Moving to a TINY house--Help me make the most of the space please!

[ramama]

We are moving out-of-state (all the more reason to seriously down-size our possessions!) to a tiny rental (double the reason!). The house is tinier that we would have liked, but it's all about location!

So, how do we make the most of the space, what are your tips and tricks for storing stuff when it seems impossible (DVDs, CDs, toys, games, etc.).

We are trying to get into the "simple New England living" frame-of-mind! Help!

[rere]

I think the easiest thing is to have containers for things and decide that only what fits in that container is staying with you and then you can choose your favorites.Buy a binder for your CDs and only the ones that fit in the binder move with you.

[Chamomile Girl]

How big is the house you are moving to? From? What are the \rooms that you have? Anyplace dedicated to stor]age?

ETA: Sorry about typos...DS was helping.

[kittywitty]

IKEA. Lots of vertical storage really helps. Underbed storage, hooks/baskets in closet doors, massive decluttering. You can get bins to rotate through things like toys and clothes and get a storage unit if you have to. CDs and DVDs I would minimize and go for something like netflix or put them in those binders to get rid of the cases everywhere. These all helped us when we lived in like 800 sq. feet with all of us last year. It was horrible and I'd never ever ever do it again, but we had to make it work as it was our only option.

[SashaBreeze]

Binders didn't work so well for us with our disks. We instead went with Media Storage Boxes (I am sooo not good at links so do a quick google and they will pop right up) and inexpensive paper sleeves that go with the system but usually have to be bought separate. That is what we did with our DVDs, CDs, and Video Games. We just tossed the cases and inserts. Dh was worried about this at first especially with the Video Games because they sometimes contain character outlines and game controls but then I pointed out that almost all games have a menu you can pull up to help remember controls and you can look up all the rest of the game info on line. He calmed after that and agreed. All our disks now take up 1 shelf, MAJOR improvement and unlike binders they dont fall out and slide around with them being in the boxes.

[ChetMC]

Submarine Living

We used to have seven people in a townhouse that was 18 feet wide. We used to say that it was like a submarine turned on it's end. No space was wasted.

One thing we did was add storage everywhere we could :

- DH put in a wall of built-in shelving that he constructed from IKEA Expedits. It was custom, but it was cheap and it looked great.

- we knocked out a wall and built shallow shelving in between the studs. Going down our basement stairs was a pantry just deep enough for cans, bottles, jars, etc. It was a very good place for a pantry since it was cool and dry.

- in the wasted space over the main stairs DH built an second closet for the master bedroom and a small cupboard that you could reach while standing on the third step up from the bottom.

- when we renovated our attic we built storage under the eves where the angled roof met the floor. The space wasn't useful for anything else.

We are working up the courage to get rid of our CDs. DH has ripped them all. They're stored on the computer and backed up. There is no reason to keep them.

[catscharm74]

First, declutter as best you can and then I would say live in your space with the essentials at first. Don't go buying stuff to organize until you know what you are working with. We live in a small house and I found those shelving organizers that let you go vertical were very helpful. We have a top shelf dedicated to movies, cd's and pictures in boxes. The bottom shelf is for games, odds and ends craft items (pencils, crayons, paper, etc). I made holders out of cans that I covered with some light batting and my favorite material.

I use sweater organizers in the closets and I hung a double rod for my DS. You can store toys in the organizers, socks, undies, shoes, etc.

We really had to re-evaluate each and everything thing we brough into our <900 sq.foot home but it's been fun. Good luck and post pics.

[sapientia]

We did this same thing at the end of last year. We are a family of 7 with years of accumulated stuff. We went DOWN about 1400 sf-so we REALLY had to get rid of a lot of stuff...declutter, declutter, declutter. What really helped me was a suggestion I received on this very forum-to look at the house and pretend you had only an hour to pack, what would you take with you? It helped me to realize what was important. I haven't missed one thing I donated/sold.

I also second the waiting to buy storage containers till you see what you need in your new space. We've been in our new space for about 8 months now and we are still adapting and coming up with new ideas.

Another great thing was getting rid of cd cases/movie cases, etc. That freed up three bookshelves for us-and we haven't missed the cases at all!

Good luck!