The Home and Office Organization Top Ten

February 8th, 2010

In this, our first blog post of 2010, we offer up a Top Ten list of things to keep in mind when organizing your home or office.

  1. Know your goal – Write out the idea situation for your home. This is a no-holds-barred exercise. Don’t filter your thoughts, just write it down.
  2. Work with the people around you – Your new system won’t work unless you and the people around you all commit to living within it. If part of it doesn’t work for one person, it won’t work for anyone. Collaborate until you find something that works.
  3. Be creative in storage solutions – Don’t discount anything unless it is outside of your parameters. There is always time to change it once it has been implemented, but if you never implement it you will never really know its benefits and drawbacks.
  4. Know your options – Just because all you have is one closet doesn’t mean that’s the only option. Using creative containers, multi-functional furniture, or services like StorPod can drastically increase your storage potential.
  5. Don’t keep everything – While everything you own has value, it doesn’t mean that you have to keep it forever. If you haven’t looked at that book you bought three years ago, chances are you won’t look at it ever. Sell it on eBay or give it away and go to the library if you change your mind later.
  6. Know how much space you need – Just because you have a lot of space doesn’t mean you need it. If you find that you can live in a smaller space, you can make money by becoming a StorPod landlord. If you think you need more space, you can move or become a StorPod tenant.
  7. Know your values – Just because that clock is old and broken doesn’t mean it is worthless. If it is valuable to you because it reminds you of a life lesson, then keep it. But if you didn’t take the time realize that life lesson means something to you, you might regret throwing that clock away later.
  8. Use what you have – Focusing more time and effort on organization doesn’t have to mean expensive storage solutions or built-ins. Use the resources you have available to you to make things work. If you have empty pots in the backyard from the flowers that died a few weeks ago, clean them out and use them as pencil holders.
  9. Ask for help – Just because you’re out of ideas doesn’t mean that your project failed. Ask friends, families, or companies for help in organizing your home.
  10. Don’t change it too often – One key principle for any system is that it has to be predictable to work. If you change your organizational strategy every week, you will find that you are never actually organized. Once you choose a strategy, try it out for a few months. Take notes on what you like and what you don’t like, and at the end of the three months make any necessary changes at one time.

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Inert Objects versus Troublesome Lodgers

November 15th, 2009

While I was in my neighbour’s garage collecting some winter clothing I had stored there, I was thinking about a recent discussion with my friend Amanda Reekie.  Amanda is co-founder of Stratton & Reekie, a London-based PR, marketing and communications consultancy, specialising in the creative industries.

I had just told her about StorPod.com and her initial reply was “renting space out to inert objects instead of troublesome lodgers seems like a good idea”.  As always, Amanda gave me a nugget that triggered a number of other thoughts, this time about relative security implications of letting strangers into your home.

At StorPod we hear many concerns of potential risk around storing someone else’s stuff.  Of course this exists – just like it’s there if you allow someone to park in your garage, or if you lend your favourite power tool to a neighbour.

There’s always risk in dealing with other people.  You never really know what’s in a stranger’s suitcase; indeed, what’s the risk to friendship if you  accidentally spill something on your best buddy’s filing boxes stored in your attic? The question is really about the degree of risk as compared to the amount of benefit received.

There is a range of risks and a range of benefits, of course.  Perhaps you don’t want to risk a friendship, but you don’t mind that a stranger has stored a bottle of soda pop that randomly bursts and spills cola all over your attic.  Equally what could be meant by “benefit”?  Extra money, or simply convenience and space? For the sake of this article, we define “risk” in terms of the exposure of your home / family and “benefit” as financial gain.

Assuming you have extra space you want to do something with (ideally something that brings in money) we have identified a number of possible scenarios:

1/ You use the space for personal reasons.  It’s safe in that you know precisely what you’re with the space and the objects that you have stored there, but you can’t very well charge yourself for it and so that space does not earn you any money.  In fact, if you need to fix it up, it becomes an expense to you.

2/ You store your friend’s items for no fee.  The level of risk slightly increases as while your friend may not wish to intentionally cause you damage, something might break, or you might spill something on his possessions.  Again, no money is earned so there is really no (monetary) benefit to you.

