Putting holiday decorations away can be high on a procrastinator’s list of things to avoid. But there can be joy in dealing with the festive fall-out.

The New Year can be a good time to streamline holiday decorations says master-level KonMari Method consultant, Helen Youn. She helps people organize their homes following the teachings of Japanese tidying expert Marie Kondo.

First, consider how much storage you want dedicated to Christmas. Whether it’s one box, one shelf or one room, keep it to that and declutter the excess. She recommends tossing broken or unused items still in storage boxes.

“If you didn’t use these items this year, it’s likely you won’t next year. They no longer bring you joy and maybe you could let go,” she says.

“You have to consider what life you want for yourself and how things fit into that. If you are a person who wants to have lots and lots of decorations so that you feel joy when your entire house is decked out, then you should do that.”

Holding onto items that induce a sense of joy is the basis of the KonMari Method. Contemplating the joy that radiates from every tree ornament or candlestick shouldn’t be all that time consuming.

“When you are putting a decoration away, you are holding that object in your hand anyway. How you feel should be instantaneous. You either feel joy or you don’t, and if you do, keep it,” she says.

Involve children when it comes to putting away handmade decorations from school or letting go of old toys if new ones have arrived from Santa.

“You’re teaching them a skill,” she says.

When space is a luxury, every nook and cranny counts. Keep clutter at bay with these savvy design ideas that are sure to streamline and organize even the smallest abodes, creating a calm and peaceful environment where everything has its place.

1. Think three-dimensionally

Europeans have this concept down pat. In the kitchen, add a mobile island with plenty of shelving, providing more generous counter space and ample storage layers. Add a stool or two, and you have a quaint and cosy spot to enjoy a glass of wine with the chef. Price and designs vary. Ikea is great starting point, and browse Pottery Barn and houzz.com for more ideas. Spiff up the closet by ferreting out extra storage using the entire space.

Divide up the wall, add drawers, shelves, bins and watch how much easier life becomes. Empty spaces under beds and sofas are prime storage space. Fill pretty bins with linens and towels and store underneath the bed. Or toss some baskets fashioned from metal, jute or fun fabrics into the mix in the living room and bathroom.

Check out the Maison line at Simons, the 176-year-old Quebec City fashion retailer that’s opening in the Core in March. Wine lovers take note: a single layer of wine racking under the sofa cavern or under a bed can transform the space into a hidden wine cellar. It’s an innovative spot to cradle treasured vintages.

2. Close the lid on mess

Embrace the latest trend for small spaces — furniture with a storage component. Tuck papers, pillows, blankets, books, games and electronics out of the way with storage ottomans. Ikea even takes it one step further with the Friheten sofa, a pullout chaise-style corner sofa bed in funky colours with an over-sized storage space for bedding, pillows and anything else you might want to hide. Sneak sweaters, coats and boots out of eyesight with a mudroom or front-foyer storage bench.

3. Go up

Start by seeking out clever racking and shelving. Create a pantry with floor-to-ceiling steel shelving racks — they are funky and fun and blend with any decor. Use a single rack or line an entire kitchen wall. Ikea’s mix and match designs allow you to custom fashion beautiful and functional walls, using a series of pre-designed shelving units, combined with free-standing shelves and boxed cubbies, perfect for organizing and displaying your favourite collections. Ikea shelving starts at $50 and spans upwards of $1,000.

4. Stretch small spaces

A windfall invention for redundant kitchen corner spaces, Magic Corner cupboards carve out extra storage in a small kitchen. Prices range, starting around $1,000 with baskets, not including cabinetry. Another boon for small kitchen spaces is the Not-So-Lazy-Susan, an innovative concept that takes the Lazy Susan several steps further, reconfiguring the space to hang pots and pans. It recently launched at the Kitchen and Bath International Show in Orlando, Fla., by Superior Cabinets and Glideware. Check out Superior Cabinets, Empire Kitchen and Bath, and Ekko Cabinetry for some great ideas. Another excellent de-cluttering tool is the drawer-within-the-drawer concept. This simple technique creates the illusion of more space, while defining a sense of order. Just add drawer dividers, baskets or boxes and begin sorting.

5. Create an optical illusion

The power of reflection can change a space in an instant. A strategically placed mirror frames the illusion of space, while adding a sparkling decorative touch. Check out House of Mirrors, Pottery Barn, HomeSense and Bouclair Home.

Nobody wants to prop their skis against a wall in the great room or stuff hockey gear in the bedroom closet.

With the need to tuck larger items away from primary living spaces, potential condo and townhome buyers are putting an emphasis on layouts with smart storage opportunities.

Many apartment-style condo developments have a storage locker in the parkade, which is used for space-eating items, such as large boxes and bikes. But as Cardel Lifestyles sales and marketing manager Brad Logel says “the most important storage in any home is the storage you need to use each and every day.

“Many first-time condo owners are also down-sizers and they have collected a number of things that they use on a regular basis and first time homeowners are starting to collect all those things and want to grow into their home,” he adds. “It really goes beyond the typical storage locker found in the parkade of the building that has the winter tires. Today’s condo and townhome owners want space to organize their everyday life.”

