A.Balaban Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Our apartment is too small, and we have too much stuff. For a very long time, my DH was content to just blame it on the space-constraints, and said: "We'll figure it out when we get a bigger place." And i kept telling him: "I don't want to move all this junk if we don't need it!" It took me a very, very long time to convince him that we needed to change things. So, we don't have a lot of extra space and we need to make every square inch count. We have about 500 sq ft in 2 bedrooms, the kitchen, living room, and bathroom. We have four people living here... The living room is a cross between the living room, playroom, music room, and library. We have a small nook in one corner of the room that we are going to make a "built-in" cabinet with shelving so we can put my DH's guitar stuff behind there (so it will look less cluttered) and we will gain extra shelving for books/media/etc. I just need to figure out how I want the cabinet to look, but I'm having trouble finding any resources online. The kitchen is a cross-between a kitchen, dining room, pantry, and office. We have a huge desk in here (about 7' long) that we are getting rid of for a desk that is about 2/3 the length, and about half a foot narrower. That will help clear some space, plus one side of the desk will be built around our current 2-drawer file cabinet so that will give us about 12" extra space on one side. But my DH is starting a job soon, and I don't think he'll be able to build this for quite some time. I was going to try and teach myself, but I haven't used any sort of power tools in over 10 years and I'm not sure where to start.... We also need to re-do our pantry- it's just black/grey utility shelves that we got several years ago at WalMart. We put bins and crates on there to keep the stuff organized, but the problem is thta the kids can still get to the stuff (on the bottom two shelves) so it is very top heavy. I haven't found something that would be a good quality cabinet/pantry to replace that with, so I guess that will stay for now. The "master" bedroom doubles as our bedroom and my craft room. My sewing table is in one corner of the room, and a shelf that I keep my craft supplies on. We need to cut down on the clutter, but I am just stuck on where to start. We spend most of our time moving things from one room to another or moving things back and forth to storage. Yes, we have a 5x10 storage unit. Yes, it's mostly full. For right now, though, we can't go through it. (Next week, my DH is starting a second full-time job so that will wait until after one position ends in July). Everyday I throw something else away (or five or ten things!), but I feel like I am going in circles. :willy_nilly: All I know is I need to make progress or I'm going to the looney bin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momofsbandeg Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 we are downsizing and I have been trying to go through things around here. I have boxes (literally boxes upon boxes) of books that I am trying to list here and there on the forum to sell. I hate to part with them but we just don't have the space now. My house looks like a storage unit right now as I try to go through clothes and decide which books and furniture will have to go. :confused: Sorry that I don't have any great advise, but I do understand. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezrabean2005 Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 :grouphug: Start small. Really small. What about one pile of papers or one crate? You are right that with less stuff, you won't need to move as much around all the time. BTDT. Do you need to have a desk in the kitchen? What's in the pantry? Is it too much "stuff" or is it food / household supplies that can be used up (and thereby reduced)? Can the toys go into the kids' room instead of the living room? Don't give yourself a hard time, but do start somewhere, anywhere. When I started working on our previous home, I started in one room (the room that bothered me most), started in one drawer and then just worked out from there. Also, with two little ones it can feel crazy no matter what size of home you are in. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoZeeCo's Mom Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 (edited) I don't know if this helps, but we were living in about the same size place up to a year ago. One thing that really helped was that we converted a closet into a work space. My husband built a desk to fit in there with all of his stuff (guitar, computer, etc) and all his clothes in there, too. It helped so much to convert that one closet into a workspace. Just a thought. Good luck! I know what your going through, FWIW. ETA: I converted my pantry, too. I had my desk in there, with all the craft stuff with big kitchen stuff. Edited March 28, 2012 by BoZeeCo's Mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.Balaban Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 I have boxes (literally boxes upon boxes) of books that I am trying to list here and there on the forum to sell. Sorry that I don't have any great advise, but I do understand. :grouphug: I sooo understand that!! I have about seven boxes of things I am selling. We just built an extra shelf up high in one of the kids room to get some of the boxes off the floor. But I find my lack of organization makes it harder for me to sell items. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyfordlr Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Take this with a grain of salt, please ;) In 2005 I had to sell my parents' home. I'm an only child and had no one willing/able to help in a practical way. So it was up to me. My dad had only gone thru my mom's personal things when she passed away in 1997. He hadn't done anything to the house since they moved in in 1972. I had to get rid of 33 years of stuff that 2 children of the Depression had collected, so you can only imagine kwim. Fast forward to my own house now. Something triggered me when this happened. You'd think I'd become a purger, but I, too, have become a bit of a hoarder. I'm trying to clean up my act. I literally pick something up and become paralyzed. So my mantra is to do 1 little thing...sometimes just once a week. I pick it up and ask myself, "What will the girls do with this when I die?" If I think they'd throw it away, that's what I try really hard to do. HTH... I really like Flylady. I just need to follow the system more closely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpidarkomama Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Last summer I went through my whole house and made a long list of each little area to declutter. There were probably 100 places on the list, i.e. cupboard under the sink, bookshelf in hall, china cabinet, etc. Nothing that would take more than 15-20 minutes to run through and declutter. I gave myself 4 weeks, so 20 weekdays. That meant I had to do 5 spaces per day. It went great because it wasn't overwhelming, and I didn't spend ANY time thinking about what to get rid of, just a quick "keep or toss." I didn't want to have a garage sale because I never wanted to look at it again. It went right into the trunk each day, then at the end of the week right to Good Will. We got rid of tons of stuff and it felt GREAT! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.Balaban Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 :grouphug: Start small. Really small. What about one pile of papers or one crate? You are right that with less stuff, you won't need to move as much around all the time. BTDT. Do you need to have a desk in the kitchen? What's in the pantry? Is it too much "stuff" or is it food / household supplies that can be used up (and thereby reduced)? Can the toys go into the kids' room instead of the living room? Don't give yourself a hard time, but do start somewhere, anywhere. When I started working on our previous home, I started in one room (the room that bothered me most), started in one drawer and then just worked out from there. Also, with two little ones it can feel crazy no matter what size of home you are in. :grouphug: I am a "desk person" - we use it for the computer, bills, and everything else. If I went section by section (since the desk has a hutch)... Let's see. On the left, there's a shelf of my DH's things. His school books, notebooks, the WEM, the Bible, his business cards... below that is a large organizer area. It has coloring books, crayons/markers/colored pencils, below that is our paper... printer paper, resume paper, greeting cards, envelopes. Next to that is a large paper organizer. It has four sections that I labelled, one open (for recipes), "Ashley's papers" - which is currently overflowing. "Matt's papers" which is pretty empty. and "Current Bills" which is empty except for our tax folder at the moment. Below that is the desk top, where the printer is and has a four-drawer organizer with misc. office supplies (staples, erasers highlighters, etc.)... In the middle of the desk, there is the monitor and speakers. Directly above that is a shelf with a basket of electronics (the labeller, the calculators, the cameras) next to that is where we keep our stamps. There's some fragrance oil, a playcar, some sharpies, and a bucket of pens. Above that is the CD's for the computer (windows, etc.) and two sterilite shoe boxes- one labelled batteries, another labelled misc. office supplies. The misc. box has white out, pens, highlighters, more white out, and tape.. lots of tape. Last count I had about seven things of scotch tape. Next to that is another hutch area, the top area on the right has another paper organizer that has more greeting cards (these are our wedding thank you cards...), an unopened pad of white paper, manilla folders, and the kids collection of construction paper. The shelf below that is for my stuff. I have Wheelock's Latin, OPGTR, my school books, a cooking book, and some random papers stuck up there. The next shelf down has the stapler, some packing tape, two boxes of index cards, and a small organizer of scissors/rulers/ hole punches,etc. The shelf below that (on the desktop) has some cookbooks, a jar of coins, the cradle for the house phone, the box of coin wrappers.... Can you tell I love office supplies? We