3/ You could charge your friend to store his stuff.  This brings the whole question of money into friendships which isn’t very easy, but it does move this aspect of the relationship to more business-like terms and whilst you’re helping someone out, they’re giving you some financial recognition for it.  This is quite a safe option, but you probably won’t get anywhere near the true market value of your space.

4/ You could rent out a slice of your space – say your couch to a visitor.  This is actually quite a good idea, helps you meet new people – potentially from another part of the world – and gives you a bit extra money.  But, now we’re dealing with issues around people – lodgers, effectively – being in your home.  They have access to your possessions, they may snore, insist you be at their beck and call and drink your milk directly from the bottle.

5/ Rent to a fellow StorPodder. Ideally, you’ve met someone on the StorPod web site.  They need some help with extra space for their items, your home might be conveniently close.  They bring their items around and you politely ask to view the contents; you reject anything that’s not properly wrapped or is too heavy for the carpet in your spare room.  Satisfied with what you’ve seen, you help them seal everything up again (so they know that their possessions are secure) and they pay you the negotiated storage cost.

How will you use your space?

How will you use your space?

6/ We think that a similar risk / reward (as storage) is renting out your parking space.  You might have some extra challenges around granting access to the parking spot through a key card or similar manner.  Also you really don’t want a beat-up clunker as an eyesore in your driveway, leaking oil over the garage floor, or a door bashing into the neighbour’s parked car.  However, if all those are dealt with, you could have a very good relationship with your “tenant”.

7/ Rent out your spare bedroom to a professional or permanent lodger.  Here you’re dealing with more space, the need to pay electrical, water and other bills for another human being so you could probably earn more than you might if you rented out your space for storage of inert objects.  However, as with the couch surfer, no number of interviews can help determine what a potential lodger will really be like.  Will s/he start making googly eyes at your spouse?  Will the Monday to Friday professional be working really late hours and come back late after “liquid” business meetings?  Will the 7-day-a-week lodger run off one day with your laptop?

Clearly there are quite a number of ways to earn revenue from your unused space.  Your own tolerance level for risk and dynamics of your life need to govern whether having inert objects or humans under your roof is acceptable to you.

However,  within a reasonable risk / benefit range we support the notion of hiring out your space for storage purposes over simply giving it away, or having lodgers in your space.

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A Price for Your Space

October 23rd, 2009

One of the most common questions we receive from people new to the storage business is “how do I price my space”? 

Alas, there is no one magical answer to this.  The value of your space will be affected by size, ease of access, security and more.  Also, since this is a person-to-person business, you may opt to price lower to help someone out who’s fallen on hard times, or higher if you’re in the fortunate position of having several potential tenants competing for your place.

As we’re dealing with property, consider location, location, location!  How easy can prospective tenants get to your place?  Is your facility well served by public transit?  Are taxis relatively inexpensive?  Do you have a place to park outside?  Remember, some tenants will store their possessions with you, happy not to see them for months on end.  Others may keep their suitcases with you and have to travel frequently.  Either way, they need to physically get their possessions to you someone.

Within your home – say – are you renting out an easily accessible room on the  ground floor?  Or is it an attic up a couple of flights of steep steps?  Will tenants be able to move their items up and down easily?

In the UK, properties are rented out on a per week or per month pricing basis.  A common rule of thumb for renting out a residential property is as follows: the cost per week should be 1/1000th of the value of the property.

So, if the property is valued at £300,000 then it should rent out at £300 per week.  This would be the same if it was a 5 bedroom house valued at £300k in the north of England, or a studio apartment in Central London with a book value of £300,000.  In both cases, the weekly rental could be similar.

Taking accurate measurements of your space will help you market it

Taking accurate measurements of your space will help you market it

Clearly, you won’t be renting out the entire property – maybe just a small space like a spare bedroom or attic.  Let’s say this space was 50 sq feet and your entire property was 1,000 sq ft.  The space you’re renting out if 5% of your property. 

