My home is a mess

MrsX_2

mcculloch29 wrote: »

Mrs X, I do feel for you.
This may seem like a cop-out to some but could you arrange for a cleaner to do a one off of a couple of hours? Most small operators charge about £10 an hour.
When I was working from home and teaching in the community (with 3 hours a day travel time) as well, a cleaner was the only way I could cope. I have arthritis.

I've considered it, but TBH, the main problem is that because the house was chaos prior to me becoming unwell, theres nowhere to tidy away to! All cupboards, garage, outhouse etc are full up!

I'm lucky in that every couple of weeks or so my Mum has been coming round and giving my bathroom a good clean, and vacuuming my stairs for me.

I guess the depressing bit is that I'm keen to get on with clearing the backlog of clutter, and no one can do that for me, I just need to get on with it when I have the energy.

bearcub

Hi MrsX. Well since the laundry doesn't get put away, and cupboards are full, how about starting with sorting a drawer or a wardrobe? Get yourself some bin bags or charity bags (we aways have loads of the latter), sit on the end of the bed or on a chair/stool, and start looking at items of clothing. Do you still wear it? No? Are you likely to? No? Bag it, either for throwing or CS. Yes, short term you'll have more bags, but they are fairly easily disposed of. Then, when you've cleared out/tidied said drawer or wardrobe, you can start putting the laundry away, and your table will be clear. Would that be a possibility?

sonastin

If part of your problem is having the energy to physically declutter, perhaps you cuold do the planning yourself and then get someone else to do the actual moving - your mum or a cleaner perhaps? If, for example, you rest by lying on the sofa and watching TV & the clutter between you and the TV is stressing you out, rather than get up and wear yourself out by moving it all, grab a pen & paper and list it all down. Decide on an eventual home for it (charity shop, tip, wardrobe, kitchen drawer, etc). Get someone else to remove the things that need to leave the house & shift the stuff that is staying in the general direction of where it wants to live. Once your eyeline is clear, you'll have a space to come and relax and recharge properly. And then you can move onto another space...

If you can't put stuff you're keeping into the place it should live because its cluttered, put it in a box marked "wardrobe" or "kitchen drawer" or whatever. And make one of those places your next target so that you can then get someone to put the stuff away when you've got it cleared.

Half the battle with decluttering is the decision making. You have to do that bit but you don't have to wear yourself out with physically moving stuff too. Once you've made your mind up, get help to actually shift things and you'll start to notice the difference.

bearcub

Where have all the Messies gone? All cleaned up and left?

I agree with you 100%, sonastin - getting started is always difficult, because you dither about where to start. Of course, in that dithering time, you could have de-messied quite a bit!

So says bearcub, who's done very little de-messying at all today, although I may well do some ironing this evening. I have sorted dried washing, and re-loaded the WM for tomorrow, though. I have taken time out to track down a record for the family archives - well, OH's family, to be precise. Australia's records are considerably easier to get to than ours!

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi and welcome, Mrs X. Some good advice there, cant really add anything more but take it steady and remember that any achievement, no matter how small is all improving things, although you might not really see it to begin with. Good luck. Oh and dont feel guilty about the dog walking - I am sure its doing you loads of good both physically and mentally. I think I would go mad sometimes if I didnt get out and walk the dog.

I managed the lie in on Saturday then went on to do a monster baking and cooking session. Working yesterday then at hospital with DS today so nothing much more done on the housework front. I really need to get the hoover out tomorrow afternoon after work and I must get some washing done too, the basket is overflowing.

Off to bed shortly. Night all. Hope Emms is resting up, havent heard anything from her lately but I suppose thats not surprising!

mcculloch29

Some smashing advice, there YorkshireLass, Bearcub and Sonastin.
I agree with Sonastin, Mrs X- why not direct the decluttering? My cleaner decluttered the food cupboard under my direction ("bin anything with a BBE of over 6 mos expired") when I was working from home one week. Good fun!

alec_eiffel

mcculloch29 wrote: »

Some smashing advice, there YorkshireLass, Bearcub and Sonastin.
I agree with Sonastin, Mrs X- why not direct the decluttering? My cleaner decluttered the food cupboard under my direction ("bin anything with a BBE of over 6 mos expired") when I was working from home one week. Good fun!

That's a great idea.

I sorted two cupboards yesterday which meant that the pantry and a couple of other cupboards can be organised and tidied better, I'll do that today.

We have quite a lot of cupboards but some of them are not that easy to use so I am using one of them (a huuuuge cupboard above the oven) to store things that usually get in the way like the cool box, flasks, all those bits and bobs that come along with a food processor and stuff like that. It's all out of the way but easy-ish to access.

I removed the bookcase from the porch cupboard - it was supposed to be a shoe rack but that never happened. So that's freed up a load of space for other things so I can keep Henry in there rather than the pantry. Hopefully it'll work, I seem to be trying to rejig it every month or so!

Have a good day everyone.

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies. I just typed a post and it disappeared. Great.
Welcome the new Messies, And thanks for kind words since my last post.
I`m still laid-up, grotty guts, saw GP again yest., more foul-tasting jollop & waiting for `tests`. OH is being an angel, getting fed weird meals (freezer) and I`ve lost interest in food (ME??) but snacking and picky because I know I should eat something...
Snowing here, but not forecast to last the day.
Place is a general mess, nothing drastic and I don`t care at the mo, ticking over bare minimum with help from OH.
Hope all are well.
Emmxx

bearcub

Afternoon Messies.

Good to see you, Emms. Sorry to hear your poorliness is ongoing, but I do hope they find out what's wrong soon. Bet they're missing you at work! Still, take it easy, and get well soon.

I think, YL, that dog walking does a lot of good for lots of people. With me, working with the horses and at the stables has a similar effect. Good for you, doing all that cooking. Baking is the only cooking I enjoy, but OH and I severely limit how much cake, pastry and biscuits we eat nowadays, so baking sessions are very few and far between. I hope all is ok with your DS and, just as important, that all is well with you, too.

Alec e, de-messying seems to be constant 're-jigging'. I've quite a few soft toys - some mine, some were our DDs - and I've decided that some have got to go, just because we really don't have the space. Gonna be hard. Still, we do have the real thing, 6 times over!

Mc29, I have an annual clear out of my craft materials, and I enjoy that, too, especially as I put any unwanted useful stuff on Freegle. I'm always surprised just how many people are really keen to take it off my hands.

sandyann63

MrsX- dog walking may take some energy but it sure is good for the soul!
MC29- good idea on the decluttering. Sometimes you just have to get rid of things, however difficult it may be to do.
Have been really strict with myself on my 29 minute cleaning session. Just got the bathroom to do tomorrow night and another weekend ahead without a massive cleaning session to tackle. I am fortunate that we are a three adult household so generally things stay fairly clean and tidy once done. When the darling grandkids come to stay (6 and 3) it's not quite so simple!