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Dwellers of small spaces... please help.

1K views 19 replies 15 participants last post by  Princess77 
#1 ·
We live off grid in a small cabin we have 2 small bedrooms, a decent sized bathroom, a fair kitchen and small living room. We have a tiny hallway with a cubby space and one closet. We are a family of four. DH is an artist and musician and has all the supplies needed for his own business in that field. I am a writer and have all those supplies plus a collection of books. We both collect movies as well. Then, there are the girls whose grandparents buy them too many toys. I'm trying to save the oldest's clothes for the youngest. They share a small room with one wardrobe/dresser for their clothes.

I'm starting to try to organize and declutter our place. After a year of living here I'm overwhelmed. I've cleaned out the girls room several times and taken 5 boxes to Goodwill, but it is still stacked and packed. We are storing Rubbermaids with our Christmas decorations in them in the kitchen. We have rubbermaids with the girls clothes in them on the front porch. We have no money for storage buildings. I have containers stacked in our bedrooms with stuff in them that I believe would bring in a little money for us, but don't have the means to yard sale. I hate to send money out the door when we don't have much. The cubby area is stacked with boxes of clothes and stuff.

I would like a Waldorf feel to the girls' room and to our whole home. I want it to feel more like a cabin of old, not stuffed to the brim with stuff and papers, and etc... How do I begin, and not throw away anything that we might/will need in the future... i.e. kids clothes, Christmas stuff...
 
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#2 ·
that sounds stressful. i'm going to go through your post and try to catch all the categories of "stuff" you mentioned.

"DH is an artist and musician and has all the supplies needed for his own business in that field." in what part of the house? is it possible for him to rent/share a small studio space, if he doesn't already, and store all or most of his stuff there? my dh is also an artist and musician. he has a room in the basement, but his crap, i mean, important gear and supplies, still end up in every part of the house and the garage. how much stuff does he have? can he cut back in any way?

"I am a writer and have all those supplies plus a collection of books." me too! what are your supplies, other than your computer? what part of the house are you set up in?

"We both collect movies as well." can you do what someone else recently mentioned on another thread - put all your DVDs into a CD binder and get rid of the cases? better yet, can you burn copies of all of them, put them all in a binder, and sell all your movies? i have a few special editions i wouldn't want to do that to, but most DVD cases aren't special.

"Then, there are . . . too many toys." decide what your toy storage is, and keep only that many toys. that doesn't take into consideration the bigger toys like a doll house or play kitchen, but limit the big stuff too (of course!).

"I'm trying to save the oldest's clothes for the youngest." i'm with you! two boys, similar in age to your girls. it's silly not to do this, but i only save what i like that's still in decent shape, and what is a reasonable wardrobe in each size. if the older one has too many clothes, don't save "too many" for the younger as well. in bins on the porch is probably a reasonable option for storage if there is no attic, crawlspace or shed. i don't think there's anything wrong with it unless it really bothers you.

"They share a small room with one wardrobe/dresser for their clothes." then each of them should have, in their current size, only what you can put away in there.

"I've cleaned out the girls room several times and taken 5 boxes to Goodwill, but it is still stacked and packed." with just clothes and toys, or are there other categories of "stuff" in there?

"We are storing Rubbermaids with our Christmas decorations in them in the kitchen." pare down to one bin of christmas decor and put it on the porch or wherever else you decide to do storage. decorate with pine baughs, pine cones, candles, popcorn & cranberry garlands, paper snowflakes, etc. rather than "stuff" that you have to keep year-to-year.

"I have containers stacked in our bedrooms with stuff in them that I believe would bring in a little money for us, but don't have the means to yard sale." do you have a friend who would be willing to have a yard sale with you at her place? if not - if there is truly no way for you to sell this stuff (craigslist isn't an option, no time for ebay, etc) then you have to just get rid of it. give yourself a deadline for a sale and if it doesn't happen, donate it.

it sounds like, aside from decluttering (a lot!), you need some kind of designated storage space, as well as a space for you & dh to work. it's been mentioned here before that it can work well for the parents to sleep in the living room. that would create a nice home studio in your bedroom, or perhaps give the girls your bedroom so that their smaller room is the studio. if the porch is enclosed and would make a decent studio, and you want to keep your bedroom, maybe your bed can be on risers to allow for storage underneath. depending on how the bedrooms are (that is, if the ceilings are normal height and not sloped) you could loft all the beds for a lot more play space in the girls' room and studio or storage space in your room. of course, you wouldn't want the girls' beds up high now, but it's a possibility in the future. or you could all sleep in one bedroom, and use the other for storage (clothes, toys, everything - like a gigantic walk-in closet). would any of those ideas work for you?
 