If your home is worth £300,000 and you’re renting out 5% of it – or the part that’s worth £15,000 – you could apply the weekly pricing rule above and offer your property at £15,000 / 1,000 = £15 per week.

So, to recap:

1/ take the space you wish to rent out as an overall percentage of the property you live in
2/ apply that percentage to the current value of the property you live in
3/ divide that amount by 1,000 and this becomes your weekly rental rate

Of course, you’ll want to take into account other factors.  Being close to transport, having locks and other security on the space and generally having a clean and presentable unit might bump up the value. 

Ultimately, the value is whatever you negotiate with your prospective tenant, so do use the above as a guide rather than hard-and-fast rule.

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Heavy Lifting Over the Weekend

September 28th, 2009

Every so often, I go and visit my things in storage in a neighbour’s attic and just have a rummage around for an old document I suddenly need, or to transfer non-seasonal clothing to a protected environment.

Usually it’s a fight – inevitably I wind up taking out of the locker half of my stuff and methodically opening every suitcase or filing box to find exactly what I need.  Half the time it’s not there, or I don’t plan enough time for the visit and I bump up against the time that my neighbour needs to close up his home and leave.

I thought I had gotten smart – one day I arrived with a stack of pre-printed A4 (approx letter-sized) papers with large 48-point bold Arial writing on them as makeshift labels.  I used heavy duct tape to plaster signs like “Christmas deco’s” or “Air Mattress” or “Tax Records – 2005/06″ on the suitcase, box, or garbage bag I was using to store the item in question.

After a time, I had to bring additional papers to update my records (tax year 05/06 invetitably turned into 06/07, then to 07/08 and so on).  Also old papers get dog-eared, or I use the suitcases and need to replace the labels anyhow.

New, stacked and ready for a their next home...!

I finally decided to invest in some better storage boxes, after having woken up in the middle of one night exclaiming “Modular!”  In this way I could solve a number of problems:

  • organise my things in decreet groups and categories
  • with handles, the plastic boxes are easier to manage than bulky garbage bags or cardboard boxes that can rip
  • the boxes are stackable evenly – no more dangerous leaning towers of papers
  • the boxes I chose are air-tight and keep ambient smells or damp out
  • as the boxes can be stacked, they allow air flow under, over and between them – again minimising any risk of damp

Best of all, they’re transparent – I can see at a glance whether the contents are my winter parka (which may weigh the same as my air mattress), or my tax files ready for the accountant instead of a thousand of my old holiday snaps!

Ordering was easy.  I live in the UK so I went through my British Airways Executive Club membership through to their online shopping service, clicked through to Ebay (doing it this way gets you double BA airmiles!) and selected 7 * 64 Litre boxes and 3 * 80 Litre boxes.   The next business day they arrived. Over the weekend, I did the repacking / distribution.

I can now sleep more soundly at night, knowing that future visits to my beloved storage home will be easier, faster and far more hassle free than ever!

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One person’s trash…

August 25th, 2009

… is another’s treasure – or at least so the saying goes.

There are many reasons why we go through periodic cleanouts.  Moving – be it to a larger place, or smaller – is the usual requirement to sort through our stuff, largely because moving companies charge by weight and volume.

Perhaps we’re in a new relationship and simply don’t need the inevitable two-of-everything that would come from merging the bachelor(ette) pads.  Or, perhaps a life coach has recommend that we simply throw out anything we haven’t used for the last 6 months, and thus go through some sort of “purification” or renewal ceremony.  Or indeed, maybe we’re trying to clean up that extra bedroom in order to list it on StorPod.com to keep someone else’s stuff!

Whetever the reason to reduce the amount of stuff around the home or office, there are some handy tips to keep in mind during the process.

First, go through everything meticulously and take your time.  Remember, when an item is gone, it’s gone for good.  What would happen if your birth certificate were accidently thrown out with last week’s newspapers, or Great-Granny’s priceless heirloom wedding ring were donated along with the torn rugby shirts from grad school?

