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Do you know what people identified as the #1 challenge to organizing their homes? The desire for MORE SPACE! 34% of people (Home World Business, 10/18), provided this response.
It’s an interesting one, too, seeing as though the average home size in the U.S. has increased from 1000 sq. feet years ago to 2,500 sq. feet today. So, if our homes are getting bigger, yet our desire for more space remains an issue, it seems like the problem isn’t really about our space, but about our stuff! Our stuff tends to expand to fill our space! So…here are 2 solutions to the space dilemma:
1. Reduce What You Own.
If you own less, you’ll have less need for storage space, and fewer items to display/maintain/replace. I recommend keeping what you use, love, and find useful, and decluttering the rest.
Jackie French Koller
“There are two ways to be rich: One is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little.”
Often, the decluttering happens first. Then, when the benefits of owning less become evident, the “desiring little” kicks in. Here’s a blog post of decluttering tips, to get you started: https://makingspaceorganization.com/where-to-start-decluttering.
2. “Create” More Space.
Besides decluttering, another way to gain space in your home is to get creative about maximizing the space you have.
Think outside the box. Add hooks or shelves to walls, use an over the door storage unit like *this one. The pockets can be used for anything from flip flops to craft supplies.
Get rid of product packaging. This is especially useful in pantries. Packaging takes up space, and the shape and size of it is likely not ideally suited to fit within your space.
Identify the real issue. Take a step back and analyze your spaces. Do things get lost in the deep recesses of your kitchen’s lazy susan? *These containers are wedge shaped and perfect for tricky spaces. They can help you contain like items in a way that maximizes your space.
Do you have tricky corner shelves? *Turntables are great for increasing the accessibility of items in corner spaces.
OR is your issue that clutter piles up? If that’s the case, designate a single home for everything, including mail, bills, schoolwork or anything that contributes to the clutter. Then, employ systems and habits to deal with those items on a regular basis. For example, handle mail as it comes in, pay bills every Friday, etc.
Modify your space. Closets are relatively easy to modify – add an elfa system, a hanging bar, or some hooks.
Think broad. If you have inadequate storage in a traditional linen closet, store linens in your bathroom, or allocate a shelf in another closet for them. Another idea is to store bed linens for each bedroom in that respective bedroom. Or, you could use an under the bed storage box like *this to stow them away.
I find one set of backup sheets per bedroom helpful, but you really don’t need more than this. Some people are fine with only 1 set per room total. Once the sheets are out of the wash, they go right back on the bed.
Regardless of your available space, once you get into the habit of decluttering, you’ll likely find that the space you have is more than enough!