After the holidays are over, there’s an inevitable mess caused by gifts, wrapping paper, and Christmas decorations. If you have houseguests such as family members, the additional clutter and trash exacerbates the problem. How can you dig yourself out of the clutter? How can you transition away from the holidays? How should you determine what to do about holiday storage? At Safeguard Self Storage, we’ve had experience with this. Here are some tips that we’ve learned.

Organize, Organize, Organize

There are an infinite amount of holiday life hacks and Christmas storage ideas floating around the internet, but nothing beats creating an old-fashioned organizing strategy and checklist. If you’ve got one of those, you’re well on your way to banishing the mess from your home.

Make a List and Label Your Boxes

When your Christmas or holiday decorations are up, it’s easy to see where your stuff is and just how much space it occupies. Take this time to make yourself your own personalized holiday storage list. Any list will help, even if it’s just a few scribbles on a page. A detailed list, however, won’t just help you now. It will also help in the future as you take your holiday decorations out year after year. If possible, include the following details:

• Item categories
• Quantity of decorations
• Item attributes (fragile, flammable, sturdy, etc.)
• Room placement

Once you have this list, whether it’s in a spreadsheet on your computer or a notebook, you can use it to label your boxes as accurately as possible. Don’t be afraid to buy new boxes if you think it will help you. They can always be reused later on.

Take Special Care for Special Items

Some holiday items, like Christmas linens, figurines, candy tins, and the like are relatively straightforward to store. Others are not. You’ll want to pay special attention to these and buy appropriate padding or protection.

How to Store Your Artificial Christmas Tree

Your Christmas tree is most likely your largest individual item to store. While it’s easier said than done to put it back in the box it came in, an outside-the-box idea—literally—is to get a large roll of plastic wrap and shrink wrap your tree. You can even do so with the ornaments and lights still on the tree, making your unpacking next year easy as Christmas pie.

How to Wrap Christmas Tree Lights for Storage

The hardest thing to put away are holiday lights because of their extreme propensity for tying themselves into an impressive bunch of complicated knots. There are a few Christmas storage ideas that prevent this. One of the simplest solutions is to cut out a small square of cardboard and wrap each string of lights around their own square. That prevents lights from tangling with each other, and it also helps you understand more visually how many strings of lights you have.

How to Store Your Ornaments

Ornaments can be easily broken or damaged, so it’s important you have ornament storage that works. One option is to buy a purpose-built ornament holder, which does a great job in keeping ornaments secure and is easy to transport. If you’re more interested in a DIY solution, egg cartons and cardboard drink containers are your friend for small and large round ornaments, respectively.

How Self Storage Can Help After the Holidays

Even the best Christmas storage ideas only help so much, because you still have to find a way to stow them away until the next year. Putting them in your basement takes up valuable space you could otherwise utilize for items that you might need throughout the year. Storing them in your garage prevents you from parking there, which you might regret during the dog days of summer or the coldest winter nights.

That’s why self storage is an ideal option for holiday storage. By putting your holiday decorations in self storage, you’ll be able to keep your home clean and uncluttered and store your items in a purpose-built space rather than stuffing it anywhere you can. Safeguard Self Storage also offers the following features:

• Heated and cooled units
• Packing supplies on site
• Flexible access hours
• Drive-in loading areas
• Digital video recording

Uncluttering your home can result in multiple psychological and physical health benefits, such as increased confidence, increased energy, lowered anxiety, and more. Self storage can help you do that.

Safeguard Your Items with Holiday Storage

When the holidays are over, and you’ve finally figured out how to wrap Christmas tree lights for storage, Safeguard Self Storage can help you. With dozens of locations across Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, we’ve got a location near you to help you through the post-holiday blues. Don’t be overwhelmed with holiday items filling your home. Contact us and reserve a unit today!

It's convenient and affordable, but how can you make self storage here in Baton Rouge, LA even better? When you know how to maximize your unit for easy access, anything is possible. Whether you're planning a first lease or looking for more room in existing space, these tips keep you organized while you’re coming and going.

Get Ready With a Plan

You're headed down to the Atchafalaya for some bass fishing. You can barely get the boat out of the crowded garage, and you lose time looking for your gear. Storage units solve these problems and more, when you start with a plan.

• Use a storage facility's online space estimator to determine the best unit size for your things.

• Choose self-storage facilities close to home or on the way to your favorite fishing spot.

• Consider leasing a drive-up unit for heavy things like furniture and appliances.

Get Set to Box

Once you've decided on a unit size and location, it's time to start boxing. Are you thinking about opening your own setup at the Deep South Flea Market? Do you need a place to store personal and business records? Whether you're stashing treasures or stockpiling books, these tips work for all your packed items.

• Choose boxes similar in size for easy stacking.

• Use big labels that give you room for a short list of contents.

• Discourage dust buildup in long-term storage by taping lids shut.

• Stuff bubble wrap or packing peanuts in partially filled boxes to keep tops from caving in.

Floor Plans Aren’t Only for Your Home

Streamline your self storage ins and outs with a smart unit floor plan. Do it right, and you’ll have parking space for your bike between cruises along Cypress Bayou, with room leftover for your favorite LSU cheer gear.

• Keep things you don't use often at the back of the unit.

