The 2020 Summer Olympic Games have started, taking place between 23 July and 8 August, followed by the Paralympic Games, due to run between 24 August and 5 September.

And after any major sporting event, people do take up sports, although this may be short lived. The road to Hell, as they say, is paved with good intentions.

But for however long your sporting ambitions last, the equipment needs housing. Managing it well may keep your sporting ambitions alive for longer by both leaving your living spaces clean and protecting expensive equipment.

Whether your sport is winter or summer, there are some basic rules to help stay on top of that sporting clutter:

1. Create a fixed space for storing your kit

Avoid that before training/before competing rush.  

“Where are my boots?”  

“Is my team shirt clean?”

If everything heads to the same place once its cleaned or dried off, it’s immediately clear where to look.

2. Prepare to Put it Away

No matter how tired you are after a performance, match or training session, make it part of your routine to prepare to put things away. Clothes in the wash bin. Equipment cleaned down and either dried or left to dry. This applies as much to a massive ice hockey kit as to running shoes. Make life easy for yourself by regarding these chores as an extension of the exercise you’ve just done.

3. Make notes immediately

After training you’ll be tired. But as you sit down to eat, drink or simply flop onto the sofa, make a note for yourself of anything you forgot this time – water bottles or broken straps are always a favourite in our house – and leave the note for yourself in the place you store your kit.

And if something is starting to wear through or fade, get too small or too big, make a note to fix/replace. You won’t feel like doing it there and then, but a note left out as a reminder may well avoid weeks of guilty feelings for having kept forgetting.

4. Include kit maintenance in your training plan

You’re not going to want to put your bike in for repair in the same week you’re heading off touring the Dales with friends. You can’t possibly send things off for specialist cleaning in the same week as a big competition and expect them to be back in time.

Schedule the time.

Sometimes these things are easy: if you’re a sailor, for example, your boat may need to come out of the water on a set date because the sailing club has a crane. For the equestrians, the farrier’s availability may dictate what you do when.

For other things, you’ll need to stay on top of it, and in some cases even take a lead from the weather. Always check for missing parts on an ongoing basis – dealing with it immediately is usually the best policy.  

Don’t forget that helmets and hard hats have a shelf life and will need replacing periodically.

5. Store equipment clean and dry when out of season.

Take horse blankets for specialist cleaning as summer arrives, then store carefully, clean and dry, until needed again.

Winterise engines.

Whatever your equipment, clean and dry is the key – both for the equipment and the space its stored in. Even after a good clean, some kit remains a tad smelly. It is typically bacteria that’s causing the smell. The item may need a second clean, specialist cleaning, or foot deodorant. Don’t ignore it. It will only get worse.

After cleaning and treatment leave things to dry and air, before storing carefully.

Whether your eyes are set on the next Olympics or simply walking the dog more often is about as ambitious as you can manage, easyStorage is here for storing your out of season sports kit. It’s cheaper than you think – around half the price of traditional self-storage. Moreover, easyStorage comes to collect from you, meaning you’re saved the Olympic effort of hiring vans or rallying friends to help you move things. Better still, when you’re ready, they’ll bring your things back!

A no-obligation quote is available 24/7 via the easyStorage website: https://book.easystorage.com/

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