#3 ·
Yes, thank you. It gives me some ideas to start with. DH doesn't have the money to rent any studio space right now. We are working on that though. He has all the supplies for oil painting, several guitars, several banjos, and several fiddles. Plus, when there is no gallery show all of his paintings. Then, there is his paperwork, and tools... collection of art/music books and CDs. He is currently working his studio from the front porch that we wrapped in plastic to enclose it.
I like the ideas about the clothes and the Christmas stuff. I never liked gawdy x-mas stuff anyway, but it was a gift and I felt obligated to keep it. Also, same for the clothes, but I found a place to consign the name brands and I will be doing that as brands don't mean anything to me.
I'm still working on the toys and parring them down. That is hard when our parents keep replenishing them and I feel obligated to let the girls keep them. I wish they would understand that we don't want them, and neither do the girls really after a few days. We are storing clothes, a crib that we never used in the girls room as well. DD1 sleeps in there part of the night, but other than that we co-sleep with both the girls. I'm not real comfortable with sleeping in the living room and putting all of our clothes in there, but I'll think about it.
Oh, I work out of the living room. Our desk is in there and our filing cabinets. I have my printer, paper, magazines, notebooks, books, etc...
 
#5 ·
I think if you want to have long-term success with a decluttered home, you absolutely must give up the feeling of obligation from gifts. Graciously accept a gift and say your thanks, but after that, you are not obligated to turn your house into a shrine. You need to be able to function in your house first and foremost, and second, you need to enjoy your home. I understand the spoiling grandparents issue, but set some limits.. once your toy collection is pared down to an amount that works in your home, any new toy coming in means an old one must go. Same for the clothes.. only keep currently fitting clothes in their dresser. Limit the in-between sizes to what fits under the bed in the girls room.. that should be enough space to hold the two years-worth of clothes that are inbetween them.
I agree with the previous poster to get rid of the Christmas decor- sure it's nice to have out one month of the year, but it's crazy to have it get in your way the other 11 months. Use disposable natural decor instead.. your girls can have fun helping make new stuff each year-pinecones, evergreen branches, berries, paper decor, etc.
 
#7 ·
Also wanted to add that I agree about getting rid of most of the Christmas decor unless you just absolutely love it. We save our stockings and white lights and that is it! We use a real Christmas tree and do origami ornaments (fun family tradition). The white lights can be used for other parties/holidays.

Natural and homemade decor is so much better looking anyway.
 
#8 ·
That sounds similar to my house except I have a garage. I don't want that empty space of a garage to become an excuse to keep things though!

Currently dd and I share a bedroom as she's only two. When she's older I may choose to sleep in the living room, but as long as we're in that house we will be sharing a room for everything else. We share the closet and the bedroom furniture. Her belongings are intermingled with mine.

The second bedroom is the work studio right now. I am considering renting it out next year though. We own so few stuff my work area could fit in the shared bedroom.

The holiday items were also an issue for me! I had 1-2 boxes for each holiday
I'm now down to 2 boxes total and hoping to bring that to 1.

How much clothing does everyone own? I pared down to my essentials and favorites. I find that I wear the same few pieces over and over anyway. Dumping even the nice stuff I only wore 1-2x month made a difference. I came to the conclusion I really don't need a variety of clothing.

I am brutal with gifts! I literally DO NOT have the space! I am vocal outright about it too. I mean people can see for themselves you know? Dd only has ONE box and that's it. She just doesn't need toys. We have a large yard and she loves going out to places even if it's just the grocery - takes after me
It's a pretty box out in the living room. She likes to play out in the open where I'm usually at and it's her house just as much as mine so I don't mind.

What creative activities do your children enjoy? Dump the toys and do real activities


EDIT:
For reference my home is 912 sq ft.
 
#9 ·
Thanks for the responses. I've gotten a bit of a start on it, and posted some pics of where I'm at on my blog. I love the ideas about the clothes. DD1 always has too many clothes. I can decrease that amount through consignment and make extra money.
 
