Worried we’re turning in to hoarders

[GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat]

I’ll start by saying we have a tiny house! And all my friends/family have bigger houses and less or no children so DH thinks I’m unfairly comparing us to them.

Thing is, there is so much stuff. We need it all and can tidy up quite quickly to make it look presentable. It can’t be truly awful because I’m a childminder and have a steady flow of business and a recent Ofsted inspection so we aren’t talking disastrous level.

Every drawer, cupboard and shelf is full! I dread birthdays and Christmas or any kind of event like a holiday because stuff ends up everywhere.

We’re actually quite organised and I know where things are, but the whole situation is making me feel anxious and stressy.

The advice you’re going to give me is to chuck stuff out but that’s really difficult when you need it!

We are in a two bed terraced house. It was the top end of our budget at the time and ensure we got into a really lovely area with good schools. There's me DH DD almost 4 a large cat and medium dog. We get by but decluttering as much as possible and having some good storage. Our bed is a ottoman so a lot of stuff that would be in a cupboard is under the bed. We only have the one laundry box that we have in the airing cupboard (so it's not on the floor and out of the way) so laundry goes in there or in the washing machine. Kallax and shoe storage bear the back door (the door we use for our comings and going's- each box for person and limit the amount of coats that live there. Nice coats are in our wardrobe/next to front door.

I dream of light airy homes with tasteful accessories and minimal clutter! Beautifully clean and tidy at all times.... we’re a million miles from that

I am feeling motivated to get things sorted though. Dh is the worse, he doesn’t declutter anything!

You simply have to get your husband to declutter. It's your work space as well as your living accommodation.

Do you have space in the garden for a shed?

I got my husband to watch the minimalism documentary on Netflix. It helped motivate him to want to declutter. I also started with my things- clothes, shoes then onto my then babies toys and clothes. Seeing all that helped him then start to do his. It's always ongoing but the cleaning is so much easier. We now have to train the dog to put away his toys as I spend the time I would have spent cleaning putting away his toys

In his defence, I do have more stuff than him, it’s not like he’s taking over the house. It’s just I’m more likely to chuck things out too and he just doesn’t see it as a job to do.

Stuff expands to fill the space you've got.
Start with one drawer. I have to confess that in the end a lot of stuff went to the tip as I felt even if it went to charity shops it would end up in the tip eventually. Nice stuff that will raise money goes to charity but dumping junk on the charity shop to appease your guilt for being wasteful is not on and is timewasting. I have cleared stuff that is not directly DH's - fortunately he has a shed for his mass of tools etc.