In this episode, we explore what happens when your home’s “luxury” spaces like the gym or pantry finally come into focus. Inspired by a long-term client who realized her gym felt dreadful after organizing the rest of her home, we talk about why certain areas only become priorities once we feel grounded elsewhere. We’ll also walk through practical tips for creating a safe, motivating, and functional gym space, whether it’s a full room, a corner of the basement, or a moveable setup that fits your lifestyle.
In this episode, we talk about:
- The psychology behind why we organize our wellness spaces last
- How a tidy, safe gym supports motivation and long-term wellness
- Actionable ways to organize and refresh your home gym
Mentioned in this episode:
- How to safely identify wall studs and secure mounted equipment
- The benefits of using mobile, multipurpose storage for home gyms
- Design ideas that boost comfort, motivation, and consistency
Review full show notes and resources at https://theorganizedflamingo.com/podcast
Review Transcript:
Welcome back to Organize and Cherish with me, Stephanie, your host. Today we're talking about a space that often doesn't get much attention until everything else in the home feels quote unquote done, which is your gym, whether that's a corner in your basement, a spare bedroom, a section in the garage, or just a yoga mat that comes out when you need it, your fitness space to service more.
Organizing love too. And this conversation came up because of a recent client, which I will tell you the story in just a minute. And so I thought, let me just devote an entire episode to this because it's an important part of your life, especially if you are trying to become stronger, have a place of wellness.
Then this episode is for you. So the episode was inspired by a recent conversation with one of my long-term clients. We've been working together for almost two years. And she recently told me, I never realized how dreadful my gym felt until the rest of the house started to feel good. And that comment really stuck with me because once other parts of your environment feel calm, safe, and functional, like the places you're in all the time, it's like our eyes finally start to see what's next.
Those bonus spaces that support our overall wellbeing. So I thought, you know what? If you are feeling this way, I bet you other people are as well. So let's talk about it and let me give you my tips on how to do that in the most efficient way possible. And again, we, because here we're all about, uh, making actionable steps towards your decluttering and organizing downsizing journey, we'll give you some quick things that I think could help you move along and get some inspiration.
So here we go.
Welcome to the Organized and Cherish podcast with the Organized Flamingo. I am your host Stephanie, your compassionate and deficient professional organizer. Whether you are part of the sandwich generation helping a loved one declutter, or just trying to simplify life, this is the place for you. Together, we will tackle those overwhelming piles of stuff, uncover purpose in what we keep, and let go with dignity and care.
Because it's not just about throwing everything away, it's about respecting memories and simplifying life. Sound like a plan? Let's jump in and get organized. So let's talk about the psychology behind luxury spaces. Okay, so when people think about organizing, they usually start with what feels urgent. So that's usually the kitchen, the closet, the paperwork pile that's driving them crazy.
It's the space that you're in all the time, or maybe a loved one has pointed it out to you and you know that it's going to help your relationship and or all of you as a family unit, whoever you live with, feel safer, right? So usually you go to those areas. Those are the places that we call the survival spaces.
Only after those are under control, do we start noticing areas like the gym, the pantry, the craft room spaces that support growth and nourishment rather than basic function. There's a quick disclaimer here because for some of you, uh, especially if you're neurodivergent. Or you are a more of a creative, uh, you have a creative mindset.
You might actually gravitate towards trying to organize the area of creativity like your craft room, not as a distraction, but also as a survival because that is where you feel safe. So it's survival spaces, also known as places you feel safe. So for some of you, that actually might feel like it's not your safe space, but it is.
So pay attention to that. From a psychological standpoint, it's connected to the Maslow's hierarchy of needs. And that's when we crave safety, order and comfort first. So one of those needs needs to be met, right? And then once they are, our energy and attention can move towards improvement like health, maybe creativity or self-care, which, you know, we can argue that that should be just as important, but that's a topic for another day.
So if you haven't been able to focus on your jib space yet, that's okay. It doesn't mean you don't care about your wellness. It probably just means that your brain has been prioritizing survival and now that the rest of your home feels calmer, it might be giving you permission to look at the next layer.
So that's where we're gonna talk about, and that's why we consider kind of the gym more of a luxury space, even though you know it, it kind of goes hands, hand in hand with survival, but it's a different type of survival. So why your gym matter is more than you think your gym area, so, or whatever version of one that you have, is more than a workout zone.
