Long story short.....we're moving to save money for future home/land.

We have to figure out how to squeeze an 1500 sq./ft. house full of belongings into app. a 670 sq/ft. mobile home).

(It's only for 3 years....it's only for 3 years.....it's only for 3 years....my mantra :) )

I'm going to have to take a crash course in decluttering and minimizing

So give me your best tips. We have a couple of months so I can plan ahead. It's out in the country so we'll have space outside.

i'd start with toys....those seem to multiply and i never really buy him any anymore!

we got rid of ALL stuffed animals, virtually all wal-mart type toys, and outgrown toys. that helped immensely.

next i'd suggest going through clothing and clearing outgrown, poorly fitting, "don't really like wearing that" stuff.

then get rid of "surfaces" like extra tables and shelves that are only there to accumulate/hold more stuff.

the kitchen is also a hub of collecting things. it's usually pretty easy to find a few boxes/bags of things to get rid of in there.

good luck!

yep, clothes. Don't keep clothes you don't wear. Dh and I share a single closet (with bifold doors, lol nothing huge) and we only use up about half of the closet if that. Also, only keep IN SEASON clothes in your closets. Store the rest.

Kitchen... eliminate appliances. I have actually been aquiring more and more applicances, but I have very few. My kitchen aid mixer is the only appliance I really wouldn't give up. Use a manual can opener. Only keep out one set of dishes. I keep out my plain white cafe service for 8.

Books.... be heavy handed with getting rid of books.

Bedding... each bed has two sets of sheets. DD has a set of flannel for the winter and cotton for the summer. I don't like flannel so I have two cotton sets.

Bathroom stuff, make up and towels!... I have ONE towel per person. I have a couple of guest towels. Thow out any old perfumes, lotions, potions etc. We have a very small bathroom and all that is in the bathroom are our three towels on hooks, a garbage can and stuff in the medicine cabinet (tooth brushes, tooth paste, my face care stuff and dh' contact stuff). All medications are stored in a first aid kit in the linen closet. I have a couple of totes to store any and all bath stuff. Little totes. We actually don't have an outlet in our bath because our home is old. All of my makeup fits into one tiny pouch I keep in my diaper/tote bag.

Okay, that's it for now. LOL

Emily

It's out in the country so we'll have space outside.

Get a storage shed

After you complete all the above, look hard at your furniture. What do you *really* need?

We actually hardly ever use our couch. I would get rid of that before I downsized my sewing area :)

Also, think about furniture that has dual purposes. For example, our coffee table it is a chest that holds our extra blankets. The girls have a loft bed so they can play under it. Our bed has drawers under it for clothes.

Those under bed storage boxes are great, unless you have a bed with drawers under it like we had ( if the drawers would have worked it would have been great *LOL*). You can use it like storage for comforters and jackets and winter clothes in the summer and summer clothes in the winter. Or you could use it for some toy storage.

Do not forget that there is space under most couches as well use it with those under bed boxes as well.

Bunk beds are great space savers so children can share rooms... since it is only for 3 years if you have young children put a dowel rod half way down the closet to break it in half there for giving you 2 times as much storage space. If you are not a "hanger" then if you have a dresser or find a plastic dresser that will fit in there use it or build basic open selves in ther for clothes to sit on bottom could be used for shoes or just have a large tub in there for toy storage. That will free up space in the main part of the room for play space.

Instead of having a kitchen table you could have a card table and folding chairs OR several of those TV dinner folding tables.. then you can store them behind your couch. In a SUPER small kitchen that adds a LOT of space.

Some trailors do not maximize cabinet space and on top there will be more space..you can use tuperware tubs or baskets with lids to store stuff on top that you don't use all the time but that you really need to keep( like craft things).

If you have animals. We had 6 different types of animals in an aprox.1000 sq ft trailor, a total of 13 animals, one being an inside 120lb dog.. along with 5 people, and we did fine. I bought bulk for the animals to save money, then in the kitchen i stacked tubs. We had rabbits they had 2 tubs( once kevin complained about having hay filling up his trunk hehehehe )one 39 gallon tub for Orchard Grass Hay and then they also had a slightly smaller one that held a 50lb of pellets and most of a 50lb bag of Alfalfa Pellets. Then another tub slightly smaller which would hold a 40lb bag of dog food. Then a still smaller tub that would hold a 20lb bag of cat food. It only took up maybe 2 1/2 X 1 1/2 ft of space and it was safe from any rodents and from the animals themselves.

We had a shelve up over our washer and dryer.

There are a lot of outside things that can maximize your space.. a tent outside can be used as play space for the kids .. or if you have one of those tents that is for covering an outside table thats great also.. because you can spend some family time outside even if its damp. Storage building like someone else said is terrific, adds a lot of storage space for larger items that you might not want to get rid of but do not have space for in the house. Club houses can free up some space, doesn't need to be super elegant, sort of like a tree house on the ground, or the basic tree house if you have the tree for it.

