If you are very tidy to the point of being minimalist - how do you do it?

[drspouse]

We are probably getting our house ready to sell and it really, really needs a complete declutter (we do have too much stuff) and needs us to keep it tidy (many of our things do have a place to go but never get put back there!) but also I feel like there are a lot of things that I cannot actually think what we could do with them.

So for example:
Our bedroom is not too bad. I need to keep an eye on the top of our dresser (random stuff out of DH's pockets) and my own bedside table (discarding one book and starting another) but I've recently cleared ALL the junk off the window sill. Our wardrobe is very full (we share one) and it has irritating open shelves beside and on top (so you can always see badly folded clothes) but we could actually get doors installed, and I could slim down my wardrobe, and it would be a place of peace and harmony.

But our hallway for example - we have a hat rack, a standing coat rack, a wall coat rack, a DC/DH shoe rack, a DC standing coat rack, and some quite nice looking boxes on a high shelf and it is still rammed full to the point where we cannot hang up guests' coats and our coats fall off the racks.

And another difficult point is our big living room which is also a play room. We gave away about 75% of our books and 50% of our CDs a few years ago but they always seem to be overflowing the shelves. I usually give a book to the charity shop as soon as I've read it. There are also boxes of photos, maps etc. on the shelves and they just look a mess.

We have a consistent type of toy storage (stackable wooden boxes that we only stack 2 high) and the DCs are pretty good at putting back their Lego, but puzzles etc. don't fit in the boxes so stick out, the DCs have a bookshelf but everything is always falling off, and there are an awful lot of things that just don't seem to have an "away" to go to, e.g. we have some Fisher Price Little People houses/barns that won't fit in boxes, a couple of ride on toys etc.

And the kitchen - not only are there loads of jars etc. lining up on the worktops, food processor and biscuit barrel on top of the microwave, but the tops of all the cupboards always seem to be full of spare food, big bag of rice, boxes of cereal, picnic cooler etc. etc.

It's doing my head in! And of course it looks bad for potential viewers.

So for the meantime we could easily get a storage facility and put loads of the kids toys in there - but coats for example - I feel like we wear all of them! And they just look messy all hung up.

Out of season storage on shelves? Do you have a loft or dry shed/garage? You can put loads of seasonal or infrequently used items into SAMLA storage boxes from IKEA, and then just rotate items as required. I even have a loft box for items of clothing I can't quite bear to part with yet. If I need something I have to go into the loft to get it (happened once!) and everything left over 12 months later gets chucked/donated.

Cheese now I'm pretty hot on not putting DC2 in a coat in a car seat (DC1 is in a booster seat/regular seatbelt) but that is a good idea to keep younger DCs' coats in the car permanently.

(As I've said above, out of season stuff is all in the loft/the one cupboard we have for this).

Why don't you sell all your coats and buy one that's better suited to your needs?

What would you recommend for all of:
Looking smart at work on a cold day
Walking half an hour to school in the rain and freezing cold (must be long)
Cycling (must be short and not too warm) and then looking smart at work
Going for a hike (must be short, and warm, and waterproof).

Not to mention, though I do keep these ones out of the way for the most part because I don't do them that often
Going for a run
Looking smart at work in autumn/spring rain (but too cold for summer raincoat).

playmobil though having read a bit about KonMarie and decluttering in general - I'm inclined to think I'd do better with room by room. I've done quite well with our bedroom as I say and some rooms are much worse than others.

Kondoed as we were in a small flat. With the coats we got rid of the unloved ones, the ones that were 3rd/4th choice, less used and less useful. The rest in wardrobes or packed away and 2/3 each out (we had accumulated a lot of coats over the years). If you use something once a week, or even less, it's easy to go and get it out when you need it i.e your coat for going on a hike.

We also keep things that we use in the kitchen in the cupboard e.g. Blender, toaster - once you get used to it, its no more hassle than putting milk back in the fridge.

I've sold two houses very quickly and packed everything away for viewings and brought some cheap hand towels (which I only put out at viewings). Also try to buy some fresh flowers if we had a weekend of viewings.

I've always gone with the theory buyers need to imagine themselves living there and not living your life in the house. Although it's an absolute pain to keep going to wardrobe or having your items packed away - the priority is to sale your house right now? Could you store items in the garage or with a friend/family member for example you could pack summer clothes away and free up more draw/wardrobe space.

I love with the worlds most tidy person, we just spend 15 minutes a day tidying up.

