I bought a lot of new things right after everything shut down. Some of it was stuff I got to organize my house or redecorate. I got a lot of random projects done while I wasn’t working and isolating myself in my house. I also got things I needed to survive during the pandemic. I remember how hard it was to find masks right when they were required. I had some fabric I used to turn into a makeshift mask, but as soon as I was able to order some better ones, I did. And I got quite a few of them. Some were to have some cute-looking ones and others were for specific functions (like the workout masks I got). And the other big thing I got to survive the pandemic was everything I got for my home gym.
I slowly acquired things for my little home gym. So many things that people would use for workouts were very hard to find at first because everyone was shopping for the same thing. So I had a little random collection of things when I started. And I slowly added to it with more and more equipment and things I wanted to use in my home workouts. While I still had things that were on my wishlist for home gym items, either they were not things I could get due to money or availability or I just didn’t have space. And while I was doing all my workouts at home, I kept all my gym stuff in a little corner of my living room. I did store some of the things I didn’t use as often in the big fabric hamper, but most of it was just laying on the ground. Things weren’t messy, but they were a bit cluttered feeling.
Once I started back at Orangetheory, I knew that I probably wasn’t going to use my home gym equipment like I had been doing. I wasn’t going to get rid of what I got because I know that there will likely be a time in the future that I want to do more than just the workouts in the studio. So I had to figure out what to do. I do have a garage that I can store things in, and I considered getting a big plastic tub to put everything in. But I know if I do that then I will probably not use that stuff again, at least while it’s there. So I started to look for good storage solutions for inside my house.
It’s never easy for me to find new things for my house because I have such limited space. I also wanted something big enough to fit most of the home gym stuff together (I knew it wouldn’t be possible to get everything together unless it was a giant storage unit). I didn’t have to move everything by a certain date, so I took my time looking for what I wanted. I wasn’t going to buy something super expensive, but even something that’s under $150 is something that I should make sure I really want so I don’t waste my money. And it took a while to find something and I debated between different ideas (storage bench versus an ottoman for my couch, for example). But I finally found something that fit the space I had and I thought would look good next to other things I have.
I only ordered it a few days ago, but somehow it arrived already at my house! I wasn’t expecting to have it until next week, but getting it early just meant to could start organizing things earlier too. After having a few struggles with building it (I didn’t realize you had to elevate part of the bench to screw the top on), I got it done and started to put my home gym away.
I did have some mismeasurements when I was planning because I thought it would fit my medicine ball and it was just a bit too small. But since I was already planning on not being able to fit everything in there, it’s ok if one more thing had to find a different place. I think I can store that in my closet or somewhere else, I’m still working on it. But almost everything else I used for my home workouts is now organized away so I can have it available if I want to work out but hidden if I’m not going to need it. And I do like that this storage bench provides extra seating if I need it.
Having everything put away makes my home feel a bit more like what it used to. At some point, I’m sure I’ll be storing away all the masks I’ve gotten as well. But for now, I still wear them when I’m out in public around a lot of people. And in the future, all the things I got to survive the pandemic will be stored away and just memories instead of things I need to use all the time.
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Cleaning Up And Giving Things Away (or Finding More Space In My House)
Being Social Feels A Bit Cold (or Another Realization About The Pandemic)
More Empty Space In My House (The Cleaning And Organizing Continues)
Thoughts Almost A Year Into The Pandemic (or Things Still Seem So Weird)
Even More Redecorating (or One Planned Change and One Due To Being A Klutz)
