Living a Clutter Free Life ~ 2

Well now that you have looked at how much space you have in your house to store things you probably have the Space Bags commercial running through your head. You know "too much stuff, not enough space." But that probably isn't true, trust me, I have lived in some TINY houses, and no matter how small they were we have found a way to store what we needed to in a way that was organized and logical.

The first house that DH and I lived in was a 500sq ft two bedroom home in England. It had fit him just fine, bedroom for sleeping second bedroom filled with wardrobes, because closets don't exist in England.... at least not in most places. But when I moved in keeping everything put away proved to be a but of a challenge. I struggled with finding a place for my clothes, for my cooking supplies, the kitchen wasn't real big on cabinet or refrigerator space. It's amazing how much more cabinet space you need when you eat more than Hamburger Helper. Even with the tightness though we never had clutter everywhere. We had what we needed and nothing else, there was no room for lots of stuff we "might use again someday" or for pretty things that only came out once in a blue moon.

Living in our tiny house after my years in dorm rooms really helped turn me from the clutter bug I once was into someone who not only doesn't mind organization, but who thrives on it. After a stressful day I can frequently be found taking everything out of a closet to reorganize it and get rid of anything that I don't really need. This is probably hysterical to my family and my first roommates who had to deal with the cluttered messy me.

Anyway back to the matter at hand. Now that you know how much room you have it's time to pare down your stuff until you can fit it into the space that you have available. I like to look at things in three major categories. 1) Use Frequently, 2) Use Seasonally, and 3) Sentimental. So the first step is to divide your stuff into those categories. You can either pull everything out and actually separate them into the three piles, or you can do this step mentally. The next thing that you need to do is look at each pile. Do you actually use these things or did you buy them with the intention of using them and never have. For example the kitchen. I own 7 Mix n' Scrapers this may seem like an excessive amount, but since I frequently have 4-6 of them in the dishwasher on any given day, they are the right amount for me. Because of this though, I was able to get rid of a large number of my wooden spoons. They looked nice, and every kitchen is supposed to have one right? Wrong, if you don't actually use it you probably don't need it. This method is most effective for evaluating your frequent use pile.

For the second pile, the Seasonal one, you can look at it in terms of amount of use each item gets, but also if you really love it. For seasonal clothing, you need a winter coat, and a swim suit, but how many of each do you really need? For example I live in Las Vegas, so I need 1 winter coat, but a couple of lighter ones. I also need like 3 swimsuits because in the summer the girls and I are in the water every.single.day. When I lived in England I needed multiple coats, for all sorts of weather and various amounts of rain, but didn't own a swimsuit at all. Be realistic about your lifestyle and climate. You might adore cute winter scarves and hats, but if you live in a desert where it never seems to get below 50 you probably don't need 30 of them.

For seasonal decorations, well this is one of my problems. In my dream house I would have a fully changeable house with a neutral background and changeable accessories for every season. However, I just don't have the room to store pictures, throw pillows, curtains and other decor for every season and holiday in my house. So I have limited myself to the room that I have available. I have just enough Christmas stuff to decorate the house I live in, if we move to a bigger house in the future AND have the storage space to handle it, I will probably get more.

Wow, this post has gotten WAY longer than I intended. So break time for today. I'll be back later with a little advice for how to deal with sentimental stuff. One of the hardest areas to declutter in. Until then smile!

Living a Clutter Free Life. Part 1

I am not a clutter bug, well not really. I am not as clean as DH, but I am most definitely cleaner than your average bear. I'm not saying this because I want a big fat pat on the back, I'm saying this because I have a lot of people who ask how I do it. What are my methods for decluttering if there is clutter and for keeping the clutter down in the first place. I've written on this before, a few years ago, but I figure it never hurts to revisit something useful. So here it is. The start of my short series called Living a Clutter Free life.

Today I am going to start with a basic, something that is so basic that sometimes people forget to do it. Figure out how much space you have! It sounds simple, but so many people forget to do this. No matter how organized you want to be, you cannot organize into a place that you have too much stuff for. It's the problem of too much stuff in too little space that causes the piles of overflowing things in the wrong rooms.

