A hurricane is the most effective way to declutter any life and I got that with Katrina. I really did have too much stuff and I was exhausted from taking it when I moved and constantly cleaning and organizing it. So when I was hit with Katrina, I tried not to dwell on the priceless stuff such as pictures and childhood mementos. I decided to just move forward with my clean slate and lead a simple life which I had always desired anyway.

Now that I live in a 600 sq ft house, I feel that everything that takes up space in the house, needs to justify its existence. There is no room for large useless items. I remember being envious of nuns because their rooms were limited to a bed, desk, wastebasket and a closet. So simple to keep neat! I find that cluttered houses are never really cleaned, they just rearrange the clutter. I feel SO good after a day of getting rid of clutter and love the new found space.

I feel that the more you have, the more you have to clean, the more you have to lose, the more you have to take care of and be responsible for. I want simplicity in my life. Having so much stuff really does stress me out.

But I do confess that I have a collection of fabric because I do sew. It doesn't take up room and I might not use it for years but if I like it and it is on sale for a dollar, I am going to buy it and there WILL be a time when it is just what I need. I like having fabric on hand because the nearest fabric store is 40 miles away and I get my most creative urges at 2 in the morning.

I also have quite a collection rocks and nail polish. I am in the process of creating a rock garden and the grandkids and I love painting shells and smooth river stones with nail polish (its better than paint for that purpose). I pick up rocks wherever I go. When people go on vacation, the souvenir that I want is a rock. That's cheap and easy to find.

I further admit that I love to read and have some books that I can't part with, as well as the library of kids books that I have for the grandkids.

Bayouboy is guilty of clutter as well. He has an abundance of hunting and farming magazines, hunting supplies for every season, tool, farm implements, horse stuff, just stuff, stuff, stuff, everywhere. It drives me nuts! The paperwork, receipts, magazines and important papers pile up around his chair until I finally have enough. I'm no fool, I know he refuses to clean it up himself because he doesn't want to exert himself and he wants to be able to blame me when he can't find something, lol! He wants me to do all the work and take all the blame if something gets misplaced. I'm on to him, I know how his mind works!

I bought a label maker and assessed our organization needs and got busy. In a small house, creative organization is so important. Everything needs to have a place. I have the little stack-able plastic drawers in my little house all neatly labeled.

One thing I do to cut down on clutter is to always have a box/bag where I can put items to be donated. I don't want to throw them away but don't need then so a donation box is perfect to catch things that are no longer useful to us. When it gets full, I drop it off. This keeps a constant flow of things going out of our house.

I am definitely enamored with totes and creative storage solutions. I love looking at tiny house and seeing how they solve storage problems. In my 196 sq ft guesthouse I had BayouBoy build a double bed platform high enough so that 3 plastic totes could fit under it.

I'd love to hear everyone's creative ideas for storing things.