• Stack boxes in rows to create aisles for easy access.

• Stabilize stacks by laying boards across grouped boxes.

• Use wood pallets to raise everything off the floor.

• Stay mobile with wheeled shelving units.

Come See Us Soon

Our teams are always glad to share insider knowledge, so come see us soon. We're here to serve with two Safeguard Self Storage locations in Baton Rouge, LA and six additional locations in the Metro New Orleans Area. It's our job to make sure you have the best storage experience possible, so let us help you make the most out of your unit.

You don't need a big office to be successful, but your business needs room to grow. From the north end of Miracle Mile to the center of the Loop, desks disappear under clutter and closets explode with boxes. Every office in Chicago, IL can use a little extra business storage, so get ready to bust out the smart moves that keep you organized.

Start with Everything

If your office landscape looks like a reflection in the Bean, it's time to get back on an even keel. Empty each desk one drawer at a time. Clear out closets, corners and shelves. Take everything out of work stations, storage areas and break rooms, and then take stock. If you haven't used that equipment, looked at those records or flipped through that manual in more than a year, box it up for self storage. You now have room in desks, drawers and closets for taking care of business with well-organized space to spare.

Get Tough and Toss

Business storage here in Chicago is always affordable, but don't let that tempt you into keeping things you really don't need. You're making progress with those boxes ready to go, so get tough, and sort through them one more time. Work with a goal of eliminating half the stuff headed for self storage. Scan and convert paper records into digital files. Donate extra equipment and furniture to a local charity, and enjoy a small write-off. Once you've slimmed down the storage stash, an inventory makes it easier to track what you're moving into your unit.

Organize On- and Off-Site

Now that the office is clean and lean, you need more than good intentions to keep it that way. Make sure desk drawers stay tame with inexpensive dividers. Corral computer cables with cord ties and covers, and fill empty corners with floor-to-ceiling shelving. Extend organizing inspiration to your self-storage unit with labeled boxes and specific space dedicated to equipment, stock and records. This strategy saves sorting time whether you're dropping off or retrieving things, and it keeps the unit organized.

Who needs luxury suites on Wacker Drive when you can make the most of your space anywhere in the city? Smart self storage solutions at Safeguard help small Chicago, IL businesses grow with affordable flexibility and dependable security. You're doing fine in your space, so make the most of it -- and you just might wind up on top of Willis Tower.

Are you a pack rat? Well, fear clutter no more with the help of Safeguard Self Storage! We all tend to collect and hold onto possessions past their time of usefulness, but with this helpful guide, you can ditch your squirreling ways – or find a more convenient home for your treasures.  May 17th is Pack Rat Day, and we’re gearing up to help Baton Rouge residents kick clutter – and their pack rat habit – to the curb.

The Difference Between Hoarding and Pack Rats

We all have a little collector in us, but for those who struggle to let go of items more than most, these tendencies can become more than the norm. Hoarding is a big issue that is more than just being disorganized. While extreme cases have been featured on some hit TV shows, many people may not know the difference between hoarding and being a pack rat. Check out the following signs to see if your habit is turning into hoarding (and nip it in the bud before it becomes a big issue).

1. You keep collecting items, without having use for the item or a place to display it.
2. Your collection has taken over – and become piles of clutter that disrupt the livability of your home.
3. Any room in your home that cannot be used due to clutter, or chairs and pathways are piled with stuff and can’t be used.
4. You had strong attachments to belongings at an early age.
5. It’s very difficult for you to part with unwanted items.
6. You have so much stuff, but you hide it from other people.
7. If you’re ashamed to invite people to your home.

Decluttering Tips for Pack Rats

• Take it slow. Don’t try to tackle your whole home at once. Getting rid of a ton of clutter and items in one sitting can be daunting – and possibly cause an emotional reaction from purging so many items. Set aside time every day during the week or on the weekends and tackle one room at a time.
• Give yourself a time limit. Don’t toil over an item for longer than necessary, and make a definitive decision for every piece. No setting it aside to come back to at a later date. Give yourself a time limit for each item, and decide to keep or toss.
• Scale down collections. This doesn’t always mean collectibles. As a pack rat, you may be likely to hold onto old school work, report cards or particular projects you were especially proud of. Keep one or two of these items, and throw out the rest. If an actual collection is taking over your home, find a new home for it with mini storage units in Baton Rouge. Safeguard storage facilities in Baton Rouge have climate controlled options to keep collectibles in pristine condition.
• Throw out unused items. Any items that you aren’t using or that are broken? Toss them out! This doesn’t always mean throwing it out. You could donate items or sell them in a garage sale. 
• Box it up. If you’re really struggling over an item, box it up for 6 months. If you find yourself opening the box – or going to retrieve from your nearby storage unit – you know that you need to bring it back home. If you find that you can store an item in mini storage without noticing its absence, it’s time to toss it.

How Safeguard Self Storage Helps

Self Storage facilities in Baton Rouge provide a convenient home for all your extra clutter, and can help you make your home more livable. While mini storage can be a great home for all the items you can’t bear to throw out, it’s important to remember to maintain you’re new clutter-free home. Don’t empty your house just to fill it back up again! When you purchase an item, make sure that you really need it. And to keep valuable collections safe, choose Safeguard Self Storage.