The need for extra free time is also on the public’s minds with two thirds aspiring for additional time and money to go travelling. 20 per cent wish they could spend more time with their family, 13 per cent dream of setting up their own business and 15 per cent would like to build their own home.

At a time when belts are tight, most UK residents cannot afford to simply move to a bigger home. However, increasing the space in your life may be easier than you think. Most people have a room in their home, which is filled with things they do not use on a daily basis. If they move these items into a self storage facility, a new bedroom, study or a place to relax could be revealed. Self storage is very cost effective, especially when compared to the costs involved with upsizing your home. Rather than looking to expand the size of your home, declutter your existing space.

ready steady store Manchester Central has dedicated two storage rooms to The Fed.  Please contact The FED on 0161 795 0024 if you would like to donate your unwanted furniture at ready steady store (must be of good quality, resellable and meet British Safety Standards). Once we have filled the store we will open the rooms as an extension of The Fed’s charity shop. An easy way to help a good cause!

This weekend, we also helped The Fed organise their annual sponsored toddle. Children from the local community were invited down to race in aid of The Fed. We ran our own guess how many stress balls in the box competition and an ipod shuffle is on it’s way to the lucky winner – congratulations Abby Greenhouse who was just one off the correct number of 80!

If you are looking for other ways to help The Fed, ready steady store will donate £50 to The Fed if you store at ready steady store in Manchester.

Stay tuned for details of our next event with The Fed!

The event will run between 8 June and 27 June, so come down to one of our stores, step for charity on one of our in store cross trainers and help conquer Everest! Strap on your gym shoes and make your contribution to the target of 44,800 steps – enough to take us to the Everest Summit!

For each person who steps up to the challenge and completes a 10 minute stepping session, ready steady store will donate £5 to the chosen local charity. Every stepper will also automatically enter a prize draw to win a hot air balloon ride. Any additional sponsorship from the public is welcome.

National Carers week runs from Monday 8 – Sunday 14 June 2009. It is a time for carers to speak out. Six million carers throughout the UK provide unpaid care for friends, family and loved ones saving the economy a whopping £87 billion each year. Carers Week is a time to recognise the efforts and contribution these people make to our community.

Looking forward to seeing you get sweaty in store!

We will be posting daily updates on the progress of our events and news. Follow us on selfstorageUK

The MBDC consists of a group of concerned local women who are struggling to provide the facilities in their village community to help young people educate themselves and develop into literate young adults. This library will be much more than just a collection of books, it will be a focal point for kids and parents to meet together in the evening and they hope to have story telling sessions and a drama club as well as parenting and health education classes.

Ready steady store is also currently home to hundreds of pairs of Wellington boots. 90 per cent of school children are child labourers on the open dump sites in the Philippines and the Wellington boots will give their feet protection from the garbage and flood waters that settle where they live during the rainy season.

Great work from the Eastleigh store!

Congratulations to each of the winners of the pancake flip competition – your ipod shuffle prizes will be in the post shortly!

We’re now gearing up to our Easter charity event.

This Easter, we are supporting local refuges near each of the stores. Help us by donating chocolate Easter eggs for children staying in our local refuges. Simply bring your chocolate eggs to the stores nearest you and spread a little happiness this Easter.

Whilst you’re in store, make sure you also enter our Hunt the Golden Egg competition for the chance to win a family pass to Alton Towers or Chessington World of Adventures.

ready steady store will be collecting Easter Eggs from 9 March to 9 April 2009, Monday to Friday, between 8am and 6pm or between 9am and 6pm on Saturdays.

Making simple changes can make all the difference. For instance, if you have a spare room in your house, why not let it out? Did you know that you could receive up to £4,250 a year tax-free by moving the contents out of a junk room to a self storage facility? By freeing up some extra space, you could become eligible for the government Rent a Room scheme.

Each month I will be giving you credit crunch busting tips to pull you through the economic downturn.

I’ll also be updating you on all the great community charity events we have planned over the year. We’ve tied up Pancake Day when all the stores were flipping their frying pans in aid of local carer charities. The best pancake flipper at each store was even awarded a brand new ipod shuffle.

Stay tuned to see our programme of community events that will be taking place throughout the year.