Frugal Village Forums banner

i Live in a Messy small room with too much stuff.Help!

4K views 19 replies 15 participants last post by  ladykemma2 
#1 ·
i currently live in a small studio apartment i rented. i have too much stuff because i previously lived in a larger place.
my place is messy with a lot of stuff, it's causing stress & i don't know where to start. please help with ideas
 
#3 ·
what kind of stuff? Books, clothes, furniture? I am currently downsizing and getting rid of most of my stuff. You need a lot fewer clothes than you think. If you are keeping something for a special occasion, can you get something similar if the occasion comes up?

If you haven't used it for awhile, toss it. Don't fall into the "I might need it someday" trap. Right now you need space and calm.
 
#4 ·
I would do a complete de-clutter project. I would go through everything and separate it into four piles: Keep, sell, donate, throw away. Freeing yourself of unnecessary "stuff" will simplify your life and make your small space a home. Many people have clothes they will never wear and other people will appreciate these things. If this seems overwhelming, get a family member of friend to help. I've seen people with huge houses fill their two-car garage up with so much junk that they can only fit one car in. I downsized twice. The first time was from over 3,000 sq. ft. to 2,400 sq. ft. That was no problem. The second time I went to 1,300 sq. ft. and no garage That was the best move I've ever made because it allowed me to free myself of things that would serve other people better. I have more empty storage space now that I had when I was living in the 3-car garage, 3,000 sq. ft. home. Don't get into the habit of hoarding and accumulating things you "might" use someday.
 
#5 ·
Start by making a goal to give away just ONE item a day....then slowly work up ...until you have cleared away a BUNCH of stuff.
 
#6 ·
No dont take your stuff and dump it at someone elses house!lol
Play a game w/ yourself. If I could only grab so many things in a fire what would be the first 100 things I would grab. This will help determine whats special.

As far as organization. Under the bed storage tubs are great. Use clear tubs in your closet-pull winter and put up summer right now. Try on everything. If it doesnt fit or you dont love it-lose it.
 
#7 ·
Start small. Select one category of items to sort or pack away, like books, winter clothes, extra dishes...

If you have a lot of stuff still in boxes see how high you can stack it along one wall, and then hang a white curtain in front of it. This will hide the boxes and brighten the room.

Getting rid of clutter makes a big difference. I always feel better when I can see my floor, counters and table tops. Be ruthless with old mail, magazines, cosmetics, bric-a-brac and junk. You may want to invest in baskets for sorting. One in the bath for toiletries (cover with a pretty hand towel), one in the living area for recycling papers, etc. Is the laundry in a pile, or a basket?
 
#8 ·
I am kind of hard core with this right now. I would say, if you haven't used something in the past year, you probably don't need it, so out it goes. Sell, donate, toss (depending on condition) but get it out of there. Find a decorating style that you love. Get rid of anything that doesn't go with that style. Don't save stuff for "some day," because when that day comes, your tastes may have totally changed anyway. Go minimal on everything. I don't know your space setup, but if you have room for one table, one sofa, x number of chairs, a bed, a nightstand, and so on....keep that minimal number of things and ditch the rest. Check out IKEA for ideas on living in small spaces...they are great for that! The biggest thing though is to truly cut the excess and then organize what you really need in great ways. Don't make the mistake of thinking you need to keep more than necessary and then trying to find ways to hide or organize the excess. I did that for too many years. It feels much better to let it go. The minimum amount of stuff you need for living is going to leave you space to breathe and move around easily in your apartment. It's taken me about a year and a combination of eBay, craigslist and garage sales, along with many carloads of donations to cut my excess, so plan for it to take some time and be a lot of work, but know that it is all worth it in the end!
 
#9 · (Edited)
It's true what others said about too many, such as clothes. I own two pair of jeans, one pair yoga pants, one pair khaki's, one pair black dress pants. Six long sleeve shirts or tops, six shortsleeve and four T's. Oh, and four shorts.... Rule of thumb, one in one out. As you begin de cluttering it gets easier to let go. Once you finish, start again, be ruthless. HTH
 
#11 ·
Hey there Janet this is a sensitive subject.lol
My Ds went in the army and left 10 guitars and 2 tubs of clothes. He never cleaned the mess he left for me in the work room.
DD is moving to a trailer to rent a room. She has her room full and the family rm. is stuffed w/ craft items and supplies. And my fav. lazyboy currently holds 3 boxes of stuff she sells.

