Earth Day is Friday April 22, 2016, and in lieu of this green day here are 10 easy ways to reduce, recycle, and reuse:

1. Reusable Bags and Containers

Use these every chance you can! Shopping, traveling, lunches, picnics, even around the house! The less you use plastic bags, the better it is for the environment.

2. Avoid Single-Serve Items

Many items in the grocery stores are packaged with snack packs or single serve items which leads to excess garbage. Try buying these items in bulk and packaging them in recyclable containers to alleviate excess and unnecessary garbage.

3. Compost Food & Yard Waste

If you don’t have a compost bin, we highly recommend you get one! Many food scraps and yard waste can be tossed into a compost bin in the backyard. This reduces waste in the landfill and yields free, nutrient-rich fertilizer for your garden.

4. Go Paperless

There are a lot of options nowadays to go paperless, such as bank statements and other bills. This helps reduce the amount of paper used and ultimately saves our trees.

5. Buy Rechargeable Batteries

The lifespan of one rechargeable battery can equal that of countless regular batteries, and it is better for the environment. When you can, be sure to use rechargeable batteries. Don’t forget, once a battery is no longer working, you can recycle them!

6. Place Recycle Bins Everywhere!

When recycle bins aren’t accessible, people will often toss recyclable items in the trash. Take a few minutes to add a recycling bin where they are most likely to be used. A paper bin in the office, for example, will help recycling efforts tremendously.

7.  Buy Recycled-Content Items

Many food items are packaged with recycled content so that you can use and re-use them. Similar, many consumer items are made of recycled content such as green toys products and moving comfort active wear. Wherever you can, buy items that incorporate recycled materials into their packaging.

8.  Re-Use the Used

Used items can be re-used or donated. You can re-use empty boxes and containers for storage and unwanted items such as books, clothing, accessories, technology, can be donated to charity or local library.

9. Borrow From and Share With Family and Friends

Sometimes if we just reach out to others, we can collectively share items such as tools, sports equipment, tables and chairs, or other items that would need to be rented. Communal sharing helps the environment in the long run.

10. Avoid using Disposable Items

Avoid using disposable items such as plastic and paper plates and instead use regular plates and utensils. The disposable items are manufactured in ways that increase unneeded trash!

For the best storage in Agua Dulce, CA, Agua Dulce Storage  is the perfect location to store all your belongings in self storage bins. Staff is friendly and helpful, and they offer all important amenities needed for safe and secure storage of bins and vehicles. Call Agua Dulce Storage today for more information at (661) 268-0407. Or visit the website at (https://aguadulcestorage.com/).

Spring is at our doorstep and that means the time has come for Spring Cleaning! Spring Cleaning is that tradition we’ve all grown up with where we spend a week or two extensively cleaning out our homes: pulling everything out of our drawers and tossing what we don’t need, dusting every nook and cranny, shampooing our furniture and carpets, extensively organizing our closets, we’ve all been there! It can be daunting before beginning, but once we all go underway in our Spring Cleaning, we find that we feel reenergized and refreshed!

Here are some great tips that will help you in Spring Cleaning:

1. Clean your Garbage Disposal

This is the one thing people tend to forget in their annual cleanings! You can drop in some household cleaners and run the water and disposal to let it circulate, or for a more natural remedy, put in the lemon squeeze with salt and run the garbage disposal with cold water so that it can work to clear away the residue and eliminate odor.

2.  Degrease the Microwave

Microwave stains that build up are sometimes difficult to get rid of. It’s also hard to let things soak in there so one method outside of regular cleaning agents is to use lemon juice mixed with water and a bit of salt to clean the residue. The acid of the lemon helps to break it down and makes it easier to scrub.

3. Wax On, Wax Off

I heard this from a mechanic  who uses the same method at his house: after you clean your stovetop, put a little bit of car wax and buff it in as it helps with the aesthetic, the coat, and makes future spills easier to clean off.

4.  Lemon & Salt Clears Rust

Lemons and other citruses are natural cleaning agents one effective way to clear rust. Just sprinkle salt and put lemon juice on the rust stain, let it sit and scrub every ten minutes and the acid will tear through the rust. After an hour, rinse and the rust stain should be gone!

5.  Clean the Fridge’s Coils

You know the condenser coils, it’s in the back of the fridge and we all wish we can ignore it but without cleaning it annually, we risk the fridge overheating. Pull out your fridge and use a vacuum or a long dust brush to get all the lint, dust, and muck from behind there in order to preserve the lifespan of your refrigerator!

6.  Bathe your Walls

When periodically cleaning our homes, we tend not to clean our walls. We focus on the floors and surface tops but the walls need a bath at least once a year. There is enough dirt and soot that clings to the walls and a simple sponge with dishwasher detergent can do the trick. Using a sponge mop can make the process go faster while getting at hard-to-reach places.

7. Light Cleaning, Pun Intended

Even the lights need their spring cleaning! If you use a sponge and all-purpose cleaner agent, or a polish cloth, you can clean the lights and dust off the soot which will help in preserving the integrity of the light in form and luminosity.

