Our home is actually not THAT small but the chances of me remembering to ask how big it actually is before this post goes live is none.

Rather than lacking in space our home more so lacks storage. I guess this is part of being an adult, admitting to yourself how much you relied on throwing things in a closet your whole life because clearly that is what I have been doing up till now.

But we found some ways to save space and it’s made a huge difference in our ability to keep the green house somewhat tidy.

1. Do we need it? Losing my dad just months before moving in this house gave me a great perspective. Obviously, slowly going through a lifetimes worth of stuff is tough but I try to remember that his memory is not being honored in storage. If something can’t be displayed, I get rid of it. It sounds harsh but my dad/family AND Texan’s family are represented all over our house. There are little pieces of each of our history and it allows us to talk about the people we got them from rather than sit in a box and gather dust. In summary, go through your boxes. Display the odd knickknacks from your grandparents that you have no idea why you’ve been holding on to, if you absolutely see no chance of being used/displayed, then do you even need it?
2. Speaking of storage… with a lack of closet space we have bought shelving, bins, baskets, anything you can put stuff in. Don’t do this before you do step one otherwise you just have boxes everywhere forever.
3. Make appliances as functional as possible. Appliances tend to be huge and take up lots of space. Fun Fact, our house didn’t technically have a place to put laundry machines. Except in the super creepy basement that floods and people over 5’9 can’t stand up straight, that wasn’t happening. So it’s now in the guest room/Texan’s office/pantry overflow room/everything else room. We also went with a stacked washer/dryer, it wasn’t the original plan but as I saw how much space these things take up and I knew I didn’t want to lose that much floor space. When it came to the kitchen we did this by having appliances match in a cute color that contributed to the feel of the space. This means anything teal, white, stainless steel, or a soft brown can stay out. This may not appeal to some people but I love not digging through cabinets for the things that get used often anyway.

These is a continual process of growth for us. Remember when I posted the before and after of my office? The junk had piled up since then and I have been tackling getting it back to a functional space. Good news, I can walk in here again 🙂

Any more thoughts on saving space???