One of my best/for-realest excuses reasons for clutter is I don’t have much storage space in this house.
Really.
I don’t.
I have a tiny coat closet, one cabinet in the gameroom, and a pantry. But y’all, I’ve seen storage CLOSETS in other people’s houses. Like, closets for no other purpose than storing stuff. One house we looked at had, like, FOUR walk-in storage closets.
Mmmm-hmmmm. If I only had those, I’d be totally organized.
Except I don’t. I have what I have.
And since I didn’t become magically organized all the other times when other if-onlys came true, I’m pretty sure four walk-in storage closets wouldn’t do the trick either.
One of my big frustrations has been my lack of space to store our Brownie troop supplies. We meet in my house. We have supplies. Those supplies need a home, but I didn’t think I had one for them.
So they sat in the floor of my master bedroom.
A totally bad idea, but I couldn’t think of a better one.
But then, I glanced up from my breakfast table and saw this:
Ummm. That’s storage space.
I think of it as my pantry, but all the pantry-type-stuff is stored in its twin on the other side of the room.
I suddenly realized this legit Storage Space was storing stuff I didn’t even need.
Like two coffee makers. Two EXTRA coffee makers. The one on the bottom doesn’t even work. It’s caraffe-less, but even the first cup isn’t hot.
THE FIRST CUP, y’all.
Why did we stick it in there instead of throwing it out?
NO idea.
There was also a picnic basket we don’t use, lots of randomly placed napkins and such that could likely be consolidated, and canisters I bought a LONG while ago at a garage sale but never used because I’d have to scrub/de-funkify them first.
The fact that I still hadn’t de-funkified them and still didn’t feel like de-funkifying them right then made me realize they could go. Let someone else think they’re cute and actually do what needs to be done to USE them.
Moment of Realization: I was storing things I didn’t need, while I “didn’t have room” to store things I did need.
Ugh.
So, as the Second of Two Things I tackled that day, I cleared out the cabinet to see if it could hold our Brownie stuff.
On the top shelf (of the three I decided to purge), I found craft supplies, dog treats, and a cute-but-haven’t-found-a-way-to-actually-use-it basket. The craft supplies were victims of me asking “Where would I stick it?” instead of the much better question: “Where would I look for it?”
Once upon a time, this cabinet WAS our craft cabinet. But it’s not anymore. We look for craft supplies in the gameroom. But I (obviously) still stick stuff in the old place sometimes. I took it where we would look for it. RIGHT then.
Dog treats? Hmmm. Upon seeing them, I did remember putting them there, but if you’d asked me the day before whether we had any, I would have said we’re out.
Wait and see how wrong that was.
The basket? Who knows why that ended up in there. Cute as it was, it went straight to the Donate Box.
Once I removed all that EASY stuff and put the napkins and such into the basket where they actually go, I had some empty space on that shelf.
Aaaahhhh, empty space.
Empty space meant I could keep the picnic basket. THERE WAS A PLACE FOR IT!!! I don’t want to talk about the “we never use it” part.
And do you see more dog treats peeking out from under the picnic basket??
I pulled out all sorts of randomness, like:
Mmm-hmmmm. THAT was worth storing for all these years. I could have returned to the dollar store for another one if we ever needed it.
Which would have been . . . never.
Some donations. Some trash. And then it looked like this:
Clear space. Aaaaahhhhhh.
Time to gather the Girl Scout stuff. As I put things in there, I discovered there was quite a bit of trash in the bags and boxes of Brownie stuff I’d assumed were important enough to take up master bedroom space.
But after purging trash and consolidating what we needed to keep, it ALL fit into the cabinet I hadn’t even considered a possibility a week before.
Not an organizing masterpiece, but I was happy(ish) about this:
Happy(ish) because while I was glad to get the Brownie stuff put away, I was irritated that other, non-Girl-Scout-related things were in that pile. In my mind, this project was going to solve the entire pile problem.
But, as piles are rarely exactly what I think they are, it didn’t.
Hmmmph.
But I’m choosing to be glad I did this. I proved to myself that I do have more storage space than I think I do. I just don’t have space to store stuff that doesn’t deserve storing.
I’m also glad for my own (oh-so extensive) decluttering experience. Once upon a time, I might have come up with this solution but would have ended up Stuff Shifting. Moving the G.S. stuff into that space and putting the other stuff in a box to be dealt with later. Y’know, when I suddenly stumbled upon the storage space I hadn’t noticed yet in the nine years we’ve lived in this house.
