Small businesses can go through a lot of growing pains as they become more successful. Many start in a box room or shed, as the entrepreneur dreams of developing a solid income. One day, that isn’t big enough anymore. Every successful business eventually outgrows the space where it started. Finding the right storage space for business is an important step, whether it will be used for products, files, equipment or other supplies.
When you need more space self storage can be an ideal solution. On the most practical level, it means your workspace is not cluttered with things you don’t need often. But it offers more benefits than eliminating clutter and ensuring you aren’t buried in an avalanche of merchandise or old files!
In the early days of a business, successful new entrepreneurs often work in a way that isn’t sustainable. To get the business going, we might work at night, on weekends and at every free moment we can grab. At that stage, having everything at home is convenient. But in the long term, we need healthy boundaries. If our home is full of merchandise, equipment or files, it is nearly impossible to maintain a good boundary between your work and your personal life.
Storing valuable merchandise and equipment away from your home also improves security. The items being stored benefit from the state of the art security measures the self storage unit uses. More importantly, your home is free of a major attraction for burglars. Thieves typically watch a space before striking, and if you are not seen moving products or equipment at your home, they have much less interest in it.
When a business grows beyond being workable from home, that can be a precarious moment. Keeping the cost of that first premises as low as possible can help ensure a business survives the leap from home-based to a real shopfront, industrial unit or office space. One solution is to find a small premises and rent storage space for business. This way you avoid paying premium rent for space you are actually using to store things.
A huge array of small businesses can benefit from self store rentals. Here are just some of them.
With individually alarmed units, 24-hour CCTV, electronic access control and monitored alarms, Space Storage provides more comprehensive security than most small businesses can afford in their own premises. We also offer a 24-hour access option, moving trolleys and a large loading bay. Contact us today to learn how we can help your business expand while keeping costs as low as possible.
When the world woke up to the news of lockdowns as preventive measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 in March 2020, most of us thought the home office culture would be a brief ‘phase’ that would pass in a few weeks or months. Little did we know back then that the ‘temporary’ home office would end up becoming the new normal and a space where many of us spend much of our day.
Whether we’re working at home full time or will eventually be splitting our time between the home office and our employer’s premises, good home office organisation is going to be more important as time goes on. The problem is that many people had no chance to prepare properly and no hint that this would be a long-term arrangement.
Taking the time to transition your home work space from an impromptu spot to a proper home office will reduce stress and improve efficiency. Whether you have an actual room for your office or just a computer desk in the corner, you can take some inspiration from these home office ideas to make it a more functional and pleasant space.
Clutter is the enemy of home office organisation. But when you need to have files, documents and other bits and pieces at your fingertips, what can you do? Well, you can start with these tips to organise your home office.
Even with the best home office organisation, it isn’t easy if you don’t have enough space. Apartment dwellers, people with large families and those in house-shares can really struggle to create a functional work space at home. They need more than tips to organise your home office. If you simply don’t have enough room, you might need to consider using a self-storage space to relocate some of your possessions.
Removing items you use only seasonally or occasionally can clear a lot of room in your home. Christmas trees and decorations, sports gear, camping equipment, lawn furniture and the like aren’t used year-round. Putting them in a secure storage unit means you can create a home office that works for you while still having access to them.
If you’d like more information about secure self-storage in the Dublin area, please contact us. We’re here to answer any questions you have about how our safe and affordable rental storage can help you.
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We’ve all been home so much now, that a lot of us are noticing that we simply have too much stuff and we need to declutter. Home organisation might seem like a daunting task, but when you break it down into simple steps, it can be easy and the reward is immediate. Whether you are looking to embrace minimalism or want to store luggage, skiis or other things you aren’t using during lockdown, decluttering will create the tidy, organised home you want.
Home organisation doesn’t have to mean getting a skip and never seeing your things again. These decluttering tips focus on making the best use of the storage space you have and using rental storage spaces wisely.
If you are aiming for minimalism, you will probably want to get rid of a lot of your belongings. But before you do, it is worth considering if you’ll just be tempted to replace them in a few months or a year. Try to brainstorm some criteria to decide what you will keep, what you will store at home or in rental storage, and what you will give away. Things to store includes items you aren’t using now but will want after the lockdown. Would putting a shelf full of ornaments or your Christmas things into rental storage improve your home workspace?