Sandy Perron echoes that sentiment. She’s the area manager for Ebony by Jayman Modus in the southeast community of Mahogany.

“Storage is a key priority for our customers,” says Perron. “We continue to see down-sizers who are accustomed to storage from their single-family home, and the thoughtfully designed storage spaces help with the their transition to townhome and condo living.

“Our first-time home buyers and young families have sporting equipment, camping, Christmas and beach supplies, and extra toys that need to be stored easily and efficiently.”

Thoughtful opportunities are emphasized across the project’s floor plans, she says.

“At Ebony, the designers have used the spaces so well by opening up wall space in the closet to access storage under the stairwell. As well, finishing a crawl space area for keepsake photos,” Perron says.

But how much storage is sufficient in a condo or townhome?

“This depends on the person and the plan,” Logel says. “I would have to say about 20 to 25 per cent of a home should be organizing or storing something you need to use on a regular basis. Most of our two-bedroom plans have about 10 per cent more kitchen cabinetry than an average standard single-family house.”

As an example of a floor plan with well-rounded storage capabilities, Logel points to the show suite at the company’s new Walden Place development. The 897-square-foot Palliser model was launched at the beginning of February.

He says it boasts a walk-in pantry, large island, extra kitchen cabinets, generously sized laundry area with storage space, additional lower cabinets under the dual sinks in the master ensuite, a walk-in closet with custom shelving, a linen cabinet and bike storage locker.

“In our experience, storage space is a very important component for buyers when looking for condos,” says Richard Lobsinger, vice-president of sales and marketing for Lake Placid Developments. His company is behind The Park, which is a condo tower in the Beltline district. At press time, it had six condos left to sell.

“We have had a lot of empty nesters purchase in Park that have downsized from their larger inner-city homes. They need somewhere to put some of their belongings,” Lobsinger says. “Many of our suites provide a flex space that can be used as a den, office area or storage space.”

Tiffany Ardolino, sales and marketing director for GableCraft Homes, builder of Bridgeland Hill, calls storage a key consideration.

“With condominiums, a lot of our clients are right sizing and although they are willing to reduce some of their belongings, they are not willing to leave all of their cherished belongings behind when they move,” she says. “GableCraft understands the balance between an efficient floor plan and ample storage space. We try to incorporate storage into our homes, ensure our plans have large closets and include storage lockers where possible.

“We don’t follow a specific measurement or percentage but we try to envision ourselves in the home and ensure there is space for the essentials,” Ardolino adds, singling out clothing, keepsakes, cleaning supplies and recycling.

Having appropriate storage areas can set the tone for a living space, says Embassy Bosa’s vice-president of sales and marketing Robert Marchand.

“(It) affects how effective your home functions on a daily basis,” Marchand says. “Does everything have a place and can it be easily accessed? This comes down to efficient space planning, something that Embassy Bosa takes careful consideration of, especially in the kitchen, where most people don’t want to compromise.”

Embassy Bosa is the company behind multi-tower development Evolution in East Village and The Royal, which is a skyscraper in amenity-rich Mount Royal Village West.

“For storage, at The Royal, we have a built-in wine rack, a pot hanging drawer and pull-out under cabinet garbage and recycling area,” Marchand adds.

One northwest restaurant’s potential mistake is a reminder for businesses to take special care of employee files.

Stephen Webster said he was walking in a parking lot last Thursday when he saw file folders scattered in and around a blue disposal bin behind The Cheesecake Company — a restaurant in the midst of closing its doors for property redevelopment.

“I had a hot chocolate, had an empty cup, went to drop it off in the garbage and I saw this bin,” Webster said. “I saw these manila, legal-size folders pretty much sitting on top of the rim and kind of stuck to the door.”

Webster said he went over to the folders because he thought they were new and didn’t want them to go to waste. That’s when he realized they were The Cheesecake Company’s personnel records.

The folders contained documents with at least nine past employees’ social insurance numbers and banking information. They also had resumes and contracts with personal phone numbers and addresses.

“It’s information I thought would be sensitive and should have been disposed of in a better fashion and totally shredded so this didn’t get in the wrong hands.”

Webster brought the folders home and called police. He said the police called back and said they couldn’t do anything about the folders.

“It was more of if something happened, if identity was stolen afterwards, that something could be done,” Webster said. “I was looking for something to possibly warn the public, or even these people.”

He said the police went to the bin, but didn’t retrieve the remaining files left in the dumpster.

“They just said there was nothing that they could do about it. If the person discarded the files in this manner, that was up to them.”

With doors locked on a Saturday afternoon, Mital Patel, owner of The Cheesecake Company, was cleaning out what was left of the vacant restaurant.

Patel said she had to close the restaurant on Nov. 29 and hand the keys in on Dec. 6 because Northland Village wants to redevelop the land beside the shopping centre.

She said she and her staff have been cleaning up the restaurant quickly but have made sure they keep all the employee files in a safe place.

