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Use vintage chests for movement-oriented storage
Some more ideas on how to incorporate movement through your daily environment – your house! Did you miss Part 1? Read it here.
Clean as you go
Keeping surfaces clear helps you move during the day and reduces clutter
This is the #1 habit in my arsenal for keeping a clean house. Without obsessing, I do try to keep an eye out for things in place they don’t belong. I love clear surfaces that don’t have piles of junk on them.
Throughout the day, I will just do a quick pick up and return the item to it’s rightful place. I do like to do a sweep through the house at night before going to bed. This makes the next morning welcoming as I have a bright, clean space to greet me.
Adding this practice into your day will automatically add steps into your movement practice!
2 minute rule
Little tasks, like sorting mail, can be done quickly and get you off the couch and on your feet!
If washing a dish or taking out the garbage; putting away a pile of clothes; scanning a document; sorting through mail, etc. will take less than 2 minutes to complete, do it! You will complete the task very quickly. The short walk/bend needed is exactly the type of thing we want to look for throughout the day.
Watering plants
If they are small, pick them up walk them to the sink. Give them a good drink, and leave them there to drain out the excess water. Then take them back to their home. More steps!
If they are not small and located outside, fill the gallon watering can with fertilizer (as needed) and water and take it outside instead of just turning a hose on. You may need multiple trips if your planters on the porch are really thirsty, but now you’ve carried at least 1 gallon around for a bit instead of just picking up the hose.
Home office – stand up desk and thick mat
This one is a back and butt saver!
I intentionally set up my home office so that I could have a standing desk and a very tall chair to alternate between sitting and standing.
Prior to moving to Montana, I worked in an office building. I would leave with terrible tension headaches turned migraine, I’d hunch my shoulders throughout the day causing tension in my neck, my lower back would hurt and my rear was definitely getting flattened out by sitting on it all day. Once my doctor and I determined that the normal desk was contributing to these migraines, I got a doctor’s note for a convertible sit/stand desk that you put on top of your existing desk. (See the desk here.)
At first, I found myself alternating between sitting and standing every 45 minutes by keeping track using a timer in Google Chrome. Then, I was able to stand for much longer periods and really only sat when my knees started to protest. Listen to your body!
When I’m at home, I like to do a few squats or lunges every hour or so to wake myself up and break up the monotony of staring at a computer all day!
Storage solutions that encourage movement
Creative Storage can encourage movement too
Use vintage chests which open up and have removable trays that have to lift out. Cute, functional and movement-oriented.
Keep kitty litter out in the garage and bringing it in to fill it. For me, that’s 40lbs to trek in, dump in the box and an empty bag to walk out to the garbage. Hoo-ah!
Keep reusable grocery bags out in the garage/in the car and returning it to it’s home once finished. This just adds a few steps, but it’s put away and now you’re prepared for the next grocery run!
Freezer food/meals – most of our food is either a freezer meal I previously prepared and froze or it’s the simple formula of MVD(meat + veggies = delicious), which we also store in the freezer (so the veggies don’t go bad when Sierra thinks “I’ll buy 20 pounds of vegetables this week because then we have to eat it!”). Either way, I go out into the garage, open the freezer and pull out what we want to eat for dinner that day.
Kitchen appliances – there are some kitchen appliances I either don’t think we use often enough to warrant a forever home in the kitchen OR it’s so honking big that it won’t fit well and will drive me nuts trying to put it away each time. Enter the Instant Pot and the slow cooker. Such heartnbreakers. I keep these on a shelf out in the garage, so I have to walk out and get it when I want to use it and return it when I’m done.
Millie Copper (Homespun Oasis) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking amazon.com.