You don’t have to declutter your whole home at once. Take it one room at a time. Even one section of a room at a time can result in meaningful improvement. Organise one kitchen press or one wardrobe to start. Have a box for each room of things that can go into storage and label it clearly. That will make it easy to get what you need from a rental storage space.
Trying to declutter your whole home in one weekend is setting yourself up to fail. Instead, try to set aside an hour a week or 15 minutes a day or whatever works for you. Put it in your diary if that will help. You can set an alarm on your phone to remind you it is time for home organisation. Finding the best rental storage spaces in Dublin or your nearest city should be on that schedule too. Just having a schedule will ease the stress of decluttering.
Are you making the best use of the storage spaces in your home? When was the last time you had a good look under the stairs or in the attic? Garden sheds and garages are tempting, but can also be damp. The best storage spaces are dry, well lit, secure and easily accessed. Shelves or sturdy plastic storage boxes can help you use awkward spaces at home as well as rental storage spaces better.
Modern homes are compact and short on storage spaces. That’s tough in the best of times, but when you are working from home push can come to shove. If your home doesn’t have enough room, rental storage spaces in Dublin and other cities can be the answer. You can free up a lot of space at home by storing the items you only use seasonally or occasionally. Putting your Christmas tree and decorations, camping gear and sports equipment in convenient and secure rental storage spaces in Dublin means you can get it when you need it without it cluttering up your home.
Households everywhere have had to accomodate a makeshift home office for months. Is it time to acknowledge that a corner of the kitchen table isn’t cutting it? If your box room is full of your children’s old toys and that weight set you really will use someday, it’s time to clear it out and create the home office you need. Having a proper, decluttered workspace will help you focus and reduce your stress levels. You don’t have to get rid of everything you own to have that workspace. You can use secure and convenient rental storage spaces in Dublin.
Whoever would have thought it but here we are back in lock down again and for some reason this lockdown seems harder than the rest. The sunshine kept us company the first time around, bbqs for dinner and the kids splashing in paddling pools made us all feel that bit better able to cope with being locked inside.
The second lockdown felt that it would not be for long and we could manage to get the numbers down and get back to some normality quickly.
This lock down, I am struggling more than before. Maybe it’s the colder weather or the huge spike in numbers, all I know is that this time it feels different. The first week or so was busy with little things like taking down the tree, snuggling up watching movies and it felt like a little extension to the Christmas holidays. However now three weeks in its all a little harder.
I finally cracked trying to use the kitchen table as a classroom for the two kids along with a home office for myself. We were all distracting each other and with the fridge staring at the kids it felt like they were endlessly hungry. I felt like none of us could focus.
I knew we all needed our own space and there would not be as much distraction that way. Creating Space involved a good clear out. We have a small box room with a desk which appears to have become a dumping ground for anything that does not have a permanent home. That was the first project. Black bags were filled with cushions that were no longer used, board games that were no longer played and other kid’s toys that they had outgrown. Once the Space was cleared my daughter claimed this as a place to do her schoolwork everyday. She was very happy.
Next was my son’s room, at almost nine I knew the job of clearing some space in his room involved getting rid of some of his toys and items he had outgrown. I found this difficult as some of the items had so much sentimental value that I wished we could hang onto them. We filled boxes with these items, but where do the boxes go? Once boxes were filled we managed to have a clear desk where he could also do school work and not be distracted by his sister and working Mum.
I had reclaimed the kitchen table as my own work space and they could go off to their own separate spaces/classrooms to get their school work completed. It is going to make things so much better I can just feel it!
All this space we had created resulted in my hall being filled with boxes and black bags full of items. The next step…..Storage! Something my house just didn’t have. What happened next was like someone coming with a magic wand, we found Space storage. We arranged for a pick up from a local transport company who took all of the items to Space and placed them all inside our own storage unit and locked it away. I have to say it was so easy and I was able to organise everything over the phone, the team were so helpful and I could stay safe and regain my own space at home. Thank you Space Storage for making this third lock down that little bit easier!
I had been planning my new business venture for six months prior to 2020. My aim was to begin the year by launching my website and designing the content to make my business stand out from the rest. I researched and researched, met with people from advertising and marketing sectors as I wanted to get it just yet. I visited the bank to open my new business account, I registered my business with the relevant authorities and finally I purchased my stock. I was all set. Then the pandemic hit and I was left not knowing what to do!
No one could have predicted the pandemic or the effect it has taken on the economy. No one could have believed we would have been locked indoors for such a long period of time hidden away from normal life.
