Month: October 2022

It’s back-to-school season and many families are getting their children ready to return to their fall schedules and routines. This is also a great time to start thinking about cleaning and decluttering kid zones at home. An organized playroom and effective clean-up routines can help children feel prepared to return to their school activities while relieving stress off parents.

To keep a clutter-free kid zone at home, we have put together five tips for you. 

Think Twice Before Buying More Items

One of the main reasons why children’s areas become cluttered and messy is an excess of toys and other belongings. To combat and prevent this, make a conscious effort to buy less and encourage creative and recreational activities more. Of course, new toys are always exciting, but too many too often might cause children to lose interest quickly and they might not value their toys as much. Instead, encourage your children to use what they have and use their imagination to come up with different ways of playing with what’s around. Buying less can help children be satisfied and more creative with less, rather than always wanting and expecting the newest and latest toys.

Encourage Good Habits

Make a habit of having a clean-up session every day with your kids. A great and easy goal would be to have them put away their toys every night before bed, or after playtime. Doing this consistently every day will help your kids develop organization habits that they can use at different stages of their lives. Having daily clean-up time also helps to keep clutter under control, rather than letting the clutter build up for weeks until it becomes a stressful factor at home.

Regift And Donate

Getting new toys also provides the perfect opportunity to donate to others. Include your children in this process by getting them excited about donating toys to children who need them, or regifting to someone who can give their toys a second round of love. Besides helping keep their space decluttered, this is a great way to teach kids about generosity and selflessness.

Designate Zones 

Whenever possible, divide and assign spaces in children’s rooms for different purposes. They can have a zone to play with costumes, a zone for all building block sets, a zone for arts and crafts supplies and a zone to keep all their sports gear, for example. Having clearly designated zones can help children know where to find their toys when it’s playtime and where to put them away at clean-up time.

Rent A Storage Unit

Sometimes there simply isn’t enough space to store all your children’s belongings. When this happens, you can rent a storage unit. With a storage unit you will get the additional space you need for those extra items while having ease of access whenever you need them. Many storage facilities, such as U-Lock Mini Storage, offer month-to-month rental so you can rent a storage unit for however long you need it! 

At U-Lock Mini Storage, we have storage facilities across Greater Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Our facilities include self storage Victoria, self storage Parksville, self storage Nanaimo, self storage Burnaby, self storage White Rock and Surrey, and self storage Chilliwack. Contact us if you have any questions!

A nursery can be the coziest, most charming room in the house, but it can also be the smallest. If you live in a smaller place, you might even be sharing some of the master bedroom space with the new baby, so effective storage solutions are essential.

You will want to have the perfect nursery ready to welcome the new family member. However, it’s no surprise that babies come with a lot of stuff and need a lot of supplies and, before you know it, your nursery may be full to the brim with items. 

To help you make the most of your nursery space and stay organized, here are six organization tips for you!

Store Excess Items in Bins under the Crib

When you are tight on space, it’s crucial to make the most of every square foot you have. The space beneath the crib is a great spot to store extra items that you might not need right away. Use bins to store extra diapers, wipes, out-of-season clothes and formula. Choosing clear plastic bins allows you to easily find what is stored in each bin. 

If these plastic bins are throwing the look of your nursery off, you can use a crib skirt to hide them underneath. Alternatively, you can use nice woven baskets or decorative cloth bins. 

Keep Supplies in A Shower Caddy

Diapers are an everyday essential and they need to be kept handy. If your changing station is lacking diaper storage, or additional space for other supplies, try using a shower caddy. You can hang the caddy on a wall nearby where you can easily reach for a fresh diaper or wipe when your baby needs a change. This way, you’ll add useful vertical storage to your space. You can even give the caddy a coat of paint to make it match your nursery’s colour scheme and decor!

Use A Tension Rod to Hang Baby Shoes

Baby shoes might well be the second cutest thing in your nursery, after your baby. However, the tiny shoes might get easily mixed up or lost if you have them stashed in a corner or drawer. To keep them organized, you can install a tension rod in the room (the closet is an ideal place) and add curtain clips to hold the shoes. Hang each pair with the clips and make it easier for you to choose a pair for your baby’s outfit.

