Is a clutter free home possible?

[BusyBee2017]

Is it ever possible to have a clutter free home?

I am constantly cleaning and tidying stuff in my home, I try to get rid of stuff by selling them or throwing away if broken but I still seem to have loads of things around the house which I seem to be just tidying up all the time.

Any tips please?

A lot of people advocate the "one in, one out rule".

So every new item that comes in, and old one goes out. So in effect, you will always have the same amount of stuff in the house (just different stuff).

Some hardcore minamilists do one in, two out, so you actually reduce.

Most important thing (but IME almost impossible) is very cliche but true "a place for EVERYTHING and everything in its place".

Your problem is either to much shite or not enough storage...

Are there particular types of stuff that you have too much of - toys, clothes, books, papers, crockery etc or is it too much of everything? If the latter many people swear by Kondoing although I've never tried it myself as the effort of rounding up all items on one category seems immense!

I agree with PP that good storage is essential. BUT you have to clear out first and THEN assess what storage you need. Otherwise you'll just end up with enough storage to accommodate all the crap you already have.

read 'the life changing art of tidying' by marie kondo. i'm ruthless with my possessions now and our house is so easy and devoid of clutter. there's threads about it on here, i think.

I'd love to have this too. I have read the Marie Kondo book but found it too extreme. Are there any other similar, less extreme, ideas?

Thank you all for your comments.

I try to be a minimalist. I have a toddler who touches and messes with everything out so we cannot put anything out ie no ornaments on windowsill or cards even or photos. So in that respect house is minimalist.

I have a place for everything but not a clear place for papers which I need some tips on. They tend to end up loitering around the house before going in a box in the garage to sort out another time but another time never comes unless I have to look for something hahah

I was thinking making a storage box to put in our laundry made out of nappy boxes which I have loads of.

Clothes tend to be another thing I am constantly sorting, we have loads of space in our wardrobes but clothes still tend to be lying around hahaha

I do need to get rid of my clothes that no longer fit but it's finding the time to sell them. I managed to clear some of my clothes on shpock. Will just have to set aside more time to ddxluttee

Paperwork - we ended up finding an old filing cabinet. So much easier to keep it all organised.
If not, those expandable folders are quite good, and you could keep one per year. (we had one for the current year and one for past years, so we'd have more than a year in each folder apart from the current year stuff - current year for us being the current tax year, and not January to December year)

We still have too much stuff for the storage available, and too much storage for the space available. We're hoping to move and we're going to have to be quite drastic in getting rid of so much!

That's a great idea. We have three filing cabinets in our garage- four drawer one we use for paperwork and the other two for other odds and sods...

Yes never enough storage and when it gets too much you have to be ruthless.

I have started selling stuff on shpock and gumtree. Shpock is great because I've managed to sell a lot of stuff on there and sales totalled £1,000 so great motivator to get rid of stuff when you get money back for it.

I try to concentrate on one area of house when I do have. Ie nursery first, then my wardrobe by taking photos of stuff on my phone and then when I am sitting down feeding my baby I will post things on shpock.

Defo worth a shot.

Anything sells on shpock even your clothes And baby clothes- I have sold them in bundles.

Good luck with your move.

Thanks!
I keep taking things to the charity shops as I can't be bothered to take the time to sell it. Although I need to look at shpock as we need new bits of furniture, to replace the bulky stuff with more space saving ones.

I think the key is to stop buying stuff. I was slightly horror stricken to find that DH had bought me a SodaStream the other day and plonked it on my newly decluttered counter as there was now space. I suppose it might cut down on plastic bottles coming into the house but I suspect not...

I meant to say that many of my friends seem to lead a clutter-free life. Their houses are like something out of a magazine and I always feel woefully inadequate compared to them.

I go through cycles of not buying anything and getting rid of stuff, to then go a bit mad in the shops and undo my hard work!