Months were spent homeschooling and trying to keep my family safe and well. The business idea went on the back burner as we struggled to deal with what was happening in the world. Each time I opened the garage to take out my kids bikes to go for our daily exercise, I would see the stock out of the corner of my eye and I would think of all the hours I had put in to get to this point.
This was an uncertain time and knowing that my new business involved not only supplying a customer with a product but also installing that product I wasn’t sure of a time when I would be welcome to come into a person’s home to do that. I was determined to make it work and I knew I needed to change the initial plan and try and get back on track.
I finally had a plan to just supply my product and offer a support service to talk people through the installation of the product in their home. The installation was probably where all the profit would generate so I knew that I needed to double up on how much I was selling and how much stock I was holding. I looked at my small garage and knew in my home this was not possible.
I had heard about a storage locker and I liked that I could store all my stock there, I could move up or down in storage unit sizes in order to accommodate my stock levels at any time too. This meant I didn’t need to commit to a large more costly unit. I started with 100 square foot and I could downsize if needs be and if my product didn’t take off.
As it turned out within the first two months my phone and internet sales have been through the roof and it has certainly generated the income that I had hoped for. I couldn’t have done this without having the capacity to hold stock that my storage unit provides me with. Along with that my orders are sent directly to Space Storage and placed into my locker without me having to even be there. I can come and go to the unit as often or at any time and my contact with the staff can be as limited as I want. I just pop my mask on and pop in if I need any help with anything but if I am worrying about coming into contact with people I can just enter at the side doors without having to come into contact with anyone.
The pandemic may have changed our living to a new normal but the new normal means just adjusting our plans in order to move forward. We will get through this and come out the other side and thanks to Space Storage the pandemic has helped my business navigate the new normal!
I have a recruitment agency and have been based in Dublin 2 for the last fifteen years. I have built up a staff of 25 agents and quite a large customer base that I match successful candidates with when positions open up in their companies.
We were approached by our landlord at the beginning of the year and advised that unfortunately beyond his control, there were structural issues with the building and we were no longer able to continue with our tenancy. We were devastated. It was a perfect location and we had become so used to the building and it being a huge part of our business. We had until the end of April to vacate the building and we just had no idea what we were going to do.
Trying to find the ideal location kept me awake at night as did the rising costs of rent and disrupting key employees traveling to and from work. My staff are what drove my business and to lose them as a result of this would set us back even further then losing just our location. None of the buildings we looked at seemed right and search after search just led to more disappointment and despair.
In February, one of my senior consultant’s children’s schools was closed due to a case of COVID-19 and she was told that she had to self-isolate. She was healthy as were her three children but I understood that the precaution needed to be taken and I was quite happy that she could work from home and still hit her targets and look after the key contracts that were her responsibility. Whenever I spoke to her she seemed on top of everything and mentioned time and again how not having to commute in and out of town’s horrific traffic every day actually kick started her day and made her more productive. She seemed happier!
With that in mind I began to prepare for total lock down and ensured all my staff had the capacity to work from home. With them travelling in and out to client sites they all worked off laptops so all that I needed to do was to make sure there was a remote link up in place for them to access our systems and manage any problems with connectivity issues. When Leo announced lock down we were ready and believe it or not we were busy.
We look after staffing for hospitals, nursing homes, cleaners and general operatives to name but a few and all our customers appeared to be calling at the same time needing employees urgently. I was so grateful that we had everything in place and were able to grasp all this additional work while the economy appeared to be a scary place right now for anyone owning their own business.
My staff adapted so quickly to the change and my problem of looking for a building seemed to now take me in another direction. This was opening up an opportunity for me to actually cut costs and make my employees happier. This all did not seem as scary anymore! I began researching how we could move forward with the idea that was forming in my head. I organised an online meeting with all staff and put to them my proposal of everyone working from home going forward and meeting once a week in Ballymount for a staff meeting and team planning group for the week ahead. All the staff jumped at the chance.
I explained to them that I had contacted Space Storage and we could house all our paperwork in a storage unit in Ballymount that all staff could have access to if they needed. We had also hired an office with Space where I would be based so staff could meet with me and where we could hold meetings whenever it was safe to do so. I had contacted all our key clients who were happy to go ahead with online meetings that would allow my staff to keep safe and continue in business.
