Monthly Archives: September 2012

10 Fun DIY Halloween Projects

  It’s time make plans for those inventive Halloween decorations soon to haunt your yard, that quirky fall wreath to grace your front door, and the most spooktacular party decorations you can find. Adults may not get to go door to door collecting scrumptious goods, but we can still have fun on Halloween! Thankfully, there’s no shortage of great, budget-friendly DIY Halloween projects online to help you enjoy Halloween. I’ve picked out a few of my favorites to inspire you.   One: Bat Costume Evil can be good. The crafty people over at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories conjured up a great, “working” bat costume from an old black … [More]

Q&A with a Justin Krum A Solar Power Brainiac

I recently had the opportunity to talk solar with Justin Krum, President and CEO of 1st Light Energy, our partner for solar installations. With 1st Light Energy, Extra Space Storage has completed nearly 100 solar installations at our storage properties in six states. With these solar panels, 1st Light Energy has helped us not only save energy, but also lower our operating costs. And we’re adding even more solar panels as you read this!   Justin wants to help others realize that solar energy puts more choices in the hands of homeowners and business owners. Consumers really don’t have to completely rely on utility companies for power! In … [More]

Bright Idea: Better Light with Less Energy Usage

  Saving energy is always a smart concept, but when you can do it and have better lighting in the process, that’s a bright idea! I recently told you about the energy-efficiency lighting improvements on the exterior of retrofitted properties, so now it’s time to take a look inside at some bright lighting solutions implemented at Extra Space Storage.   Transitioning to Brighter, More Efficient Lights Most of our lighting output takes place in hallways, so it’s important to get that right. During retrofits, we replace the T12 magnetic ballast lights in hallways with T8 lights, which operate with an electronic ballast. The change is significant – we’re … [More]

Meal Clean Up Made Simple

My boyfriend and I have had a deal: I cook the dinner and he cleans it up. There are days, though, that I have too much going on and he does the cooking and the cleaning up. And vice versa. When I am cooking AND cleaning up, I am always amazed at the workload difference between cleaning up while you cook and waiting to clean until after you eat. I have discovered a few tricks over the years on organizing your meal preparation for minimal clean up.   One-Pot Meals Crock pots—or slow cookers—are one of my preferred methods of cooking dinner during the workweek. There are thousands … [More]

How Solar is Powering Extra Space Storage

  Sometimes good enough just isn’t good enough anymore. When I reflect on my job before we started adding solar power to facilities at Extra Space Storage, it was good. Now that I’m part of a nationwide solar power initiative, I feel that the sustainability work by Extra Space Storage is more than good. It’s amazing. But let’s back up just a bit from the amazing phase.   Before we started adding solar power to storage facilities in 2010, our investors often asked me what we were doing to take care of the environment. (They still ask me this today, but now I have a better answer!) Our … [More]

Winnings Pinnings, Smart Tips To Organize Your Home

  Friends, have you caught the Pinterest bug yet? It’s pretty contagious, and I’ve got it bad I think I know the reason why I love working at a place called Extra Space Storage, because I tell you, I have long loved finding places to store things. When I was in grade school, I had a collection of boxes, all sizes and materials. I loved collecting treasures and notes almost as much as I loved finding places to store them.  Since then ways to cleverly, even beautifully store treasures have come a long way. One of my favorite boards on Pinterest is Store It! There are ideas old, … [More]

Kitchen Organization – Perfecting the Pantry

  I dream of a perfect pantry with matching jars holding a vast array of dried goods. In this dream food closet, the boxes are color coordinated, the vintage metal bins line the bottom shelf, and the bottles are sparkling and perfectly stacked. Suddenly, Dorothy and her ruby slippers are there in my yellow-floored pantry. We twirl around and I join her excited chant of: “Baskets, Containers, and Jars—oh my!”   Baskets Plastic, wicker, jute, metal or straw: the material is up to you, your style, and which you would prefer to touch multiple times a day. Baskets are my favorite in the refrigerator. If you’ve never seen … [More]

Most Creepy Things Found in Storage Units this Year

  Bidding on the contents of abandoned storage units is a job for some and a hobby for others. And there’s nothing wrong with that. After all, you can make a few bucks. However, you can also end up with the shock of your life, as a couple of people learned this year. With Halloween coming up, I decided to take a look at the most spooky things recently discovered in storage units. But watch out. The creepiest things found in storage units so far in 2012 may make you think twice before going to that storage auction!   A Stalker’s Storage Unit, as Creepy as You Imagined … [More]

Daylight Harvesting – Better for the Environment, Better for You!

  Recently the New York Times reported a compelling fact: “Enough sunlight falls every hour to meet the entire world’s energy needs for one year.” That is a lot of essentially free energy  that’s being wasted! This presents an opportunity to find ways to use the sun and its energy to decrease our impact on the earth’s natural resources. One way of doing this is using the sun to naturally light our homes and work spaces. Research and studies have proven there are many benefits of daylight. These benefits include: Energy conservation Increased productivity Lifting of spirits Spaces appear larger Improved concentration Quickened learning speed At Extra Space … [More]

Organization and Time Management Equals More Time

  “For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned,” said Benjamin Franklin.   Considering this quote allegedly came from the same man who also declared that “a penny saved is a penny earned,” I would guess that time saved is as valuable (if not more so) than money saved. The numbers are more favorable, at least.   How much time does being organized really save you? Consider these studies and statistics:   An average American will spend about 16 minutes a day looking for lost items—which adds up to an entire year during a lifetime. In the book The Overload Syndrome, author Richard Swenson details how … [More]