“We are still cleaning up our office,” Patel said. “It could have been done by mistake because we have so many boxes to go through. I’m sorry that it happened. It wasn’t intentional at all.”

Patel said she took over the business about four years ago and the files may have belonged to the previous owner, who had many boxes and files in a storage shed behind the restaurant.

But many of the files that Webster found at the dumpster are dated 2012 and most of the contracts have Patel’s signature.

Patel said she wasn’t at The Cheesecake Company the day Webster found the folders and isn’t sure who would have thrown them out.

Webster said he knows what it’s like to have his identity stolen and he didn’t want the same thing to happen to the former restaurant employees. He said the Canada Revenue Agency reached out to him a few years ago and said he hadn’t declared income for money he earned fruit picking in British Columbia.

“Someone had somehow got my social insurance number and used it for their work purposes to avoid paying tax,” he said.

Webster has returned the folders to Patel, who said she wanted to dispose of them properly. Patel also said she was going to seek help in retrieving the remaining files in the dumpster.

This type of incident is fairly common, according to Brian Hamilton, director of compliance and special investigations with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta.

“It happens all too often that records are found abandoned or in the garbage,” Hamilton said. “We’re interested in the proper disposal of documents that contain personal information, and generally putting things in the garbage just isn’t appropriate. If you have sensitive personal information, you definitely need to properly destroy the records, which means shredding.”

Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act is the province’s private sector privacy law and states that when an organization no longer requires personal information for legal or business purposes it must “destroy the records containing the personal information,” or “render the personal information non-identifying so that it can no longer be used to identify an individual.”

Hamilton said people who find abandoned documents with personal information should call the commissioner’s office so it can investigate and find who is responsible. He said this particular incident wasn’t reported.

bhildebrand@calgaryherald.com

A higher than expected injection into U.S. storage pulled down the price of natural gas futures by much as six per cent from Thursday’s open on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a 57 billion cubic feet increase to inventories last week, up from analysts’ consensus of 48 bcf.

Prices for May gas fell to a low of $2.14 per US per million British thermal units on the report as the Street gulped on visions of U.S. storage bursting at the seams by late summer.

Goldilocks would be happy – the weather isn’t too cold or too hot now. Producers, on the other hand, are groaning over the mild climate which means no heating or air conditioning loads to draw down storage inventories, or pull up prices.

Troublesome, too, is the fact the five-year average for the reported week is for an eight bcf withdrawal. A draw on stocks, not an addition.

Last week’s injection increased the U.S. natural gas storage surplus to 50 per cent from last year, and a whooping 59 per cent from the five-year average, the EIA said in its report. Stockpiles have been above the five-year average since late September 2011.

With gas inventories “very high and already starting to build ahead of the seasonal normal, we believe storage congestion will be a key concern in coming months,” Francisco Blanch, Bank of America’s head of commodities research in New York, said in a report to clients dated March 27. Blanch was ranked first by Bloomberg among gas analysts for the eight quarters ended Dec. 31.

The record level surplus could see U.S. natural gas inventories reach 4.17 trillion cubic fee by the end of October, according to Bank of America.

That’s off an estimated 4.103 tcf peak working gas storage capacity.

Meanwhile, producers chasing liquids-rich and shale gas are helping keep production level, despite a steady decline in drilling on both sides of the border.

In the U.S., where spring breakup doesn’t exist, drilling giant Baker Hughs has reported gas-directed rig counts dropping for 11 straight weeks, down to a 10-year low of 652 rigs.

You’d think the decline in drilling and low prices would encourage a tightening of dry gas output. However, pipeline flows in the U.S. are still estimated to be at or near record high levels, primarily due to rising output from shale.

A hot summer could alleviate some of the glut, as utilities pull volumes from storage to fire up air conditioning. Might work for some of the gas backing up into Canada, too.

domeara@calgaryherald.com

I confess that the first time I heard about the salt caverns of Fort Saskatchewan I pictured teams of hearty miners with picks and shovels burrowing away underground.

The reality is far less entertaining. The companies that create storage caverns do it by injecting water through wells to dissolve huge salt deposits left behind from ancient seas. Table salt is “mined” in much the same way.

This is a case where oil and gas in the ground is actually worth something — Calgary-based Provident Energy Ltd. announced Thursday it has leased two underground storage caverns it is building under the Provident Redwater facility (just northeast of Fort Saskatchewan) to Nova Chemicals Corp. for an undisclosed amount.

“Our Redwater facility is a key growth platform for Provident and we are excited to be providing Nova Chemicals with these new storage services,” said chief executive Doug Haughey in a statement. “Our capital spending is focused on fee-for-service business like this.”

The total amount of storage under longterm lease is one million barrels, ready to be filled in late 2012 and 2013. The caverns and associated facilities are to cost about $100 million and are part of a Provident plan to develop several caverns for hydrocarbon storage.

Provident is a midstream company that owns and manages a natural gas liquids handling business.

dhealing@calgaryherald.com