4 Ways to Transform Your Home If You Can’t Afford to Move

My husband, son, and I lived in a 2 bedroom apartment when I was pregnant with my daughter.  For the first few months after she was born, she slept in a bassinet in our bedroom, and it was manageable.  When she moved into a crib, it became claustrophobic.

We rented a small storage unit to house seasonal items and some furniture to create more space.  Although I wanted to save some of my son’s books and toys for the baby, we simply didn’t have room. There were a lot of donations to friends and thrift stores. Soon after, we moved into a house with 3 bedrooms.  Immediately, everyone had more of their own space, we were not tripping over each other, and there was more peace.

If your possessions or family have grown, your home is starting to feel a little outdated, cramped, or unusable.  Ideally, you could move to a different home, but your budget may not allow it.  You could just deal with.  But, that could cause stress, frustration, and and a sense of helplessness.  There are four ways you can transform it.

1.  Reduce

-Decide your necessities and set aside all of the extraneous.  I try to do this pretty regularly with clothing, toys, and home decor items.

Resources:
Enjoying the things you love

How to Use Declutter Questions to Make Purging Decisions

2.  Reuse

-If someone in your family decides they don’t want or need an item any longer, then you can repurpose it for a different person, use, or room.

Resources:

3.  Recycle

-If you’ve pared down your possessions and repurposed as much as possible, donate the remainder.  You can give items away to family & friends, thrift stores, and domestic/homeless shelters.

Resources:
How To Make Weekly Household Purges Happen

4.  Renovate

You can renovate your entryway with stairs to create a more formal foyer or a family-friendly mudroom.  You can renovate your outdoor spaces with a deck to create an additional space for entertaining, work, or quality time with your family .

Have you been in this situation before?  How did you handle it?