So before you start to buy your fun little organization totes, or print off all of the nifty labels you see on pinterest you need to see how much room you are working with. Say you are organizing your pantry. Look at the number of shelves you have, How tall are they? How Deep? What will you be storing in there? Once you have an idea of what you are working with you will have an idea of what is a realistic goal.

As you can see, this pantry is a place for food, toiletries, appliances and other cooking supplies, as well as some random toiletries. They have long, fixed shelves that are not very deep. They have too many things for the space that they have, or they have the things stored incorrectly.

So the first step is to step back and look at the space that you have to store things in. It's fixed, so that is what you have to work with.

Tuesday... Cleaning... Blogging

I should be cleaning right now. I told myself I would clean today. I told my husband I would clean today. I even had a whole plan on what I wanted to clean today. However, I am not cleaning today. Nope, after all of that thought, planning, and big talk I am back on the computer playing stupid Facebook games instead of cleaning. Oops. Then when I ran out of things to clean, build, and farm in my settlements, and cities I came here to blog. Yup, I'm on a roll today.

I find in ironic that I started a blog to track my ability to be that domestic goddess and now I am using that blog to avoid housework. Yup, I'm skilled like that. In my defence the house isn't bad, the kids are dressed almost picture perfect. I just have no motivation today.

Ok, I'm off, and going to put the folded laundry away. Really, I promise, unless something else that needs to be done comes up, like I get sucked into Bejewled.

Happy Tuesday!
~DD

That stuff we rarely use, but can't get rid of.

Ahhh my favorite storage section, category number two seasonal stuff. This category is actually bigger than you might think, but can also vary greatly based on where you live and how you decorate. Seasonal stuff can include everything from holiday decorations, to clothing. If you happen to have the room and the money it can also include bedding, dishes, and all sorts of things. I know people who essentially re-decorate their entire house for each season. I don't but that is because I don't have the storage to do it. If I did, trust me I would.

Seasonal storage is different that everyday storage, most people put it outside, either in the garage or a storage shed, or even in a attic or basement. Because of this there are different things that are important.

The first thing is still that you can't keep more than you have room for. I think that this is the universal rule of organizing. If you don't have the room for it you simply cannot keep it.

The second thing to think of is appropriate storage for your location. Most seasonal storage needs to me water and air tight. You shouldn't store your winter clothes in paper bags, or plastic grocery sacks. The bugs, and water, and dirt will get into them and ruin them, and then what was the point in taking up the room storing them? So look at your storage area, what is size appropriate and location appropriate. For a particularly damp location you might even need to double wrap things, putting them into a plastic cover like a Space Bag and then put those into a Plastic Bin. If you are in a drier location then you should be fine with just the plastic bin. And honestly if you are like me the Space Bag won't work for you, they always end up expanding again on me and not staying vacuumed tight, so I look at them as a big Ziploc instead of as a space saver.

The third step, one that most people forget is to label your boxes well. If you can't find what you have stored and end up giving up looking for it and buy new stuff then you shouldn't have bothered storing it in the first place. If you are using the box for things that are permanent in that box like Christmas decorations you can write on the box with a permanent marker, but if you will be changing what is in the box then make sure that you can change the label. I also put a packing list right inside the top of the box, or you can put it in a plastic page protector on the outside. So you can find specific things.

Organizing your seasonal stuff is a lot of work, but when you are done you will thank yourself. Being able to walk to your storage anytime and pull out exactly what you need without going through piles of stuff and dozens of boxes will make things so much easier, and less expensive in the long run.

Now that I've sorted it.

Well the first step is done, you have sorted you stuff and pared it down to what you really love and use on a regular basis. For most of you just making it this far is a huge step. If you really were honest with yourself in the first step you have seen how many things you are holding on to that you didn't need in the first place. If you weren't honest with yourself, well, you really are still stuck trying to organize clutter but that doesn't mean that you are a hopeless case, it just means that you need to work on step one a few more times over the next few months, trying to be more honest with yourself each time. Remember that this is a process, there is no magic wand that you can wave to go from a disorganized clutter-bug to an organized person.

Useful Everyday

This should be the easiest to get put away and organized. There are a few things that you need to answer and then away they should go. Most of these things are probably best right near where you found them. Think about where and how you use the items every day and then find an away place for them to be near that location. The further you have to walk to put something away the less likely you are to do it.

Question 1: What is the best way for ME to organize?