8. Microwave your sponge

Every time you need to disinfect your sponge, squeeze out all of the water and place it in the microwave for 1 minute to kill all the germs. This little trick will save you on having to constantly replace your sponge! For the rest of the year, it’s recommended to replace your sponge every month!

9. Clean Out the Coat Closet

One sweater and one light jacket is all you really need in most climates so go ahead and clean out your coat closet and donate whatever you don’t wear to your local Goodwill or homeless shelter!

10. Clean Those Ceiling Fan Blades

The ceiling fan blades collect dust very quickly and if they’re not cleaned often, the fan could help spread the dust when on, which can aid in allergies and sinus infections. There are specially designed long-handle dust sweepers and brooms that help with cleaning the fan blades. You could also climb up a step-ladder to hand wash them but make sure to be careful when you and follow all safety precautions!

For the best storage in Agua Dulce, CA, Agua Dulce Storage  is the perfect location to store all your belongings in self storage bins. Staff is friendly and helpful, and they offer all important amenities needed for safe and secure storage of bins and vehicles. Call Agua Dulce Storage today for more information at (661) 268-0407. Or visit the website at (https://aguadulcestorage.com/).

It’s that rainy season again and sometimes we find that we have to pack or unpack a storage bins, or move a vehicle from storage, under such conditions. Here are a few ideas to best help with such a scenario:

Hand Cart / Dolly

Wheel it all at once! A lot of facilities have hand carts and dollies for tenant use, you just have to ask the manager! This helps immensely with moving in rain or shine, but above all when having to move in and out in the rain. Put them all on the dolly or hand carts and cover them when wheeling to and from your vehicle.

Tarps

Tarps are the best method to completely protect your items from the rain and they are reasonably priced at local hardware stores. Cover up all items before wheeling them out into the rain and they’ll stay dry.

Cloth / Old Sheet

Cover your items with old clothes, old sheets, old towels, anything old that you can use to cover your items and protect them from the rain and water damage!

Wear Rain Clothes

Wearing appropriate attire is nearly half the battle when loading and unloading in the rain. You don’t want to risk getting soaking wet when loading or unloading a unit!

Bring an Umbrella

Large umbrellas can help cover smaller items as you carry them in and out of the unit, while also keeping you dry!

For the best storage in Agua Dulce, CA, Agua Dulce Storage  is the perfect location to store all your belongings in self storage bins. Staff is friendly and helpful, and they offer all important amenities needed for safe and secure storage of bins and vehicles. Call Agua Dulce Storage today for more information at (661) 268-0407. Or visit the website at (https://aguadulcestorage.com/).

While Winter in Southern California may be warmer than what the rest of the nation is experiencing, it is still important to note essentials when storing vehicles in the wintertime.

Keep Out Moisture

It’s always important to find a dry location to store the vehicle, or at least a location that does not experience high amounts of moisture. Moisture can lead to fungal problems, among other things, that wear and tear on the vehicle.  A simple tip is to always cover the vehicle with a tarp or vehicle-covers to prevent sun damage to exterior and interior. Also putting tire covers helps to prevent dry rot and cracks which commonly occur when a vehicle sits unused for a while.

Change Your Oil

It’s also highly recommended to change the oil before storage for the fact that oil is chemically stable for an entire year while sitting in the engine. After that, the nature of the oil begins to disintegrate and could cause problems for the engine, which is why if you plan on storing your vehicle in a storage facility for longer than a year to go ahead and fog the engine. Fogging is done by spraying Fogging Oil (found in most hardware stores) into spark plug holes while turning the engine to ensure the oil coat is evenly spread across engine surfaces. This helps to prevent rust, corrosion, and the engine seizing up in storage.

Use a Fuel Stabilizer

Another essential tip for storing your vehicle for long periods of time is to put fuel stabilizer in the gas tank a day or two before placing the vehicle in storage so that the stabilizer can flow through the entire fuel system which helps in preserving the gasoline. Products such as Seafoam and Sta-Bil will do the trick. It is very important to fill the entire gasoline tank before storage to preserve the tank as condensation of water vapor on any exposed tank walls could lead to oxidation and damage. All fluids, especially anti-freeze, should also be topped up when placing vehicle in storage.

About the Battery

Some individuals suggest removing the battery when putting a vehicle in storage and leaving the battery on a maintainer at home to best preserve the battery’s integrity. Of course this is on a case-by-case basis, as some vehicles require the battery to stay connected to the car at all times in order to preserve the computer memory and modules. Speaking to a dealership or expert on your car’s make and design will provide the best answer in regards to proper battery storage.

For the best storage in Agua Dulce, Agua Dulce is the perfect location to store a vehicle, as they remain relatively dry year-round, the exception being when it rains, of course. Parking begins as low as $40 per month and is affordable, safe, and prime in its amenities. For more information, call Agua Dulce Storage at 661-268-0407. Or visit the website at (https://aguadulcestorage.com/).