It's a motivation environment, so how it looks and feels impacts whether you want to be there or not. If it's cluttered with cords, unstable equipment, or last year's holiday decor, it can subconsciously signal stress instead of strength. For many people, the gym becomes a catchall space. You know, like the treadmill surrounded by old clothes and holiday bins or half empty storage boxes or your sweater, you know, you just kind of hang it like there's that running joke.
It just becomes like your, another closet or hanging space. It's hard to feel energized in a room that's visually competing for your attention. So the goal of organizing your gym is not usually about perfection unless somebody's coming in to redesign it and clean it all the time. This is like if you are doing it yourself, right?
It's not about perfection. It's about creating a space that you feel safe in that's functional and welcoming enough that you'll actually use it. So let's talk about practical organizing tips for your gym, the actionable part. Some of the key things to consider when setting up or refreshing your home gym, or if you're trying to like reorganize, declutter it is start with safety number one, before installing wall racks or heavy equipment, identify where the structural support is in your walls.
If you're hanging weights, bars, or resistance gear, make sure they're secured into studs, not just drywall. I mean, that's just one example. Definitely read the instructions, but I see a lot of people just kind of hang it wherever, or one of those pull up bars, you know, they'll put it up in the, um, the door frame, and sometimes that's not structurally sound, so make sure that it is safe.
If you're unsure, it's worth having a handy person or contractor Check. Safety first. You know, just ask a friend. That is a place where I, I would have a, for a, a, at least one opinion, um, before you start putting up anything on the walls or on the structure of the home. Use your vertical space wisely and safely as our number two vertical storage works beautiful in gym spaces.
I mean, really. It could also be a danger zone and if you're limited on wall space because you wanna use your wall space for exercising or you know the ball or, or handstands, I don't know, whatever it is that you wanna do or work on, you might need some of that vertical space. But if you do have space for that, it's wonderful.
It's a great place for you to hang things on PEG boards. Wall hooks, shelving, units that can hold mats. Resistant bands, towels, or smaller accessories are great. They're kind of in the same category of items of garage and storage unit items, so you might find them in the same aisle or if you're looking for stuff in your, she.
It actually might also work well in your gym. Now you just have to make sure that it's got a little more padding, doesn't have too many sharp edges, because you will be working out in that area. Or you will have items, a ball or a mat that might get damaged if you're, if you, you don't have the right hooks and whatnot.
Okay? So just be careful for that, which is different than if you're in your storage room. Storage or shed, or garage, right? That's a little bit more on the rough side, but think sturdy and accessible. Store, have your items lower, and then keep lightweight gear above shoulder height, shoulder height, so you don't have to lift it up and down.
Uh, this actually made me think of this one. Client had all the weights right above them because it was out of the way, but every time she needed something, she had to get up on a stool to get the weights down. Ooh, not a great idea. It eventually did land on her foot because, well, you're kind of lifting heavy things from the top to the bottom.
Not the safest, so try to put the heavy stuff shoulder length and or up below. Hi, cherish friends. Life can get overwhelming, especially when you're juggling caregiving, clutter and everything in between. That's why I created the Organizing Cherish Weekly email that goes out every Wednesday's straight to your inbox.
To help you keep the momentum inspiration going with tips and reminders of our upcoming events, all you have to do is head on over to organize and cherish.com and sign up for the email newsletter. It's free and you can sub subscribe whenever you'd like. It's my way of helping you simplify your life and respecting memories along the way.
Now, back to our show things, mobility and flexibility. If you don't have a dedicated room. Look for furniture or carts or sturdy wheels, you can move them around in and out as needed. Very common in multi-generational spaces where not everybody can lift the same amount of stuff and or like you need to move it to maybe like a physical training, like a PT style area.
Maybe on your living room or something. So something with wheels. For example, a rolling dumbbell rack or a cart that stores yoga gear towels and a Bluetooth speaker. Like that kind of thing. Make sure it has a lock. The wheels have the lock that they're heavy duty and that. You don't place two such heavy things that it will tilt over.
So lighter stuff at the top on the sides, heavier stuff at the bottom, don't overdo it either. Um, this is just for convenience, but mobility, flexibility type of furniture. Pieces are great. Divide by workout types. So keep the strength training gear together, cardio equipment in one zone, and recovery or stretching supplies in another.
Whatever your, your categories are right, this will help you with your brain shift gears, and also you will know where the home is. One of our big things here is that everything has a home. A home for everything. It has a container that it lives in. It's like its own little nest, and we want you to keep that going with every part of your home and space, including your gym.
