For anyone who has ever moved home, which is the majority of us, you will know that it takes a lot of planning and organisation, if you want it to go smoothly that is. Only when you start to pull all your belongings, out of the cupboards, wardrobes, the loft, garage or any other nook and cranny you have used for storage, do you realise how much stuff you actually have.

One of the biggest culprits for taking time and effort to pack and sort and for taking up boxes worth of space are your clothes and bedding. This is because most of us have more clothes and bedding than we need and more than fit in our wardrobes, so we end up with them stashed inside black bin bags and thrown in the loft or garage or anywhere out of site. Now there is also a good reason for having these extra clothes and bedding in the UK and that is the variation in temperatures between the seasons. The winters are cold and the summers can be warm (if we are  lucky) so we do end up needing different clothes for the different seasons and there is no need to have your bulky coats and jumpers taking up space in your wardrobe in the middle of summer and the same goes for that extra thick duvet you have in winter so you store them away.

The issue now comes when you are moving house that you not only have a wardrobes and drawers full of clothes that you don’t really know how to transport efficiently but you also have flimsy bin bags full of clothes and bedding in storage. An option is to buy suitcases but this seems a waste of money just to use for a short term and then you are left with a bulky suitcase you don’t need at the end of it.

The last time I moved I decided that I was going to try using vacuum storage bags for all my clothes, bedding, curtains, you name it. I was so happy I did, it made the whole process a lot easier and saved us fewer trips back and forth as there were fewer boxes in the van. The bags themselves are huge so we could fit a lot of stuff in them. Aside from the space they save by removing the air and making the surface area that your clothes take up a lot smaller, they also provided a way to transport them without using a bulky box or suitcase, because they are pretty tough, we just put them in the back of the van as they were and didn’t have to worry about any dust or water or anything getting to them.
The packing process itself was simple, just loaded the bags with the clothes, zipped them up making sure they were tightly sealed and then placed the vacuum cleaner nozzle over the valve and sucked the air out. We used a marker pen to write straight onto the plastic so we knew which bag was for which room.

At the new home the benefit was that we were in less of a rush to unpack all the clothes as they didn’t take up lads of room like a box normally does, we had a bit of DIY work to do in the bedrooms before unpacking fully, so we just kept the essential items out and handy while the rest stayed in the bags until we were done. Any of the seasonal clothes and bedding that we had stored in the loft just went straight back up there in the new home, and will stay protected until we need them again.

So if you are moving home any time soon, I highly recommending grabbing yourself a box of  vacuum storage bags to make your lives a little easier.

Becoming minimalist is all the rage these days but what exactly does it mean?
Well when you live in a country like the UK where the average house is the size of a shoe box and has no where near enough storage for the amount of people that inhabit the home, being minimalist is more of a necessity than a fad and to be honest something that most of us do anyway. Essentially it is when you decide to declutter your home and get rid of all the things you don’t need keeping only the essentials on display or creating an environment with “minimal” clutter.
 
Some of the benefits of doing decluttering and becoming a minimalist include:

• Having less to clean and dust: Obviously the fewer objects you have out exposed to dust and dirt the less you have to clean.
• Less stress: Having more space is associated with lowering stress levels, or rather having clutter everywhere you look is associated with higher levels.
• Less money wasted: Any object you do not need, you don’t need to spend money buying and if you already have an item you may even make some money by selling it online or at a car boot sale.

While the best outcome of decluttering is to get rid of the goods you no longer use altogether, there are some items that you may still need to keep hold of but do not necessarily need to be out on display or easy to access. An example of this is seasonal clothing and bedding while it is good to clear your wardrobe when the season changes to ensure you only have clothes that you will wear regularly, sadly there will be another dark cold winter to follow the spring and summer so you cannot get rid of them completely. A great way to store seasonal clothes during the off season is to use Vacuum storage bags that allow you to place your garments inside and suck the air out a vacuum cleaner or hand pump. This ensures that no moisture or dust can get to the clothes and by removing all the air you also compress the clothes which greatly reduces the amount of space they take up while being stored in the loft, cupboard or garage.
 
While most of us are forced to declutter and live the minimal life style in some shape or form, there are definitely some that are better than others at this practice.  
Here are some tips to help you with the process of decluttering your house.

• Start with one room at a time: even if you just do one room a weekend and focus on clearing all the unnecessary items from the room, you will be amazed what a difference it can make. Once you have seen the improvement for one room, you will be enthused to do the rest.
• Buy vacuum storage bags for seasonal clothes and bedding: As I mentioned above these are a must have for safely storing your garments and reducing the amount of size the take up. They are very affordable for the value they bring to your home.
• Have boxes or bags on hand for unwanted goods: Although the items you are getting rid of are no longer required by you, it doesn’t mean that they are not useful for someone else, so have some boxes and bags handy for transporting them to a charity shop or to be ready for a car boot sale.
• View your home as a prospective buyer: Think about when you go to view a home, particularly if it’s a show home of a new development, the houses look so appealing because they have little to no clutter. This is because the professionals who stage these houses know that they look better and more appealing when they are minimalist and that is why your house should be too.

 
These are just a few tips to get you started, I hope they help give you some ideas and inspiration on how to go about becoming minimalist.
 

One of the best ways to keep your 'out of season' clothes in near perfect condition is to make use of the wonder of vacuum storage bags. 

The beauty of this incredible invention is that it not only allows you to compress your clothes into almost nothing, but it also extracts all the air out of the bag they are stored in, which means they will stay in near perfect condition. 

