Cleaning clutter with no storage space?

Question

I have a very open apartment, 2 kids, and a husband. I am desperately trying to clear away clutter, but I have no storage. I have no closet space, and no money right now to buy storage things. I have a couple bins, but everyone knows that you can't put EVERYTHING into a bin! I'm looking for ideas of how to just trash everything I don't need, and how to keep my house (other than toys can't help that) from cluttering up!

Thanks so far for all the awesome ideas! The idea about getting rid of dishes/plastics I don't use is superb (they're all on my table in a bin all over the place right now and sooo tacky)
It's cruddy that I don't have a yard for yardsale since I'm frugal and would like to get .10 out of each thing.
I want to donate, but am not near a center, and just have bags and bags of stuff that I can't throw away because someone else might need it (I always need help and think that there are people out there that could use some things that can't afford it)
Dual use items ~ great idea . . I'm getting new furniture when taxes get back and I'll focus on doing that too!
Thanks for all the great ideas guys! I appreciate no sarcasm or rude comments!

Answer 1

Hi,
I too have the same problem. A small house, no attic, no basement and limited closets. I have a few ideas that might help.
If you have the height in the kitchen, get one of those racks to hang pots and pans from, that frees up some space in the cabinets.
I found pretty photo boxes a Michaels (a craft store) 2 for $3 that I put everything in. They look cute and you can easily stash things you need in them. They even have a little space in the front to label what is in the box.
I know it is hard, but we put a limit on the toys. I only have 1 daughter but we limited it to one of those Little Tykes toy boxes. I found it at a thrift store for $5 (Well worth it)
If you have a lot of books, and no where to donate them, you could either try Paperbackswap.com, or there are plenty of sites that give you places to send books to the soldiers.
For filing paperwork etc. they sell cheap file boxes at Walmart. Get some folders and organize all your paperwork. Really gets rid of the clutter and contains it in one place.
And like others have said, definitely use Ebay, "one man's trash is another's treasure" or however that saying goes. Anyway, you'd be amazed at what people will buy. Especially look into the old baby clothes and things that you have. Those usually sell great.
Good Luck.

Lots of great ideas everyone, I'm going to use a few myself.

Answer 2

When I got divorced I moved from a big house to a small house built in 1880. There is absolutely no storage, and not even a closet when I started. After 5 years, I have almost gotten to the point where I have a place for everything and everything in its place.

At every point, when I make a decision I think STORAGE!

I have found that a lot of the things I had I didn't actually use them on a daily basis. I have tried to get rid of as many of these items as I can. Check eBay if anything has any value before just given excess to charity or trashing.

Try not to shop. If it is not a consumable, do you really need it? How many pairs of shoes do you use each week? You have to constantly ask yourself these quesrions about every possession.

When I purchase furniture, I try to get items that do double duty. Ottomans with storage. There are shallow tubs (look for the ones on wheels) for under beds. Also if you have a standard bedframe, sometimes you can get parts for the legs that extend the legs up 4" for more storage.

Kitchen cabinets can store stuff other than food and utensils, if you only have the pots, pans, dishes, and food you really need.

Hang things you use on walls if they have any decorative value.

Check out the IKEA catalog. They have great, inexpensive ideas because they originated in Europe where not everyone can own their own home complete with a garage to store stuff. Many families have a two bedroom apartment or condo.

When my son was little I got a net and fastened it up in a corner and all his plush toys went in it. Then I could limit the "destruction" to a few at a time.

Be sure to take advantage of storage all the way from floor to ceiling in kitchens, closets, and bookcases.

You have to work at it and it is not easy. If you have somethings that take up a lot of room and you do not use them often, consider renting a storage space by the month until you get some of the clutter to a manageable point.

Get books, CDs, tapes from the library, don't buy them and then have to store them.

Good luck... been there!