So if you categorize by training gear. Like how it all fits together. That might be easy for you to remember where to put it back. And it's not just all over the place because you never remember where to put stuff back. On the contrary, there are also just big peg wall style area walls where it just has a bunch of hooks and you basically just find a hook that works, but it's all in one space and you can visually see everything in one area, uh, as opposed to it being.
A closet or shelf, everything's out. It's almost like it's like an art wall, but for the gym where all your stuff just gets hung all in one place. That also works very well for people. When you move to that area, you will know exactly where things go. Like that's kind of the whole purpose of this, that there is less of resistance for you to put stuff back after you're done with it, so it's not just cluttered everywhere.
That kind of leads us to the cleanup routine. So kind of building a habit that when you walk in, you know where to go. You will know where to find things, but then when you leave, you know where to put it back and it just becomes a, a quicker habit versus you trying to every single time feel like it's one extra chore, if that makes sense.
So we want it to feel fresh. We want it to feel as easy as possible so that it doesn't get in the way of whatever your health journey routine. Wellness routine is. If possible, add a bright, natural light, warm light, whatever. Okay, so this is more, this is actually a tip that I had from a good friend who is an interior designer, uh, slash wellness person.
When they came to talk to our group a couple years ago, they talked about lighting and how, how essential that is in your actual organizing journey so that you can see what you're doing. So it's motivating, of course, um, as part of your training and whatnot, but that you could see where things go and you can easily see, and they're not just hiding in a drawer.
So I thought that was a great tip. So I will add it here. It could boost your consistency and it could just give you a little bit more of, of the visual. Part that you need to be a little more organized. That's why I always say don't go too deep in the drawers or too deep in the bins because stuff can get lost at the bottom forever more, and we don't want that.
So same thing with your gym. So those are some of my quick tips. You need flexibility, right? You need flexibility and visibility in that gym area. Uh, a system that supports the actual weight of that gym area. Make sure that you're aware of that. A place that is motivating to you. And it's easy, as easy as possible to keep upkeep and put stuff away.
So that's kind of like our quick breakdown. Look for those action items to keep you consistently organized in that space. If you're doing this for the very first time, you will need that level of decluttering first, that step. So you'll need to kind of go in and do a quick, okay, what don't I need? Let's get rid of it.
I always tell people with the gym, especially like gym areas, clean it up, use it. And then as you start this new routine of yours, you will start to realize what you're not using. Because with gyms, if you haven't been in them in in a long time, you might have forgotten what you actually use. As you get stronger, as you, your body, your mind changes.
You might actually start to phase out and grow out of some of these items naturally. Um, so I would just do like a quick cleanup, a quick like decluttering, cleanup type of session. Use the stuff, then do it again, because then you will just do a rediscovery of what you need and what you don't need. Let me just quickly, um, end with, you know, my client's story that I told you at the beginning of the episode and where we ended up.
Um, what I really loved about this in her situation is how her shift towards organizing her gym led to her to think differently about her wellness in general. And once the gym started feeling peaceful, she naturally moved on to her pantry, an area that she had been resisting for a really long time, like it was to very taboo.
Again, we've been working for two years consistently. I'm saying like, I've been there, you know, in her house almost every week, not, you know, every, every two weeks. So that's, that's a lot of sessions. And the pantry was just kind of off limits for her. She felt very stressed about it. Um, didn't really feel like she was ready to trust me to go and make the decisions.
She knew she had to be a part of it and, and therefore resisted it. But once the gym happened, then she just came in with this. I could just tell that she just felt open more sure of her decisions in her pantry. And so that connection between physical organization and how we nourish ourselves is really powerful.
And I got to see it firsthand with her. So again, some of those same principles we just talked about really applied to her. She started seeing like what her body, what her mind was capable of, and then that encouraged her to move on to the really, really hard places that momentum kept her going. So I'm big about reducing friction.
So I will say it here and highlight it on this episode. Again, let's reduce the friction when things are easy to find, you're more likely to use them. And a gym is a perfect place to apply that. Alright, so if you're looking around and realizing that your gym needs more like a storage container or corner, that's okay.
You don't have to go tackle it all at once. Maybe it's just like that small area. Start small, see what you're using, what you're not. Go do your workouts, get a feel for what you have outgrown. Start that process and then go from there. Alright, until next week, happy organizing. Thank you for listening to the Organized and Cherish podcast with the Organized Flamingo.
If you enjoy today's episode, I'd be so grateful if you left a rating and review on your favorite podcast player. It helps others discover our show. For full show notes, resources, and more organizing inspiration, visit www.theorganizedflamingo.com/podcast. Until next time, happy organizing.