So when we moved here we had a single garage at our old house that never had a car in it because we had so much stuff in there . Hubby went on a golf trip for 4 days i cleaned out the garage hired a trash company to come get the stuff we honestly did not need and in 10 yrs my husband and I have not missed one of those things. He also is the type that wants go through everything when i start purging but he never misses what i get rid of.

Two things.

First, front bathroom is approximately the same design as a public toilet stall, there's a vanity to the left and bathtub to the right instead of partitions. Reversing the door opening, putting in a pocket door? Nah, live with it. Better now I'm not bathing toddlers anyway. Other bathroom door faces the toilet as well but at least you don't have to inch around to close the door.

Garage. 18' wide. Even if the side walls are bare there's not room for 2 cars. It is deep because the laundry is in there as well. I'd like to minimize to the point of using that area for all storage and get everything out of the garage proper but not sure there's any point due to the width.

Jesica, try opening one of the boxes, he may come help you once he sees you interested. I was resigned to painting the house on my own but as soon as I got to work I had help. Might work. And don't call it useless junk. I give loads of stuff I no longer use to thrifts or simply put on the curb. It's not junk, that cordless drill that won't charge for me may be a simple fix or even a great project for a clever hobbyist. That toolbox that does not aid me in organizing tools is a treasure to somebody out there.

Mary, get yourself a calendar and appoint a set time for organizing and downsizing. Say, Monday morning between 10 and 12 am. In between you drink something with your husband.

As jmm1837 stated: just one room at a time. And in that one room just one project at a time. Sort out your books of one book case. Be content afterwards. Next week the other bookcase... The week after you'll sort through the dvd's and cd's.

What you sort out, you put in a cardboard box, that is not too big (and thus heavy). Have two sorts: one to donate and one to trash. Try to donate as much as possible, for what isn't of value to you anymore, might be of value to someone else. The thriftstore will be happy with you!

Jesica, the one thing about my house bothering me, is that I do not have a fireplace. It would have cost too much to install it, so I had to forgo on that wish. It's nice now too, but I miss the coziness of the fire.

Small rooms with clutter and tenants that don't clean up.

I miss my gas fireplaces. Just flick the switch instead of lugging in firewood. But alas we have a all electric house now.

Mary, try keeping an informal journal on how you are doing. List how many bags and boxes go out, which drawers got sorted and what you want to do next. Set a timer for a few minutes. I started decluttering by clearing out a kitchen drawer in the time it takes to warm up my oatmeal in the morning! I have been decluttering for a couple years and it gets easier the longer I go on because I can SEE the shape of the home I want now. My garage was like the monster under the bed 4 years ago - I just wanted to run away and hide. Now I can see what goes where and how to store it so I can put my hand on it right away. I'm just finishing up the 4th version in as many years. Each time it is so much better but I keep thinking of ways to make it even better.

Also go look on youtube. A lot of people declutter on camera both because it is great watching somebody else go through it and it keeps them on track.

My Great Challenge is fun except she never ever runs out of energy. She's also fearless and does the most amazing DIY things.

Clutterbug is very cheery and a professional organizer who still works really hard to keep her home tidy.

A Slob Comes Clean keeps it real. Really real.

Follow like channels to find more.

We have too much stuff! Our house is lacking in linen storage, so we’ve had to get creative.

But we we need to do some purging and organizing!

Our kitchen floor is pretty ugly, and the subfloor is getting mushy.. that will have to be replaced soon. The master shower is leaking and the bathroom will need to be done soon. But it’s all manageable!

My husband used to say I was going on a seek and destroy mission when I wanted to clean out closets and cupboards. I am a minimalist and he hated throwing anything away.

We compromised. I would clean out closets and drawers and keep our home organized. I would box everything that I didn't think we needed, date the box and store it in a closet in our garage

I would keep every box for a minimum on 1 year. After a year I would take the stuff to Goodwill and donate it.

He had 12 months to notice if something was gone. If he didn't look for it in year it was safe to give away.

1. Kitchen. It’s only 7x14’ if you include the major walkway through the house. Functionally, it’s a 7x10’ kitchen.

2. Garage. I need a 2 car garage just for lawn and gardening equipment, another for tools and wood shop, and another for cars and bikes. (We have a fair amount of land.). I actually have...one small 2 car garage. Argh!!!!

Our only storage frustration has been hand me down kid clothes, since toys were conquered. I have a massive amount in storage for younger kids.

I built a 3’ wide linen closet, and it has been heaven. Use the upper section to the ceiling for seasonal blankets.

We now have a 6x11.5’ walk in closet between the bedroom and the bathroom. That’s given us so much room! I have 2 40” wide wardrobes for most of my clothes, a 20” that has 2 sweater drawers and the dirtyclose hamper, husband has a 6’ section, we share a 20” shoe closet, and a 3’ vanity in the closet because the sink area is just 3’.

Two large silver chests full of MIL’s monogrammed silver plate taking up needed space on our storage shelves. The woman has been dead nearly three years! Husband says he is going to offer it to relatives when “the time is right.” Meanwhile my potting bench is full of boxes for which we have no space. He let me donate all kinds of stuff that was worth a lot more. Missed my opportunity and regret it.

When it comes to cleaning out, this saying always helps me:

Holding on to things from the past and saving things for the future,

keeps you from living in the present.

