Published: March 20, 2018

Spring Cleaning in San Antonio: 5 Items to Consider putting in Portable Storage

It’s beginning to feel a lot like spring-time! And while many will be excited to take a stroll through the San Antonio Zoo or get ready for the annual Fiesta San Antonio, you have a different mission — Spring Cleaning!

Of course, you’ll get around to enjoying all that the city has to offer, but if you’re reading this chances are you won’t be able to truly enjoy the festivities until your house is in tip-top shape! And we can help you get there sooner rather than later with these 5 items that, if stored in portable storage, will really help you organize and declutter your home!

Cleaning Machines and Chemicals

In order to get that oh-so-clean smell in your house, the kind that lets you know that every little germ has been eradicated, you might use some pretty harsh chemicals and heavy duty equipment.

From heavy duty vacuums like the MIRAGE 1629 to your basic floor cleaning solutions, portable storage can not only help you free up some much-needed closet space but also help keep your young children and pets safe! Cleaning appliances often have long cords and hoses that pose a risk to your young children.

And if you think your teething toddler or house pet only wants to chew on their designated chew toys, think again! Those flexible parts made of rubber or plastic on your expensive cleaning machine are prime targets for a good gnaw-sesh.

Those same young kids and pets may also get curious about the fluids you’re spraying onto counters or filling your machines with. Take care and store those harmful and potentially deadly chemicals far, far away from your (fur)babies! Poison Statistics National Data 2016 shows that 41.3 poison exposures out of 1000 were in children younger than 6 years old, and there were 54,019 were animal exposures. So unless you regularly break out the “Big Guns” for every-day cleaning, you’ll be glad you chose to put these things in portable storage.

Keep Paper Dry

If you have a home office, you know that loose papers have a way of building up quickly. If you don’t have an office, that just means those loose papers aren’t confined to one room. Part of spring cleaning, which happens to fall around the same time as tax season, means getting all your affairs in order. Or does it?

If you like to keep a paper trail of spending and have to keep track of numerous (and sometimes irreplaceable) important documents, check out portable storage. We suggest taking a copy of your most important documents that you might miss if you need them at a moments notice (socials security cards, tax documents etc.). Then, simply store the copy at home in a neat folder and keep the originals in a watertight and flameproof filing cabinet in your storage unit!

While you’re at it, why not keep your “fun” paper goods there too? We’re talking about books, magazines, owners manuals, paper party supplies, and decorations. With the potential to upgrade your storage situation by two-fold, you can ensure that all these items and more are stored without fear of becoming damaged by water, fire, light or humidity in the months to come.

Clothing and Accessories to be Saved

Everyone has that closet or storage bin that is always full of clothes, accessories and/or shoes. If you don’t you’ve probably switched to a Capsule Wardrobe. For those of you who do, however, we want to help you re-think your closet options!

How disappointing is it to pull out clothes from at-home storage to find them full of wrinkles or damaged by pests (including man’s best friend who also happens to love chewing through all your favorite leather accessories!) Why not keep them in portable storage instead? Invest in a cheap garment rack, a few garment bags, and BAM! You’ll not only be saving space at home but also a ton of money on clothes that you would normally replace because they look tired and dusty.

Of course, tending to these clothes is the perfect check-off item for your spring cleaning list when you’re changing out your apparel for the season. However, you should try to think of all the things you wear only a few times a year including formal wear, snow and water sports gear, costumes etc.

You’ll be amazed how a little storage strategy goes a long way in keeping your garments as awesome as the day you bought them!

Indoor and Outdoor Home Decor

Maybe you have that friend who is constantly decorating their home to catch up with the seasons, holidays or the Kardashians! Maybe that friend is you.

If you are new to the home decorating game and wondering how the pros are able to store all their home goods for the majority of the year while maintaining a clutter-free house, we have a hint: portable storage. Design pros who sell, stage, and live in these picture-perfect homes use portable storage to keep up with their never-ending need to stay in style while not over-stuffing their flawless closets. We’re not just talking about your indoor items either. Outdoor entertainment pieces like patio furniture, grills, and hammocks should be kept out of the elements when not in use! Even in relatively mild climates in Texas, you’ll be adding years of life to your outdoor equipment by saving them from the sun and wind.

Taking Back Toyland

It’s not easy to keep a tidy home when you have a child, or two, or three. Before you know it, you may find yourself playing a never-ending game of pick-up.

This spring though, that’s all about to change!

Take charge during spring cleaning to decide on a toy storage system that works for you! You’ll want to donate or throw away any unused toys, right? If you haven’t already, it may be because your little ones insist that they love ALL their toys equally and can’t bear to part with them.

Our solution, of course, is portable storage. Although our approach may surprise you.

We aren’t suggesting putting all the toys into storage, but perhaps a few. This spring, try holding onto a few of their forgotten toys in storage. Once fall rolls around, surprise them with the toys they forgot about! If they are excited, swap them out with a few other toys they are bored with. If they don’t seem to care about them, it’s probably time to donate.

This method does seem a little sneaky, so if you think your child might be upset if they caught on, or you just want to have them involved in the process, try treating your storage unit like a toy swap shop! Take your child to the storage unit however often you would like, and have them exchange the toys they’ve grown bored with for some “new” toys to play with! You’ll be surprised how delighted they will be to play with their “new” toys, how tidy your home is, and how much money you save over the course of a year spending less money on brand-new toys.

These are all great reasons to use portable storage for toys, however, there’s an even more important reason: your child’s development. A study published in the journal Infant Behavior and Development says that when researchers gave kids under age 3 either four toys or 16 toys to play with, then recorded their playing habits, children with fewer toys in the environment engaged in longer periods of play with more creativity.

Not a bad deal huh? A less toy-cluttered house? A healthy way to enrich your child’s development? So before you make another trip to Toy Zone or any other toy store this spring, try portable storage!

The Take-Away

Portable storage is a fantastic way to make sure that you not only use your valuable home storage for things you actually use on a daily basis, but also to keep your belongings in pristine condition when not in use. We know that the items listed above may only reflect a small portion of what you come upon while completing spring cleaning. However, we hope we could get your gears turning on all the possibilities that portable storage has to offer.

Do you think you’ll store any of the items we listed? Got another idea for belongings that folks in San Antonio might have that people in other locations may not have to worry about? We want to hear about it! So let us know in the comments below!