have a box of office supplies in the closet behind the kitchen (don't go there... you won't get out...) Above the desk (ontop of the hutch) we have a box of photographs, a box of tealights, some vases, playdoh, and some empty bottles (to use for Pinterest crafts) That is just what's on the desk, typically Not the desktop. The pantry is five shelves, from bottom to top: The first shelf: two milk crates of drinks, usually 1 is for water, and 1 has other drinks like gatorade, vitamin water, pedialyte, and my daughter's pediasure. The second shelf: a small white crate, usually holds kids snacks. The only thing left there is baby food, and a thing of whey powder I bought. Next to that is a large sterelite container that holds all of our snacks/bars/chips. etc. It's pretty organized usually, but I just threw stuff in there last night. The third shelf: Another clear organizer, filled with boxes of dry goods. Pasta, rice, etc. Next to that are two green organizers that have various drink mixes in them. Tea, hot chocolate, cider, coffee, etc. Next to that is a shoe box that holds the instant oatmeal. The fourth shelf: two more green organizers that hold canned goods. Next to that is some misc items, more canned goods, some dry coffee creamer, splenda, then a clear plastic bin that holds sauces. The fifth shelf (the top) holds all the baking goods - quick oats, breadcrumbs, flour, bread flour, wheat flour, sugar, marshmellows, applesauce, maple syrup... and the aluminum foil. We have additional food in other places: Three milk crates above the kitchen cabinets that hold "overflow", a 10-lb bag of rice in an old cheese puff container, cereal is above the refrigerator, and over the stove is two cabinets full of soup, pudding mix, cake mix, etc. Every month or so I go ahead and donate a box of food- usually a diaper box full or so. We used to have toys and books in the kids room, but my son was making a mess of the books all the time and ripping them. Now he is through the ripping books stage, so we are going to move the books back in there... but I am still hesitant about the toys. My worry is that I will move them all and then my DD will be leaving her crib to a toddler bed, and then we'll have to move them back out b/c she will start her ripping book stage. Pheww.... I finally sat down and drew out an idea for the built in in the living room. But my DH is going to argue that he wants to built it in sections (???) so we can take it when we move (we are renters) I told him that we are renters, it won't fit anywhere else because it's a built-in, so we should just leave it. It's not perfect, but it gives us an idea of what we want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athena1277 Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 What about a cabinet with doors for the pantry instead of open shelves? We have this one from Target. When ds was little I even put one of those cabinet door locks on the handles so he could not open it. The doors are also nice because you don't have to keep it looking super neat for when guests come over. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Last summer I went through my whole house and made a long list of each little area to declutter. There were probably 100 places on the list, i.e. cupboard under the sink, bookshelf in hall, china cabinet, etc. Nothing that would take more than 15-20 minutes to run through and declutter. I gave myself 4 weeks, so 20 weekdays. That meant I had to do 5 spaces per day. What a good idea for breaking a huge job into small chunks! Thank you for sharing this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezrabean2005 Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Well an easy place to start is the office supplies :) Decide what you use / don't use / dried out / ruined and sort accordingly. Decide if you need more than one calculator or more than one pair of scissors. Do you need 7+ rolls of tape? A couple other places to start could be your pile of papers and anywhere you mentioned having "random papers". The shelving looks nice, but it wouldn't solve all of your problems by itself. Does your kitchen have cabinets? If so, what's in there? If it's dishes, could you have too many for a family of four? Also, if you are donating a box of food every month could it be you are buying too much food? I hope you take these questions in the spirit they are being asked. I've totally been there. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Our last home was the size you're living in. In fact, I got to the hotel suite when we moved and marveled that it was bigger than our apartment. :lol: On the upside, living in a small place always keeps you on your toes about decluttering. I made a rule that if it didn't multitask or we didn't use it, out it went. I started in the kitchen when I decluttered: all the doodads and servingware went into a box. When we used it, it went into the drawer. Anything left at the end of the month was either tossed or packed for holiday use. Same thing with clothes and games - they were turned inside out or upside down. If we didn't use it in 6 months it was gone. (a year for seasonal things) Every time we shopped we had to picture the item's place in our home. If we couldn't think of a resting place, we didn't get it. We limited Christmas to 4 gifts. Now that we've doubled our square footage I find I have to take the decluttering challenge now and then. It's only 30 days long but it keeps me on track! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 I have lived in apartments for many years and can relate to your space problems. I would greatly cut down on food storage and limit it to a few staples. You mention that you donate a box food every month; if that is coming from your pantry, it's a clear sign you are buying too much stuff (if you just want to donate, you can do that at the local grocery store without bringing the items home). You also mention that you craft. How often do you get to it? How much space do the supplies take up? Is it something you could do without? Cut down on office supplies. I found that we were keeping a larger variety of things than necessary (my downfall would be back-to-school sales when office supplies are sooo cheap that I had to stock up) How tall are your ceilings? Is there a possibility to lower the ceiling in a few places and use the space above for storage? (we did that in the hallway of our first apartment) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.Balaban Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 I love the idea about four gifts. I think I'm going to tell my family about this. A big problem is the gifts my mother buys for the kids. I am so grateful and thankful that she gives them wonderful gifts, but we don't have room for them. I had to leave half the gifts from xmas at her house, and they have an entire closet of clothing there for my kids! It's obscene. I don't buy a lot of gifts. For example, she bought my 1 1/2 yr old DD 3 different baby dolls. I bought her a baby doll, too (before I knew she had). I don't have room for these baby dolls. And of course, I already bought her another baby doll at an after Christmas-sale before we went to see my parents! (for her birthday in Sept)... that's FIVE baby dolls! The three my mom bought are still at her house, but aaahh! not to mention the blocks, the train set, and everything else. We just don't have room for the toys. Does that make my kids "deprived"? (that is what my mom says...) I don't think so... I'm not getting rid of the craft space because I just got the sewing machine!! :lol: Noooooooo! :tongue_smilie: There's barely anything in that space at the moment. Just my sewing machine and some fabric, and my organizer. Everything else I keep in my nightstands in the bedroom. :lol: The tape was totally my fault. I thought we didn't have any for Xmas, so I sent DH out to get some on Christmas eve. Then at the after-christmas sale I picked up 2 more 3-packs, and then we found a stockpile of a couple more.... WELL at least we won't run out of tape anymore. :lol: I just hate to get rid of it because I know next Christmas I will need more. We have very tall ceilings. I have no idea how one would go about lowering them. They are ugly drop ceilings. We are trying to add shelving as high as we can now to get things off the floor. The shelving wouldn't solve all of our problems, but it would solve one of the problems that happens when we get rid of the big massive desk. I need a space for my homeschooling supplies -- which are only bound to grow! So, those top three shelves would be for me and my stuff, and the bottom would be for DH and his guitar stuff. My plan is if we get these shelves built over the weekend, then I can empty that part of the desk (YAY!) and start cracking on the rest of it. I *just* threw out a bunch of stuff off the desk last week and you can barely even tell... We need at least two pair of scissors. The third pair is supposed to go in my coupon binder. Baby steps! Baby steps! I'm going to work on the misc. kitchen items and see what I can do to help our space issues. If we can fit more food in the cabinets, then the shelves would look tidy. My issue with buying the ClosetMaid Pantry is the number of shelves, and I'm worried about the weight and quality. I probably just need to bite the bullet and try it. Plus then I don't know where we weould keep our bottled water/extra drinks. It would be nice to lock it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErinD Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Would you be willing to post pics? I love to organize but I'm a visual person and I'm guessing I'm not the only one here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookfiend Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Look at the latest IKEA catalouge for space saving ideas. Start with clearing out your closets, drawers and pantries so that you have room to put away the things you want to keep. Find hidden space, under beds and couches for out of season clothes or bedding. Shelves up high, over dooways and windows. Honestly, I think it is more expensive to custom build than to buy storage options. There are just so many flexible pieces available now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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