Instead of baskets for homeless stuff or stuff that needs to be relocated, we use banker boxes. One per person, plus one for basement/garage and one for the kitchen. (That's just what makes sense for us, though.) That way everyone can take their own box and put stuff away (my SO's workshop arrangement mystifies me, I wouldn't even know where to start putting his bits and pieces away) and someone can take the kitchen box through the whole house looking for stray dishes (mostly cups/glasses get stranded.) Basement/garage because I don't like going down the stairs (bad knees) so stuff is most likely to pile up waiting for someone else of it is intended for down there, so that is a box we needed.

Why banker boxes? Because if you have to pause mid-job (which happens, especially when you're a care giver, ime) you just stick the lids on and stack them up and they stack neatly and don't look TOO untidy. The looking neat is important - we've found that for us if something looks unfinished and messy it tends to attract more mess. If something is unfinished but tidied up, not only does it not attract more mess, but people are more likely to be inspired to pick it up again and finish it.

Because I spent 30 years in a home with virtually no storage (no basement, a garage that was converted into an office) I became an expert at not keeping things.
Bedrooms were my January project. Jan 1st, take all the hanging clothing in your closet and place a small kids hair rubber band on the neck of each hanger. Place everything that is in your drawers in baggies (Quart, 1 and 2 gallon size) or small boxes. Throughout the year as you use things they get placed in the drawer or washed and hung in the closet. I don't place anything back into a plastic bag/box and I remove the rubber bands from the hangers. The following January I collected everything that was not used in the past year and gave it or threw it away.
Spring was my kitchen and pantry. Again I placed my gadgets in baggies. If they were used during the year they were taken out of the baggie and placed in a drawer.
I date all of my frozen foods and everything in my pantry when it is purchased. When I housecleaned in the spring everything that was 12 months old or older was tossed.
Bathrooms and tools were my summer project. Fall was office and paperwork. Used the same basic process except for paperwork, which is filed by year and kept in a banker box for 7 years.
Like I said earlier, my husband had a tough time getting rid of things, so his things were placed in boxes for 12 months and stored until the next year and then given away. I was good with giving away anything not used in 12 months. He needed the reassurance of an additional year to make sure he didn't need something that he hadn't used in a year.
I found that this process eliminated the need to make the decisions - will I use this, will I wear this. . . Didn't wear it in a year - not going to happen.

My sister is the queen of catalog shopping, she keeps her catalogs alphabetized in a banker box. When a new catalog comes in the mail she pulls out the old one and replaces it with the new one.

I have a 1939 house, so there are a few things...

There's not enough wall space for a regular size sofa anywhere except the sunroom.

I have a detached, supposedly single-car garage, but it's only 9' wide x 17' long inside, so I use it for garden storage. I also have a detached carport, but it slopes steeply at the back (can't stand up 3/4 under) so I can barely squeeze my RAV4 beneath it.

I hate unfinished basements. Although mine has a partial floor, it is open to the crawl space on the sides and the ductwork is too low for a ceiling, so it can't be finished off. I don't need the space, but let's just say I'm claustrophobic and hate creepy crawlies of the slithering type (I've seen their dead bodies).

Otherwise, I love my house (after a year of renovation).

Marla, and anyone else that misses a fireplace might be interested in getting an app they can use on their smart TV. Its similar to the old fashioned Yule Log that the local channels play on Christmas but without the music. I like it. Its free as long as you have a WiFi enabled TV. I use it year round, so much prefer to hear the crackle of burning logs to Christmas music, especially in the summer.

Put me in the category of too much stuff for the space. I don't think that we don't have enough space, I like the size of the house (1600sf), but we have more stuff than fits in it comfortably. I prefer to have less stuff to maintain and manage, but DH and DD are not all that great or motivated about getting rid of things, even things that are not loved or ever used. For some reason DH gets very defensive if I try to clear out anything, so I have mostly given up on decluttering anything that may involve him, and instead focus on boxing and storing efficiently. If some things need to go into the crawlspace for storage, so be it.

My father passed away recently and I had a chance to stop by his house shortly after. In the last few years of his life, he was awesome at getting rid of things that he didn't use or love. As a result, the items that were left in his house are very easy to distinguish as items that he valued the most. This is what I hope to one day aspire to.

Never enough storage. Lol Moved from a 1400 sqft to a 2000 sqft to a 2500 sqft house and living space ok, but more storage always needed. Some day I will start pitching. But I use most of the stuff sometime during the year. Wouldn't know what to pitch.

My bedroom doubles as a hallway.

We live in an apartment on the back of a B&B Inn. The apartment is large. A big kitchen/family room, a nice TV room, two bedrooms and three bathrooms. The problem is, my bedroom is in between the kitchen and the TV room.

We've talked about switching the bedroom with the TV room but the bedroom has a nice series of built in closets and drawers which would be costly to move.

So, we live with it.

That it is so freaking small.

Hi Jesica,

Fun Question!

We live in a 40 meter 2 bdr condo in a 1900 rowhouse, we have no "real" entryway. The front door is right in the middle of a wall, no hallway or anything.

Having coats, boots, umbrellas, etc creates a horrible visual clutter, makes the space smaller. I had an armoire, it felt like a giant behemoth took over the small room.