[mtalk]

I feel so torn...

trying to get my house under control/decluttered vs. a passion for shopping & stockpiling!

I am not organized by nature, so the more I bring into our house - clearance, free diapers, bags of free HBAs.... The more there is for me to try to keep under control & find places for.


Does anyone else have this struggle?

I love the thrill of bargains, I love having a stockpile of things we use, yet I feel like our house is so full I shouldn't bring home 1 more thing!!!

I need help! My shopping hobby is making me my own worst enemy when it comes to getting my house under conrol!!

[irishgirl73]

We have this issue, too, because our house is relatively small. What I ended up doing is buying a set of shelves (kind of like you would put in your garage) from Home Depot and putting those up in my laundry room (which is actually fairly big). I keep my grocery items on that shelf. I have my paper towels and trash bags on some built-in shelves also in the laundry room. I have some built-ins in my bathroom, too, and that's where my body wash, shampoo, wipes, etc are. Then I have two sets of Sterilite drawers in my bathroom for things like Tylenol, razors, toothpaste and toothbrushes, deodorant, etc. I don't have as big a stockpile as a lot of others, but it's still fairly large...but you'd never know it walking into my house. You can't "see" it.

Oh, and I forgot the stuff under my kitchen sink...my 10 bottles of Dawn, I don't know HOW many sponges, and my 25 boxes of Electrosol.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

[Susuz]

I know the feeling! I have been home alone this week and organizing, decluttering, no where near done but making progress. I have found that I can make a bunch more room for my HOBBY by donating what I can't use.

Find a local charity that you like, put a large box in your stockpile room and once every week or so fill it up and donate. I keep a box for each group I donate to regularly in my garage labeled: FAMILY, CHILDREN"S SHELTER, TROOPS, DD SCHOOL, ANIMAL SHELTER. Now I try not to have all of the boxes out at the same time, but know if I am working on a special deal I know ahead where it will be going. The secret is to NOT procrastinate taking the stuff away!
The Children's Shelter now has a lady that knows to call me once a month to see if I have anything and they will pick it up.

When I find that I suddenly have 25 bottles of Hand Sanitizer, I figure out how many I can use in a year, put that amount aside and then the rest go in the donation box. No more huge bags of stuff that I will not be able to figure out where everything is! Do you have a regular stockpile area in your home? I have shelving in my garage for non-perishables, it took a little bit to get organized but it is working better every month.
Good luck and just start in one room a week, you will have it under control before you know it.

[kutch07]

We actually have the sampe problem. We have a tiny apartment that is filled with toys and other kids stuff.. But I do some fixing every other week.. I fill some bins with stuff my kids no longer use like small clothes and shoes and put those bins in the garage and either sell them on ebay.. We have an upcoming village garage sale so I am looking forward too so I can get rid of some clutter.. The rest I donate to our village drive since they take not only food but almost anything!

I have problems with the bulky packs of diapers i recently bought at Walgreens as well (gosh, 18 packs plus the stock I had before the sale).. Shopping for bargain stuff is not the problem it's basically how to manage the stuff. One thing I keep in mind is if I they do not fit in our linen closet, which is used as our stockpile closet, then I wont buy anymore or I will get rid of some stuff that I know I can give away or share to other people to make room for the things I REALLY NEED. I had to learn to prioritize and it did not come easy at first but I eventually learned.

[Sally]

I am going through the same thing right now. Yesterday, went down into the basement, we have two freezers, two refrigators, well the door to the freezer part of the refrigator did not get completely cosed the last time I removed an item due to it being packed to full, I lost everything in it before I knew it was open.

As I was throwing away food and thinking on I wish I had just given it all away, I thought to myself, no more, I will not overstock anything that I will not use in 6 months. I will save the money and start out fresh again. I am worn out from all the going to get the deals, and mostly giving half of it away.

I will now start stockpiling in moderation. It would be a mess if you ever had to move and had the mess of stuff I have. I know I have enough razors, shampoo etc to do a lifetime.

I am not complaining, I am very thankful, but yet at the same time I need to draw the line.

[orangegrove7]

I have the same problem. I am overflowing with free or nearly free baby wipes. Underneath my daughter's bed is filled with them.

It is a constant struggle.

[LACECOUPONS]

I brought a 48 wide/24in deep and 72 in high shelf from lowes for 60.00 it holds 5000 pounds.it holds everthing.I have it in my mudroom. other stuff i luck on a nice chest from the salvation army and put my personal stuff.I am so happy i got those item it is now much cleaner than before.

