I get very annoyed when people post about how Unclutterer isn’t how it “should” be. Unclutterer isn’t just about de-cluttering, and that’s actually what I like about it. My favorite part of this site is all the useful items we can buy that can help us organize our homes- I have never bought any of it, but it’s definitely given me some great ideas for when I live in a bigger space (and have any money to spend). I sometimes even skip over the uncluttering posts. That doesn’t mean I’m going to comment about how I wish they would stop posting so much about uncluttering spaces. Not everyone is going to like every single post on this site, and I think Unclutterer has done a great job of appealing to many different people.

One person’s discouragement is another’s encouragement, I suppose. Good luck with the little one and your crazy living situation, Erin.

I definitely see the posters’ points; this blog does seem to me to focus rather often on the “what can I buy” solution to organization. There is a financial incentive to do so (not to mention, new and shiny makes more attractive pictures). Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that. Erin’s free to write what she wants, and the readers are free to read–or not–at their whim.

To me, uncluttering is always in a bit of a tension with frugality. If you have infinite money, you don’t have to store anything–you can simply buy or rent it whenever needed and dispose of it afterward. The less money you have, the more likely you are to hold onto things in case you need them (yes, the storage does cost money too of course). I personally am much more willing to part with things if I know that obtaining them again is easy.

The workplace featured above is is a perfect example of what I think de-cluttering is all about – wise investment in items that will go the distance and function according to your needs. There have been many, many other workplaces featured in the past that were not quite so ‘streamlined’ or expensive looking, yet had also achieved this goal. And typically, I find a substantial majority of the topics on Unclutterer have to do with getting rid of hard-to-deal-with clutter (chemicals, sentimental items, etc). In fact, this was the main reason why I started following the site, and I haven’t noticed a substantial change.

I love this site because it has a spirit of comradeship about it – of offering up bits and pieces to help every (wo)man find his or her best de-cluttering practices.
All of the ridiculously nit-picky, holier-than-thou comments I routinely see here don’t augment that spirit – they hurt it.

@Katie – your space is gorgeous, and the fact that most everything is re-appropriated and from stores like IKEA makes it all the more impressive. I hope I’ll scrape together enough space to have an office like this someday!

Awesome space – lucky kids!

@ Paige–check out Katie’s flickr set (Erin links to it above) you’ll see where everything is stowed–and you will be amazed:)

The thing that bothers me more, though, is that the individual workstations seem so isolated. When I think of homeschooling, I think of a more interactive and personal approach to learning, and I’m not seeing much potential for that in this design. I would have preferred to see a more communal table/area for teaching, and/or maybe have the desks set up differently to promote interaction a little more; the way it is, it’s about one partition away from being a cubicle farm.

What an efficient use of space for a family. Looks great and seems to work for all of them.

I am one of the 65,000 that reads unclutterer every day. Some days appeal to me more than others but all are interesting.

It is my favorite site