#10 ·
This is what I did after I got rid of a lot of junk and then was having a hard time paring down what was left to a livable amount. I went room by room and took everything out of that room and organized it the living room. They I only put back the things that I absolutely loved, had room for, and used. Everything else went to our rescue mission's thrift store b/c I honestly could not deal with having to sort, price and sell the stuff - it was just such a burden and I needed to be rid of it and done with it.

Kids toys and clothes are hard, but I honestly got rid of everything that was not their age right now even tough we are pregnant with baby #3 unless it was a special item b/c I know that they all will get stuff for bday & christmas & just b/c gma want to gift them. Hand me down clothes, I only kept special items and items that were in perfect condition and even kept that to a min.
 
#11 ·
I was going to say that too about the instruments--they look nice hung on the wall, and it creates more space. You'll still have the cases to deal with, but if they are soft cases, then there's no problem. And you could probably "nest" some of the rest and store them under a bed. (like the banjo case inside a guitar case, etc.)

Re: books. If there are books that you absolutely can't part with, you can put a single bookshelf up at the top of the room--like running a foot /foot and a half below the ceiling.

Selling--often, things aren't worth it and don't sell for what we think they are going to, or at all. Just fyi--if you're hanging onto stuff for a long time thinking it's going to make money for you, you may end up being pissed and disappointed when you actually end up trying to sell them.

Good luck!
 
#12 ·
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#13 ·
Here are something we do. Our home has about 1100sq feet of usable space. Its actually 1800sq feet but about 700 of it is very poorly planned space that I haven't found a way yet to make usable... but I keep trying!

Toys: Prior to Christmas and Birthdays I purge thru toys usually coming up with 2 bags ready to donate etc, My mom doesn't give toys she gives saving bonds and gift cards or books. It helps alot.
We also rotate toys so there is only ever a set amount out. Every 6 weeks or so we rotate and its like new toys, also during this time it gives me an Idea of what the girls aren't playing with anymore.

Clothing: I also keep handme downs from oldest to youngest. I only save what is in good condition and am ruthless. I have found spacebags to be a life saver for me and store them under my youngest DDs bed.

Books... DH and I have way to many. We love to read and we like to re-read. I've decided that I really am okay with books just stacked up in a corner.
 
#14 ·
Look high and look low for storage solutions. What spaces could you raise and still make them functionable, the bed? the couch? even an inch or two that would allow for something to be stored under there. Make the space neat storage, just don't see how much you can get under the bed, use the space wisely. Look up, what is on your ceilings? what are your ceilings made of and what would you need to do to make some hanging type storage space up there? Could artwork be stored flat against the ceiling, some sort of hanging flat storage up there?

Do you have an open wall? Fill it solid with shelves top to bottom, whether it is in the kid's room or the living room.

You have to purge though, pare down, how many clothes do you and the kids really need? same with toys, it's harder with the work stuff, the musical instruments, the art stuff, the writing stuff, what is used everyday and what is used every now and again, find different ways to store those things on how often they are used.

Do you have an attic space for the Christmas decorations or other things?

Do you know anyone in town that you can have a yard sale at their house? Are there flea markets around that you could sell some of the excess at?
 
#15 ·
first off good luck
:
: i feel your craziness i am going threw it now.

we live in a 2 bedroom apartment.
it becomes a art of decluttering and storage. best way to get the extra sesonal stuff down is when it comes that time of year if you dont use it. then you have to ask do i really need it. kids clothing is go threw if you dont really love it let it go you will always be picking up a few new things for them (even if it is not new it is new to them
) toys if they dont play with it anymore pack it away and gone. ask them i hear my dd say all the time i dont play with XXX get rid of it. all the extra gifts i found when i went more natural the gifts cut down lots because they knew i wanted wooden and didnt want plastic.
getting the toys off the floor on to shelves will free up alot of space.

tall storage units even bookshelves anything to store on and on top of. i dont use the rubbermaid storage boxes i find they dont use space well to many holes between boxes. cheap easy thing is cardboard filing boxes. they stack neet. all facing out with lables so i know what is what.

beds... under my bed are drawers. kids have bunkbeds under it is underbed storage bins.

WALLSSSSSSS...use the walls..they are your friend
i have skinny shelves in our hallway. actuall made from a old table that was splitting i split it with a screwdriver. and just used brackets to hang them. they are wide enough for kids toys at their height.

dont forget hooks they are good too. i love command adhesive hooks because they come off with no marks, hold strong and with new backing are reuseable.

we homeschool i want them to have a desk but dont have room for it. i came up with this idea. make a drop table and use a storage bench as seating when needed its up when not it is down and the bench is extra seating and extra storage. the table will be like this.... http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/30062572
 
#16 ·
I don't come around here often, but wanted to post ... we are planning on building a plywood bed box for our bedroom. I'm going to measure out space for tubs of hand-me-downs and off season clothes. Even if you only have one tub per person, we have 8 people!

