Category: Storage Unit

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!

“Everything in its place and a place for everything” isn’t just a saying Grandma cross-stitched on a pillow. It’s also the best of the kitchen organization tips you can apply. For most people, though, an organized kitchen is a dream to be achieved someday after retirement when the kids have moved out and life is less hectic. Reversing years of bad organization habits seems like too daunting a task to ever really tackle.

But it is possible to keep the heart of your home clear of clutter without spending weeks on boring cleaning projects. It’s time to stop procrastinating, be honest about what you really need, and reclaim the space you use to cook meals and enjoy time with family and friends. Here are our top nine kitchen organization tips to try today.

1. Start by reflecting on how your family uses the kitchen

Today’s kitchen isn’t just for food storage and cooking. It’s often part of your living area and is a multi-purpose space.

Consider all the functions your space serves. You might have a sitting area off the kitchen that comes in handy for entertaining. Does part of your kitchen end up being used as a workspace? Write down the ways that you use the area to ensure that your kitchen organization accommodates the needs of your family.

Here are some common uses for kitchens to think about:

• Create a place to store items used when entertaining. From a bottle opener and wine glasses to coasters and serving trays, select an accessible spot for your things so it’s easy to welcome friends and family.
• If your dining area is combined with your kitchen, keep placemats and napkins in an easy to reach spot so little hands can help set the table while you cook.
• If your kitchen island is often turned into a game area or homework zone, keep favorite games in a nearby cabinet or have a bin with pencils, pens, and notebooks easy to grab.

2. Think like a minimalist

Your first step toward kitchen freedom is to give the whole space an objective assessment. Forget about any sentimentality attached to the items you’ve kept all these years, and give serious thought to what you actually use on a regular basis.

Take a cue from minimalists, people who do their best not to acquire more than they need and to get rid of anything lacking a clear purpose. Apply this logic to your kitchen by:

• Setting aside your most-used tools and appliances.
• Identifying duplicates.
• Determining which single-function items can be replaced or tossed.
• Throwing out old, broken, rusty, or hopelessly dirty items.
• This gives you a starting point to work from as you create a plan of attack to organize your kitchen space.

3. Emphasize ease of use

Every kitchen has a few key items used to prepare and eat meals on a regular basis. Put the items you use most in easy-to-reach places to keep from tossing everything out of the way to get to that one bowl you need. Remember the old rule: “Like goes with like,” a key philosophy when it comes to storage units.

Make it as easy as possible to find your favorite items by storing dishes in one place and cups in another, and putting similar preparation tools together. This not only speeds up meal prep and table setting but also streamlines the appearance of your kitchen.

4. De-Clutter drawer space

As you’re rearranging the items you use most to keep the kitchen organized, you’ll inevitably run across clutter in drawers, including the ubiquitous “junk drawer.” Take the opportunity to clear out the messes you find as part of your overall cleaning strategy.

If you need to pop out to the store to grab some inexpensive drawer organizers, do it. These simple plastic or wooden inserts can turn even the messiest drawer into a neat and tidy space. Get one for silverware and another for everyday items such as tape, twist ties, and rubber bands.

Some utensils take up too much space when stored in drawers. Big items such as ladles and potato mashers are better kept on a mounted wall rack or simple suction hangers stuck to the side of a cabinet.

5. Categorize cabinets for better kitchen organization

Keeping with the “like goes with like” rule, move on from the drawers to the cabinets. Pick logical spots for plates, glasses, and mugs, and place all the similar items together. Organizing in this way will unearth some things you haven’t seen in years. If you find something you have little or no memory of using, ask yourself these questions:

• Do you really need or even want promotional items from companies you rarely do business with?
• Will you ever use “kiddie” dishes and cups again?
• Is there any reason to keep lids with no matching pots?
• Which items can be donated or given away to clear out more cabinet space?

This keeps you in the minimalist mindset and allows you to let go of items you have no reason to keep without the nagging feeling that you might use them at some unforeseeable time in the future.

6. Power up your shelving

Now that you’ve sorted through most of the overwhelming volume of stuff in the kitchen, you should have a good idea of what items you’re going to keep. It’s time to turn your attention to the shelves and see how best to organize this space in your kitchen.

Open shelving creates a sense of light and space and gives you a place to showcase your everyday dishes when not in use. Mix in decorative, functional items like cookbooks, gourmet olive oils, and flowers for an attractive display. Make sure you give these shelves a good wipe-down at least once a month to address dust, grease, and grime.

If you don’t have the space for an open shelf unit, make an effort to empty space on the shelves you do have. Use decorative plates, potted plants, or small appliances to break up larger groups of items and improve the appearance.

7. Make the most of your storage

If your kitchen has deep storage drawers, roll-out shelves, or a swing-out pantry, organizing your kitchen will be a breeze. But don’t panic if your kitchen is not outfitted with these great storage hacks. You can easily find perfect kitchen organization solutions that will help make life easier.

Shelf inserts can be used to create additional storage space, cookware organizers make it easy to grab the pan you need, and a tiered organizer helps keep things visible and organized.

8. Consider the countertops

Your countertop can make a big difference in the way you feel about your kitchen. Clutter-free counters make preparing food and cooking meals easier, and they reduce the possibility of accidents. They also improve the visual appeal of the space.

These kitchen organization tips can help you tidy your counter space:

• Clean up the sink and counter as soon as possible after preparing food.
• Store containers of flour, sugar, and other dry goods in cabinets or the pantry.
• Consider moving knives out of large wooden blocks and into drawers.
• Put away small appliances, such as the toaster, when not in use.
• If you don’t have the option of putting everything out of sight, consider mounting as many things off the counter as you can. By mounting things off the counter, the area still appears less cluttered and gives you more space to work when cooking.

9. Make a seasonal storage plan

You don’t need the cookie jar you only use for one month around Christmas cluttering your in-home storage space all year long. Get it out of the kitchen along with those holiday dish towels and fancy serving platters and into a shed or self-storage unit. Keep an eye out for other holiday-specific items, such as cookie presses or candy molds, and store them somewhere else until you actually need them.

When the holidays roll around, get what you need out of storage and wash it thoroughly. Find a good temporary spot for it in the kitchen, and put it back into storage as soon as you no longer need it. Leaving seasonal items out for too long can start the cycle of clutter all over again.