What Type of Storer Are You?

Researchers recently revealed that there is a sort of life cycle of self storage and how we use it at every stage of our lives. So what kind of storer are you?

1. The Study storer?

Many of us remember our University days and living out of town for 8 months of the year in residence or off campus in a shared house. Some people schlepped all their stuff back and forth twice a year. I cannot imagine doing that. Many of us found a place to store our stuff for a few months during the summer at a self storage facility.

2. The Mover and Storer?

Once we finished school, we then proceeded to live in a few different places before getting the idea that perhaps we should decide to put down roots in one spot and stay a while. What did we do as we bounced around from place to place that varied in size? We put our things in self storage. Occasionally pulling things out and putting things in as the size of our apartments grew or got smaller.

3.  First Runger?

Eventually, our jobs become careers, and we start to think of marriage and and children and a home. By this point we have accumulated a fairly substantial amount of furniture and an almost mind bobbling amount of other “stuff” like CD’s and DVD’s, a large amount of sentimental items, suitcases, bags, shoes, clothes, bikes, sports gear, kitchen gadgets  etc. What do we do with stuff when we run out of room? We re-assess and decide what we need to keep in our house and what to store.

4. Big mover?

Families get bigger. Careers get bigger. Opportunities get bigger. Houses get bigger. We decide to move  a bigger home, or move across town, or province, or country. We need to de-clutter, we need to make room for the growing family, the kids’ friends, and sleepovers, and dinner parties.

5. Streamliner?

With all of the stuff that we accumulate over the years, we eventually look around and say to ourselves. Holy moly we have a lot of stuff we don’t use. We snap to our senses and decide to sort what we need and what we can get rid of. We give some stuff to charity and some goes to the dump. The rest, that we haven’t quite figured out what to do with yet, goes into storage.

6. Big Clearout?

This stage I am all too familiar with because every time I visit my parents, they are trying to give me something. They have completed the life cycle of storage. They have decided what they want to keep and are getting rid of everything else. They have re-organized their life, and they will soon move from the large family home into a smaller place that suits just the two of them.

So there you have it. The life cycle of storage. Where are you in this cycle? Leave us a comment and let us know.

See you soon 🙂

 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from all of us at Planet Storage.

See you soon 🙂

 

Storing Your Vinyl Collection Safely

A few friends of mine have a vinyl record collection. Some of their records they have had these since they were in their teens. Some they have bought recently. I remember a time when vinyl almost died completely. But today, its widely recognized as the music aficionado’s preferred listening experience. Vinyl albums are fantastic except for one thing. If you have an extensive collection, they take up an awful lot of room. Especially if you live in a small house or apartment. So is it any wonder that one of the more common items that we come across in self storage units is vinyl?

Here are some tips that we have learned from experts on storing vinyl records in self storage properly:

1. Keep it in a sleeve!

Even if you do not have the original sleeve it came in, you can probably grab some from your local record shop. If that fails, you can always do a Google search. Either way, you should be able to find some relatively cheap and affordable sleeve’s to keep your vinyl in. Otherwise the scratches will only add up with every surface the record touches.

2. Always store upright

Vinyl should never be stacked flat. It doesn’t take much for the vinyl to start warping downward, and then you’ll just have a big stack of unplayable Frisbee’s.  Whenever you store vinyl, you want to stack them upright like books on a book shelf. Old milk cartons, are an age old trick of the trade for easy transport, as well as keeping the vinyl in the upright position to secure it safely for years.

3. Climate Control

Heat and moisture are your enemies. Both will ruin your collection. Anytime you store vinyl where the temperature is hot and/or humid, you are risking warping the album and losing the record forever. A climate controlled self storage unit is the key!

So there you have it. A few quick tips to help you store your vinyl collection in self storage. If you have anymore tips or suggestions, please let us know.