Short of parking space, my neighbor parks his Triumph in a PODS® container

One of the rising stars of car storage today are car pods, large cargo trailers delivered to your home and placed on the property.

A bit of an eyesore, don’t you think? I think so too.

That’s why my neighbor Walt came up with a brilliant solution to keep his classic 1965 Triumph convertible save and secure – and off of his driveway.

Walt took a few measurements of his little red beauty and determined it would fit quite nicely in a PODS^® moving and storage container. Indeed, it did.

Since PODS are only about 7 ½-8-feet feet wide, large cars or trucks will not fit inside. However, the Triumph is a smaller European car, so this scenario works.

Off of his property, Walt’s little red Triumph is safe and secure at a local PODS^® storage center a few miles away. When the sun returns he will drive it out of the storage center and cruise around the village with his comb-over blowing in the breeze, smiling ear to ear.

Another classic, brought to you by PODS. Visit our website at mylocalpods.com and get a quote today.

The Moving Diva

movingdiva@gmail.com

Out of Room? Consider Long-Term Storage As An Option

Many people today are in need of options to store excess belongings, whether downsizing to a smaller home, transferring to new location, decluttering to make a home ready for sale, inviting family to visit or just have too much stuff and not enough space.

To get the most out of long term storage, here are 5 tips:

1. Plan ahead to reduce chaos, relieve stress and ensure the process goes smoothly. Keep a list of items you are storing and clearly label each box.

2. Take advantage of PODS^® storage containers. These clean storage containers are delivered directly to you so you can take your time packing the container before PODS transports it back its local storage facility.

3. Determine the size of storage space you need. PODS^® containers come in three sizes: 8x7x7, 8x8x12 and 8x8x16. A small unit is great for storing contents of a one-bedroom apartment or office, where a larger unit can hold the contents of a larger home.

4. If you need to dismantle furniture, keep all hardware, nuts and bolts in a clearly labeled plastic bag or container and keep with the item for easy reassembly.

5.  PODS^® is ready when you are. The beauty of storing your belongings with PODS is they can deliver all of your belongings right back to your door  a week, a month, a year or more!

Got a helpful tip? Send it to me and we will feature it on our Facebook page. Email tips to: movingdiva@gmail.com

5 Essential Open House Tips

Showing a home for sale is not as easy as it seems with many logistics to consider when placing it on the market. The goal, after all, is to make the move as smooth as possible. An innovative company called PODS Moving and Storage that servicesVentura and Santa Barbara counties, can help eliminate any clutter by safely storing belongings in a secure storage center.

Potential buyers have a tendency to look in every nook and cranny – in closets, cabinets, and under beds. Staging the home, and making it clutter-free, is now easier than ever with PODS. Follow these 5 steps to achieve home-showing success!

1.  Create more space. The bottom line when selling a home is to create the illusion that living areas are more spacious. Since buyers often envision their own furniture in homes they visit, showing plenty of floor and wall space to make the home feel bigger is a priority. You may love those two overstuffed recliners near the fireplace, but how does placement effect floor space? Place any large, bulky furniture in a PODS® container for safekeeping during this interim process.

2.  Spic and span. Clean the house from top to bottom and clear the clutter from countertops. It may be worthwhile to hire a cleaning company and keep your focus on other parts of the moving process. Are hallways filled with hanging picture frames? Keep a select few to highlight and pack the others carefully in a box for retrieval at a later date. Minimize items on display in other areas of the home as well – in the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living areas.

3.  Don’t forget the garage. While women tend to look at a kitchen first, men will head for the garage. Essentially another room, do not neglect cleaning up and de-cluttering the garage. Load all of the sports gear, motorcycles, bikes and seasonal décor in a PODS® container until needed again.

4.  Make an outstanding first impression. Lawns should be freshly cut, gardens weeded out and landscaping neatly manicured. It is always a bonus to have bright flowers or plants near the front door and fresh-cut flowers in vases around in rooms on open-house day.

5.  Let there be light. Light equals space. Open curtains and blinds and clean windows, screens and skylights. Remove large furniture or wall units that block window views to a PODS® container and make sure all light fixtures have new, brightly burning bulbs.

PODS is the perfect solution to get ready for an open house. Store away  furniture, nick-knacks, and other items that make the home look cluttered.

PODS delivers a sturdy container conveniently to your home; pack on your schedule; PODS carefully stores the container in climate controlled storage facility; and when ready, we move the container to any location across town or across the country.

For more information, or to reserve a PODS® container, call 800-776-PODS or visit the local website at www.mylocalpods.com

Time to remodel your home? Here are 5 tips to help get you started

As exciting as the idea of a newly remodeled home might seem, the process can be unpredictable and overwhelming when construction begins.

PODS^® is a great solution for homeowners since the storage containers can be placed onsite as close as your driveway. Why is this important? Because it allows immediate access and eliminates trips to an offsite storage facility, saving you time and money!

5 Tips:

1.         Plan ahead and do plenty of research. Tour homes and showrooms for ideas you might like to incorporate into your remodel. Keep a file of clippings you like.

2.         Prepare for the unexpected by leaving extra money in your budget and additional time for unforeseen problems, because they always do.

3.         Rely on the experts. Major reconstruction requires a licensed contractor to ensure your home is compliant with building codes. Contact your local association or union for referrals.

4.         Since PODS is the best moving and storage idea, ever — rent a PODS^® container  to store your personal belongings and household items during the renovation.

5.         Keep and open mind during the remodel process. Remember, soon you will be able to relax and enjoy all of your hard work!

