New Years Resolutions for Effective Living & Storage Space
It’s the new year, a time for fresh starts and longer strides towards personal, professional, physical, spiritual and family improvement. A great place to start is in your home or work environment, going through the space to decide how it can better function. No matter the size space you own or rent, chances are it could be used in more effective ways. We’ll explore both the big items as well as the smaller details, focusing on easy steps you can take to feel better about the space in which you live, work and play. Finally we’ll talk about storage space in Ottawa, how to utilize self storage to create more space at home or work and feel better about your day to day environment.
Revisit, Re-evaluate and Revise Your Routine
Before we look at the space that’s around us externally, a good place to start is the space inside us, emotionally and physically speaking.
How comfortable are you with your current routine? If you answered along the lines of “not very” or “it could be better,” that’s actually a very positive sign. If you are comfortable with your routine, is that a good thing?? In either case, the onset of a new year is a fine time to take a look at our routines, find what’s working well and what we could change for the better.
What time do you wake up in the morning? When do you leave for work (or sit down to work from home)? At what hour do you typically go to sleep, and for how long and how well? When do you eat – and, even bigger, what do you eat? Not to go down the rabbit hole of the “this year I’m finally going to lose weight!” cliché, but in the context of our routines, it’s worth evaluating how food is making you feel. In the big picture, would alterations in your schedule and habits lead to feeling better, both physically and emotionally? Why not give it a try? If it doesn’t work out, you can always go back to that old routine, but give it at least a month and see how it goes. You might just end up feeling great and well on your way to being your best self!
How to Refresh Your Space
When thinking about routines, consider the space you live and work in. When you get up in the morning, for instance, are you greeted with a fresh, fully functional space? Or do you feel burdened by clutter, obstacles and/or the monotony of the same look & feel, day in and day out? Reinvigorating your bedroom, bathroom and other areas of the house can be as simple as moving pieces of furniture around; swapping out accessories such as rugs or paintings; or changing décor items such as sheets, bedspreads, towels, etc. Painting the walls is more time and effort, of course, but doing so can truly provide a renewed feeling.
Whether you work at home or in an office (or other environment), there are undoubtedly improvements you can make on the functionality of your work space. Are your desk and chair comfortable? Or are you sometimes sore or stiff after working for long stretches? Well, the first thing to do is take a good stretch at regular intervals! Beyond that, ergonomic chairs can help your back; even better, standing desks or adjustable desks have become more popular nowadays. Taking steps to feel better while working will help you feel better throughout the day, and quite possibly sleep better at night.
Speaking of popularity, we’ve in this space before about author and now-famous organizing consultant, Marie Kondo. A Netflix series called “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” has gone viral, and that’s been attributed to a desire to feel better through simple organization. Vox calls it “the fantasy of that perfect drawer, with the shirts lined up in a beautiful, regimented rainbow. A tidy life, and a world under perfect control.” While it won’t be perfect rainbows and unicorns, your life could quite probably benefit nicely from some simple steps and ongoing maintenance in the organization department.
Resolutions for Your Storage Space in Ottawa
The same process of re-evaluating things can be applied to your storage space.
The most popular storage spaces in the home are, not surprisingly, basements and garages. What happens all too often, however, is that these spaces become filled haphazardly with “stuff,” for lack of a better word. Anything we think we’ll use, but aren’t using right now, tends to go into the basement and/or the garage. Take a peek into your basement or garage right now, if you dare, and you’ll probably see a collection of the “best intentions” muddled with the passing of time and the loss of interest or motivation.
Could that space be used better?
For nearly every home owner or renter, the answer is, in all likelihood, a resounding “yes.”
That’s why the start of a new year is a great time to go through those spaces, decide what can stay, what can be thrown out, what needs to be stored in different way and how you’ll go about doing that.
At Acceptable Storage Ottawa, we’re a storage solutions provider, after all, so you’ve probably guessed by now that this is the part where we start talking about renting storage space.
Fair enough.
If you already rent storage space, don’t stop reading – we’ve got some tips for how to improve the use of that space!
If you’re not currently renting storage space, could your life be made better by doing so?
Given the opportunity to remove some items from your home or office (but hang onto them for eventual use), would the newly-discovered free space be worth your while? What would you be able to do with that new space? How could you make your life better by having it?
Whether you’re just now making the step towards renting storage space, or you already have a storage unit, let’s talk about how to best utilize self storage in Ottawa. First off, it’s important to rent the right size storage unit for your needs. Being able to fit everything in is important. Cramming too much into a smaller space isn’t ideal. On the other hand, some people rent bigger spaces and then end up not utilizing them well. There’s a “happy medium” sized space for nearly everyone, and we’re here to help you find that.
Acceptable Storage in Ottawa Can Help You Free Up Space (and Feel Better)
At Acceptable Storage, we’re experts on Ottawa self storage. Contact us today and let us know what kind of items we can help you store. We love to talk about storage and organization, and we’re always happy to answer questions about creating space and finding optimal levels of betterment through organization.