May 17th is Pack Rat Day. To be honest, it doesn’t sound that nice does it? What even is a pack rat?!
Well it’s the name given to someone who likes to hoard and collect things. It comes from the fact that the rodent of the same name (which is also known as a woodrat) likes to collect anything and everything to make their nests. They also get easily distracted by shiny new things….which is definitely a bit like me to be honest. They are known for dropping whatever they’re carrying to ‘trade’ it in for the newer, better item.
I’m sure many of us can identify with a pack rat mentality to some extent. Although many of us would love to live in a minimalist haven, we probably don’t. Even if you have some areas of your home which are clutter free, can you really claim it all is? Even those unseen areas like the garage or loft or inside your wardrobe? And if your home is free from excess ‘stuff’ how about your office or place of work?
Maybe you collect old magazines, or stamps or antiques. Or maybe your collection is more day-to-day like books, shoes, paperwork or toiletries. Either way, things can quickly mount up and take over!
Although most of us won’t take pack ratting to the extent of being a genuine hoarder, having things around you all the time which you just don’t need can impact on your mental and physical well-being.
So, Pack Rat Day was introduced to try and help give an incentive to declutter and make some positive changes.
Decluttering is definitely good for the soul, and here at McCarthy’s we can help in lots of different ways. Perhaps you need to hire a van to help take things to the tip. Or perhaps you need a man and van to help with the heavy lifting. We can definitely help there!
If there’s paperwork piling up around your home or office, maybe it’s time to think about shredding. It’s the safest and quickest way to get rid of personal information – and using a professional means you don’t have to spend hours feeding individual sheets into a home machine.
Maybe you have some things you’re not yet sure you want to part with, or you have items you definitely want to keep, but you want them out of your home or office. That’s when self storage can help. You can hire a storage unit to meet your exact requirements (we can even add heat, wifi and electricity if you need them). Whether you choose a drive-up unit, or one within our main storage centres in Harrogate, Leeds and Wakefield which can be accessed by lifts, we have trolleys and cages to help you easily transport your belongings to your secure unit.
A common misunderstanding about self storage is that people within the company will be able to access your unit. That’s not true – the unit is yours, and you will have your own padlock and key to keep it secured. You can access it as and when you like, and we have state of the art security to make sure it’s kept safe 24/7.
With prices starting from just £6 a week, it really is an ideal solution if your home or place of work is bursting at the seams, but the collector (or pack rat) within you doesn’t want to give up what you love.
Maybe going forward we should all be a little bit more like a pack rat – every time you find a shiny new item you want, something else has to be dropped to carry it. So, one in, one out! Just don’t follow the pack rat to the extreme of creating a midden – big piles of debris, which they often urinate on. This preserves them for up to 50,000 years – useful for archaeologists, but not really great for a home.
For more information on self storage, why not give us a call or have an online chat with one of our team?