Got the stuff you want to keep?  Good.  Where are you going to put it all?  Surely not just back in the same place – you’ve gone to all that sorting work, so you might as well do something with it all.  Try not to get distracted reminiscing over old photos or starting up that stamp collection you always wanted.  Instead, consider what you might want to do with your prized possessions and whether space, logistics or time play factors in your decisions.

Perhaps this is a good time to do some DIY or contracting of labour to repaint the back of your closet, fix damaged plaster or rebuild a bookcase?  Maybe you might want to get rid of your exiting shelving and replace it with something more practical, modular, newer or simply more funky?  Perhaps it’s just spending a few bucks and getting better hangers that don’t wreck your shirts, or a DVD rack.

Once you have separated the items you want to dispose of, take another look at them.  What should be thrown out?  Perhaps clothing that can no longer be used because of some horrible and very obvious stain.  Can it be shredded to make cleaning rags?  Maybe  there are some books that got mildewed from when you left them in the garden under the sprinkler one day and never dried them out.  Try to recycle as much as you can, separating the paper from the glass and plastics.  Anything hazardous (old paints and batteries) should be disposed of in proper units.

Note: if you are disposing of papers, make sure you shred them to remove any personal information (such as your name, address, bank details, date of birth, etc).  If you are getting rid of old computers, cell / mobile phones, laptops, memory sticks, USB keys – anything that can hold data – ensure you take the time to back up your important information and reformat (several times) the item you are giving away.  This helps protect your identity and removes any problems you might have with giving away unlicensed software.

Now, turning to the stuff that is usable.  Could there be some intrinsic value to them, or do you have the time to sell them?  You could take them to your neighbourhood garage / car boot sale and maybe get a few dollars back from them, or turn them over to charity to sell on.

If you’re not interested in selling those items (used baby clothes are often difficult to sell even though they may still be in great condition), turn to an organisation like Freecycle.  This is a free email service which uses conventions like WANTED, OFFERED, COLLECTED in email subject lines to help re-home items of good condition that often can’t be sold.

In many cases you might have an item that still has some intrinsic value to it – such as a set of old records in good condition, or a pair of skis you never use.  You should consider selling these on Ebay or some other auction site, doing so at the right time of year (sell the skis when people are gearing up for the winter snow season, for example!)

However, if you do want to sell such items, be prepared to put some time into marketing them – if you want the best price, of course!  You should consider describing the item in detail – size, weight, colour, and other specifications.  Maybe add a short personal anecdote about when you used it and how helpful it was.  Take some photos of it – most mobile phones these days come with good quality cameras and you can easy download photos to your computer.  If it’s easier to describe the item with a video, consider shooting a 30 or 60 second video with your mobile and uploading that to YouTube (you should link your eBay ad to the video link too).  Spending a little time with each of these options could make your item more attractive to buyers and help you provide clearer answers on shipping terms and prices.

If you’re selling an old mobile phone (in the UK, at least) consider using a price comparison site to help you get the best deal.  Remember, consider both working and non-working phones as there is a market for both.

Whew!  Hopefully these tips are giving you a bit of extra elbow room.  Do write us with your ideas of how you cleaned out your home or office, and useful web sites that helped you!

Additional Industry News:

  • Cargotecture | 360Digest – According to the Wall Street Journal, there is enough space in rentable self-storage lockers in the U. for each man, woman and child to stand on a spot 2 ½ feet by 2 ½ feet, with room left over. While 40 percent of the total self-storage space is rented by businesses, one in every 11 American households now has a self-storage unit.
  • consolidate debt and climb out from underneath your bills – It’s really sad when I get gas for $2.82 a gallon and think, “Gee, that’s cheap!” But when you consider that just a few months ago, I was paying $1 more a gallon, yeah, anything under $3 looks good to me. …
  • Midlife Geeky Speaky – Chicago Self Storage Offers Smartbox Storage Syste. Recent Comments. La Stella Blu With the current state of the econo. lida thx man.
  • Good self storage blog – Space should not be your only concern when looking for good Saskatoon storage units . Security should also be an important factor to look for when choosing a facility to store your belongings. Today, more and more storing facilities offer improved security measures, which means that you can put a number of different things away without worrying if they will be safe….

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