Sort Baby Clothes by Size And Season

Babies grow fast! This means going through several items in their wardrobe as they outgrow smaller clothing. To keep up with their pace, sort clothes by size and place them in plastic bins or drawers in your closet. It’s best to keep clothes upright to easily see and reach for each outfit. This way, you can rotate through each size as your baby grows and move the smaller items into self storage. 

Use Bins Or Baskets for Accessible Toy Storage

Before your baby is even born, you’re going to deal with a growing toy collection. It’s important to keep them tidy and in one place to avoid hazards and clutter. To do so, you can use baskets, tubs or bins. 

Placing these containers on or near the ground will allow your baby to easily access them at the crawling and walking stages. Not only will your baby be able to reach these containers, but you can also use them to build good habits to put toys away and tidy up after playtime.

Rent A Storage Unit

Another great option for you to free up space in your nursery and home, is to rent a storage unit. If you have items sitting around that you don’t often need or use, you can store them in a storage unit for a short or long term, and access these items whenever you need to.

At U-Lock Mini Storage, we offer storage units across Greater Vancouver and Greater Vancouver Island. We offer self storage Burnaby, self storage South Surrey and White Rock, self storage Chilliwack, self storage Nanaimo, self storage Parksville, and self storage Victoria. Book a storage unit today! Contact us if you have any questions.

If you find yourself in the middle of a cluttered, dusty basement, you’re not alone. Messy basements are more common than we’d like to admit. We often dump unnecessary belongings into the basement with the idea that we’ll get to organizing later. However, between work and other activities in our lives, we often neglect this space in our house. 

To help you bring your basement back to life for your family to enjoy a space for entertainment and other activities, we have five basement organization tips for you.

Get Rid of Items You Don’t Need

The first step to organize your basement is purging and cleaning. It’s important to take note of what you have, what you need and what you don’t.

Spend a couple of days doing a thorough inventory of everything in your basement. As you go through your belongings, evaluate each item and decide whether to keep it and find a spot for it, or to get rid of it by donating, recycling or throwing it in the trash.

Making these decisions might be hard, so here are a few things to consider that might help you through the process:

Have you used it recently? Is it valuable to you? If not, it’s time to donate, recycle or chuck it.

Is this an item you seldom use and can borrow from someone should you need it? Give it to someone who might use it more often and lend it to you now and then.

Do you need a whole set, or can you keep just the essential? Pick what you need and get rid of the rest.

As you go, clean the areas that have cleared out after getting rid of items. This will make the cleaning process less challenging 

Create a Storage Layout

Now that your basement is clean, dry and hopefully smelling better, it’s time to create a storage plan. Think of all the things you decided to keep after the decluttering phase and create categories you can sort them into. Then, designate zones where you will store certain types of items. These zones can be split into seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter) or types (toys, Christmas, vacationing, etc.). Mark each zone with clear labels and start sorting your items into each of these zones.

Having these zones will help keep the clutter under control by making it easier to know where to find items you need, and where to put them away once you don’t need them. 

Install Sturdy Shelving and Use Air-tight Containers

Once you have sorted your items into their corresponding zones, you can decide the size and amount of containers you will need for each zone. It’s best to use clear plastic containers so you can see what’s stored inside. Additionally, containers should be air-tight to keep out pests like silverfish and other bugs. Add a few desiccant packets to control moisture and fill the containers with your items. 

Now that you know how many zones and containers you have, it’s time to get some sturdy and durable shelving and hardware. Open shelving is a great choice because it allows air circulation while providing ease of access to your items. You can also install a few hooks to hang bags and other lighter items. 

Do Yearly Inventory Checks

You have invested time and effort to clean up and organize your basement; now, keep it that way. Set a reminder to review the stored inventory once a year, and continue to get rid of items that you no longer need. Get into the habit of going through what you already have before adding new items to your basement. 

Rent A Storage Unit

If you have too many items in your basement or in your home that you want to keep, or if you want to free up more space for other activities, you can rent a storage unit to store your belongings. You can rent a storage unit size according to your needs. For example, if you only have a few items to store, you can choose a 5 x 5 feet storage unit. If you have more or bigger items to store, you can rent a 5 x 8 feet storage unit, or bigger. 

At U-Lock Mini Storage, we have storage facilities across Greater Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Our facilities include self storage Victoria, self storage Parksville, self storage Nanaimo, self storage Burnaby, self storage White Rock and Surrey, and self storage Chilliwack. Contact us if you have any questions!