Untidy house = major stress

jinny

Hi there sorry you are feeling down and overwhelmed and second the advice to stop being so hard on yourself. You cant be everywhere when you have been so busy. I think the idea for a haven is really good advice. i love my bedroom and always try to keep that reasonably tidy. I have empty nest syndrome and never thought i would miss my sons dirty clothes dumped on the bathroom floor with the wet towels or the green furry plates under his bed!
there is a method that i have heard of where you start by picking the stuff of the floor first and if it belongs in that room put it in a container in that room. any stuff that doent belong in that room gets put in a container in the room it belongs in. Chucking out any rubbish or unwanted stuff as you go. Then when you have some spare time pick a few things out of the box in that room and put them away. The beauty of that method is there is no hurry to empty the boxes if you get fed up or visitors say. all of the stuff that belongs in that room is in the box designated to the room so at least you have a fair idea where the item is you want. I use paper plates too when decorating or have a lot on that is a good tip too. I saved my nieces neck once when she had a party at her parents house while they were on holiday we put all of the dishes in the bath with soap powder over night to soak!!!
Washing? I think we all keep too many clothes i culled mine last year to a weeks worth of outfits with three basic colours never buy patterns now I have work clothes and casual I hardly go out socialy so dont have much of those clothes.Same with bedding and towels we keep to much you only need a couple of changes. good luck and dont make work for yourself keep life simple

Confuzzled

something that i've employed successfully both for myself and for my family is the 'clean up quickly during the adverts' method whilst watching telly. everyone races about trying their best to get as much done as possible... this is great if you're really really needing to just wind down and watch something without having to focus on 'real life' too much. you get to unwind but you dont' have to feel guilty about it and you'd be surprised how much can get down this way

also another thing i've tried is 'ok we're going to clean til 'X' amount of songs are over and then we can have a break

maybe pick about 10-15 minutes worth of music that gets your moving and make sure everyone is moving it, maybe even get competitive. you may find that the songs end but you're not quite done with something so you just keep going til that's done. do this a few times a day and before you know it it's done!

also try focusing on say one or two rooms per day not the entire house. once you've gotten that one room clean you'll feel proud and you'll be able to see an improvement which will lift your mood. it will also encourage you to keep that room tidy (maybe during adverts ) which shouldn't be too hard since most of the work will be done already.

i usually start with the bathroom as that one is quickest to clean and stays clean the easiest compared to other rooms...

slm6002

Just wanted to pop in and say good luck with the cleaning. I am in the same position as you and have 3 ish weeks to clean (about to give birth) whole house. I have 2 little ones that destroy the rooms (in 10 min) that i have just taken half the day cleaning. It is so soul destroying.

I know i will be having lots of visitors in the next month or so and am planning on living room, kitchen and bathroom first. Bedrooms can wait, although would like my room to be sorted so baby can sleep nicely in her mosses basket (currently filled with clean washing!)

Think i will go write a list for each room and try to make a start on things - i am very good at writing the lists but no so good at doing the jobs on the list.

Anyway good luck with your cleaning

prudencekitten

((Hugs)) to OP and all others struggling with housework. I used to be the same when married to my first husband. He didn't care about tidiness and cleaning, and I used to think "well why should I be the mug who does all the work". And with two children who also didn't care, I was often despondent when I looked around at the mess. After the divorce I was on my own with the kids and found it much easier, and now I am married to a neat freak and wonder how I lived in the mess.

Everything is tidied away in its place every night and I do two hours of cleaning at the weekend plus washing and ironing. (He does the cooking and gardening.) I only wash clothes that are dirty/smelly, otherwise they get put back in the wardrobe/drawer. I line-dry what I can or drape overnight on a dryer or radiator, then give towels, nighties, vests, pants a quick whirl in the tumble drier when almost dry which saves ironing.

Decluttering is essential as the Flylady is right when she says you can't clean round clutter. Be ruthless in chucking or sending to charity. The emptier your rooms, the easier they are to clean.

devon27_2

Hi

I just wanted to come an offer some of my ideas as well, they may not be great but just thought it may help the OP

firstly just tidy clean the bathroom/kitchen/front room so at least you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. secondly what I do when i have lots of laundry to do i spend the whole day trying to clear the basket, if you are very carefull and dont overload the machine and hang as soon as they come out onto hangers etc you can get away with not ironing a lot of things or if you have a tumble dryer then give them a whiz in there and hang of fold as needed it. If the weather is good then i hang it out when its done even if its night time!
soon makes the iroining pile look a lot healthier:T

When i clean i do my bathroom sink/loo every day and then the shower cubicle (havent got a bath) get a wipe down every other day and a good clean at the weekend!.

Kitchen, I wipe tops and cooker down when i have used them and load dishwasher daily, I wash the floor on set days eg Tuesday and Saturday. I go through the cupboards/ fridge day before we go shopping

as for the rest, I will dust the longue one day, hall/stairs/landing another and the bedrooms in maybe an afternoon or if there is nothing good on TV in the evenings

I vacuum quickly everyday as I have 2 maulting dogs and cream carpets !:eek: not our choice but they were brand new and expensive ones the previous owners left but i didnt used to before we had pets just twice and week then once a fortnight I used to do the edges and move furniture etc

The thing to remember its your home and when you have done a few rooms it may not be like a show home but its your own space and my idea is if visitors carnt accept you are busy or its not spotless then i say dont visit

Dont let it get on top of you and you can only do when you can do in a day!

