Summer is pretty short in Ireland, but we still manage to acquire a lot of space-consuming stuff to make the most of it. What’s summer without kids splashing in a wading pool, friends lounging on the patio at a barbeque and families camping? Patio furniture, camping gear and other summer gear doesn’t come cheap, so you want to take good care of it when you put it away for the season. Whether you have storage space at home or use a rented storage unit, you’ll enjoy your summer stuff for many years to come if you clean and prepare it properly before putting it away.
- Camping: Whether you have a wee tent for music festivals or a six-person tent for family camping adventures, you need to make sure it is clean and dry before you put it away in storage. That’s hard to do in a wet field. On a dry day at home, set it up indoors if you have the space or on a patio or driveway if necessary. Read the manufacturer’s instructions for cleaning it properly, and then leave it standing to air out before folding it correctly. Sleeping bags usually can’t be put in the washing machine, but you can open them up, spot clean them and air them on the line outside on a dry day.
- Patio Furniture BBQ: Resin furniture can be hosed down and allowed to dry in the sun. Other materials might need to be washed with a damp cloth to get all the stray bits of grass and other debris off of them. The barbeque is the toughest. That will take some scrubbing, but it’s worth doing at the end of the summer so it is ready and waiting for the first cook out of the year.
- Pool Toys: Often, wading pools sit full of rain water for some time while we hope for one more sunny, pool-worthy day. If you don’t have cleaning instructions, you can wash most pools with some mild dish soap, rinse with warm water and dry with towels before moving yours into storage. Inflatable pools should be deflated for storage. Keeping the house tidy is always a challenge for parents of small children, but cleaning those buckets, spades, little slides and other toys only used in summer and storing them with the other summer things certainly help.
Bonus – the children will be delighted anew when you get them out next year.
Many newer houses lack the space to store all of this wonderful summer stuff, but renting a storage unit is cheaper and easier than you may realize. If you chose U Store It, you have 24/7 access to your storage unit – just in case there’s a surprise beautiful autumn day and you want one last barbeque before winter.
