We live in a little house. Our house is almost 1200 square feet…and that’s for 7 people. This week I’ve been doing some organizing and de-cluttering. I thought that I would share some of the things we do to make this small space work for our larger than normal family.
- Get rid of clutter.
This is probably my number one tip for living in a little house. The clutter needs to be controlled. In a small house, clutter can take over quickly. For me, if my home is cluttered I become very irritable and stressed out. That’s not fun for anyone.
However in a home with seven people, stuff starts to build up. Usually about twice a year, I clean out clutter from all rooms. ( I do this during the summer and right before Christmas.) We throw away anything that can not be repaired. We also donate items that are gently used to various charities or we have a garage sale.
These are not the only times we de-clutter. On occasion, I will give the kids bags and tell them to put 10 items into it that they don’t really play with anymore/can’t wear anymore or to put ten pieces of trash/broken toys into it. This helps control the clutter on a smaller scale in between our big de-cluttering celebrations. {smile}
- Have a place for everything.
There a very few items in our home that were not purposefully put there. (Unless we’re talking about the floor when the kids have been playing.) Knowing where things go makes it easier to put it back when you are done with it.
- Keep the house tidy.
We try to keep our home tidy… especially the main living spaces. In our small house there is not much floor space, so if the floor is messy it is hard to walk. Our house is not tidy all of the time due to the kids playing or a project we are working on. So twice a day we all pitch in and tidy the main living spaces.
- Find creative spaces to house items.
Living in a small house has really made us put our creative energy to use. For instance, our kitchen is very limited on cabinet & drawer space so we use baskets on top of the refrigerator to hold plastic container lids, kitchen towels, mixing bowls, and a few small appliances. The key is to be creative with storage but to not let it looked cluttered and we do that by…
- Use baskets and other containers for storage.
We use a lot of baskets. ( I love Target’s basket and have found many on sale. The thrift store is a good place to find baskets too.) Canning jars are also good for holding smaller items.
Here are some other posts that I’ve written on living large in a small home.
Do you have any tips for organizing/living in a small home?
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