The key to a lot of people living in a small house is organisation. I have to stand a bit of mess as I live with a very untidy family, and I don’t want to get all anal about it. I have been to friends’ houses where I was terrified about leaving a cushion out of place or creasing a hand towel. I want everybody to be relaxed but at the same time I don’t want to be falling over unnecessary mess and clutter. Regular decluttering helps.
Using baskets
Over the years I have found that baskets on shelves are a good cost effective means of containing and hiding any clutter. I am brutal about getting rid of things I no longer use and know I am unlikely to find a need for in the future. Mr Shoestring hates this as he is a bit of a hoarder. He gets nervous when I go into decluttering mode!
I have mentioned before that my second daughter is back for the summer after her first year at university and has arrived with lots of belongings from her digs. Those items she doesn’t need to access daily have been packed off to her dad’s as he has a spare room, but there are still a lot of things!
A bit of rationalisation
A crucial part of my plan to keep my finances on track is to have foreign students to stay. We have another one coming in two weeks and hopefully a long term one arriving in September. This means that sometimes darling daughters 2 and 3 have to share a bedroom! We need to get organised so that DD2 can slip seamlessly back and forth.
So I am badgering them both to rationalise their clothes and belongings with a good bit of decluttering. We currently have about 8 binliners full of items we will sell at a boot sale later in the summer, but there will be more.
I spent yesterday evening sorting the room out and trying to use every available bit of space effectively, and it is coming together. We will get there!
Are you a hoarder or the house proud type? Or like me, somewhere in between?
frugalinsuffolksimple@gmail.com says
I’m not keen on too much STUFF, though I do have a lot of books and craft things, but that doesn’t count!
declutterbugcouk says
Minimalist with a hoarder husband!
AuntLeesie says
Sadly, shamefully, we’re all hoarders in my house. We come from a long line of hoarders on both sides of the family. Sigh! Organizing, decluttering and purging are ongoing projects for us that never seem to end. We’ll donate boxes of stuff to charity, and then… I don’t know. What’s left seems to multiply!
AuntLeesie says
How a Hoarder Thinks (for those who can’t quite grasp the mindset):
–the faded, threadbare tee shirt with holes at the arm seams can be used as cleaning rags, so it goes in a bucket, bin or bag to be torn apart at some later date for that purpose
–the pair of jeans with frayed hem and torn out knee could be cut off and hemmed into shorts, so it goes in the mending pile… OR someday you might get around to making a cute little purse out of like the one you saw in a shop, so it goes in the craft pile
–empty juice bottles are great for freezing homemade broth in, or chilling water in the fridge in, or… pick a use, and before long you have a dozen of them
–ditto plastic tubs, which also hold leftovers… but of course you can’t see through them to know what you’ve now put in them
–a few magazines in your stack have recipes or articles you might want to refer back to in the future, and someday you’ll get around to cutting them out and scrapbooking them
–you’ve just donated a few boxes of books, and now the book shelves look bare, plus there was a terrific sale at the used book store or thrift shop
–the brand new, soon-to-be-discontinued purses (or sweaters, etc.) were more than 80% off of retail price, and at less than $6.00 each will make nice presents for all the women you know, so you stock up
–you finally found a bra that fits in the size you need, and it’s comfortable, plus the store is offering a sale of buy one, get one free… so since every time in the past the bras you love were discontinued, you buy enough to last several years and store the extras
–a man simply can never have too many tools
thedomesticstoryteller says
I think I’m a bit in-between. I don’t have a wardrobe busting full of clothes, but I do struggle to close the lid on my fabric box occasionally 😛