Smothered

[Asraix]

:collapse: I live in a one bedroom apartment with my husband and our 3 month old daughter. My husband is a pack rat. He refuses to get rid of anything and our apartment is full of clutter. All the wall space is taken up and all the closets are over-full. I barely have enough room to walk without tripping over baby items or his clothes. He doesn't want to get storage space because 1.)He doesn't want to pay for it and 2.) He doesn't like having things and having to have them packed away. (He says "whats the use of having things if you can never look at them?") I feel smothered. :inabox: Like I can't breathe. My home has become less of a home and we can't really afford to move to a bigger place. I have tried cleansing and cleaning constantly but it doesn't seem to help for very long. Any ideas on how to make my humble abode a bit less stressing? :ack: I'm not used to living in such a cramped enclosure and not feeling at peace.

[Ivy Artemisia]

I am the anti-clutter. If something is laying around, I will throw it out. Nothing will make you feel more disorganized and frustrated than clutter. Also, it makes in near impossible to clean your house! Your husband has a problem. Seriously...

What I would do if I were you, is invest in some plastic boxes. They are stackable and you can store everything in them. Then you can stack them against one wall. At least then they will be out of the way and your husband can take things out and look at them when he feels the need.

I live in a studio apartment with a computer desk, two bookcases, a large entertainment center, and a queen bed, along with a boyfriend thats usually there. I understand feeling smothered. Plastic storage boxes are your friend.

[semi]

You could also maybe split the space you live in. Say "these are your storage spaces and these are my spaces." Then half the apartment would be free of clutter and you'd have a little room to breathe. And if his stuff overflows into your space, he has to get rid of it or it becomes yours to dispose of. You're sharing the space so he shouldn't fill it all up with his stuff.

[wakywitch]

Maybe he could could store some stuff that he is not using right this second at a friends house?

[Yasmine Galenorn]

:collapse: I live in a one bedroom apartment with my husband and our 3 month old daughter. My husband is a pack rat. He refuses to get rid of anything and our apartment is full of clutter. All the wall space is taken up and all the closets are over-full. I barely have enough room to walk without tripping over baby items or his clothes. He doesn't want to get storage space because 1.)He doesn't want to pay for it and 2.) He doesn't like having things and having to have them packed away. (He says "whats the use of having things if you can never look at them?") I feel smothered. :inabox: Like I can't breathe. My home has become less of a home and we can't really afford to move to a bigger place. I have tried cleansing and cleaning constantly but it doesn't seem to help for very long. Any ideas on how to make my humble abode a bit less stressing? :ack: I'm not used to living in such a cramped enclosure and not feeling at peace.

Ummm...do you think he has an O/C hoarding problem? I'm the opposite--can't stand clutter and if something has outlived it's usefulness or if I'm over it, it goes out. Maybe you could put it to him that the baby needs more room and needs more sanitary conditions--that much clutter can't be good for anybody. Good luck, and yes--plastic tubs are great storage helpers. Have you thought of getting a file cabinet for all the papers?

Yasmine

[MockingbirdOxygen]

Now, I am also a pack rat sometimes; I am, however, getting better at filtering out the things that I don't "need". Almost every clutter-clearing book I have ever read suggests boxing up the things that you feel can't be thrown out, and then if you forget about them and haven't even looked for them a few months later (except for seasonal items), you might feel better about throwing it out because you'll see you didn't need it. I don't know if you can talk your hubby into doing it, but I wish you all the luck.
Also, I'm not an extreme feng shui practicer, but the book I always recommend to people is "Clear Your Clutter with FENG SHUI" by Karen Kingston, because I like the way she embraces the idea of clutter as a whole, including the spiritual/physical effects it can have on you. She expands on the idea that keeping things "just in case" creates a lack of trust in the future. I have actually tried to think of some things this way; it is very hard, but on the occasions I have let go of some of my belongings, I've found that down the road, the universe provides me with what I need when I need it.
I don't know if you and your husband are both into doing spiritual/energy work, but you might want to present the idea to him of how being so cluttered up is affecting the flow of things in the house, if you haven't tried this already.
Living in a small apartment like that is hard, I know...My first husband and I lived in a 1-room on campus for the first couple years of my oldest son's life..talk about crampy! If you can't get your hubby to throw things out or even box them, have you thought about trying those plastic storage systems with the see-through drawers that pull out? I like them because I can see what's in them, and it's better, IMO, because if you put things in regular boxes in the closet and you do end up needing them, you have to dig through too much to get to them...for me, that's why the stacking drawers are so handy.
Hope something in this novel I wrote helps! _happydanc