Tag: spring

After a long and cold winter, it’s finally April and the weather is getting a little bit warmer. The trees are blossoming, and the sun is shining. When the air is not so cold, you want to open the windows and let the warm air into your house. But to really refresh your house, opening a window isn’t enough. Therefore, we’ve put together a successful checklist for spring cleaning to help you prepare your house for the warm weather.

First, you may be asking yourself: why do I need a checklist?

Having a checklist, whether it’s written down or just in your brain, helps you keeping things tidy and organised – just like you want your house to be. This will help you define what you want to do for each room, and it gives you an idea of a timeline. Deep cleaning should also be an integral part of your house, in order to keep it tidy and organised.

Have a goal

You should be thinking of what’s the aim of this spring clean? Is it to identify what piece of furniture you want to donate? Is it to declutter? Change the layout of your house/flat?

Divide your tasks into categories

After you’ve figured out what you want to do, we recommend dividing your tasks in different categories. This way, you don’t feel overwhelmed. You can divide your activities this by day, or by room. For example, for each room you can select what you want to:

• Clean
• Donate
• Store away
• Recycle/repair

We recommend coming up with a realistic timeline, avoiding stress. Spring cleaning should be enjoyable, and it should be about bringing your house back to life.

Identify what products you need

You may be thinking, I already have bleach, mould remover and cleaning wipes. While this is true, spring cleaning is a good idea to identify what products you’re missing and which one you want to replace. Maybe you want a new bathroom cleaner spray. Maybe you want to use more plastic free and green alternatives.

In addition, it’s important to make sure your vacuum cleaner is running and that you have good mop at home.

Wash pillows and duvets

Washing pillows and duvets can be quite impractical, and you may not have a lot of time to do so. If you want to go ahead with it, we recommend doing it during spring cleaning. If you have a lighter duvet for the warm months, this is the best time to take it out.

Don’t be scared of emptying your drawers, donation is an option!

Are your drawers very messy and cluttered? Spring cleaning is the best opportunity to sort them out and identify what you want to do with your belongings. Throwing away is not always the best options, as we would encourage you to donate/resell as much as you can. This can be old Christmas decorations, plates, cutlery, dvds, old toys and of course clothes.

Don’t forget about the deep part of the cleaning

Dusting your furniture, donating, removing mould, and cleaning your mirrors is key to a good clean. But the point of spring cleaning is to do a deep clean. A successful checklist for spring cleaning included unclogging the sink and drains, cleaning behind the toilet… It also included throwing away expired make up, taking care of your garden if you have one, and most of all…make the most of it.

And finally…

If you’re not ready to let go of some of your belongings, or have no space to store your winter stuff, storage might be a good option for you. With plenty of storage rooms with different sizes, convenient prices and industry leading security, Cookes Self Storage will look after your belongings. And you don’t have to worry about a single thing. To enquire about self-storage, call us on 0121 250 5055 or email us at info@cookesstorage.co.uk .

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.