I love the thought that you cant organize out of clutter that at some point somethings must GO.lol
 
#12 ·
Daily goals are what it's all about. As someone suggested, instead of getting overwhelmed, pick x number of items to get rid of each day. I am currently picking ten items a day to toss or donate. You pick a number that's comfortable for you, and do just that each day. It really makes a difference over time, without being overwhelming.
 
#13 ·
Another declutter tip that has worked for me is to make it easy to donate...find someone in your neighborhood who needs stuff. I have a neighbor with several children to whom I give clothing...I have a neighborhood thrift store who does pick ups of all of my heavy items...I have a used bookstore which will give me credit for any books I donate...
 
#14 ·
This helped us. Take 3 empty boxes: Label them: Toss, Donate, keep. Start with one category: Kitchen items: Set a timer for 15 minutes. Go through that area of stuff and fill the toss and donate box and try to keep the "Keep" box to a minimum. Once the the toss and donate boxes are filled OR if the timer goes off, seal the Toss and Donate boxes with tape and then Put the Keep items into the now decluttered and clean area.
IF the area isn't clean, either continue cleaning if you wish and try to fill 2 more Toss and Donate boxes or take the keep box and move it to the area where you will need it. Continue working in 15 minute stretches. It should help you from getting overwhelmed. When going through your things, try to fill 2 -3 donate and toss boxes to every 1 keep box. Do not put the keep box away until you have cleaned that area. Get rid of the Toss/Donate boxes the day that you fill them, otherwise, the things may creep back into your areas.
If you have a friend that you trust, bring them in to your fold, if they wish to help. Have them be your honest assessor of things needed vs things to toss.
If you get stuck on keeping or donating/tossing, ask yourself, will I use this in 90 days? Am i putting an emotional attachment on this item and feeling guilty to get rid of it because of "X,Y, Z"?. If you get stuck on things because they were a "gift", remember, people give you gifts becasue they think you might like/need them. It doesn't mean you have to keep them forever, a gift is yours to do with what you wish, if there are strings attached to that gift, then it wasn't a gift at all.
For important docs, try doing electronic storage in a cloud or external hard drive. Then shred docs that you don't need to keep because you have the nitty gritty e-filed away.
If you need storage area, think UP, vertical storage is your friend in small spaces.
Good luck, decluttering and reducing your life "stuff" can be very freeing.
 
#15 ·
I could not get my kids to declutter. Everything in their rooms had value, according to them. What worked was forcing them to put all the clutter into boxes. Then we put lids on them and put them in the attic for a week or so. And then we sorted it into keep, donate, toss, store. When they had some distance to the stuff, and they saw how big the piles were, it was much easier to get rid of it.

The same trick works on me. Put the clothes I'm unsure of in the back of the closet. After a while, I go through everything. If I haven't missed it, I can probably lose it. But sometimes, it feels like free shopping and I get a "new" favorite dress.
 
#17 ·
janets
thank you for the tip, will check it out later
meanwhile my room is getting more messy & i have many chargers on the floor..need to figure out how to tidy them up
i plan to organize my room for 30 minutes now and after that will relax browse internet in my bed..will update you how it goes
 
#19 ·
When I first started decluttering, I looked around me at the piles of stuff/items on shelves and thought "But I use all this!!". The thing is, it wasn't far from the truth. There was a layer of "stuff" that I DID actually use regularly but under that layer, there were shirts that no longer fit, sweaters I never really loved, books I had started to read and lost interest in, etc. Maybe, start with the areas you don't "venture into" as often since there is likely a TON of things in those boxes/corners that you really don't need that will be easy to get rid of. Once you get into the habit of decluttering, it becomes a lot easier. Good luck!!
 
#20 ·
maybe the small efficiency isn't working for you?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top