The Cookes Storage Service opening hours over the Christmas period are as follows:

• 23rd December: 9am to 5pm
• 24th December: 10am to 2pm
• 25th December: CLOSED
• 26th December: CLOSED
• 27th – 31st December: 10am to 4pm
• 1st January: CLOSED
• 2nd January: Normal Operating Hours

If you require access outside of these operating hours please give us a call on 0121 285 5197 or email info@cookesstorage.co.uk.

Have you ever wondered how secure your home is? With rising concerns over burglaries, homeowners need to be a little more savvy in taking care these days. The police say that homes with no security measures are five times more likely to be targeted than those with some simple security in place security.

At Cookes we take security very seriously – each locker is individually alarmed, with PIN code entry on the entrance and 24 hour CCTV. However, we know that keeping your home secure without feeling you are under lock and key, can be a little more involved.

The point, it seems, is not to make your home a Fortress of Impenetrability, but to make of a Domicile of Difficulty – that is to say, make it look like so much hard work to get in, that the thieves go for an easier target.

Home Security From the outside

Go outside, and look at your home compared to others on the street.

• Have you got ladders lying in the grass or tools in view? Valuable tools can attract a thief to your house, while leaving hammers, ladders and other items around may be providing easy access to an opportunist thief.
• While you are out, even in the garden, have you left doors and windows open? Or, is the shed or garage visible and open from the road – particularly of note if your garage has a connecting (hopefully locked) door into your home?
• Do you have a visible alarm box? Even a dummy box can act as a deterrent, so consider placing one high up on your home.
• Install security lighting and movement sensors on the outside of the house.
• Have you got secure fencing and a locked gate? Everything that slows a thief down in getting into and away from your home will encourage them to move elsewhere.

Home Security From the inside

An unoccupied home is more appealing than one where confrontation could happen. So, make your home look occupied, even when you are out.

• Put some lamps and a radio on timers inside. That way, even while you are out the lights and noise are on at home.
• Close your curtains. Nothing says empty house more than open curtains throughout the night.
• Check your doors and windows. Are they all locked securely?
• Thieves have been known to access homes using the door key, by hooking it through a letterbox. Make sure you don’t leave keys in the door or within easy reach.
• Better yet, keep all keys out of sight. Thieves may not be after the contents of your home – not if you have an expensive car sitting on the driveway. Most homeowners place keys in a drawer or on a hook nearest the door – so make it harder for thieves by moving things about.

While you are in, and when you go out

Sadly, you can’t always prevent a very determined thief. However, you can do more to ensure that there is nothing inviting them to your home. We also recommend that you keep valuables locked away in a hidden home safe.

Please don’t advertise that you are away on social media. Telling everyone you are away for a week not only makes your home vulnerable, it could invalidate your home insurance.

However, do tell your neighbours. They can watch over your home, and collect any parcels left out on the doorstep, making it clear that the house is under a watchful eye.

If you plan to leave your home unattended for any length of time, such as going abroad, you might want to consider putting anything valuable into storage. Cookes Storage Service can provide secure storage.

Click Here to Get a Quote.

There are a few things we British find synonymous with spring – lighter evenings, lambs running through the fields, the drenching of an April shower – and of course, the spring clean.

There is nothing more satisfying than a thorough spring clean – it’s a time when we open wide the windows, letting the warm sunshine and fresh air blow away the dregs of the winter; when we delve deep into cupboards and sort through the unnecessary clutter; when we chase spiders and cobwebs out and put a shine on all the woodwork.

The spring clean is a tradition that goes back hundreds of years – possibly even to ancient Egyptian times if Wikipedia is to be believed! However, modern day living has brought with it some unique challenges.

It’s a fact that in today’s consumer lifestyle we have more stuff – more clothes, more sports gear, more gym equipment, more hobbies, more possessions and so on. It’s also true that modern homes are getting more compact and – as anyone who has been house hunting recently can attest – are seriously lacking in storage.

In times gone by we would have just heaved all of that extra clutter up into the attic space. But who has attic space anymore? That’s already been converted into an extra bedroom.

The rest would be squashed into the garage, carefully stacked and balanced to avoid the car. Except – we don’t really keep cars in the garage anymore, if you even have a garage, because it’s already been adapted into an extended kitchen.

Self Storage Heroes

That’s where your local self-storage heroes leap to your rescue. Indoor self-storage is a rapidly growing industry in the UK, as we discover the advantages to having additional storage units to keep all of our less used, bulkier possessions.

As you root through the cupboards and prepare for the beautiful months of sunshine ahead, sort all of your thick winter clothing into boxes. This will leave more space in the wardrobe for your summer wear – with air to let the fabrics breath.

You’ll soon discover piles of memorabilia – the children’s school reports and certificates, medals and trophies, that they no longer want to display, but you can’t bear to bin.

Not to mention the stack of exercise equipment – stepping machines, thigh trainers, weights and running machines – that you currently use as a rather expensive clothes dryer.

It’s time to take all of your “I’ll use it one day” belongings and place them in self-storage. There’s no need to pay for unused space – there are a choice of storage unit sizes so you only rent what you need.

Everything is packed away, safe, dry and secure, until you need it. Your self-storage hero from Cookes Storage will even come and collect it for you, so there’s no excuse not to get that clutter cleared.

And as you put the final polish on the shelves and rub the last smear from the windows, you can relax in your spacious, freshly cleaned home, ready to enjoy the rest of spring.

If you plan to start the year with a fresh outlook, one great way to begin is to remove some of the clutter from your life. Our homes, workplace, and lives in general are filled with excesses of goods that we could honestly do without – and may be adding to the stress in our lives.