Owning your business may seem scary in the current COVID situation but with the help of Space Storage we have managed to navigate it successfully. If you are changing your business structure Space Storage certainly has options which may help that happen and navigate you through this scary time. The team at Space Storage listened and helped me put everything in place to move forward in these changing times.
Not only is this a very scary time, it is also a time of the unknown. When is this going to end? Where will it end? How will we get through this? The corona Virus sweeped into all our lives so suddenly and has stopped life as we know it and has slowed every business down. It has stalled house purchases, home improvement projects, has stopped tradespeople in the middle of large builds, it has thrown end of year exams out the window and allowed universities and schools to close suddenly.
Here at Space Storage each April we would receive an influx on college students heading off home or on an adventure for the summer and who want to store their belongings safely . This year student accommodation was cleared in a matter of days as students were told to travel home immediately. Frantic and scared students booked flights to their loved ones and tried to plan their journeys with as little trouble as possible. They came to Space storage and we were able to supply them with boxes and help them organise moving into a secure storage units to allow them to get home to their families.
We have had numerous calls from customers in the middle of a house sale or move who have simply been stuck in limbo while this pandemic takes over the world. What do you do when you are literally just waiting on keys at what feels like the worst possible time. Again we have helped many people out by taking this problem away and moving them into a secure location where they can be given all their details and directions over the phone and can move into the facility without the worry of having to come in and meet someone to fill in paperwork. We do all this through emailed documents and all our staff are on the end of a phone or email to answer any questions you have.
A lot of our customers here at Space provide important, essential products and services. They provide medical equipment, items to supermarkets, safety equipment and more. Here at Space our buildings have the most up to date access control which means you can enter the building outside business hours or for the essential workers they can still access their storage lockers even if staff are not onsite. We provide you with your own password to enter the building and you can come and go as often as possible to access anything you may need during this situation.
So if you are a tradesperson and are worried about all your tools being left onsite, or a business that cannot provide a large order to a customer who may be closed we are at the end of the phone and can help. Our units start as small as a 10 square foot locker and have units up to 500 square feet.
Please think of us for all your storage needs during this time and from all of us at Space Storage please stay safe.
When I moved away from Ireland seven years ago I never expected to create a whole life in a new country. Originally it was an exciting adventure that took me to so many places experiencing new cultures and seeing things I had never imagined being able to see. I saw most corners of the earth and loved coming back home and sitting with my parents and telling them all my exciting adventures. My parents had travelled as far as Spain on a 2 week holiday once a year, so hearing my stories always filled them with excitement and delight at how brave I was and happiness seeing how much I was enjoying life.
My trips back home usually came every three months to begin with but over the years I came home less and less. Once a year I would always try to be home with my parents and if I could time that around Christmas I would. I loved coming home to see my parents and to see how much Dublin had changed over the year and experience the new sights and delights it had to offer. I felt like a tourist in my own town and spent the time whizzing around on my bike seeing all I could before setting off again.
Over the years Mum and Dad had retired and were making ends meet by renting out two bedrooms in their home. All my items appeared to be in the way and with each visit I would try and justify the need for me to keep so many things in their place. I wanted to make life a little easier for them as I know they didn’t want me to feel I was in the way.
I began looking into storage and although my Mum was originally horrified of me removing all my belongings from the family home she understood I was being practical and agreed to come along to Space Storage with me to have a look and meet the team. Mum explained that this was a little upsetting for her as although I was away most of the year this officially felt like her 27 year old daughter was leaving home for good. I was amazed when I got to Space Storage and saw that the team saw this was difficult for my Mum. They showed such care and didn’t worry how long we spent asking questions or how many stories she told them about all my adventures. Mum patted my hand and said I have a good feeling about this place and I could tell that her upset was slowly disappearing.
In such a fast paced world where you feel each shop or place you enter is just trying to get you in the door to spend money it was so refreshing to actually sit and talk and feel no rush in trying to sort out all my most worthy possessions. For me it was peace of mind knowing I was leaving my items with people who care.
So each time I am home I can pop off to Space and pick up my bike and off I go whizzing around on my bike and spending time with my lovely parents.
Thanks Space Storage for allowing my adventures to continue, next stop who knows…..
13 years ago today myself and my husband moved back from London to set up home and start a business. The car was jam packed with all our stuff and off we went on the boat dreaming of a new life. We found a house and settled into day to day life. We opened our business about a year later and things were slow to start due to the Recession and following recovery years but year on year we have had a steady flow of customers and orders are rising. This is great as we work all the hours we can between family life and the busy schedule of our children.