Organization is not a one size fits all activity. Not only does everyone live in a different house, but everyone also uses things in a different way. But, most importantly, what you think is a logical way to do things isn't always what I think is logical, so you need to organize for yourself. I just got through reading a great article in Real Simple that talked about how you shouldn't try to fit your organization into someone elses mold. If you are right-brained you shouldn't try and use the regimented color coded, same sized stacked boxes, and if you are left-brained you are probably most comfortable with this method. Find what works for you and your family.

Question 2: How much space do I have to put this away in?

Let's face it, there are very few of us who live in places where storage isn't at a premium. No matter how much we have it seems like we always need more. When you are planning a place to put things away, and look at your space realistically. If you only have one shelf on one closet for sheets, then that is all that you have. Taking more space than you have for one item usually means that you will have less room for another. Eventually if you keep borrowing storage from one thing to house another you will end up back where you started with no organization at all.

Question 3: Can I really fit what I want into the space that I have?

Look at your box of things that you use, look at the space that you have, will it all fit? If your self will hold six sets of sheets and you have four then you are doing great. If your shelf will fit four and you have six, not so great. If you have to answer no to this question it is time to go back. Do you really need all that you kept? Or are you saving the sheets from your childhood bed even though your kids will never use them. If after you re-assess what you have kept and you still don't have enough space, then it is time to re-assess where it is stored. Maybe you don't need something else that is in the linen closet stored there. Maybe you can move the kids crafts out so that you have more room for the sheets. Maybe you need to store the sheets in the room they belong in, either in an under the bed box, in the closet, or in the dresser. Be creative in your options just make sure you aren't taking storage that you actually need for something else.

Remember that there isn't any cut and dried correct way to do this. You need to store things in a way that is appealing to your senses wheather they be artistic and eclectic or regimented and color coded. You need to store the things that you use every day in a way that makes them accessable, both to use and to put away again when you are done. And last, you need to be honest and creative with where you put things away so that they are stored in the best possible manner.

That not-so dirty word.....

Yup, I'm talking about organization, not only organization but de-cluttering. Wait, don't panic, I promise I will have some ideas for everyone no matter how organized you think you are. This will not all happen in one post, I know that it's a lot to go over so I will be breaking it up into more manageable pieces.

I am often asked to help friends and family organize things, which comes as a huge surprise to me. I was the teenager who stuffed all of her stuff under the bed and into the closet to "clean" her room. The "a place for everything, and everything in it's place" mantra was lost on me. I saw de-cluttering, cleaning, and organizing as a huge waste of time. I can't quite put my finger on when the change came, there was no magical "ah-ha" moment when I went from being a slob to a neat-freak. It just happened. I think that my biggest push towards organization and cleanliness came my senior year of college when I shared a room with Nao. She was (and still is) the cleanest and most organized person that I have ever met. I felt guilty if my half of the room didn't at least sort of match hers, which was a huge feat since her half was pristine.

You can't organize clutter

It's been said a million times. You just can't organize clutter. You can move it around, you can hide it in nifty looking boxes and organizational tools, but when it all comes down to the nitty-gritty, it just won't help. Clutter is clutter no matter how many labels and pretty things you try and hide it with. So our first step in this process will be to de-clutter. In order for this to work, you must be honest and ruthless. It is hard, but it is worth it. The first step is to make your categories for things to keep, my suggestions is these three, but if you find something that works better for you then use that.
1) Useful every day
2) Useful seasonally
3) Sentimental
Designate a place for each of these categories and start sorting. Do you use it daily (or weekly)? Then it goes in the first box, do you use it every Christmas, or every winter? Then it goes in the second. Does it have some special meaning? Then it goes in the third. If it doesn't fit any of those categories? Then it goes in the trash or gets donated to charity. I don't suggest making a yard sale pile, because be honest, you won't ever get around to having one.

You don't have to do this to your whole house at once, or even a whole room, take the amount of time that you have and make a realistic goal. Do you have 15 minutes? Then go through you clutter pile from when you walk in the door. Do you have 45 try your closet. Remember that something that doesn't fit you isn't a keeper no matter how determined you are to be that size again some day.

Hopefully this is a small start for some of you, I'll be back with more tips on what to do with the things in each bin in a few days.

~ DD