Are you a pack rat?

I want to throw away all my earthly possessions and become a monk!!!!!!!!!!

No matter what I do, our house is a disorganized mess. We have too many clothes, too much "stuff" in too small of a place.
We moved in 7 weeks ago and I can't seem to micro organize our closets, finish emptying all the boxes and find a place for everything.
I got rid of so much before we left yet it's not enough. DH is a bit of a pack rat and collects too much. I swear I am good at organizing! I try to maximize the space I have and use a lot of crates, shelves etc for storage etc.
But the fact remains: WE HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF !!!!!!!!!
I am on the verge of a complete throw-it-all-away rampage.


How do you keep your clothes organized?
Do you have any rules to keep things from piling up?
Or are you a pack rat??
What about your spouse?



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Between the two of us, I'm the pack rat.

A loose rule we had in our old house was: something in, something out. That goes for clothes too unless it is a special occasion/situation sort of thing. We haven't done quite as well here. I think partly because we have an attic and it is easy to "just put it in the attic". Well, our attic is a freaking nightmare now. After baby 3, we're going to start getting rid of baby stuff and that should help.

[Stella]

Re: Are you a pack rat?

I want to throw away all my earthly possessions and become a monk!!!!!!!!!!

No matter what I do, our house is a disorganized mess. We have too many clothes, too much "stuff" in too small of a place.
We moved in 7 weeks ago and I can't seem to micro organize our closets, finish emptying all the boxes and find a place for everything.
I got rid of so much before we left yet it's not enough. DH is a bit of a pack rat and collects too much. I swear I am good at organizing! I try to maximize the space I have and use a lot of crates, shelves etc for storage etc. But the fact remains: WE HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF !!!!!!!!!
I am on the verge of a complete throw-it-all-away rampage.

Ditto. Ditto, ditto, ditto! Except it's just me (and a bunch of SO's clothes and shoes etc) and my tiny apartment with the only storage being the 3 foot closet in my bedroom. I don't even have anywhere to put the vacuum - it just sits out in the living room...

How do you keep your clothes organized?

I just went through and goodwilled over 100 items of clothing. I still have too much... Next question please.

Do you have any rules to keep things from piling up?

Obviously not. I try to just stop buying so much crap. I think I need to buy fewer nicer things and that should help. Plus, every six months or so, I go through my junk and sell things on eBay or CraigsList that I haven't used.

Or are you a pack rat??

What about your spouse?

He's terrible. End of story.



Now that I'm looking back on my entry, I probably shouldn't be posting at all! I'm organized (usually) and OCD but I just have too much stuff in this apartment... :!

[MrsC]

I don't have many clothes to begin with, I hate clothes shopping. I do hoard things like pictures, letters, notebooks but they don't take up much space.

DH on the other hand, has every item of clothing he's bought since he was 15 (and still wears some of them). I've tried to get him to part with them but he's very attached. Our wardrobe is packed. We keep the things we don't wear often on top shelves and bought some of those fold down compartments, which we hang in the wardrobe for everyday things.

I think one way to avoid the clutter is to limit yourself to a certain amount of storage space and not to resort to buying new closets, shelving, wardrobes when things build up.

[Vishenka69]

With all the moving from one tiny NY apt to another, neither one of us can afford to be a pack rat.

How do you keep your clothes organized? - We have one tiny closet each and one for coats. Whatever doesn't fit gets thrown out/donated.
Do you have any rules to keep things from piling up? Donation/garbage.

I'm afraid that buying a house will turn both of us into pack rats trying to overcompensate for years of throwing stuff out. At this point, I can probably part with just about anything (except for a huge box with my wedding dress taking up half a hallway closet). I realized this morning that because most of my shoes are in boxes stuffed into all possible crevices, I don't even remember about half of them.

[DCJenn]

I've moved I think 16 times since I left graduate school- I know that I've moved 6 times since I met my husband seven years ago. Needless to say, I've become ruthless about stuff. That said, we STILL have two storage units stuffed to the gills but 90% of it is furniture that we've accumulated over the years. However, we have at least 5 boxes that have not been unpacked from when we moved from Texas to DC three years ago. I know three are record albums, one is a box from his parents that contains his baseball and football uniforms and trophies (we keep these, why? I'm not sure).

If it's not worn within the year- it's donated or thrown away. The exceptions are: two evening dresses, a few pairs of really good pants and my two suits. Shoes? Even more ruthless. I basically moved my birks and my running shoes and everything else was donated. Moving from a place where winter is COLD to a place were winter is chilly makes all the difference. I did move my winter coats and hats/gloves/scarves but that's because I plan to visit people in cold areas. They will not see the light of day otherwise.

I have no knick-knacks, nothing that collects dust. I do have some lovely vases, etc. but until there's room for them, in storage they stay. If it's not gorgeous or sentimental- it's gone.

I'm sure when we unpack the next time (please let the DC house sell SOON!) I'm sure there will be a ton more stuff I'm going to get rid of- yay!

Jenn