Today's post is by my lovely staff writer Jordann. She is getting married this week!
I haven't been a very good minimalist lately.
It's not that I don't want to be, my desire to live a minimalist life is as strong or stronger than it's ever been before.
The problem is, I don't have time to be as minimalistic as I'd like. I'm getting married this weekend, and to save on costs and help me achieve my dream of being debt free, we're DIYing everything. That means that I've been going pretty much non stop for about a month now.
What does this have to do with minimalism, you might ask?
Well, when there's no time, there's no spring cleaning, no decluttering, no yard sales. There's no once weekly sweep of the house, removing everything that has built up in the past seven days.
There's no time to spend an entire, glorious afternoon organizing the bookshelf so that is can function more efficiency as storage space.
So, over the past few months, my house has slowly been filling up with stuff, and some of the stuff that I initially put in storage when we moved in last May, has started to haunt my dreams.
Here are a few areas of my home that have become particularly cluttered. Hopefully once the wedding is over, I'll have time to actually clean them out, instead of just enough time to blog about them.
The Garage
I live in a 400 sq. ft. house, but it also has a garage. That is great for me because when I moved from the big city into the furnished house, I brought some furniture with me, and put it in storage, in the garage. I don't use any of the stuff in there, so why do I have it?
Some of the stuff is useful, that I'd like to hang on to until we have a chance to move into a slightly larger space. Some of the stuff, however, is completely useless to me and I can't wait until I can get rid of it. Things like text books that I haven't cracked in years, a broken dresser, a bunch of wall hangings that were cool about four years ago, etc. Once the wedding is over, I plan on getting rid of* 90% of the stuff in my garage.
The Laundry Room
We're very lucky that our laundry room has an entire wall of storage in it. The problem is, it's not being used very efficiently right now. At least 30% of the stuff in there could be removed or reorganized to make better use of the space.
The Entertainment Unit
Aka: the “catch-all” unit. It's not just home to things entertainment related, but has basically become a great place to hide everything that doesn't really have a home in my living room. At least 50% of the stuff in there could be tossed, and the other 50% could be reorganized to take up about a quarter of the space it's currently occupying!
I'm fairly certain I'm not wrong in saying that these areas of my home are problem areas not just for me, but for everyone. Staying on top of clutter can be tough especially when other life events take over!
So, I'd love to hear YOUR clutter confessions.
What's the most cluttered part of your house?
Do you have a room that you just close the door on and try to forget about?
Are there boxes in your basement you haven't opened in five years?
* When I say “get rid of” “toss” or “trash” I really mean either: sell, donate, or put in the garbage. I always try to save as much of my stuff as possible from the landfill!
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Keren says
June 20, 2013 at 7:14 amMy dining room table is a hot spot. It’s our household’s “catch all”. My walk-in closet upstairs can no longer be walked in. Eek. That’s my next big project! Good luck on decluttering and congrats on your upcoming wedding!
Michelle says
June 20, 2013 at 8:31 amSo is our dining room table. It’s a scary mess!
Holly@ClubThrifty says
June 20, 2013 at 7:36 amOurs is our guest room. We hardly use it….so I just end up sticking stuff in there all year long. Right now it has all of my garage sale stuff in it!
Matt Becker says
June 20, 2013 at 7:58 amWe have a guest room that to this point has largely been used as our “store all the stuff we can’t put somewhere else” room. But with a new baby on the way, we’re working on converting it to our son’s new room and that involves getting rid of/organizing a lot. It’s so easy to just let stuff build up and know that “someday” you want to take care of it. It’s something I’d like to get better at handling on a more regular basis.
SuburbanFinance says
June 20, 2013 at 8:14 amOur garage is cluttered, but in a neat way. It’s my partners domain so I avoid it, anyway.
Jai Catalano says
June 20, 2013 at 8:17 amWow 400 sq feet. Even NYC has more than that. I am just saying. 🙂
E.M. says
June 20, 2013 at 8:35 amI just moved, so I got rid of a lot of stuff I didn’t need. Our kitchen table has a bunch of stuff on it right now, mostly because there’s no other place to do a puzzle, and it’s the first thing right when you walk in. It helps that we don’t normally eat on it anyway.
My parents’ garage is in horrible shape though. They could never fit a car in there – it’s mostly used for all my dad’s tools and shop stuff.
Cat says
June 20, 2013 at 8:43 amJordann – congratulations! I can tell by your post I think we’d get along well. 🙂 Most cluttered..hmm..thing tend to accumulate on the kitchen table. Permanent clutter- basement. Of course, it’s mostly hubby’s stuff..
Cat Alford (@BudgetBlonde) says
June 20, 2013 at 8:44 amCongratulations on your upcoming wedding!!! And I totally agree! I need to declutter too. Been crazy busy lately, but once a few things at work finish up this month, it is ON! 🙂
Greg@Thriftgenuity says
June 20, 2013 at 8:44 amMy whole house would be clutter spots, but my wife is very obsessive with cleanliness and clutter, so not really anywhere. The garage would probably be the most this way, but I think we will purchase a shed soon to help out with that. I can’t really think of things that are sitting around that we need to get rid of though. Although, my wife might beg to differ when it comes to my guitars 🙂 .
Kyle @ Debt Free Diaries says
June 20, 2013 at 8:55 amWe live in a very small studio apartment, so no doors to hide behind! Things tend to clutter up in storage bins, and especially on our desk. That thing is almost never cleared.