But because I have grown to love the feeling of Stuff Leaving, the Donate Box and the trash took care of the things that didn’t have a definite home somewhere else in the house.
I made progress. Not a bigger mess. Yay for that.
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--Nony
Love this post! It is so true that we are often storing stuff we don’t need in our precious and limited space designated for things we do need and want to store. Super, super example for swapping out stuff you don’t need to make room for what you do.
Good for you.I too have at least two cabinet’s that are filled with stuff we will never use now that my boys are teen’s.I did good last weekend when we went to the Goodwill store. I bought eight things and when I got home I put TEN thing’s in the donate box.Thank’s to you, I am finally learning.
I LOVE the picnic basket – and the one you’re donating. I used to have dozens of baskets because I love them so much, then I realized they just added to the never-ending chore of dusting. Not to mention they tended to collect all sorts of clutter (they’re good for hiding things). So now I have three.
Love how you overlooked that storage space. I have a place like that I keep forgetting about – and armoire, and I seriously need to purge whatever is in there so I can use it for Christmas decorations.
If you find this spot not working, which I know by experience happens, you could put it all in a smallish clear tub (or two) that would fit on a dining room chair (or two) which then is slid under the table so you can’t see it.
Also, I love your blog when I found it a few months ago I took your advise and started from the beginning. I have finished all the old posts and now I find myself missing my mini “marathon” reading sessions because it was (& still is) such a huge motivation to keep cleaning. When I would need a break I would read a few more posts & become remotivated. So thanks for helping all us “slobs” by coming clean.
Wonderful post! Huge success!
So funny how clutter becomes invisible/unnoticeable when we see it all the time. Then I declutter it and I am amazed what has been there all along.
I’m always amazed by what I find and have kept for so long when I declutter. I’m going to try to look around with new eyes and look for storage space too!
You know what I love about this post ? You didn’t end up with complete perfection. You ended up with a solution for your initial problem – but like most of us real people, you discovered that your initial clutter wasn’t entirely what you thought it was. And the post focused on what was most important – progress. Wow. This is a post that makes me feel like I shouldn’t just give up entirely because perfection isn’t possible. 🙂 Progress is always possible. Thanks ! Love the post !
This is so exciting! I’m so happy for you having found somewhere to put that Brownie stuff. I am tired of ‘stuff shifting’ and that helps encourage me to let go of some of the stuff that I think I should be keeping. I would love more storage space but you’ve taught me that dreaming of more storage isn’t the solution.
My favorite statement in this post:
“Moment of Realization: I was storing things I didn’t need, while I “didn’t have room” to store things I did need.”
That is lightbulb-epiphany-genius! And I’m glad you get to keep the picnic hamper, too.
We had a nearly identical, MAYBE identical, picnic basket. Someone gave it to us for a wedding present. We actually used it a few times. It was so cute! But when we got past 5 kids, I realized it was pretty much pointless to have around as it only had 4 place settings and there were 7 people in the family at that point (we have 11 people now). I felt totally free to donate it, which opened up STORAGE SPACE! Good feeling :-).
on the paints-
I finally threw away the 40+ half-empty (dried, old) bottles of craft paints I had in the garage. I got small bottles of the 3 primary colors + larger bottles of black & white. I figured if
I really needed a specific shade for a project I could buy it. The rest we can mix from those 5 colors. It’s been fine for a year . so when you get to that drawer my thought is toss most, keep a few. done! 🙂
I love the picnic basket but if you don’t use it often why not store it in the bottom of the closet or at least down lower and that way you could use your most easily accessible space for items that you use frequently. This is just a suggestion.You could also use it to store party supplies that you only use occasionally. Keep up the good work. You motivate me!!
When you have arts and crafts stuff, donate them to adult day services for developmentally disabled, or nursing homes. The clients and staff would be happy to have stuff to use
You help me so much. Sometimes I can hear your voice (well me reading your words) in my head while cleaning up. I especially like how you are showing me not to be a perfectionist but instead just make things a little better than before.
I know I’ve got a lot of space… somewhere 🙁
You have a fireplace in your bedroom?! LUCKY!
So needed this! We have no closet space on our first floor except for a tiny, ONE tiny closet. My Junior GS Stuff sits in a pile, sigh. I will work on finding a place. Thanks!
Oh my goodness, I’m a Brownie leader in the UK so I really feel your pain about storing everything, lots of admin qnd paperwork, accounts,craft stuff, badges etc, etc, etc. I’ve just moved to a smaller house and have managed to dispose and organise some of it so far but still a long way to go
Where would I look for it as opposed to where I might shove it is the perfect approach. For too many years I put things where I could squeeze them in …and then could never find them again. Now those ‘things’ are placed like with like AND where I would look for them. Gives me some chance of finding them again when needed.
