I think you have to be ruthless and get rid of, donate, or sell items that you no longer use. Even when it comes to sentimental items, some are more sentimental than others, so it is necessary to be selective even when it comes to these items.

Oh! You’re just like me… and like my mother before me… and…!

I went to Ikea, got heaps of the cheapest bookshelves & went room by room, floor to ceiling all around the walls. Then I made from scratch, really strong cardboard boxes from solid card – bought everything in bulk at KW Doggett’s & got a big discount – that & heaps of their shiniest glossy bright white paper to cover them with. You will be very surprised at just how well that fixes everything for all time!

Like me ,you need to simplify things to make life less complicated,simply get rid of everything you do not use.Keep only the best,too much clutter you can’t find anything.

Space bags are a great idea to store clothes that you might need down the track (for another bub, or out of season clothes). We try to have the rule of ‘one in, one out’, so if we buy something new, we try to get rid of something old at the same time.

Time to go to IKEA to get all these drawers.

Invest in a great external hard drive and photograph a lot of the sentimental things, that way if you must ‘consolidate’ you wont lose anything precious, also try those vacuum seal bags, they can almost halve your storage space!

Ok, sentimental things you may have to compromise. Can you scan birthday cards and certificates etc. After all, how often do you really look after them. Vacuum bags are a great way to store items. If you are not going to buy a bigger house or invest in storage, you have some tough decisions to make because as your children get older, they will acquire more stuff – or at least bigger stuff. Good luck.

I have some boxes of my son’t clothes for sell on gumtree to try to use the money from that to buy him new things. But I am a firm believer in going away to charter if you are in the position to do that. We don’t have much but I want to teach my son about giving. At the end of the day if you sell, give away and throw out….you will soon realise it is all STUFF (except the sentimental things) and you will soon find out you won’t miss the stuff.

my friends put an attic in there place, otherwise a shed?

Thanks everyone some great ideas! I’m using empty nappy boxes and filling them with things to go, 4 boxes so far from my kitchen! Living by the mantra, if in doubt chuck it out! By chuck I mean re home. Wondering if I should set a schedule so this stuff (that seems to multiply faster than a pair of rabbits) doesn’t creep back and overwhelm me again…. Although by the time I’m finished, I think it’ll be time to start over again!

I’m going through this now, decluttering my kids bedrooms!

In our house it was the same until we put in our garage all the way down both of the walls metal shelving yes it meant only one car can now fit in our garage but we have a lot of extra storage space. In it we purchased large plastic tubs with lids andd labelled them all with what was inside. Its amazing how much fitted out there and how it freed up space inside the house we also purchased a small garden shed for the back yard and did the same inside the shed and moved all the mowers, chain saw, garden tools etc out there and baby toys when not in use. Its also a great place to hide the christmas presents etc. It cost a lot so once a month we purchased one set of shelves and now three years later its all done and looks great.

I agree that Ikea has some great nifty storage ideas and solutions! Focus on one area at a time and have three boxes, donate, sell, keep. Really focus on what is needed and what you actually use. Other items can be sold to make you some extra pocket money and donated to those less fortunate. All the best!

Focus on one zone, ie the bedroom and start sorting. Really focus on one room. So it doesn’t seem overwhelming. Have a big rubbish bag and just throw out instant rubbish. Have a recycling bag for unworn clothes, honestly letting go of not worn clothes is refreshing. Just take your time, one room over two weeks even.

I live in a 3 bedroom house with hubby and 2 kids. They each have their own room. My daughter has a huge wardrobe in her room which is our storage cupboard. The built-in in my room is also storage as we have dressers instead. Space saver vac bags are a great idea. I have several! If you can store thing under beds, its a great space. Use the tubs on wheels to store items as they can be stacked on top of each other.
If you find things that you know you don’t need, you can sell, or donate or even have a garage sale.

I know what that’s like! I collected things along the way and it just creeps up on you and your home is cluttered with stuff. Here is how I coped. I got a few cardboard boxes and wrote ‘Donate’ and ‘Sell’. I went room to room filling these two boxes. Every week I took my donations to the church shop. I sold things on Gumtree and through Buy Sell and Swap on Facebook in my local area I did pretty well. (In fact I sold a whole house for a friend recently just doing this.) You will break it down really quickly this way. As it can be overwhelming too much stuff that has sentimental value can be hard to let go.. so ask other family member’s if they would like it. Take a photo with you and your item and keep that instead. Bag up baby clothes in sizes 0, 00, 000, 1, 2, 3 etc. Let go of the clothes your kids have grown out of and give them to a charity. There are people who would love the clothes you let go of and you will feel good just donating them. Best of luck.

Ikea have loads of storage ideas. You could look through their catalogue and pick up some ideas. Organise the things your sister has given to you into relevant age groups and put the rest away somewhere.