I have 2 Barbour jackets that would work in those situations and, in fact, do.

I started with Konmarie but I stalled once I got to the books. Getting all the books in the house in one place was just too daunting.

I have been focusing on living a more minimalist life and the decluttering has been a byproduct of that.

Eating simpler food means less equipment. Doing fewer hobbies means less equipment etc.

I have kept most of my books because they bring me joy but I have decided not to buy more. Until I've read a few more of the ones I have anyway.

Eating simpler food means less equipment

I find the opposite - eating ready meals means less equipment!

I have fortunately managed to learn to let go of books.

For those (almost everyone) saying put the coats in a wardrobe - we have one tiny wardrobe that is rammed with both my and DH's clothes. We do need to cull some of those, but that will lead to it shutting/not squashing everything on the rail, rather than to there being any room for coats.

I actually really really dislike Barbour jackets - they feel like wearing cardboard to me, and look like I should have a shotgun and a pair of labradors. I couldn't cycle in them either! Nor put up a tent. I only do the latter a couple of times a year but it would make more sense to have "hiking and camp coat" rather than "hiking coat AND camp coat".

Ok so you have 2 young DC in a 2 bed house, and the rooms are smallish, and some wall spaces by chimney breasts are taken up by windows (sounds like you have more windows than the standard terrace?), and there is no cellar or garage... I can see why it's difficult!

I think you will have to go the storage route for this house and focus on getting the next house right. Buy somewhere with more wall space . Leave budget for built in furniture (doesn't have to cost a fortune, a fair bit can be done with Ikea - Billy bookcases/Pax wardrobes plus a bit of DIY round the edges). And mid/high sleepers or bunks for your DC.

Chipmunk they both have underbed drawers already... One has bedding (still sometimes wets the bed so we're keeping more sets than we probably need) and one bedding and jumpers.

mini the house is officially 4 bed I'm ashamed to say. . One bedroom is playroom/study/"library" and one is spare room/kind of storage (it's a small attic room which does have a couple of cupboards in it - one has our out of season coats and one I've literally just wrenched DH's suits he never wears out of and it's currently got a few hobby things of mine and some of the clothes that are between our two DCs' in size).

We did get some new cupboards for the attic recently though they will mainly be for my hobby (I sew but I mainly confine that stuff to the attic), but they will be portable if/when we move.

Sorry didn't read it all - yes LOTS more wall space in the house we want!

DS is dead keen on a bunk bed so if they don't share he can have a mid sleeper in 6 months or so.

can you pack them in vac bags under your bed? Sorry but the choice is buyers thinking there is no storage in this house v's you thinking argghh I have to go retrieve another coat.

There is also "selling the house" minimalism and "living in a house" minimalism and the two are very different. So for the selling house phase, you may need to suck up not buying in bulk for a bit so everything can be tidied away. If you're storing stuff that the kids will grow into then maybe leave at a parent's house or pay for storage if it's for eg next autumn/winter. Ditto, Christmas decorations. By doing this, you will free up a tiny bit of space to put away all the useful clutter that you need to keep while in the "selling house" phase e.g. it's not long til spring/summer so the cool box might realistically be needed soon. The extra paint - if it's just for touch ups then sort a room and do the touch ups and then dump the excess paint if possible (take to dump reuse section or freecycle) - that should clear up a section of the shed so you can store eg outdoor toys or more garden crap in there, freeing up a bit more space.

If at the same time, you can get rid of some crap as you go along then all to the good.

You sound like you don't mind having lots of stuff op, but want to the minimal look for selling so instead of going to all the hassle of decluttering I would recommend getting things boxed up and then find somewhere to hide them. I do this when I've got visitors coming. I have nice but big boxes that are strategically placed around the house.

OP have you thought about what you would be willing to part with??

I am a complete slattern
My advice is to LTB and then marry my DH who is militarian in his approach to tidiness.

You've got to be ruthless, I remember reading once - if you haven't used something for a year - you don't need it.

Vac bags - under beds and up in the loft, you can split your wardrobes into summer and winter then and hide the non seasonal stuff.

Kids wellies/big coats/salopettes - keep in the boot.
Car is always just outside front door so no hardship.
Everyone only has one hat, scarf, gloves, these are stuffed into coat arms and coats hung up.

Everyone only allowed 2 pairs of shoes downstairs - the rest go on the floor of wardrobes.

