Yikes! I'd try to build some wall storage or something, but I like to cook and have never been to NYC ;-)

WOW We use our kitchen as a kitchen here as I cook 95 percent of our meals at home.. I will admit at one house we had so many cabinets I used about a third of them to store my craft things in. I did most of my craft work on the kitchen table as we never used it to eat on. We eat in front of the TV. Bad I know but it is what it is we will not be changing that.So using the cabinets for craft stuff worked out great.

I had a revelation to myself today on storage. Fussing over the sewing room futon and rarely used and and and. I did turn the guest room to sewing room . Had fabrics and some other things in suitcases under the futon for storage. But to do this I had to put the futon legs up on blocks to make room for the storage under. It was hurting me to do this. That thing is so heavy to lift then coax a block of wood just right and I would get one side good and then it would fall off the other side. EEEEKKK

So The solution. Clear the crap out. I eliminated one suitcase completely. Took all the stuff to thrift store and old suitcase to dump. Then the fabric I did want to store I got two thin suitcases that fit under with out blocks. But I had to get rid of some of that fabric so it is also going away. I have not used it in years it is gone. I have a friend that makes rugs and she will love to use it.

Then I bought two small things to wear yesterday but to put them in my dresser it was too tight so I totally went through my dresser and cleared it out. Sadly some of the things I had been wearing were not even fit to send to the thrift store. Now that is BAD. WHY do I hang onto this stuff?? Well I did not want to buy new because I am finally loosing weight and do not want to waste the money buying new and having to do it all again in a couple more months. And I would not buy new while I was so heavy as I hated myself being that way.

I guess what I am really getting at is some times instead of creating more storage I needed to clear out some more just stuff and then I did not need more storage.I am going to head this direction for awhile and see if it helps me to cope in our small house. I think it will.

Chris

"I had been wearing were not even fit to send to the thrift store"

Send everything! The thrift stores sell the stuff they don't put out, to the rag collector and get money. $$$$

That is better than having the stuff in a landfill too. Recycle your old clothes into usable stuff.

I read that thrift stores don't put out 90% of what they receive. Not because the stuff is too ratty but because it is so out of style or garish and cheap looking, that they know they can't sell it. They don't waste the retail space. They only put out the good stuff. They also do not "hold items" for sale later in the season. They put out summer stuff in the summer and winter stuff in the winter. If they receive a sweater in the summer it goes directly to the rag collector no matter how nice the sweater is.

Shades, have you watched the HOARDERS on A&E ? It will scare the begeez out of you, and give you more determination to continue your pare-down program.

Good to hear you are "paring down" on yourself too....it will make for a happier self image.

I keep nibbling away (my favorite way of doing things) at the plastic totes in the back bedroom too. Pretty soon, I'll be making the rounds of my friends to distribute some really good books, some fabric, some plants in nice pots, and a few kitchen gadgets I can afford to turn loose.

Speaking of kitchen gadgets, I bought a cheap Japanese mandoline instead of the hi-dolla French mandoline. First thing I did was take a slice off the tip of my thumb while shredding cabbage. Yikes. So cole slaw was taken off the menu for tonight. But the mandoline is my new favorite hand operated kitchen gadget. My favorite hand held electrical kitchen gadget is the submersible mixer. It is handy-dandy and goes in the silverware drawer. compact!

I can't see storing anything in the oven unless one does as one person did in the article - have the power cut. I used to store my big roasting pans in the oven because I had so little storage for those big items. I ruined some by forgetting to take them out when pre-heasting the oven. A sweater in the oven? Uh-uh.

That article is pretty crazy. What if they just stopped owning so many clothes? I started this little thing on my blog called "The No New Clothes Challenge" because I was tired of buying more clothes than I was wearing and feeling like I had to look a certain way.

Dilly dally's idea of storing oven items in the oven totally makes sense. But if all the girl wears is black... (thanks for sharing this article, too!) What do you guys think about owning a lot of clothes?

Here's the link to the no new clothes stuff I'm discovering if you're interested. Just a thought. I've been doing it for almost a year.

Here is a link that might be useful: no new clothes challenge

By ML "Shades, have you watched the HOARDERS on A&E ? It will scare the begeez out of you, and give you more determination to continue your pare-down program."

YES Every week. And YES it totally freaks me out because I REALLY WAS a hoarder. Not a filthy hoarder like they show but I had every nook and cranny filled up. It was so scary. Most is out of here now. I am good about not buying new stuff. I did buy some pretty depression desert dishes Saturday. YES I will use them and I love that old green glass and they look so pretty in my china cabinet. And with all I just got rid of I deserve to get these.

And do not freak out because I admitted to being a hoarder. I hope some one seeing this will know it can be over come. I did not get help. I sorted it all out myself. In our house AND in MY brain. I am so over it. Feels so good to know I WON this battle. Just took me a long time.

Chris

I have hidden dirty dishes in my oven before, does that count? lol

I can't even imagine people who never cook.

Chris said "WHY do I hang onto this stuff?? Well I did not want to buy new because I am finally loosing weight and do not want to waste the money buying new and having to do it all again in a couple more months. And I would not buy new while I was so heavy as I hated myself being that way."

I have said exactly the same thing. Now that I am feeling better again, I am going to really put an effort into losing weight and keeping it off. THEN, I'm going to go through my closets. I have clothes I used to love and I want to wear them again.