Success at downsizing/de-cluttering?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been relatively successful for the past three years. We are a family of five in a three bedroom, 1400 sq ft house. You have to refresh on a constant basis, tossing papers, donating clothes, toys, and other junk. My inlaws take the kids for a week or so each summer, during that time I really tackle their rooms.

Now I'm on the hunt for new beds for my sons. They are 10 & 12 and their current bunk beds are junk. The problem is finding something that isn't over powering to a small room. Quality bunk beds are huge. Does anyone have older kids still in bunk beds?

What is your budget?

Who have you considered so far?

[Anonymous]

We make an effort to declutter at least once a year. Sort things into "keep", "donate", "sell", or "trash".

General rule for most things - if you haven't used it in a year or more that means you get rid of it.

The process of decluttering depends on how much time you have. Do one closet/bookshelf at a time, one room at a time, or everything at once.

[Anonymous]

penguinsix wrote:I mentioned in another post about a sheet fed scanner (I use the ScanSnap) that has revolutionize paper flow in my house. Everything is getting scanned now and what was several file cabinets worth of junk has been drastically reduced. Going paper free was one of the first de-cluttering things we tried and the most successful.

I viewed the scan snap video and this looks like a very useful tool for decluttering. Do you save the scanned documents onto a thumb drive? How do you save documents with sensitive information such as social security number, account numbers, etc. We now have three large filing cabinets so definately looking at alternative methods to store documents.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we live in a small house (850 sq ft) and decluttering and keeping clutter free is really necessary.

In the kitchen: reduce the number of cups and glasses that you have. Keep 2 for each family memeber and a couple extra for guests. If you don't drink coffee or tea at home very often or at all, keep a couple mugs for company but get rid of the rest. Water bottles - reduce to a few. Get rid of the plastic freebie types and only keep sturdy, quality bottles. When you go to events and fairs, do not take the freebie cups and water bottles that are handed out. Weed through your silverware and utensil drawer and get rid of anything you don't use at least once a week. Don't save it "just in case". Look at your pots and pans. Be reasonable - how many do you actually need to cook with in a week. A way to figure out is for one week clean and wash and put the ones you use on a table out of the way. At the end of the week, evaluate the ones that are left in the cabinets. Bakeware - keep a couple good cookie sheets, a cake pan or two and then really thing hard about keeping any speciality pans. Can you recall the last time you used it? If not, toss it. Speciality kitchen appliances - if it hasn't been used in the past year, let it go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Now I'm on the hunt for new beds for my sons. They are 10 & 12 and their current bunk beds are junk. The problem is finding something that isn't over powering to a small room. Quality bunk beds are huge. Does anyone have older kids still in bunk beds?

Apartment Therapy often has good suggestions: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/best-bunk-beds-2012-apartment-therapys-annual-guide-177173