Answer 3

Take one room or even one part of a room and work that. Maybe start with a particular type of object. Lets say photo's. My kids have tons. organize them into groups. Say vacations, friends, family etc. put them into whatever photo albums you have and store the rest in a shoebox and mark the shoebox clearly. Once you have cleared away the photo's you want to keep you can toss the ones you don't. shred them if you want. Then take on the books. if you have as many books as we do you could open your own bookstore. Divide those into piles that belong to each family member then sit them all down one night and make them choose which ones they want to keep.
Clothing. Go through your out of season clothing first and toss all the stuff you didn't actually wear last season. You won't wear it next one either. Stained?...out. Shrunk?...out etc. etc. Shoes? that should be easy.
I don't necessarily throw away stuff I haven't used in a year. For instance...my kids have a lovely collection of books I bought for them when they were toddlers. We bought an old suitcase from the flea market for $1 and we store them in that. They cherish that sort of thing and will share them with their kids. Christmas and other holiday items can be organized. I recently moved from 1400 sf to about 850 sf and it was really hard. I had to get rid of everything. I had a huge yard sale and made some money to buy storage items for the things I wanted to keep. Sometimes letting go of the clutter will allow new wonderful things to come into your life. Like more time to spend with your family instead of cleaning all the time. You can do this. Just take it one day and one section at a time.

Answer 4

I, too, have a tiny apartment. Twice a year I purge my apartment. I prioritize what I REALLY need and use. If it hasn't been used, or worn, in a year toss it.

When you are in a better position financially, I would suggest that you purchase dual use items. I have tables that open up to reveal storage space. I have a table that is also a trunk. Wall mounted shelves can display toys decoratively. Folding screens can hide a multitude of sins. Target sells a wire that works as a curtain rod. An expensive flat sheet, or even a cherished quilt can partition a corner to hide toys.

That's just off the top of my head. I sure if you look around, you can come up with a few ideas of your own.

Answer 5

The fact that you are ready to clean out the clutter is a positive thing; Good for you. There are people who put out ads in the newspaper that clean out attics and you could call one of them. Sometimes it helps me if my husband or a friend helps me sort through the process of do I keep it or throw it away because they are less detached. Why not sort things by....... Must Have, Don't Want, To Be Filed. That would cover everything from clothing to paperwork and magazines. Try to spend a couple of hours a day doing this so you don't feel so overwhelmed. Good Luck

Answer 6

Well, I think using cardboard boxes, wrapping them in masking tape and letting your kids decorate them is a neat idea. Use that for their toys. Get rid of all the dishes and plastic bowl stuff you dont really need or use. Throw away all the paper and magazines in your house !! I hate that in mine. It feels so much cleaner when you only have to pick up a few things off of a table so you can clean it. I use rose vases I get from yard sales for things like markers and pens and pencils. Next to my back door I have an old wicker clothes basket for shoes. I bought a set of lockers at a used merchandise store for our coatsgloves, coveralls and ball-bags also soccer stuff and catfood or whatever else sets in my laundry room floor. Go through every room and look in every place and tell yourself if you havent used it recently YARD SALE IT!!!! I do it. I put my junk in garbage bags in the attic and have a yard sale every spring...Hope I helped.

Answer 7

Ugh, I know how you feel. First, clean out the closet. Be VERY discriminative with your clothes. If you haven't worn it in 6 months, and its in the season...throw it out. Don't save things, "just in case" because more often than not, that "just in case" isn't going to come. When you get some of the unnecessary clothes out of the way, you'd be surprised how much space you can have! As for toys, if you can hang some on the wall, it will clear a lot of space on the floor.

Answer 8

Just get rid of it, give a lot of it away if you can.
It is tough but that tough part of being heartless and trashing it all wil reap rewards of a clutter free existence. It took me a long time to figure this out. A helpful website is www.flylady.net encourages you to declutter a little every day instead of all at once. I have done it all at once with a small apartment and that works great, too! I was amazed and wondered WHY have I kept all of this crap all these years... Good luck!

Answer 9

It is so hard. I know the feeling. Think you have to just start looking at things one by one and ask yourself whether you really need them. You can throw things out, give things away, or sell them (in a tag sale or on-line). There are organizing systems that you can buy cheaply at places like wal-mart. Underbed storage boxes work well. Furniture that doubles as storage, like a trunk or ottoman that opens up, pretty hat boxes. Good luck,

Answer 10

Time to find multiple uses for things you already have so you can store things away.

One of my friends use to put stuff in her oven to "hide" it - I don't recommend this (especially since she forgot about it once and turned on the oven only later to find melted tupperware!)

Try going to http://www.flylady.net/ for ideas. She's on to something. Lots of ideas there.

I know you said you don't have money to buy storage things, but for future - I've seen neat ottoman/end table-like things that have tops that come off and you can store stuff inside (Target - $26). Discount places like Big Lots/Pic-n-Save have nice storage things under $10