We know that the busier our lives, and the more we try to fit in, the more stressed and anxious we feel. The same applies to the space we live in. If you are surrounded by clutter, with overflowing wardrobes, piles of toys or bursting cupboards, your home is likely to be over stimulating, rather than the place of restful tranquillity you can escape to at the end of the day.

Here are some top tips to decluttering your home – and restoring some calm and control in your life.

Clear your wardrobes

We all keep items of clothing because we love them, or they were expensive, or they hold special memories – even when they no longer fit. You may be planning on a new year diet and aim to get into your designer jeans once more, but now is the time to be honest. Ask yourself, have you worn it in the last year? If not, it’s time to put it aside.

Go through your cupboards

Cupboards and drawers are a great place to dump things throughout the year that have no obvious home. Everyone has a drawer in the kitchen full of screws, keys, and ‘might be useful’ items. Speaking of kitchens, what about the spiralizer, the egg cooker or the doughnut maker. There’s a variety of must-have gadgets we buy but rarely use. Now’s the time to have a sort out and make some room.

An ornament free zone

Whether it’s candles, collectibles or home-made art, every surface in your office or lounge probably holds some sort of dust-collecting ornament that you rarely look at and likely don’t need. Be brutal – is it a special piece, or is it adding to your distraction and stress?

The difference between unnecessary and unwanted

Sometimes it’s hard to see past the piles. You don’t need to throw away special memories or give all of your children’s favourite toys to charity. The aim is to declutter your home, not break your heart.

Put everything you feel you may want to keep into storage and see how often you need to go and get it. It’s a great solution for those designer jeans – if you are going to stick to your diet, you don’t want to bin your entire wardrobe, only to replace it later when you succeed. But you also don’t want piles of too tight clothing taking up space and nagging you every day. Move everything into self storage and it’s there when you need it, without taking over your bedroom.

The same principle applies to your kitchen gadgets. Self storage companies allow you to rent as much or as little space as you require, and to visit your unit whenever you want to get something out. That means your doughnut maker is on hand when you are feeling adventurous, but out of sight while you work on your new year diet.

As the clutter leaves, your home will start to feel like a restful haven, somewhere to relax and enjoy yourself again. With the new year ahead, there’s no better time to get started.

The Cookes Storage Service opening hours during the Christmas and New Year break are as follows:

• 23rd December – 9.00am to 5.00pm
• 24th December – 9.00am to 2.00pm
• 25th to 27th December – CLOSED
• 28th December – 10.00am to 3.00pm (Existing Customer Access Only)
• 29th December – 10.00am to 4.00pm (Existing Customer Access Only)
• 30th December – 10.00am to 4.00pm
• 31st December – 10.00am to 4.00pm
• 1st January 2017  – CLOSED
• 2nd January 2017 – 9.00am to 5.00pm
• 3rd January – Normal Opening Hours

If you require access outside of these core Christmas operating hours please give us a call on 0121 2505055 or email info@cookesstorage.co.uk.

Business Self Storage

December has arrived, and most businesses are gearing up for the busiest few weeks of the year. The 5 weeks of the festive season can account for up to half a year’s revenue for many small retailers. With every retailer – on and offline – in competition for consumers, it’s vital that business owners have prepared in advance.

Small businesses in particular have to juggle a variety of factors over the festive season that can impact on their ability to meet customer needs – staff holidays and sickness, cash flow and holiday pay, delivery demands and increases in theft. And there’s still the Christmas party to organise.

One aspect that’s vital to your sales this December is having enough of every product in place, particularly popular items that make up a large part of your profits. With online shopping, next day deliveries and plenty of options, consumers are not likely to hang around long if you hang up the ‘out of stock’ sign.

The issue many small businesses face is a lack of space. Whether you have a physical shop or sell entirely online, all the additional stock has to be put somewhere while you wait for the orders to flood in.

Stacking haphazardly in corridors and backrooms will likely result in items being damaged or lost, while the time taken to hunt down each order for wrapping and stamping all adds to delays in sending items out and meeting customer demands.

The advantages of offsite business storage

There’s an easy solution to toppling box piles though, and that’s taking advantage of short term business self-storage units. Off-site storage has a lot of benefits for smaller businesses – in fact more and more retailers are using them on a regular basis, or running their business from their storage site entirely.

Here’s why inventory storage could be the solution – and bring you a big increase in profits this Christmas.

1. Rental agreements are on a short term or monthly basis – no year-long contracts and huge overheads here.
2. The size of the unit you take is also flexible, so you don’t need to pay for a mass of empty space – just take the unit that meets your needs.
3. Indoor off-site storage is dry and clean. There’s no need to worry about stock getting dirty or damaged. An indoor business storage facility is often temperature controlled as well – so even food and drink can be stored safely.
4. With CCTV and often PIN access controls in place, your stock is safe and secure. Some stock storage facilities even offer a reception service, accepting deliveries so that you don’t need to worry about time spent waiting while you could be out working.
5. If your business is already overflowing with boxes, crates and festive chaos, but you don’t have time to move it all, then the right self-storage providers can even solve that problem. Cookes Storage in Sutton Coldfield will even come and collect your goods for you – so that all you need to do is make sales and see your profits soar.
6. Once you’ve organised your stock in your unit, you’ll be able to locate individual items with ease and get everything packed and ready for shipping in no time at all – meaning you can pack and shift more in one day and meet more customer demands.

Finally, once the festive season is over you’ll be able to see at a glance what, if any, stock is left over and get it all marked down in time for the January sales before leaving your temporary business premises – until the next seasons demand begin.