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Storing Your Off Season Clothing

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Organize Seasonal Clothing

Organize Seasonal Clothing

As winter’s crisp air signals the changing season, it’s time to lavish attention on your wardrobe. Safeguarding and storing your clothes properly in the off season extends their lifespan ensuring a seamless transition the next season.
Clean Before You Store:
Before tucking away summer clothes and unveiling winter coats, prioritize cleanliness. Lingering stains
attract moths, and spills can set over time. Launder or dry clean your clothes, paying special attention to
those in direct contact with your skin.

Invest in Quality Storage Containers:
Opt for storage containers that thwart moisture and mildew. Plastic bins with tight-fitting lids are
optimal for dust and pest prevention. Consider adding an extra layer of protection with garment bags
for delicate items.

Use Natural Repellents:

Shield your winter wardrobe from pests using natural repellents. Place cedar blocks or lavender sachets
in storage containers for effective deterrence without resorting to harsh chemicals found in traditional
mothballs.

Mind the Humidity:
Combat moisture, the nemesis of stored clothes. Ensure adequate ventilation in your storage space and
use moisture-absorbing products, such as silica gel packets, to maintain a dry environment—crucial for
preventing mold, especially in natural fibres like cotton and wool.

Fold, Don’t Hang:
Preserve the shape of your knitwear by resisting the temptation to hang everything. Fold heavy
sweaters, and other knit items to maintain their shape during storage.
Pro Tip: Still prefer to hang your clothing while it’s in storage? Use padded hangers or wrap the triangle
portion of your hangers with bubble wrap before hanging garments. This trick helps prevent clothing
from stretching out of shape at the corners of hangers.

Hangers for clothing storage

Bubble Wrapped Hanger

Rotate Your Wardrobe:
Adopt the habit of seasonal wardrobe inspection and rotation. Rediscover forgotten gems while
ensuring all clothes receive equal attention. Inspect clothing for damage then store out-of-season items
at the back of the closet or in storage containers.

Pro Tip: Safeguard against colour fading and brittle fabric by choosing a cool, dark storage space. If your
storage area has windows, use curtains or blinds to prevent sunlight exposure.

Being Environmentally Conscious is Good for Clothing:
Ditch plastic dry cleaning bags: they trap moisture that leads to musty odours. Instead choose
breathable fabric garment bags or cotton pillowcases to protect your clothes.
Pro Tip: Simplify retrieval of seasonal clothing by labelling and organizing storage containers by
category. This approach makes locating specific items easy without having to go through every box in
your storage unit.
Taking care of your clothing while it’s tucked away in storage ensures that your favourite cozy
sweater or cotton sundress will be ready when you reunite for a new season.

~ Gillian Sumpay

A Guide to Summer Gear STorage

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Storing Summer Toys

Guide to summer gear storage

As the sun-soaked days of summer fade on the horizon, they leave behind the simple joy of outdoor pursuits, from pedaling along scenic trails, to setting up camp, or gliding gracefully atop shimmering waters—summer gifts us with a multitude of cherished experiences.

Whether you are a biker, camper, or paddler, summer gives us great pleasure. All these wonderful activities lead to an accumulation of outdoor gear. What is your plan for storing it during the off-season?

In this guide, we delve into preserving these cherished adventures—cleaning, organizing, and storing your summer gear. It’s a journey that involves not just safeguarding your possessions but also ensuring that the magic of summer continues for years to come.

Summer Gear Storage Tips:

  1. Clean Your Equipment

After every summer adventure, it’s essential to clean your equipment thoroughly. Use warm water and mild soap to cleanse your gear, including tents and sleeping bags. Removing any dirt and ensuring they’re completely dry before storage is vital, particularly for preventing mold and mildew.

  1. Choose the Right Storage Containers

Long-term storage of tents and sleeping bags should be in breathable mesh bags or cotton bags like old pillowcases. Loosely fold these items for long-term storage instead of tightly rolling them. This allows airflow, preventing mold and mildew growth. Remember, compressing a sleeping bag for extended periods can damage its fill.

  1. Organize Smaller Items

Store smaller items like flashlights, matches, eating utensils, plates, cookware, and more in clear storage containers. This way, you can easily identify and access them when needed.

