Anyone live in small house?

I know a family who has 3 bedrooms and 3 teenage boys. The parents have 1 room and then the other two rooms are for the boys-but one boy gets to have his own room for a year at a time. So in the fall, before school starts, whoever’s turn it is gets to move into that room and the occupant moves back to the share room. The mom said it’s worked out great for them and their boys love the arrangement.

What a challenge, finding new solutions for new spaces.  So here are a few thoughts that may or may not be helpful.

1. That garage full of stuff to get rid of – load it up and take it straight to Goodwill or a similar place – or call them to see if they will come pickup.  Problem solved, headache dealt with, easy and over.

2. For the books – would they do better with a cubical to hold books so the space is sectioned and books don’t fall over as much?  Thinking like a 9 cube organizer?

3. For the clothing and everything really, consider reading the book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.  or even better (free) check out the video series about it by A Young Mum on YouTube.  You’ll miss a bit of the theory but can dive right in with the first step – getting rid of things.  I can sum up here:

Basically, Marie Condo, the author, suggests keeping only the things that spark joy (because you love them or they are necessary – think math books, needed, but may not exactly spark joy.  However you would keep only the best/most useful math books instead of four different curricula for each age.).  You go through things by category instead of by room, so gather ALL the clothing to go through at once, or ALL the toys.  This gives you a much better perspective on what you really own.  Ahem.  Eye opening!

She has you begin with clothing.  This really weeds out a lot of the excess!  We did this just in the last week-ish.  I started with my own clothing and then worked with the kids to go through theirs and the stored off season bins of clothes.  We ended up donating 12 trash bags full of clothing between 9 people.  Hubby still has his clothes to do.  Once you do this she has a way to fold items and put them vertically in the drawers that saves tons of space while allowing you to see what you have and choose clothes easily.  I was skeptical because we don’t fold clothes at all.  Period.  However my kids share dressers, no hanging space for clothes in their closets, and the one dresser currently shared by 4 boys was stuffed to overflowing.  Now their clothes fit well and they can choose what to wear easily.  I showed them how to fold and it’s pretty easy, even the 6 year old does it decently with a little practice.  The 4 year old is working on learning, with help for now.

She uses this same process for everything – papers, books, and all the stuff you own.  Does it spark joy?  (Another example of a useful joy is my grain mill.  It’s not pretty but I love that we can grind wheat (and we DO grind wheat every week). So I kept it.)  If it doesn’t, let it go, get it out as soon as possible, donate.  An example of a donated item – we had a few pans that were fine, but that I simply don’t use.  They aren’t the right size for cooking for my family so they just took up space in my home.  Gone.

A word about the book – she’s Japanese and very Eastern.  As a Christian I had to overlook some of her attitudes towards her things – she literally thanks her items out loud for their service when putting them away or when getting rid of them (even such a simple service as “Thank you for showing me I don’t really like sweaters).  We focus instead on thanking God for His provision and blessings.  She was also at the time of writing a single woman, so she doesn’t address toys, or homeschooling materials and similar things.  But the principles apply.  Gather all of one category onto the floor.  Pick up each item individually, decide if it brings you joy or not.  Put in a pile to keep or into a bag to donate.

She suggests you do only your things first.  Others can become inspired/intrigued by your example in the home and hopefully you will then be able to work with them to do their things.  So I started with my clothes and shared with my kids and husband my thoughts on the process as I went through it.  It didn’t take long for the kids to want to try it.  We’re not remotely finished with the process.

She also has a specific order that basically works you from least sentimental objects to most sentimental to get you really into the swing of recognizing joy sparking items and letting go of things.  For example, I could set aside a small box of clothing that was kept purely for sentimental reasons if I needed to, and not go through that until we reach the sentimental category.  Think a wedding dress, a special shirt, etc.  The process is to be done as quickly as you reasonably can, 6 months or less.  I would probably aim for a month or two just to keep momentum going and get it done.

Anyway, feel free to ask if you have any questions.  Like I said, I’m in the process.  One thing she said really stuck out to me. It was along the lines of “You can’t organize yourself out of too many things.” Meaning, no matter how great your organizing system, you can’t FIX a clutter problem.  More or better storage isn’t the answer.  Getting rid of the clutter first is the answer.  ((HUGS))  I think we all struggle with different areas of this.  I’m glad we have this forum to chat about possible solutions!

We are knee deep in moving to a smaller home. From 1200 sq foot 3 bed 2 bath to a 1100 sq foot 3 bed 1 bath and no dishwasher. I get it. I also have 2 giant industrial sewing machines that I can’t just put away in the closet. These are my rules:

no kitchen unitaskers. Everything needs to have multiple uses and get used.

Books can be stacked neatly on the shelves of it means the kids are putting them away not me.

each child has 1 wood crate, all of their stuff/toys has to fit in it. We also have a box of Legos and a chest of dress up clothes.

i also store all our out of season and next size up, clothing under beds. 1. It means toys don’t get pushed under the bed, and it clears up closet space. I do not have any closets outside of the 3 tiny bedroom closets. And one bedroom closet is being used for linens.

We all use the same shampoo and soap. The bathroom just don’t have space for a lot of different things. Tots aren’t allowed of of the bedrooms. This is for my sanity. I just really don’t like looking at them, and the kids know they will be thrown away if tripped over. My yard is a disaster. There is kids stuff everywhere. But it means my kids play outside more and inside less.

i honestly don’t think it takes longer to wash dishes than it did to load and unload the dishwasher.

Good luck!