The bane and the blessing of living in a small home is how little space there is to store our stuff.

The blessing: it encourages us not to acquire things or, if we do, to get rid of something old before we bring in something new.

The bane: we spend a lot of time reorganizing.

Personally, I love organizing things. It’s good to be reminded what we have (man, are we blessed!) and to revisit the question, “Do we really need this?” My favorite tool for reorganizing is the “prime real estate assessment.” Things that are used most get prime real estate in our home – easy-to-access drawers or shelves, the sturdiest or prettiest bins, and so on. Things we use less often get relegated to that annoying spot in the closet that requires you to remove three things before you can get to it.

The periodic shifting of our possessions reminds me of the old metal numbers game (pictured). In order to free up some prime real estate, I’ve got to make space in other nooks and crannies, which invariably causes a ripple effect that temporarily turns every room in our home into a work-in-progress.

The bane: I can’t get frustrated when my husband and children can’t find certain things, because I’ve relocated them so often even I have to retrace my steps.

The blessing: when your house is less than 1,000 square feet, there are only so many places things can hide.