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LLMom
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| Posted: Aug 20 2012 at 6:07pm | IP Logged
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i know there has been a discussion on this before, but it isn't coming up in the search.
So, we finally sold our home and have a contract on another house. But it is much smaller. We are going from a 2200 sq. ft home (4-2) to a 1650 sq ft. (3-2 and a small loft) We still have 5 children at home, whereas 4 years ago all 7 were still at home. I have wanted a smaller home because I feel less is best for us. Can anyone share their tips for storage in a small home with lots of people?
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Lisa
For veteran & former homeschool moms
homeschooling ideas
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Aug 20 2012 at 7:15pm | IP Logged
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Here's one of the past threads to get you started.
And what I always forget when I'm doing a search is to make sure the time is as long as I need it. It defaults to 3months but often what I'm looking for is at least 6 months old.. so of course I don't find it and so I "go back" to the search engine and realize I've done it again and forgotten to adjust the time frame.  So that's the other thing I wanted to mention real fast.. be sure and check what time frame you have it set for when doing a search if you're not finding something you're pretty sure is here somewhere.
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LLMom
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| Posted: Aug 20 2012 at 7:17pm | IP Logged
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Thanks, Jodie. I looked back from the past year and didn't come up with much. Maybe I was searching the wrong words.
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Lisa
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Aug 20 2012 at 7:39pm | IP Logged
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beds with drawers under them.
bunk beds (well you sorta store kids there  )
shoe holder on the back of the bedroom door
coat rack on the back of the door in the kitchen (so tha the rack is in the kitchen. I can hang bags and aprons and dish towels and long bbq utensils and all sorts of things there.
Don't worry about the builders intended use of a space. I have my office in the dining part of the kitchen and my dining room at one end of the living room.
Consider what you most want to use in a particular room and if more than one person will need to get into a room and how to spread out the use.. a good mirror with a flat surface and plug in the girls room for doing their hair (when they're old enough of course) so that the bathroom isn't taken up with fixing hair. Putting the medicines on a high shelf in the hall closet or kitchen so that you can get to a bandaid etc. even when someone is using the bathroom.
Look hard at your furniture. Some pieces take up more room than needed for their function.. and some pieces can be used for more than one function. You may find that a living room will do quite well without a coffee table taking up valuable floor space. A futon couch not only functions as a couch, but also a spare bed AND it has storage space under it.. we keep some "floor pads" for the kids to use to sit or lay on the wood floors, again giving us more sitting space in the room.
hooks on the wall behind doors can be a good use of wasted space. We screwed hooks into boards that were screwed to the studs in the wall.. painted the board the same color as the wall. And have 3 levels of offset hooks (5 on top, 4 in the middle and 5 on bottom). Behind the front door. There's room for everyone's snow gear (except boots which normally are put near the woodstove to dry anyway) in a space that otherwise would be wasted.
A short dresser in a closet will allow you to hang clothes above it and get better use than just putting shoes under the clothes.
Think up. Don't put a table high bookcase where a ceiling high bookcase would fit. Bunk beds. Hanging lamps. High shelves for display items so that other furniture could be put underneath instead of losing the full wallspace to display.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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juliana147
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| Posted: Aug 20 2012 at 8:53pm | IP Logged
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Lisa, I had a thread somewhere about organizing small spaces and downsizing. We cut our square footage in half when we moved to this house. It's been challenging in some ways, but wonderful in others. I can't say I've figured it all out, but I am so much happier about the housework now. It really is easier, overall.
I'll see if I can pull up my old thread. I got some wonderful advice here!
eta: it's the "big reorganizing project" thread... I'm not savvy enough to add a link!!! 
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Aug 20 2012 at 9:06pm | IP Logged
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Here ya go Big Reorganizing Project
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: Aug 21 2012 at 7:59am | IP Logged
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We are in a small house,I guess, 1244sqft. Like you we are 4 children and 2 adults in the home. I never really considered it small, as we started it out 680 sqft..lol.
Dh is talking, on occasion, about upgrading, and I want to downsize. 
We worked on the house. When we moved in it was 3 bedroom, 2 bath. We did some work and now the lowest level has 2 bedrooms and a powder room.
We created some unique storage. Near the furnace was a small storage space, about 12 in wide but it was 4 feet deep. Pretty useless. Dh built a shelf that rolls in and out. We found bins that fit, and this now stores our seasonal foot wear. And those the youngest grows into from the hand me downs.
In the laundry room, dh put in a temporary shower and accordian doors for privacy. Helps out alot considering 3 of the kids are females, and the bathrooms are always in use. We also have a storage closet in there for seasonal outer wear. Under the hanging clothes I store the paper products.
Our school room is the dining room, we eat in the kitchen. We lost 5 feet of the dining room, so we could build a 'mudroom' with a pantry at the end of it. It's not much more than a hall with hooks on both sides, but it tidies things up.
We use spaces under the stairs for storage.
If I can think of anything else... i'll post again. But it's do able.
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1 graduated June 2012
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Erin
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Lisa
I have been in your position and several factors help.
Attitude- Keep a positive attitude about your home, look at the benefits. Don't read magazines that make you bemoan what you don't have, don't have friends who allow you a pity party.
How do you use your house?- Are you using your house to its best capacity? Consider your family culture, different families place emphasis on different rooms.
Furniture- Are the pieces you have worthy of the foot space they use? Does a chunky piece make your room feel smaller, are you making the best use of all available space.
Clutter- If you are visual any clutter will really be hard to cope with. Keep on top of this regularly.
Storage- Invest in useful containers, consider all possible areas to store. Hang hooks, roll towels, lots of ways to maximise storage.
Previously I shared a some tips from experience, but I really recommend you visit Susan Sanaka, she wrote the Not So Big House books.
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Erin
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Topic: smaller home