Nony, This might be my favorite post. Welllllll….my ABSOLUTELY favorite was probably your set of videos in which you portrayed different characters. I hope you don’t expect me to de-clutter my pile of ‘favorites’.
Very helpful post, though.
For Christmas month, I’ve been trying to think of as many crafty things we can make to either decorate with or Gift to someone as I can. When Mom passed away I was allowed to bring home all her crafty stuff from her house, and I did a really great job of organizing them. There is still some overflow though, so I’m using Christmastime to see if I can put it to joyful use.
Thanks for all your helpful ideas. You did a good thing thinking ‘outside the box’ on this one.
Happy December to Everyone,
This revisit to this post was so timely for me! I have a few areas that have been on my mind that need decluttering, knowing that there are things that are taking up space they don’t deserve while making other areas cluttered with things that need their own space. Reading this post inspired me to organize my dining room server (to make better use for our homeschool materials to mostly be stored away and moving excess seasonal tablecloths, office supplies, etc to better homes) and also to start on our laundry room, which had been building clothes clutter over the past few months (“these aren’t ironed yet, so we’ll leave them hanging down here…”, “these are drying and now don’t fit because I’m pregnant, so there’s not an immediate need for them…, etc”, and finding a better place for hangers that are waiting for newly dried clothes instead of hanging right on the line in the way of the dryer. Now, the laundry room has much more breathing room and my server is neat and tidy, making it easy to see what is there and putting other items where they belong. Ahhhh….sigh of breathing room 🙂
You give me hope!
I don’t know if you still have that picnic basket and I can’t tell it’s exact size. It seems to me that it is so pretty that you could use it differently. If it contains plastic picnic dishware that you also don’t use, trash or donate that. Then put the basket out somewhere where it can it can serve as a container but also be a decorative item. Depending on the size, it could hold a throw blanket or two near a couch or chair or maybe magazines waiting to be read. Some sentimental items deserve a place where they can be seen and appreciated.
One thing that I do to get rid of stuff is advertise it on Freecycle. It gets things out of my apartment and keeps it out of the landfill at the same time. There are some mornings when I’m looking at the posts of offers thinking, “That would be nice to have…” I have to say (out loud sometimes), “No! Go to your posts and list that thing to give away!” lol I’ve gotten rid of a myriad of things, including a walking stick that had a carving of a frog on top. I am not making this up! I live in the city. Even when I lived in the country, I didn’t use it. I can still see the marble frog’s eyes staring at me, as if to say, “Get rid of me… I’m hideous after all…” Posted it on Freecycle and it was gone the next day to a very gleeful recipient!
Recently, while listening or thinking about your videos, my mind recalled an old, old book I read (at least back in the 1990’s and it was actually printed before that) called, “I hate to Clean” by Dan Aslett. In his first chapter he sums up my problems then and now and it relates to your post. He talks about that in the past, people had small houses, large families, and a little bit of stuff. But today (ant again, this was over 20 years ago) people have large houses, small families, but so much stuff they need a garage, shed, and off-site storage to keep it all. (Spoiler Alert — he said one of the keys to keeping your home clean was to have less stuff to clean and then have systems to prevent and keep the mess from getting so bad it was a arduous task.) Eventually, with so many people telling me the same basics, you would think I would get it.
I appreciate how real you are, especially in your pictures. Your efforts don’t typically end in magazine-worthy spaces, but they are much improved and that’s what real life (at least for me) looks like. If your finished photos were perfect, I wouldn’t bother trying, because I know in my life season, that’s not achievable, nor do I even want to live in a magazine-picture-perfect home. So, thanks, Nony!
This post makes me so happy. I’ve done a lot of decluttering recently and created more storage space, and I still have a ways to go. No more storing junk I hate while having no room to stockpile food! I want to be a minimalist prepper ( which is exactly the same thing as “old fashioned normal”). 🙂
In the past, I would stuff things in copy paper boxes to get them out of sight and to delay dealing with them. I’m also finding that I need to revisit previously decluttered and organized spaces, because needed/useful things identified before are no longer needed or useful, even though they are orderly and easy to find. They are just wasting prime storage real estate!
I used to have a picnic basket just like that! My mom had given it to us when we were engaged, but I don’t have it anymore. I think I donated it. I remember it being hard to let go, but I’m not sure I would’ve used it anyway.