Hope i havent bored everyone with my ramblings on :rotfl:

orangesmartie

Westywoodpecker wrote: »

I've mastered the art of cleaning our kitchen floor on my hands and knees, timed in one of the numerous add breaks on This Morning

Would you come and do mine?

morganlefay

What nice people on here - such good ideas. I struggle with a big house FULL of my accumulated stuff. OH is a tidy person but has long ago given up nagging. We're trying to move but can't till I've got rid of vast swathes of stuff, not helped by having many of my late Mum's belongings too. I keep making piles of stuff to e bay or sell somewhere but I have just decided that these activities are going to be too time and effort consuming and frankly I'm just going to give most of the stuff I'm getting rid of to the charity shop. I feel guilty about that because we could do with the money but if I can summon up the energy to put the stuff to go in boxes I want it gone. My Oh's favourite outing is taking such boxes to the charity shop or tip. I liked the person who said that revealing bits of floor was an objective - I have several rooms which apparently have no floor at all, and my objective is to be able to use the hoover properly in all of them for once. Yesterday I vinegared the shower tray which had been disgusting and it's so lovely now I feel really motivated, so I do know how small triumphs make you feel good. hang in there and thank you everyone for kind and gentle suggestions! (flylady lovely but much too energetic for me and my stiff knees and lurking black dog).

maltesers_2

MissMotivation wrote: »

Over the last couple of months things have been really busy and stressful both with work and my private life, consequently my housework has become less of a priority and now I keep looking at my house and I just want to cry!

I can't get on top of anything, i've got piles of washing that need doing, piles of ironing, it just needs a massive clean and tidy and I don't know where to start.

I just feel like crying when I look at it and i've been blocking it out evertime I walk through the door.

I really don't know where to start and everytime I think about it just get more stressed!

I know just how you feel but your problem probably isn't as bad as it seems (most aren't). You have only got a couple of months of mess. My mess was about a years worth, I have been ill and literally coudn't do anything and unfortunately my husband is oblivious to dirt and thinks half an hour cleaning a week (kitchen only) is good enough. The fact that I thought I might die also made it worse because daft though it might seem I didn't want to leave behind a mucky house for others to clean up.

When I started to feel a bit better I thought I could get a spring cleaner to sort it out and have a new start - but I couldn't find one locally. However, I still knew I would have to declutter and it was clothes that I sorted first. I wanted to get down to one wardrobe's worth of clothes and no more. I got rid of loads at a car boot and the rest went to charity. (Some got packed away - just in case)

Having got rid of loads of clothes the bedrooms are tidier and I started to clean. I know it sounds silly but I paced myself by pretending to be my own cleaner. I could not afford many hours a week so inspected the rooms and decided what I would get the cleaner to do each week. I'm gradually getting there and as each area gets done I am inspired to not only continue but also make small improvements along the way.

I think having a sort of plan works and pretending to have cleaner helps me plan at least a bit of cleaning work each week and doing it.

jinny

Do remember to have a day off from cleaning or any house work. Personaly i do not clean at weekends the house just gets a quick swipe, hoover, dust, swipe, bed made, laundry load every day. I work all week and I feel that is my unwind time i have a condition that makes me very tired easy so that is my excuse.
I do a version of the flylady thread level 1,2 and 3
energy willing my flexible routine is:

Monday is kitchen day; cooker micro, cuboards, light switches, kettle,toaster, paint work, window, scrub floor ect

Tuesday is Stairs, hallways, conservatry. front door, radiators, paint work, window.

Wednesday is lounge day: move sofas get into corners, window, paintwork, radiaters ect

Thursdays: bathroom; everything washed, paintwork windows floor, mirrors ect

Fridays: bedrooms: change beds, windows, floors, radiators, paintwork ect

Saturday and Sunday time off or if you cant face house work or are out of the house weekdays for all day you could do all this at weekends sounds a lot but each time the jobs get easier. any jobs i cant get done just get left untill the next weeks room day

Well that works for me obviously i dont always have the energy to do all that every day I just pick a level i can cope with but over the month most things get done and each time the jobs and dirt dont get built up too much.
I got this method of working from a friend who used to clean private homes and she always got praised for her work

Emm-in-a-pickle

Yes it IS stressful when you are surrounded by mess. Worst offender is DS, but not worth the stress as we always row when I try to get him to clear up. When I just battle on and do it myself I do feel better, but that`s a binge thing on my days off. I work full time, irregular shifts, so it gets left for days at a time - and to be honest, I am disorganised.
ANY flat surface here is a magnet for clutter. Even the log basket which is not exactly a flat surface - as I type there`s a box of catfood pouches, DGD`s slippers, and a stapler (??) perched precariously on top of the logs.