Once the kids came along the business had to move from the house as we just couldn’t raise a family in a house full of product and paperwork and all that goes with it. We were consuming a garage with stock, the spare room was an office and the hall was filled with all the deliveries day on day. As we all know trying to fit a double buggy in a hall is a challenge but try one with a hall already crammed full of boxes.
We decided to take up a storage unit in Space Storage in Ballymount and had all our deliveries sent there. We took a second unit for all the invoices and paperwork that was necessary for us to keep for Revenue and tax returns. This was only a small locker whereas the stock went into a larger 150 square foot unit. We arranged for the unit to be shelved so we could find what we needed to fulfil our online sales without too much trouble.
The difference taking the business out of our home was unbelievable and allowed us to switch off in order for us to enjoy family time. We finished work and came home and even if there was an emergency order that just had to go out, we could pop down to Space as we had 24 hour access to our unit.
In the last three years we have been filled with uncertainty about whether to carry on with the business or not. As most of our stock is brought in from the UK we have been so worried about what impact Brexit is going to have on our business and with all the uncertainty it is hard to plan in such circumstances.
As Christmas is our busiest time of year and orders have already started to come in we know we need to make a decision quickly as the Brexit date looms closer and closer without any decisions on how it will affect us. To combat this problem we went to Space and sat down with Darren and came up with an affordable plan that would see us with twice the space we currently had to stockpile for this uncertainty.
Over the coming weeks we have ordered our stock to carry us up to February next year and this stock will be held under lock and key in Space Storage. We have been able to calculate from last year’s sales and add in an additional percentage for any extras. This should hopefully see us over our busy period and carry us into next year when we can then make a better judgement on whether it is viable to continue in business.
Being with Space has allowed us to have a little more certainty that 2019 will end well for our business. I am also sure it will allow us save our homes extra space for more important things like gifts from Santa for the kids this year. Hopefully when 2020 rolls around we will have more of an idea with what is happening in the UK but for now Space has taken our worry away and we don’t need to spend the days glued to the news and wondering what if!
Thanks Space Storage for helping us navigate Brexit.
When your kids ask you a question like “Mum, can we go camping?” You begin to panic, camping, sleeping outside, roughing it……. But you know that this will make the best memories and be something that they will look back on for the rest of their lives and say remember that time we went camping. So you put aside all your own worries about it and do it for them.
So off we went to the shops to pack up what we needed for our first trip sleeping in a tent. We managed to buy a tent that looked like it would fit a family of eight, so we four would have lots of room to roll about if needed. We bought sleeping bags, pillows, a small cooker, pots, pans, plates, cups, we may as well have been buying the whole shop there was so much stuff to think about.
We began to plan our trip to the south of Ireland and realised that we could bring our bikes along, so back we went to the camping shop to buy the attachment to hook the bikes onto the back of the car. At the rate we were going we had spent just as much as if we had been going all-inclusive in Barbados!
We packed up the car with everything and off we went. The kids screaming with excitement about sleeping under the stars and having your dinner outside. It is the little things with kids that make the best memories. So it would be five days jam packed full of new experiences.
We arrived at the camp site and I have to say pitching the tent was slightly stressful but as usual the kids giggled the whole way through and found the whole thing hilarious. Finally when we had it done, we went exploring, and within minutes it was like the kids were naturals at the outdoor living.
The five days flew by and each day was filled with more memories. We swam in the lake and we were canoeing every morning, we fished, we climbed trees and it was just amazing. When the time came to pack up and head home we were feeling sad but exhausted. The kids only thought was when can we go again.
When we packed the car we were unsure we were going to pack away all our new items. It’s not easy to find a space in an already over packed house for an eight person tent!! We knew we would be using it all again and maybe even before the end of the summer, if the kids have their way that is.
We looked at our watches and noticed that it was 5pm and as we were driving home we noticed that Space Storage was still open. We popped in with the car still full. We spoke to Darren and he showed us a 25 sq foot unit and there and then we moved in and packed up our unit. It was that easy. We got 24 access so we knew that if we fancied packing up the car at 7am one morning we could shoot off on another adventure.
The kids have already picked their next ten holidays and it all involves sleeping in a tent! Making memories and lots of summer fun, thanks Space Storage.
