One of the hardest things to do when you have your mind set on decluttering and purging your home of ‘stuff’ is finding a balance that sits well with the rest of your family. I mean, you have to keep your home livable (and workable) for all of the people living in it. Anything else would be unfair.
So what do you do to stop your home from becoming cluttered, especially when you have children?
Well, I can only speak of my own experience and how I’ve dealt with it, which is probably the most obvious way: my children keep all their clutter confined to their bedrooms and none of it is to invade the rest of the house.
I hope that doesn’t sound too harsh, because in reality it works quite well. They have their stuff close at hand (in their bedrooms) and the living areas of the house remain clutter free and usable by all.
Our lounge for example is used by all of us, but I’m able to keep it tidy at all times because it’s clutter free.
*Picture 3 is a full disclosure of what’s lurking in my cupboards! :)
Another good thing about living like this is that I’m good to go when we finally start the moving process.
How do you stop your home from being cluttered up by other family members? Do you struggle with this?
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Amazing photos, and love the post. Being the only pseudo minimalist in the house it is a challenge !
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Laura Reply:
June 10th, 2011 at 6:48 pm
@Francesca Oh I know. It was a challenge for me a first, now they’re all in submission! Keep going, eventually they’ll appreciate the calm of a minimalist home
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It’s the same here… The main floor is to be kept “toy” free! The odd toy will sneak up here but it promptly gets tossed down to their playroom! Makes my life easier!
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Laura Reply:
June 10th, 2011 at 6:54 pm
@Carla….you’re right, having a playroom (and place for all the toys) must really help to keep the clutter at bay.
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We have the same rule at our house and it works well, even with teenagers. The downstairs living area is clutter-free. Everything that comes down from upstairs (and stuff does, no matter how much I try) must go back up by the end of the day.
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Laura Reply:
June 10th, 2011 at 6:45 pm
@Laura I always like to go to bed knowing the house is tidy, hubby laughs at my evening rituals putting everything away, but I have to do it (I wouldn’t sleep if I didn’t, lol)
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I am on my way. I have started decluttering our cabinets. It’s amazing what you’ll find in there. I have shrunk our bath towels to 4 complete sets instead of the 15 or so that were hidden away. Same with our bedding sheets and such.
Once we move I also decided that my son’s belongings (toys) should be kept in his soon to be much smaller room. We are constantly attacking the pile trying to get rid of items little by little.
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Laura Reply:
June 10th, 2011 at 6:46 pm
@Melyssa slowly and surely is the best way to de-clutter or it becomes overwhelming.
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I wish ours looked like that. We are not horrible but not toy free either. When we had the kids, I got rid of a coffee table and got a storage chest thingee that doubles as a coffee table and that’s the toy box. I also converted my cd case to electronic files and now use that bookshelf for toys, but I still have stuff in all kinds of nooks and crannies. We have many more toys that are on display but every couple of months, we’ll take some up to the attic and pull other ones down.
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Laura Reply:
June 10th, 2011 at 6:44 pm
@First Gen American. It’s a lot easier with older children Sandy. When my kids were small you could hardly see the floor for toys on occasions…until I started EBaying, that really reduced the amount of (toy) clutter we had.
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I strugle with this all the time. I throw something away, all of a sudden somebody got it back and I see it again (sight). I’m trying to throw away anything broken or damaged and give away anything we don’t need and haven’t used in a long time, but it’s difficult to de-clutter when you don’t have much help. I’ll just keep going…
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Laura Reply:
June 10th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Hi Dasi..It’s taken me about 5-6 years to get to this point. Clutter clearing is a big job, best done slowly. Good luck
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Dasi Reply:
June 10th, 2011 at 7:07 pm
Thanks
I appreciate the encouragement.
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Holy cow – your living room is neat (and looks lovely btw)! I think you might pass out if you saw mine
It is about half the size and has about six times the amount of stuff in it!! Just imagine what it was like before I started decluttering a couple of years ago…
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Laura Reply:
June 11th, 2011 at 4:20 pm
@Shoestring! Lol your comment made me laugh
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I’m envious of your clutter-free space. It’s so hard with kids, but keeping things in their bedroom is a great start. I’ve been keeping the baby toys in a chest in the family room, since that’s where babies roll around, but now that the kids are older I’m trying to pare everything down so it can stay in their rooms.
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Unfortunately I’m a pack rat and see potential of reuse in everything. Today I’m getting rid of a bag of shoes (10 pairs) someone gave me and haven’t sold at my market stall.
I kept hoping to have a Helpx or Couchsurfer that would be heading to Bali or Vietnam, so they could give them to someone poorer there. But no luck and some of the clutter has to go…. Our home is a small unit overwhelmed with stuff. This is my daily challenge and part f my personality.
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I hate clutter, and now we are bathed in it! We are moving across country in 2 weeks and I’m in chaos!
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Laura Reply:
June 11th, 2011 at 4:17 pm
@Barb Oh poor you, I hope the move goes well and you’re back to clutter free living very soon
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Wow Laura! That is a clean and clutter-free cabinet. You’re living space is so serene — I love it!
We have my oldest son’s stuff in his room, but we keep some toys in the family room for our toddler right now. He’s not old enough to go play in his room upstairs without supervision, so it doesn’t make sense for his toys to be in there yet.
But after seeing the oasis that is your family room, I’m really looking forward to our littlest guy being old enough to play independently so we can get the toy basket out of our main living space!
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Your place looks good. REALLY good! I don’t have kids, but it’s kind of the same thing with the dog. She has forced me to ‘puppy-proof’ the place.
All of my junk is confined to the closet and bathroom– the only places off limits for her!
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Laura Reply:
June 12th, 2011 at 11:47 am
Hi Michael and thanks! Yes, we used to have a dog and it is pretty similar
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I LOVE your lounge room, an I aspire to have my home that clutter free! I’m still working on it, as I want to meet my 1,000 item challenge. My mantra has been “would I move this item?” and if the answer is no, then it goes. The kids have most of their stuff in their rooms, which is good, but I make them purge every 3 mos. or so. It’s good for all of us!
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Laura Reply:
June 12th, 2011 at 5:51 pm
@Sharon. Thank you! That’s exactly my mantra, if I want to take it with us then it stays, if not it goes
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I envy your clutter-free home! My husband and I always seem to have some sort of project going, which takes up what little space we have in our 1 bedroom apartment. And I just can’t seem to part from certain special momentos, no matter how silly they seem.
What do you do with all of your treasures from years past?
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movetoportugal Reply:
August 17th, 2011 at 6:32 pm
Hi TLC
I’m pretty ruthless and hardly keep anything. When I was younger I kept everything, but apart from a small box of mementos and a notebook that I fill with holiday stubs/tickets etc I throw everything out
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