Overwhelmed by clutter .... any ideas

[sharkbytes]

One of my best tips for cleaning a bedroom is to put everything on the bed. (except for any food, cause, ewww) You won't be able to crawl into bed until everything on it is put away/folded/sorted. I know, it sounds silly to trick yourself like that, but it works for me.

 

[hhunt2]

I know how all you feel... I live in an old school small 1 bedroom cottage. And when I say old school, I mean "old school"! It was built in 1915 and has the original claw foot bathtube. The door frames are under 6 ft. tall (my hubby has to duck down when he passed thru). B/c the home is so small, storage is non-existent & clutter is everywhere.

This past weekend we cleaned everything. So I had to organize and store stuff.
1. We have a large closet in the frontroom and we put all the things we don't use or out of season clothes (and then we stack them). Then we have a clothe shower curtain; we just close the closet with that so the bins are not an eye sore.
2. All camping, fishing, seasonal stuff goes in our nieghbors basement (or if we had a shed).
3. Recently we bought one of those things that stands above the toliet. We store t.p. or anything that fits.
4. We also have 3 large shelves (built into the wall) in the bathroom, and I have put 4 clothe drawers bins into the shelves (2 per shelf, middle shelf has all towels--I can hide tampons, hair dryer/straightners, curlers, etc. in the drawers).
5. On the wall next to the front door, we have Ikea shoe cabinets to store shoes.
IKEA | Clothes storage | Shoe cabinets | TRONES | Shoe storage
6. I put all my clothes in a dresser but my husband uses the closet. He also has those hanging shelves (stores socks, underwear, undershirts, etc.). So we only have 1 dresser (5 drawer) in the room.
7. When I was living at my parents home, my dad mounted my tv on the wall (like at the hospitals; up in the corner of the cealing).
8. We have 3 storage bins under the bed (they are long, on wheels and fold up at the center). We store any seasonal clothes or beddings.

I hope my list brought some ideas to people. Sorry for the details, lol.

 

[redambition]

Mac_Whore raised some great points! (that flame thrower one... genius!)

I only know one surefire way to keep clutter under control. it has two parts:

1. Everything must have a regular place. If it doesn't have a "home", it will clutter.
2. You must do an autumn and spring clean and get rid of things you don't use.

Unfortunately, I suck at both of these things and have inherited packratitis from both sides of the family... so i have clutter coming out of the wahooni. im hoping that changes one day because i really don't like it.

 

[Lizzie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by redambition Mac_Whore raised some great points! (that flame thrower one... genius!) I only know one surefire way to keep clutter under control. it has two parts: 1. Everything must have a regular place. If it doesn't have a "home", it will clutter. 2. You must do an autumn and spring clean and get rid of things you don't use. Unfortunately, I suck at both of these things and have inherited packratitis from both sides of the family... so i have clutter coming out of the wahooni. im hoping that changes one day because i really don't like it.

Those are both great tips! I get "packratitis" from my mother. Maybe I should call it "but-I-might-need-it-someday-itis"

The worse part of it is there is nowhere for the crud to go in my one bedroom apartment!

 

[redambition]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lizzie Those are both great tips! I get "packratitis" from my mother. Maybe I should call it "but-I-might-need-it-someday-itis" The worse part of it is there is nowhere for the crud to go in my one bedroom apartment!

i like that.. i-might-need-it-someday-itis. excellent. "i might need it someday" is what my mother ALWAYS says when we try to make her throw something out.

 

[MAC_Whore]

Quote:

Originally Posted by redambition i like that.. i-might-need-it-someday-itis. excellent. "i might need it someday" is what my mother ALWAYS says when we try to make her throw something out.

Yeah, I know a couple of people like that too.

I've replaced that mantra with: "OK, I haven't used it/worn it/needed it in two years. If I need another one, I will buy one." I have yet to regret throwing away anything. I've found that the feeling of relief over loosing clutter outweighs any feeling of loss over "things". Sometimes it's hard to put into practice, but it works.