Due to the tight seal on the bag, no dust mites, dirt or mould will be able to penetrate the bag, keeping your clothes safe for as long as you need to.

This type of thing is especially great when storing clothes for the long-term, like for example baby clothes. When my first daughter started outgrowing her clothes, we made use of vacuum storage, to pack them away and keep them for when we had our second child. 

3 years later when we needed the clothes, we simply broke the seal on the bags and to our delight the baby clothes were in exactly the same condition we had left them in. 

So if you're looking for a reliable, great way to store your clothes when they are not going to be in use for a set amount of time, then make sure you pick up a box of vacuum storage bags, and start putting them to use. You will be amazed at just how useful they are, and will want to start using them for everything.
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Spring cleaning is a practice that dates back for centuries where houses and homes take a day (or usually a weekend to give the house a deep and thorough clean as well as a tidy up and declutter.

The reason this day or event takes place in the spring is that in colder climates people tend to keep the windows and doors closed for the majority of the winter season for the obvious reason of keeping the cold out and saving on heating bills. The downside to this is that the house does not get to “breath” resulting in a stuffy atmosphere and the build up of mould around the areas that are exposed to condensation such as window frames and external walls.

So when the warmer weather rolls round in spring it is a great time to open the windows and let the air flow through the house. This also allows you to use cleaning products and chemicals that have a strong smell and require the home to be ventilated before use to prevent you from breathing in the fumes and making you feeling ill.

It is also a time of year when you can start putting your bulky winter clothing and jackets away to make space for your summer clothes in your wardrobe. You may also want to change your duvet to a lighter tog for the warmer weather to come. This decluttering and change of seasonal clothes does pose one problem though and may leave you asking:  How do I store the winter clothes? 

In my experience one of the best ways to store those winter garments is by using Vacuum Storage Bags. For those of you who have not come across these before, they are a near magical space saving solution that allows you to fill a reusable plastic bag that seals with a zip lock and has a valve for sucking out all the air with a vacuum cleaner which compresses the clothes and saves you a bundle of space.

​It also keeps moisture and dust off your clothes and prevents them from being eaten by moths.

Here are some steps that I would recommend taking when carrying out your spring clean, you can either do this yourself or if you don’t have the time or simply do not have the desire to do it yourself, there are many cleaning companies that now offer a spring cleaning service that can be tailored to suite your needs so you can still get the items on this list ticked off.
 

• Bathroom: Mould is one of the biggest issues in a bathroom during winter as the room isn’t aired as often as it needs to be for the amount of moisture in produced by the bath and showers.
  • De-mould any effected areas: spray and leave it to work for 5 min but be sure to rinse the area completely to remove the chemicals.
  • De-Scale the bath, shower and basins.
  • Wash the tiles on floor and wall.
  • Wash all windows.
  • Scrub toilet bowl with toilet bleach.
  • Wash bath mat.

 

• Bedroom: This is where the decluttering comes in as winter clothes and duvets need to be packed away, ideally using a vacuum storage bag solution.
  • Pack winter clothes and duvet in vacuum storage bags and discard and garments to charity shops if you no longer use them.
  • De-mould any areas around the window that have been affected.
  • Dust everywhere.
  • Wash all windows.
  • Vacuum ever area of the carpet, ensuring you get behind drawers, side tables and under the bed.
  • Wash curtains.
  • Wash blankets or throws.

 

• Kitchen: Grease is the big culprit in the kitchen as it gets airborne and gets everywhere.
  • Degrease hob, extractor and walls around the cooker.
  • De-scale the sink and taps.
  • Use an oven cleaner to deep clean the oven, ensure the room is well ventilated.
  • Clean out the fridge and freezer, making sure to wash the shelves.
  • Dust everywhere.
  • Wash the floor and all surface areas.

 

• Living room: A lot of living is done in this area during winter as outdoor living is less of an option.
  • Dust everywhere including behind TV and sideboards.
  • Wash all surface areas.
  • Wash all windows.
  • Vacuum carpets or wash the floor.

 So now that you know why to use vacuum storage bags, and how they can help you with your spring cleaning efforts, feel free to pick up a box from ROKEY on Amazon, and make sure you take advantage of their 10% Off Offer.

Enjoy.

You may be wondering what the benefits of using vacuum storage bags really are, and why one would bother to use them.

​After becoming an avid user of vacuum storage bags, I can tell you that I can't imagine life without them now. 

The ability to compress the space (often by up to 80% when you use the ROKEY Vacuum Bags, makes living in a home with limited storage so much easier. 

I mean, you are essentially creating extra space in your home that wouldn't have been there before which is invaluable when you live in a country like the UK where space is often limited.

There is also something oddly satisfying about watching all the air being suctioned out of the bags, as the shrink the contents held within them.

The other reason I have fallen in love with using vacuum storage bags, is because they are great for protecting clothes from mildew, dust mites and even mold.

By suctioning out all the air, you remove any chance of these annoying elements from reaching your precious clothing, which means when you break the seal in months or even years, your clothes will be in exactly the same condition you packed them in.

Bonus Tip: I've also started using vacuum storage bags when I travel to create extra room in my suitcase. The great part is you can take the hand pump with you, and then repack your clothing again on the other side (when you may not have your vacuum cleaner).

So all in all, I highly recommend trying vacuum storage bags. They will change your life once you start using them, and ROKEY have a fantastic product which you can grab here.

​Enjoy!