Downsizing Household....HELP!!!!

[ronsan]

CONGRATULATIONS!! I sense the attitude change already, and you have taken a gigantic step forward in meeting your end goal.

And you are so right in thinking this can be a fun and satisfying challenge. It is! And so very worth it.

I've thought of a couple of extra hints or suggestions in the past couple of day that might help you out:

1. Make an extra box available for your local food pantry. I am sure they would be delighted to have some or all of your pantry stash, and again, itemize what you are donating and the size and get the tax deduction papers for your donation.

2. Removing the doors to closets in the bedrooms of your new home and using the door for over-the-doorframe shelving works great. Closet doors in mobil homes (especially older ones) are a pain in the neck to work around, and only get in the way. By removing them, you can totally use every inch of space from floor to ceiling for shelving. If dh can make wooden shelves, great. If not, then start watching at garage sales for metal shelving or leftovers from someone else's closet organizing project. Outfitted with lots of shelving and lots of square or see-through plastic bins or baskets or even wicker baskets, you will maximize every square inch of what you have to work with.

My daughter did this and I couldn't believe the difference. The door were then cut down and fashioned into single shelves that were afixed above the window and door frame of the bedroom. Now she has complete storage in her thin, tiny closet(s) and this marvelous overhead decorative shelf running around 2 walls in the room. This is where she has her treasures up and out of harm's way but still adding to her sense of wellbeing. (She and her husband have 4 young children, all quite happy in a mobil home.)

3. Consider maximizing your space in the eating area by building in a banquette seating area (bench-like seating, padded and upholstered, afixed to a wall and the table shoved up to it). Daughter eliminated 4 chairs this way. The banquette looks like a rectangle only with one long side removed. The table goes in the "middle" of the rectangle.

Will add more suggestions as I think of them. Sandie

[PaTupperware]

WOW...I really love that idea of putting shelves up over the door frames.....perfect...I am planning on that one for sure now......I already decided taking the one closet door off in our bedroom...since it is walk in, I believe we r going to put DH dresser in there too, and with doing both the removal of door and dresser in closet, our bedroom set should now fit in there just fine


I also like the idea of bench instead of chairs.....this is kewl idea to have storage inside the bench....like all my Tupperware!!! Though, I dont quite "see" what u were describing how ur daugther's set is set up.....brain cant picture it..sorry.....LOL....see what kids do to ya!!


This mobile is brand new, so I am thankful that everything will be crisp and new and alot easier to work with since there is no fixin up the place. One thing I am a bit concerned about is that the walls are not as strong as house homes.......I believe they are thinner and made differently.......guess dh will have to use his carpentry skills at this point.....I want shelves all over the place!!


One other thing I was wondering about.........since I will no longer have a toy room to keep all the toys at bay, what are some ideas some may have as to bins or something of like for in each kid's room?? I am trying to figure out if getting under the bed bins would be best or a unit with bins ?? I think I am going to put dressers into the closets as well in their rooms......atleast the small tall dressers should fit and then hang all their shirts like I have always done, just using the small dressers for underwear, socks, pants, jammies, shorts.....prolly do it this way.


I am pretty excited about all this now........one more week to go til we should know something more with the bank (waiting for current paystub to send)........

OH..........almost forgot......one of the MOST important things of all............where will the computer go???????? AAAHHHHHH


LOL


Thanks again!!

[ronsan]

LOL

Sorry about the "bench" description being a little vague. I was in a hurry trying to get my fingers to out-type my thoughts, and all the while keeping an eye on how little time I had left until dinner. It wasn't you ~ I am sure it was me.

A banquette is a long upholstered bench. In my daughter's case, their table was in a nook area and they chose to put two more "benches" attached to the ends of the long bench. The entire thing then had a back fitted to it for comort. They padded and upholstered in vinyl the entire thing and it now fits securely into the breakfast nook along the long wall and against a broom closet on one side and the wall to the next room on the other side. The kitchen table then fits in front of this arrangement. The adults sit on either end of the banquette (facing each other across the table) and the kids are all safely seated on the long side of the bench. My daughter calls this arrangements the "entrapment" so they can watch all four girls at the same time and no one is getting down on their own from the table. The banquette accommodates the baby's cradle seat as well as the two older kids booster seats.

Can someone else provide a better descriptive of a banquette? Or better yet, anyone have one and is willing to scan a picture and post it for Sue to see? It really is a neat, space-saving idea.
And what a great idea for additional storage!

Sandie

[crowemommy]

Just like everything else, maybe you can get brutal with some of the toys ??? My 5 yo dd is an only child and only grandchild on either side of the family so you can imagine what birthdays, Christmas and any other holiday are like here!

I bought several of those plastic cabinets with wheels on the bottom and 3 drawers at Walmart to contain things like Barbies, musical instruments, craft stuff (scissors, paper, crayons, paints, stamps, etc), and anything else I could fit into them. I labeled all the drawers so she knows where everything belongs.

Good Luck!
Lisa