  1. Organize Water Gear

Choose a large container to hold wetsuits, life jackets, water shoes, and other water gear. This ensures they’re kept together and protected during the off-season.

  1. Follow Manufacturer Recommendations for Watercraft Storage

Store paddle boards, canoes and kayaks indoors so the winter weather will not degrade fiberglass, plastic, fabric or specially-coated wood hulls.

 

Pro Tip: keep a checklist stored with your equipment so you don’t forget anything for your camping trips. Your list should include all items you will typically want to bring along.

Many of our clients store their summer gear in the garage or a spare closet so they can quickly pack up the car for a weekend getaway. But if these items are filling your halls and other living spaces self storage is an option that comes in many sizes to accommodate these items in the colder months.

Call us now at Drayton Valley Storage where we prioritize your storage needs — 1-877-514-7525

 

Jumping The Self Storage Line

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Steps to storage

Planning your storage rental

Self storage businesses across Alberta have been getting busy. So, finding a storage unit at the
last minute has become much harder.
Here’s how to get a leg up on your fellow storage unit hunters.
As soon as you are aware that you need storage, start looking. It costs nothing to look around.
Remember price isn’t everything
Check reviews and also see how the business connects with its customers. Is communication
strictly online? Do calls go to a remote call center? Are staff knowledgeable about storage and
the local community?

Pro Tip:

Is there someone onsite if you need help? Moving and storing your belongings can be stressful
and having knowledgeable help available can make or break your storage experience.
Be flexible
Could you take a slightly bigger or smaller unit? Using an online storage calculator will help you
choose the right size for your belongings.

Pro Tip:

If there isn’t a storage unit in the size you need ask about making up the size you need by using
two smaller units.
Get your name on a waiting list
A good self storage business will call if you are on a waiting list and a storage unit comes
available.

Pro Tip:

There will be times when a unit comes available before storage staff get to people on the
waiting list. That is why keeping an eye on their website can be a huge advantage. Using the
storage company’s online rental platform can help you skip the waiting list, because you can
often move yourself in online before the storage unit is taken by another renter.
Start a conversation with the storage staff
Storage staff can take care of you over email or text to help you make the most of your time.
Also, don’t be afraid to call the storage office. Most offices don’t mind if you call and check in
from time to time. A good storage operator is there to do what they can to help you!

Earth Day

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Earth day is coming April 22 and amid all the chaos of the past few years we wanted to put the focus back on the future of our families and our community here at Drayton Valley Storage. After all the way we treat the environment now will affect future generations.

A planet that is growing warmer each year isn’t good for any living thing. We can’t become complacent to this threat to the world, so Drayton Valley Storage has focused on offering only moving boxes made from recycled material and going paperless in our office. Below are just a few positive effects this action has on our community and the world.

Protects trees (our shield against CO2)
Trees are considered carbon sinks. Trees lock away carbon dioxide in the wood, roots, and leaves. “This locking-up process ‘stores’ carbon as wood and not as an available ‘greenhouse’ gas. Trees are imperative to earths survival so it is beneficial to protect them as best we can.” Steve Nix forestry expert on 

Reduces paper waste
According to , in 2022, paper mills will produce about 500 million tons of paper and cardboard. Paper waste produces pollution which is toxic to air, water, and soil. Paper is produced by using chlorine-based bleaches so when paper rots in the landfill Methane gas gets released. This gas is worse than CO2. Using products made with recycled products and going paperless significantly reduces paper waste and in turn reduces the amount of toxic gasses entering our atmosphere.

Saves water
The amount of water used to produce one piece of paper is 10 litres. The less paper we use in our office, the less of the life-giving resource is wasted.

How is your family or business being environmentally conscious? We’d love to hear your ideas so that we all can do a little better to help our home — planet Earth.

What To Do With All That Paperwork

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Does your business have too much paperwork? Is it taking up office space that could be put to better use? With regulations requiring businesses hold on to their records for up to 10 years, that’s a lot of paper! So, where do you put it?
Consider self-storage for your documents. Here are some reasons why storing paperwork can help your business.  Read more