I find in a small space that the less time you spend apart from the other family members expecially for kids in tight places sometimes the more they fight, but having different areas to go where they can be alone releaves that stress.

I know Exactly what you are going through right now... we are now living in a maybe 60ft by 12ft trailor. We also have a large yard and a big out building that is insulated and has carpeting on half the floor with deep shelves along one wall and a work bench against the other with shelves under it as well with a leantoo on it. It will do okay once we get things situated ( and can get a truck to toss all the junk which could have been used if people would have just tken care of it ... there is a mattress in there that has been pooped all over by birds because they did not fix the whole where they took out a wood heater the mattress looks brand new which makes me MAD!!) and i can talk Kevin into believing we do not need all he thinks i deserve *LOL* MEN!! And once we get it fixed up a little bit more, since it needs a little work yet. We are living by ourselves since the girls decided to go to their moms, the younger 2 want to come back so we might end up with 4 people living here this summer. We only have 8 regular animals right now and we also have 4 baby bunnies which in 5 weeks can go to new homes.

I will give you an Example.. Right now our middle bedroom is my computer room as well as animal room.. I have 2 large Bunny Cages which i can stack, but right now they are not stacked,A Large bird cage, a box chair, a futon chair, a foot stool that belongs to the couch set in the living room, my computer and the small peice from my computer desk that was ment for my printer. All in a 5ft by 10ft room, this room has a closet and a built in dresser then there is an area where the heater is were there is flat wall. I use the closet as my computer area, the birds cage is on top of the dresser. However once we get the building cleaned out.. i am going to move all of this stuff out there. There is an old TV out there i will see if it works, if it does we can have a little tv area out there. I can have my computer area out there( i will just have to bring in the little wireless internet thingamabob in when i come in from out there so the girls can not get on without supervision). I am hoping to get some rabbit hutches made this summer * crosses my fingers* Then also the chair from in the living room then the bird can go out and stay in the living room. Then we will have another free bedroom. So out buildings can free up a lot of space, expecially if they have electric.

I am in the middle of packing to move myself.
The hardest thing for me is getting rid of momentos---things my parents gave me, or things I've had for years and like to look at---but don't need.
SO--one thing that has helped me---and this is silly I know---is that I take a picture of the item I'm parting with---like this old kettle my Mom's friend gave me. It's rusted inside, so I don't use it--but loved to look at it.
I took a picture of it--so now I can see it when I want to--but don't have it taking up space.
:flowerkit

I am in the middle of packing to move myself.
The hardest thing for me is getting rid of momentos---things my parents gave me, or things I've had for years and like to look at---but don't need.
SO--one thing that has helped me---and this is silly I know---is that I take a picture of the item I'm parting with---like this old kettle my Mom's friend gave me. It's rusted inside, so I don't use it--but loved to look at it.
I took a picture of it--so now I can see it when I want to--but don't have it taking up space.
:flowerkit


Thank you, thank you, thank you for this idea. We are moving too, and while we are moving to a larger space I just don't want to take all the "junk" we have, but I am having a hard time giving it up because "so and so gave it to me and that was so nice of them...." BUT, if I take a picture I can remember what they gave me. We never use most of the stuff. Oh, thanks so much for the idea :happy:

Tawnya

Oh I am SOOO glad it helped you!!!
Hooray!

thanks for the great ideas.

Don Aslett has decluttering books. He also has cleaning books. I got rid of half the stuff I own, being inspired by his writing. Dh and I started in a one room efficiency, so I needed that.

Susan Susankah has a book " The Not- So Big House" with really elegant solutions to space issues. She says look at boat designs- maximum storage, minimum space.

You can build a storage couch, chair, and ottoman, if you like ottomans, from either design magazines, or find books from the seventies. Martha Stewart, oddly enough, has profiles of people doing big living in tiny spaces.

Ottoman houses have one wall being a wall of shelves,, all the way to the ceiling, another wall is windows, with a built- in seat, and storage in the seat, And that's it. No mas. They use futon style beds, roll them up and put them in the couch storage during the day. Sometimes the shelves have doors, so not everything is hanging out. If it's good enough for the imperial palace, maybe it's a good idea for your house?

If you give away or sell a lot of your stuff- would that help towards your down payment?

Dwell magazine has a whole issue this month on portable houses. Tips for looking big include: white walls, big art, rather than little pictures, clean furniture in modern lines, and well- go look, it's pretty cool.

good luck,
ari

make every piece of furniture serve double purpose. say you have a coffee table. Get something like a trunk for toys or something with storage for books.

Endtable/nightstand = bookshelf?

If you don't love something but can't bear to part with it, put it in storage for a year (well labeled boxes in there). Then at the end of the year declutter the storage bin.