Frugal Ways to organise my home?

Shortypie

That sounds like us but with an extra child! I know I need a good old clear out but things hold me back, mainly time/energy as I work and hubby works lots of weekends, I can't get anything done with the kids around. Also there is some stuffing want to sell but it sits around til an nct sale comes along, then half of it cones back anyway :rotfl: I have a day off tomorrow but dd was sick last night so is off school. Nevertheless as hubby us off I'm going to try and do a high cherish shop run.

We also have too many towels/pjs/bedding - part of me thinks I'd be more organised if each child only had two sets of pjs but the other part of me thinks if I can run out of pjs now, maybe I need them all also I hate getting rid of stuff I can still use.

Then there's my craft stuff, and hubby's air fix kits :eek:

And then more stuff coming in at Xmas!

PasturesNew

Free.... go to shoe shops and ask them to save you boots boxes. Then either save your newspapers, or pop into the tourist information office to get free leaflets etc... and decoupage the boots boxes. They'll stack and look nice if you pick the right patterns for the decoupage.

Ditto with local copying/stationery companies - ask them to keep the A4/A3 paper boxes they get. These hold 5 reams of paper and come lidded.

Also worth looking round supermarkets for empty wine boxes, the ones on the shelves that hold 6 bottles. In Lidl they rip off the fronts and they're a good size for keeping random paperwork organised.

rosie383

Definitely declutter first. I ebayed, donated and freecycled so much stuff when we put our house on the market. It took me 3 days to get the house looking spotless and clutter free for our first viewing. Now I have it down to a fine art and it takes me an hour!

MessyBetty

Hi some great ideas here, I just had a thought you could ask friends, family and freecycle for the large sweet/chocolate tubs roses, celebrations etc they stack well and would be good for craft items and small toys.

Take no notice of my user name, I know what I'm talking about honestly lol.

Good luck with it all.

vulpix

I agree with all of the above.Use up what you have and only replace if essential.
Selling excess "stuff"can be slow and time consuming.The quickest way is sell cheap at a car boot sale,but not the right time of year.Face Book selling pages do well in my area and prices seem higher than Ebay.
Oxfam give nectar points on donations ,2 for every pound earned ,if you have a nectar card.(you need to register online)
The Salvation Army give £2 credit to spend in the shop for every bag donated.(Has to be their bags which you get from the shop)
My children will be receiving very little for Christmas this year which will take up space. Bubble bath,clothes,sweets.They will also have small gifts that require minimal storage.
My house is also for sale.I just think with all the things I have given away and sold I have saved having to take it to a new house and clutter that one up too!

Spendless

We had a sort out of bed linen only last weekend. We've gone to having 3 sets per bed. I put all the relevant bedding including the fitted sheet folded into the pillowcase of the matching duvet.

Towels take up less space if they are rolled.

I reduced clothing for my dd when she was 5 due to not much room for furniture in her bedroom when she still had a lot of toys in there. From memory it went something like 10 prs of pants and socks. 5 bottoms, 8 tops, 1-2 hoodies, 1 party dress, 1 swimming costume plus school uniform.

Can you sew and what age are your kids? I used to have a nappy stacker hung on the back of dd's bedroom door, it had been made by using some unwanted curtains and cutting a wooden coat-hanger down to size.

Toys I had in tubs that you could keep under the bed (still do for dd, now 11). Long ones I purchased, but some such as ones that hold coloured pencils, might be empty ice cream cartons.

Ask around your circles of friends/family/neighbours too. We are gifting some no longer wanted storage to my MIL today for her craft bits, including the carcass of some drawers and an Ikea trofast system. As kids grow older, mine are tweens/teens then the toys start to reduce. You might find someone about to get rid of something you'd find useful.

grunnie

First of all spend no money on containers etc use what is free or what you have already. A few years ago I was collecting a friend who was working in an office mailing department and she was tearing up the boxes which had contained envelopes. I collected 18 - they were big and strong and stack 6 deep and 3 across in the top of my fitted wardrobe holding all the bits I needed tidied. They hold my craft bits and handbags socks winter tops etc etc. Have you hooks on the walls of the cupboard you keep you hoover and steam clearer to keep outdoor jackets and is there room for boots etc on the floor. Another idea is to clear 1 kitchen cupboard and use that for craft stuff. You could collect some boxes each time you shop. I like the ones for bananas and my local Tesco usually have some trough the back for me. They stack on the floor of my hall cupboard with the hoover squashed in. Label the boxes with the contents to make it easy to find what you need.

RevolvingDoor

I agree with a lot of the posts, declutter first of all and then organise.

I have used the boxes vegetables come in to organise stuff in drawers. Look at your boxes that food or anything you buy comes in and use it as storage, as long as it's hidden away nobody will know.:)

jk0

If you are trying to sell, then you need to invest some money, or you'll be there for ever.

Did you ever use to watch House Doctor on Channel 5?

They used to minimise clutter to make the house seem bigger to potential buyers. I suggest renting a storage locker, if you don't want to use the garage.

GreyQueen

Lots of good suggestions here already.

Storage is a subject dear to my heart, as I have an absolutely tiny one-bedroom flat. Imagine taking a standard 2.5 litre can of emulsion, putting 2 coats of paint on every room inc the hall and still having 2/3rd of the can unused...........it happened here.

Most definately thin the belongings as much as is reasonable. I give a free pass to a present excess of towels and linen because it's stuff which gets used up, so natural attrition will take care of that for me.

One skinny cupboard has two above-head-height shelves, the upper half the width of the lower one. The iron and one or two other things lurk up there. The lower shelf has 6 labelled shoeboxes, holding small items which are regularly used by type. When they wear out, or I get the offer of a nice strong box, they're changed for fresh ones. These aren't on public display, but they could always be decorated it they were.

Apart from one stack of three matching storage boxes which I bought new with a gift card, everything I use for storage is secondhand. Charity shops and bootsales will turn up boxes, baskets, those skinny wheeled wire trollies.

You could try asking on Freecycle for things like the sweetie tubs and I also use several of those orange square cracker tubs which are around at this time of the year. They stack, are very strong, and people will probably be glad to get rid of excess ones bought over the festive period come late Dec/ early Jan.

In my linen cupboard, I have some of the stuff which is waiting its turn for use corralled into homemade drawstring bags. These are from scrap fabric, with repuposed ribbon ties and labels cut from pretty old cards (written on in pencil to avoid the possible transfer of ink to textiles). This keeps small stuff from disappearing down between the slatted shelves and also concentrates the wear on the 2-3 examples of each category of item I am using, so they get used up and then ragged, then I will move some to the stash into service.

Carboard boxes like large fruit trays slide easily under beds, and smaller fruit boxes (Liddly is good for these) are very strong and stackable. At this time of year, you sometimes get mini trays of satsumas in those little wooden tray boxes. I have a few of these and use them in my shed but they are cute enough for indoors and could even be tarted up with a bit of emulsion.

The only limit is your imagination, really. Good luck!