The kids have moved out- how do I scale down?
Question:My husband and I want to travel, but we love staying home also. Where do I begin in scaling down? What do I get rid of first?I love odd and creative art projects, so I have lots of 'stuff'. Can it be done?I just don't know where to begin.
Answers:
go to your most clutterd area IE closet or garage. pick something up. If you havn't used it, touched it, or thought about it in six months, you don't need it. if it has value put it on ebay or donate it to good will. If its crap toss it out.
Start with the kid's roooms and their stuff, then husbands stuff, after that you might have enough room to keep all of your stuff :)
right in the living room
start where the kids used to sleep in clean that whole room out and decorate it and use it as a tv room or office. THROW OUT anything that you wont use at least 5 times in a month if you dont use it you dont need it get as much clutter out as possible. keep the least things possible. the less you junk you have the cleaner your house looks
Unless you are planning on keeping the kid's rooms as they are in case of visits, why not start converting one of the rooms into a craft room? You could see an immediate impact and then have room to work on what you love. Get a desk, storage shelves, bins and tubs and a Brother label maker.
Goodwill and Salvation Army will pick up at your door, so go over to the Container Store or Target to get storage ideas and go for it!
Then you could get continue with the other bedrooms converting one to an office, and others to pretty guest rooms while your husband is sorting/organizing the garage/basement. I know that won't happen, but dream big!
I tend to be a keeper and piler. I have held on to way too much stuff just because I thought I might use it again. I didn't know where to begin with all my piles of stuff. I decided to start with my closet, because there were things I needed to keep that were in other rooms that should have been in there. Don't start in a large space or on a large project, it will take too long and you will become discouraged. If you start with the closet - designate a room/space where you can pile all the stuff. Then, go through clothes. Be very critical - if you don't wear it, it doesn't fit and it's been years since it has, if you don't like it, pitch or put in garage sale bin. If it's something you don't wear but want to keep for sentimental reasons, store it in a hanging bag or in a bin in another closet - not yours. Then go through all the stuff... again, be critical, toss things that are old/unused/won't ever use again. Make piles to donate or to sell. Buy bins to store scarfs, belts, purses, etc. If you have a large tote or duffel, it can be used for purses. You could start in the laundry room if it has accumlated a lot of things - cleaners that are more than a couple of years old (if that old), etc. Just pick one thing - even a bookcase is not too small. Once one thing is finished it will help motivate you to tackle larger things. It's a wonderful feeling to have cleaned space!
We turned one of the kids rooms into a sewing/craft room (and will soon probably be a grandbaby room), and the other into a weight room. We have an additional bedroom upstairs that will eventually (when it is cleaned up) be a guest room with private bath.
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