Clutter-Free Basement. Really?

I'm taking part of the 21 Day Clutter-Free Challenge with Kathi Lipp. And for better or worse, I've decided to share it with you, my friends. Because this is how I really live.

Unfortunately, the most problematic room in the house is the size of four rooms. Our biggest problem area is our unfinished basement.  It's a disaster. And I want to change that.
During the summer of 2011 my husband and I decided to make better use of the basement space. We bought a couch to put in the basement so we could be with the children when they were playing.


However, our third child would be arriving in October. All that space we made in the basement? Well, we basically relocated our spare bedroom to the basement to make room for the baby. (It was never a comfortable guest room, though we made our overnight guests sleep in it. It was anything but comfortable with all sorts of stuff in it, but it was a bed.) The couch? With no room to play in the basement, it was relocated to an upstairs room for a large family gathering and has remained there ever since.
Anyway, we're days away from 2015. We've added shelves to the basement, but it's still a mad mess. This summer I even organized "my corner." However, the large desk provided a horizontal surface for me to fill. So...you can no longer tell that I spent hours working on it. My husband has cleaned, too. See the desk? The book is there for your amusement.

Want to join me in this challenge? Visit Kathi Lipp's page to sign up for the 21 Day Clutter-Free Challenge. Then pick up the book, Clutter Free: Quick and Easy Tips to Simplifying Your Space, by Kathi Lipp. I've just started it, but it's quite practical and seems doable. Step. By. Step. Will you join me? If you'd like, you can also join a Facebook group I created to support one another.

Be sure to check out my simple ideas for cleaning and organizing, too.


Small Closet Makeover
Kid-Friendly Garage Solutions
Freezer Organization
Counter Clutter
Clutter-Free Support Group on Facebook
Organized Small Pantry
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through an affiliate link, I earn a small percentage at no cost to you. Thank you!
~ Annette
Sign up for weekly or daily emails from This Simple Home.

4 comments

  1. We're trying to become clutter free as well, but it's slow going. This post was a great reminder for me to get off my computer and get cleaning.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ooo, I can't wait to see how your basement comes out looking!

    I've been doing this for awhile (perhaps more concentrated since August) because I knew there'd be NEW clutter post-Christmas. Now to just organize and put away and perhaps clear out a few more things. Slow and steady wins the race (without killing ourselves to get the job done, right?).

    Will you be posting pictures of your project as you move along? I always thinking cleaning up mass cluttered areas is....fun. Ahem. :D

    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is awesome! Can't wait to see how it all turns out!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This Christmas, we bought four ceiling shelves - the ones intended for garages. We put up two in each of the bedrooms. Awesome! It's high enough that no one bumps their heads, and ,at least in OUR house, no one is in the bedrooms much except to sleep. So we got a lot of stuff up off the floor that we need to be able to access, just not every day.

    And that's a long winded way of saying that my *bedroom* looked like that a week ago. We don't have a basement. :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!