I plan on doing that in all the big kid's rooms, too.

I'm tossing the box springs so the mattress will lay right on the plywood and will cover all the 'ugly' up with a nice dust ruffle.
 
#17 ·
We live on a boat so storage issues are a constant for us... here are some quick ideas.

BOOKS: Get on the internet with your book collection and see which ones match what your local library has. If they have it, consider getting rid of that book. We are BIG book lovers here too, but many of ours we actually donated to the local library, that way we always know where they are when we need them


MUSIC: iTunes. I have been systematically burning all my CD into the computer and then tossing the CD.

CLOTHES: We have two solutions for off season clothes. (1) store them at a friend's house.
Most typical suburban homes won't mind a tub or two of clothes in their attic. We have friends who store our off season clothes. (2) stuff blankets and fleeces and soft items into pillow cases instead of pillow. That's how we store our sleeping bags, beach blankets, etc.

HOLIDAYS: We have ONE tuperware bin for all holidays combined including birthdays. In there I have cloth baggies that we use for "wrapping" gifts. We have cloth flags to decorate (one for birthday, christmas, halloween). And we have candles and birthday ring stuff. Holiday cards we make ourselves each year. We try to keep the holidays about (1) nature and (2) family. Make your traditions revolve around baking, taking walks, collecting from the outdoors (you mentioned Waldorf), doing crafts, telling stories not about knick knacks.

TOYS: Purge and start over. I did. For the things I thought DS might really miss I simply moved them to the trunk of my car for a test run just in case (in the end, he didn't need them back b/c he was excited about the new set up and forgot about the old). So we started over with a handful of carefully selected, open ended, natural toys. We got baskets at the Dollar Store one for sewing supplies, one for art supplies, one for playsilks and felt balls, one for tree blocks, one for pieces of coral-shell-feathers-cork-wool etc. A small doll house with gnomes and other little hand made critters. Then under the tables we have a cubby closet with some bags that have other sets (blocks, small wooden train, animal figures, stacking toys, tea set, pirate ship) It looks so much cleaner, his play is so much more creative and he plays without me WAY more.

Take it one room or space at a time. You can do it!
 
#18 ·
I'm getting rid of it mamas. Thanks for the encouragement. We are a low income family, so I think that is part of why I feel I must hang on to so much... in case we need it and can't buy it back. But, I hang onto things we don't need and don't use. I love the ideas for keeping the clothes, and the ones I can't I'm putting on consignment. If they sale, cool, if not oh well. The toys are going to go except the ones the girls really love and meaningful gifts. Neither of the girls play much with toys anyway.

I've already parred down my books to one special bookcase and DH did the same. His instruments can't go on the wall because his paintings are there until they sell.
We'll have to figure that one out. I like the idea of a wall shelf or storage area for his artwork though. That's a thought. I'm thinking of getting rid of CD and DVD cases, though in a collection that is hard because the case design and info is part of it. But, what's that worth to us really.

Christmas is my least favorite holiday. The way most Americans celebrate it is far too commercial for me, and I just go along for the girls. Getting rid of this stuff and starting our own traditions might be just what we need to reclaim the holiday for our family. Bye-bye X-mas junk!
 
#20 ·
I too live in a small home. It's a 14'x60' single-wide mobile home with two bedrooms. We are also a family of four with my two sons sharing a small room. I am working on decluttering and have gotten rid of over 7 thirty gallon trash bags full of clothes etc. to our local rescue mission.
: I too was debating the issue of a yard sale but where we live (in the country not in town) hardly anyone stops by. I'm glad I just got rid of it and didn't save for future hopes of a yard sale. I believe when you freely give than you'll freely receive when you have a need that comes up.

I am currently taking our movie collection and going through them. I have bought the dvd binders and am putting hubby's action flicks in one, my chick flicks in another, and the boys' movies in their own. You'll be surprised at how much space that frees up. I also did that with my cds. At first I was hesistant because I too like to see the pic plus info about the movie but I need SPACE.

I still have a lot more to go through but I'm trying to take it a step at a time and read or watch decluttering shows which motivate me.
 
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