the rest of your studies if you needed.