[miss4kids]

YES!!! I have the same exact problem. In fact my mood goes from really excited and almost on a high from all the bargain shopping, to yelling and screaming at the kids/hubby because my house is so unorganized which makes me crabby. I know I am obsessed with all this couponing. My husband actually caught me yesterday looking at pics of peoples stockpiles, and said to me "Are you serious?" I think he thinks I'm crazy. Is it so wrong to have goals? Anyway, back to the getting organized part, I need help too.(Right now you open the towel closet and shampoo falls on you) So if someone has any great suggestions, I am all ears. Another problem I have is I go shopping and get the deals, and then come home, and I am on AFC seeing what deals everyone else got. There is no time to clean and organize!

[rgyman]

I am moving and am selling my stockpile like crazy so after I get moved you can send my way. LOL I have tons of shelf in the garage like 15 shelving unit that came from Costco that hold 5000 lb. then I have one room that is in my house set for stockpile that has 3 big metal cabanets and 12 plastic shelf units. They were all full but as I said before I resell my stockpile items so had to have the inventory but now I moving I really have to sell all my stockpile as the moving with me packing is costing us $10,700.00 OUCH!!! That with out my stockpile price they gave us and selling off some of the shelving units.

[mtalk]

Originally Posted by miss4kids

YES!!! I have the same exact problem. In fact my mood goes from really excited and almost on a high from all the bargain shopping, to yelling and screaming at the kids/hubby because my house is so unorganized which makes me crabby. I know I am obsessed with all this couponing. My husband actually caught me yesterday looking at pics of peoples stockpiles, and said to me "Are you serious?" I think he thinks I'm crazy. Is it so wrong to have goals? Anyway, back to the getting organized part, I need help too.(Right now you open the towel closet and shampoo falls on you) So if someone has any great suggestions, I am all ears. Another problem I have is I go shopping and get the deals, and then come home, and I am on AFC seeing what deals everyone else got. There is no time to clean and organize!

Oh we seem so similar!! It's a battle between a deal obsession and a house that is overflowing!

[Dianaj64]

I married the neatest (in many ways!) man on the planet. He organizes and keeps it clean. God knows what it would look like around here if not for him! :-)

[mtalk]

Originally Posted by Dianaj64

I married the neatest (in many ways!) man on the planet. He organizes and keeps it clean. God knows what it would look like around here if not for him! :-)

Can he be cloned??

Unfortunately my dh is also a "messy"!

[bubbsguy]

Yeah I'd like a clone too. I have the same problem and with the free kraft WYB 3 items I've had to buy big plastic totes and things to store a lo of it.

[jenbob31905]

DH has asked me a few times the past few weeks about the grocery shopping end of things... He'd love to see a cart full of food that we would actually use for like $20... At least that is the same amount of $$$ he keeps mentioning... I told him until we go through what we already have, no way will I start on the grocery end of things. At least I haven't gone overboard on the HBA products yet, mainly have bought for little to nothing the brands that I know we'll definitely use. Once things get organized, I'll get the freebies to give to family/friends or to donate, but until the house is decluttered... No way is another thing coming into it just because it's free!... Unless CVS "pays" me to buy it... At least that's what I keep telling myself!

[adamsmom1]

I've had to make better use of the storage areas in my house--under the kitchen and bathroom sinks, in the linen closet, in the back corners and top shelves that aren't handy in kitchen cabinets, and under-bed boxes. I have added short shelves to the cabinets with a lot of space between shelves to double the space. I have decided to have a yard sale every 6 months and sell off what we won't use before the next yard sale. Some of the stuff would expire before we could use it anyway.

[kmeiding]

I live in an apartment too and I need to learn to take advantage of the top shelf of my bedroom closet and part of the floor under my clothes. There is some stuff up there, but not much. I am thinking to put paper towels I bought on the top shelf. Just yesterday, I picked them up off the living room floor where they got thrown weeks ago! I also need to buy another clear tote to put soaps and HBA stuff in. My MIL unpacked my last tote and put it all in a box! I liked the tote because I could kinda see what was in it. Now I just have an unorganized box.

[FreebieMama]

I take frequent shopping breaks, and donate lots of my stockpile. And I still have a mess.

[mmtinga]

I use the coat closet by my front door for items that I can store on the plastic shelves I purchased. The HBA items are in plastic boxes in the bathroom cabinets. I have way too much A1 sauce so I am trying to be more picky about what I stockpile.

[LindseyLouXOX]

I definitely need to get organized. I keep organizing our pantry, but it keeps getting cluttered and messy. I have an office/stockpile room and if you guys saw pictures you'd be horrified I just keep throwing bags in there with all my goodies, everytime I try and organize, I stop to see what deals there are here on AFC, I get carried away, waste time chatting (like now ), them it's time for me to cook dinner, baths, relax with hubby then put everyone to sleep. I come to clean up again and it's a vicious cycle I can't stay away from the deal forums and the stores!! LOL Hubby may think I am crazy, shakes his head at my room, but he loves "shopping" in it and we just close the door so nobody can see it!!