The Moving Diva

movingdiva@gmail.com

PODS® encourages home prevention during Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 9-15

The National Fire Protection Association sets aside one week every year to educate consumers about fire safety at their homes and businesses. Why it is only one week is beyond me. Prevention all year-round is key.

Fire prevention is the responsibility of everyone. A clean and organized garage is a safe garage. Safety measures do not take much time or money and can play a big part in preventing injuries and saving lives.

The following tips can help prevent garage fires from spreading:

–If the garage allows access to the attic, make sure a hatch covers the access.

–The walls and ceilings should be fire-rated. Have them inspected if you’re not sure.

–The floor should be clear of clutter. Loose papers, matches, oily rags and other potentially flammable items are extremely dangerous if left all over the garage floor.

Not sure how the clear the clutter or have too much stuff in your garage? PODS Moving and Storage can help by bringing a storage container to you. You can take your time to clean, organize and pack the PODS^® container and they will store it at a local storage center.

PODS^® is a priceless partner in the overall safety of your home and family.

There is no better peace of mind in my book.

The Moving Diva

movingdiva@gmail.com

Tailgating perfected with PODS®

It’s football season and along with this glorious sport it is also the season of tailgating. Now, tailgating has two meanings: 1. Driving too close to the vehicle in front of you, or 2. Tailgating as in party. So, I guess to clarify, tailgating party is the act of charring gourmet fare before and after football games and sharing with others. Friendly rivalry is expected because let’s face it, not everyone is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan like me.

While tailgating parties have evolved and have products unto their own (coolers, portable tailgate grills, tailgate cookbooks and recipes and tailgate cordless appliances.) Coleman even makes propane-powered coffeemakers, slow cooker crockpots and skillets! Apparently, tailgating is an extreme sport of its own.

For the ultimate in tailgating for your home, PODS® will deliver a moving and storage container right to your door. The tailgating part happens when you roll up the back door and pack your belongings inside for relocating to another field, perhaps to root for the San Francisco 49ers.

Hey! It’s a touchdown in your very own neighborhood! Give me a P. Give me an O. Give me a D. Give me an S….Gooooo PODS!!!!

 –The Moving Diva

Find your inner peace with PODS®

With my hectic life, I am all for finding inner peace, agility and balance. I’ll bet you are, too. And so, it was no surprise to me that when I was researching PODS^® that I discovered The Yoga Pod in Boulder,Colorado.

The Yoga Pod, it seems, is bringing tranquility and core inner strength to residents of this serene mountain community, much like PODS brings to your entire moving experience.

Think about it: Less stress because you can pack your belongings in the PODS^® container

over several weeks, not hours. Less worry because PODS does all the driving for you and delivers the container right back to your door – whether your yoga mat is at home in Boulder or in one of the 48 other U.S.states PODS services.

To find out more about PODS in your neighborhood, visit mylocapods.com

–The Moving Diva

PODS® Containers Are Hip To Be Square, Like Dilbert!

Brand awareness is the ultimate in consumer recall.

Take for example a recent Dilbert comic strip that ran in our local newspaper. Before I read any of the comic frames, my eyes went right to the title graphic. Do you see what I see? It is so similar to a PODS^® container, uncanny, really.

OKAY! It’s the opposite! PODS are white with red letters while this is red with white letters. But still…why did it make me think about PODS?

Well, if you are me, and you write about PODS – which obviously I DO – you would know the answer! Dilbert comics can give you a giggle but PODS can help you move more than a funny bone.

Visit our website at mylocalpods.com

Morning PODS® commute

It is astonishing to me how many trucks I pass my short commute to work. I’ve started counting. The most in one morning = 46. Today, three stood out.

Remember the UPS campaign made for NASCAR that had fans demanding Dale Jarrett “drive the truck” around the racetrack? I do (hello, race fan here!). We all (ok, maybe just me) waited with baited breath for the next season when Number 88 would finally drive the truck (and he finally did, the year he retired from racing). That was cool.

So this morning at a stoplight on a busy suburbia street waiting for cross-traffic, I saw it.

Three-wide (that’s NASCAR lingo for three cars in a row), ready to jump light and hit the freeway before their competition: one UPS, one FedEx and one PODS^®

I wondered which driver would meet the green flag (I mean stoplight) first. It was FedEx (to be on-time, I presume), followed by UPS and then PODS off the crosswalk line slowly. It was like watching the tortoise and the hare – slow and steady wins the race.

PODS may not race across town or across the country (or on a race-track, but that would be cool), but will deliver your items on time in a secure storage container wherever you are when it is most convenient for you.

For this, I give PODS the trophy for taking the checkers as the Best Moving and Storage Idea, ever!™

–The Moving Diva

 

PODS® vs. pods

Do you know how many uses, terms and meanings there are for the word “pods” in the dictionary? More precisely, how many results are returned when this search term is used with Google? About 30,400,000 – that’s 30.4 MILLION!

I can’t possibly compare 30.4 million of these random “pods” with PODS^® the moving and storage company, but I was curious how many results would be returned with the search term “PODS^® container.” Turns out, about 40,600.

Do you plant a garden each year? Seed pods are among the most popular search terms (with nearly 4 million returns) and “vanilla pod” returning about 2 million.

Don’t ask me why I thought of searching for “space pods” but it was a shocker to see about 174 million hits on this topic alone! 174 MILLION!

While I can’t vouch for outer space, here on planet Earth, PODS is the best moving and storage idea ever!™

As Mork from the television show “Mork and Mindy” used to say: Nanu nanu, people. Nanu nanu.

–The Moving Diva