I have problems

[LoveMyRs]

I live in a small 2 bed flat with my DH and DD8 and DD1.
We have a lot of stuff and it feels impossible to find space for every thing, i know in an ideal world i would get rid of stuff and only keep what i can fit in my flat but i am horrible at this plus i do use all what i have so its not like its things that i never use or clothes that i never wear.
I work part time and i am always behind with my house work. Specially as i feel that it's pointless to spend hours cleaning when it can't be tidy.
Not sure what to do, my DH is getting fed up. He use to help a lot but he doesn't seam to care anymore now. As if saying its ur responsibility

Your Dh should be putting in as much effort as you are. Other than that I would recommend Marie Kondo's book on home management. I learnt about it on here and it has some great advice on decluttering, dealing with sentimental attachments to stuff and organising a home.

declutter and reorganize

Sorry but as you know, you have to have less stuff. In your situation, your space is more valuable than your stuff. Think about how much it would cost I replace and how much you need it versus how much space it takes up. I also massively second buying Marie Kondo's book (on Kindle app so one less thing to clutter your home!). I live in the same size flat with same number of kids. I also have to deal with the landlord's shit storage which is full of the landlord's shit, so I do understand the space problem. Once you have got down to the bare minimum if everything, cleaning is a lot easier.

Do you have enough storage? Could it be improved with storage solutions or is it beyond that?

IKEA do quite good space saving storage, but it does come to the point where you need to get rid of things so it all fits (can you tell I'm in the same predicament)
We've decided that all books need to fit in the two bookcases we have so we will be getting rid of about a third of them.
I've just ordered the kondo book, but am also thinking of hiring a decluttering service if we still haven't got rid of enough soon.

On a more drastic measure I read somewhere, they suggested doing a packing party. You pack everything as if you were moving and then only take out what you need when you need it. After a month go through what's left in the boxes and get rid of stuff. It does mean the house is a mess for a month but it's one way to see just how much you don't use!

Where are your problem areas and what is the clutter in them? Is it kitchenware, toy clutter, stuff in the 'wrong' rooms ?

Its all to be honest, kitchen small so when i do week shopping there is stuff around as there is no space not in fridge nor in cabinets
I have no storage at all so all clothes winter and summer have to stay in wardrobes
My DD Room is small so only her bed and shelves for toys there but again toys are more than space even though i have under the bed to put stuff but she end up throwing things when i ask her to tidy her room so her room look tidy to me until I find whats hidden
I am trying my best to keep living room with minimal things but again baby toys high chair doesn't make it as simple as it sound
And then i have the washing the only place to put to dry is living room and i hate the sight of it i am depressed

this sounds like me . it's becoming very annoying I've been looking at pinterest for some storage solutions and I found a good idea for storing things in the kitchen . if there's no space for things in the cupboard perhaps get an undershelf basket so u can put a few things in there and it's out of sight but still in the cupboard. you could also add in another shelf type rack, so u can place stuff on the the rack but it goes over the items u already have in the cupboard eg tins. it doesn't require drilling or anything hope I'm making sense . have a look on amazon they're fairly cheap.

Have you tried a cupboard food plan? As in try to use up everything in the cupboard/fridge before you do another shop. It's worth trying to do fairly regularly. Do you meal plan for the week?
Have you got a freezer?
Do you have any budget towards better storage?
For the toys I've been known to tell the kids they can have as much as fits in X space, and to donate the rest. As they can see the space filling up they make better decisions. So they will say they want to keep X y and z, but see there's only space for y and z they will get rid of X. It only works because we do let them keep most things but we usually get a carrier bag every time we do it.

littleblackdress26 I was thinking of getting something like that, but didn't know the name!

Littleblackbress i like the idea do u have any links?

I don't meal plan but i do use most of what i have before shopping and what is still there will be used next day or so
I have freezer but tiny and fridge is small for what we usually need unfortunately don't have big budget for storage but if something really work am up for it

Where is your DD throwing things that hides them? could you use that area as actual storage?

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/s/ref=is_s_ss_sc_0_12?k=under+shelf+basket&sprefix=undershelf+b

The packing party is an idea from The Minimalists.

I can't do a link as I'm on my 'phone.

They're Googleable. They have a blog/website, have gone on a world book tour and have a documentary about minimalism.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/s/ref=is_s_ss_i_4_6?k=shelf+organiser&sprefix=shelf+

hope it helps . the undershelf basket is quite versatile perhaps you could use it to hang toys in as well.

You say your dd's room is really small, does it have any space at all for a storage unit? Or have you thought about a midsleeper bed so you then have more floor space under the bed?

Could you afford a cleaner to come do the kitchen and bathroom while you concentrate on decluttering and organising? I find that if I'm trying to sort out the clutter the cleaning gets forgotten, so if you could pay for someone to clean that might help free up some time. We had one when dd2 was newborn for a couple of months, and I think as long as you're upfront with them that it's a short time job, the cleaner shouldn't have a problem.

Thank you everyone links are great thank you
My dd room is 2*3 so i put her bed under the window so she still have space to play
Or when she have her play dates
The bank bed will cover the window so won't help plus now i will need to buy the pull up bed as dd2 will join to sleep there soon so thinking of sofa bed so they still have space to play i have a shelving unit in her room but it's always messy
I do use a cleaner sometimes when am fed up like now
But she does cleaning and my biggest problem is tidying up
I like the idea of u can have what u can fit and if its messy will go away but am sure she will be so upset with me she is already jealous of the baby

I recently added some retractable drying racks & a rail (where I hang clothes on hangers) so no longer have laundry in living room. Simple but so effective!
www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/laundry-cleaning-products/drying-racks/grundtal-drying-rack-wall-stainless-steel-art-10177178/

Marie Kondo's book is excellent. It really helps you look at your stuff in a different way.

Blondybleach that looks great but I don't think i have a space anywhere for it

I feel you on the small flat no space issue. For us, going vertical was the solution. So we got taller wardrobes, put up extra higher shelves, added a line of wall cabinets over couch & we actually have those drying racks up high on the walls over the loo!!! DH was v dubious it would work in such a small space but it does.

I use a step ladder to hang the clothes up but so worth it because I really hated the clothes in living room where the toddler found great amusement pulling them down. I bought a cheap IKEA step ladder that's super light & can be carried easily around the house to get to the higher storage space.

Of course this may not work in your flat but it took me a very long time to see our space through fresh eyes & realise that I did have some untapped vertical space.