I've just been really really brave and given over 400 books away as we don't have the room and I can get them electronically now even though it's not the same

Millions of photos have been scanned onto computer so originals not kept.

No one allowed upstairs without taking something up with them to put away.

My biggest revelation was getting rid of 'spares' of everything.
You don't need more than 2 bedsets if you have a washing machine.
Ditto loads of towels etc - they've all gone and made much more space for hiding other more essential shit.
I had a good 20 pairs of pjs too, all gone, now have a couple.
Same for socks and pants,

Kids are encouraged to select toys to give to the 'poor kids' frequently.
Plus we often do a late night sweep of toys and put them straight in the car to take to the charity shop so they aren't missed.

Containers for everything - even my shit drawer in the kitchen is a work of art now, a batteries tub, a tablets tub, plasters tub - see where I'm going here....
Cookware - see the 1 year rule.
I'm never going to bake tartlets, have binned the tray but will borrow one in the rare need.
Cool box has been filled with shite too before put back up on the shelf.
Glasses etc, cut them all down and you'll free up loads more cupboard space.
Pans - if there are really things you use once a year at Christmas, put them up in the lift with the decorations.

I'm a hoarder by nature so this has been hard learning, but I allow myself my bedside drawers to still be a health hazard of randomness which gets me through

Seems like you have two related issues, OP: the Stuff and the house selling.

If you loved every single thing in your house and it was just too small full stop, I'd say stash everything in boxes and put it in storage and wait till you get to the new house.

But since you've already said there's stuff you can get rid of, I'd start there. If you don't want to do the Kondo thing (I recommend it but it helps if you read the book) then at least do a first pass over the obvious stuff before you start thinking about storage: everyone's clothes, books, papers, kitchen crap etc. Leave the photos and sentimental stuff for now, you can make the biggest difference with the stuff you don't really care about and I'm guessing that's your aim right now.

Maybe you could take some photos and the storage experts could weigh in? (I am not one of those)

FeralBeryl maybe our husbands can go live together - my favourite in initial living together stage was finding my magazine had been binned and I'd not even read it because it was in the lounge to long!! I think from memory half a day

Jemm everyone thinks it sounds ideal compared to their own scruffier versions but it's hard going at first isn't it!

If you want that many coats and most of them to live downstairs then something else has to move to accommodate them. Cupboard under the stairs? Garage? If you need a special smart work coat, could you keep it at work?

Ah it's a 4 bed! I was picturing you in a teeny 2 up 2 down, sympathy has slightly reduced I must say

You have craft stuff as well as Guides stuff, hiking stuff and skiing stuff? And young DC? And work? And you read actual books too... How do you have the time?!

(maybe it's because you're not spending time retrieving things from upstairs cupboards ...)

Ok so the new house will allow space for DC to have wardrobes yes?
What about 2 wardrobes for you and DH?
What about the kitchen - more cupboards than now? Or space for more?
Is there a porch/lobby/hall cupboard in the new house?

Trying to work out if this is a temporary issue (in which case - storage) or one that will continue (in which case - major declutter)

You sound like you simply have way too much of everything. And actually live in quite a large house (4bed)

We live in a one bed flat. There's no clutter out of the end of the day. We have hobbies and more than one coat each also. But way less of everything in general than most people. There's 4 of us.

I think I would go through and just reduce everything from every type of activity. Ie you say you can't store food easily as kitchen cupboards full, why are they full? Assuming average size kitchen you should have enough cupboards, so they must be full of too much other stuff. Ie consider utensils, do you really only have one of each type or more, can one do the Same thing as the other? That alone could reduce 10 utensils to 6. Do you have too many cups/ bowls/ plates/ baking trays etc. There's only 4 of you, and stuff is washed so don't keep too many.

Coats - we currently just keep one out that's worn daily, has hat in one pocket, gloves in other pocket, so all together. Any other coats stored on back door or wardrobe. (We only have one double wardrobe between us 4 also)

Toys - big factor. Most people really do have way too many. Do they play with them all most days or at least every week? If not therrs too many. Only keep stuff that's played with. In future also buy far less in the first place

Again all the out of season stuff IS put away, under bed is rammed with it! though I think the idea of stuff we normally store (Christmas, out of season, waiting to grow into) going into a storage place and then everyday stuff being put away more is a really good one.

I would definitely also like to live a more clutter-free life. It makes me feel calmer. Do need to swap DH though, he's in need of decluttering himself!