Andrew says
June 20, 2013 at 9:03 amwow I live in NYC and I thought my 600 sq foot apartment was tight. We have been trying to get rid of a lot of clutter…but we have piles of stuff in every corner of the apartment. The closet in the bedroom used to have so much stuff we couldn’t close it, but we cleaned that recently.
Kendal @HassleFreeSaver says
June 20, 2013 at 9:33 amCongrats on your upcoming nuptials! It’s understandable you haven’t had time to de-clutter. I love your reference to textbooks — I just recently donated mine to Goodwill after holding onto them for, oh, FIVE years! I go on de-clutter binges every few months but it just doesn’t seem to be enough. I’d say the most cluttered area of our home is the basement. There are boxes of things we can easily get rid of. Much of it are hand-me-downs from my grandparents so I feel bad parting with it, but I really have no use for golf club sets from the 70s or holiday village collections.
anna says
June 20, 2013 at 10:19 amI don’t really like clutter so I’m constantly giving or throwing stuff away if it’s not in use. Best wishes on your upcoming wedding!!
CeCe @Frugalista Married says
June 20, 2013 at 10:22 amUgggg!! Our guest bedroom is full of shopping bags! For some reason when I go shopping I don’t like to throw away the bags. I’m sort of a hoarder. So the room is full of shopping bags and empty shoe boxes from the last year. I just stuff more bags inside of the other and shut the door. That is awesome that you have a laundry room and a garage in such a small space.
Nick @ ayoungpro.com says
June 20, 2013 at 11:27 amMy unfinished basement is the most cluttered part of our house. We throw all of our crap down there! 😉
Jake @ Common Cents Wealth says
June 20, 2013 at 11:28 amI think having your wedding this week is a great excuse for a cluttered house. Our house has a few spots that are cluttered. The unfinished part of our basement is pretty cluttered. That’s where we put everything that doesn’t really have a spot in the rest of our house. The good thing is that no one ever goes down there besides us.
David @my2centopinion says
June 20, 2013 at 12:50 pmWe just recently moved and I have boxes that never got unpacked the move before that. We are planning on going through them in the next couple week to get them moved out of here. They just sit in the basement for now.
TeachingDownDebt says
June 20, 2013 at 2:29 pmI just finished moving into a new apartment and am blown away at how much stuff I have begun to accumulate now that I am two full years out of college. Mostly, it’s clothes. I need to get rid of clothes I don’t use anymore. On top of that, just a bunch of little junk that for some reason is routinely deemed keep-worthy. I’ve finally parted ways with some of it and as I finish unpacking my final few boxes, hopefully I find there’s a lot more that I don’t need.
Pauline says
June 20, 2013 at 4:13 pmWe just built an adjacent room to the house that is supposed to serve for a night guard if we go on holiday. Before we knew it, the room was full of tools, materials and all the things we didn’t want in the house! Sounds like a future cleaning project…
CashRebel says
June 20, 2013 at 5:09 pmI don’t like looking in my closet. Its giant and I’ve got so much random stuff in it. I guess its just easier to pile on top that deal with it. You’ll find the time at some point.
Brian says
June 20, 2013 at 6:43 pmI think that the bookshelf next to where I’m writing this could use some work. We have a lot of books, which are tough because even though you may not read it often, it is something you’ll come back to eventually. In other areas of the house, there are things that don’t get used, but sometimes it’s hard to actually toss it. We are only in a 500 sqft. apartment, so we need to keep up with the purging!
Elle @ ForHerByHer says
June 20, 2013 at 7:51 pmI’ve been pretty good with keeping my place very clutter-free, but my storage unit is an absolute mess. I guess it’s an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ situation, but I can barely close the door every time I open it. My apartment, on the other hand, is beautifully organized 🙂
I clearly have a lot of purging to do with that storage unit in the next few week.
Lisa @ Cents To Save says
June 20, 2013 at 9:06 pmMy dining room table catches everything. Then I move it to the spare bedroom closet. I have cycles of acquiring and purging. I am now in the acquiring cycle. Boo!
Budget and the Beach says
June 21, 2013 at 3:57 pmYou must be crazy busy right now before your wedding! I’d say one of my biggest clutter areas is the closet in my bathroom. It’s just so full of various products and gets disorganized so easily. I also have a bunch of hard drives (for work) from a client and I’m sick of them all being in my house.
Christina Neumann says
June 21, 2013 at 4:47 pmIt is really our front porch entry. We don’t really have a nice entry way. It’s a porch that’s been closed in. 1/2 is my husbands desk, computer ,the other side is a cloth covered pantry as there is no room in our small kitchen . I am forever trying to figure out a way to change this, so far, no luck.
Congratulations on the wedding!
Peter says
June 21, 2013 at 7:22 pmFor me, it’s the corner of my closet. I tend to shove everything that gets in the way in there. I’ve been telling myself to get to it for I don’t know how many months.
Cassie says
June 24, 2013 at 4:40 pmOne of my spare bedrooms is my worst clutter zone. I’ve identified it as my office/craft space, and I’ve put all of the related stuff in there, but I don’t actually have the correct furniture/shelving for everything. Instead it all sits on the floor in piles. I’ve been slowly but surely chipping away at it for years, but its still pretty bad.