My home is a mess

Emm-in-a-pickle

I have done the window - and the best thing about it is that DGD`s window doesn`t get cat-snotted like LR & kitchen ones, so it might stay clean a bit longer!
Curry is festering nicely too, smelling nice.
That`s it, I`m getting my slippers on!

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies!
I`ve had to keep telling myself it`s Friday as for some reason I woke up convinced today was Saturday.
So far today -
Cleaned up in kitchen (DS didn`t want to eat when curry was ready so I left his in the pan for him...worktops pebbledashed with rice and curry splots!!)
I`ve also been out and about, collected my repeat prescription, taxed the car, and paid water bill.
Off to farm shop now, then I might do some de-messying this afternoon....or not. x

dibuzz

I'm struggling to do things at the moment, all I've managed today is some washing and put the recycling out but we didn't have much so I just put the food scraps bin out and left the jars/cans/plastic bottles till next week.

Emm-in-a-pickle

What a morning!!!
DGD is in residence here for the weekend as usual, but today she`s at a computer game convention, so her mum (who is taking her) came to pick her up at 9am. Last night I managed to get her showered/de-dagged, and sorting what to wear (a performance THAT was!) and DS said he`d do her packed lunch later after I went to bed.
Simple enough, egg mayo in baguette, fruit/crisps/juice cartons. This morning, when I got up there`s eggshell, blobs of mayo, & more breadcrumbs than you`d believe a baguette could hold, all over the kitchen, plus 2 bowls 2 forks & 3 spoons dotted about with egg mayo on them.
And poor old Dafty-dog had peed on the LR woolly rug.
And DGD had changed her mind about what to wear, and then couldn`t find her boots.
They finally went on their way.
I`ve dealt with the mess, washed rug and then washed bathroom/toilet mats and bedside mats cos I seemed to be on a roll!
I`ve now run out of steam....

dibuzz

Emm-in-a-pickle wrote: »

I seemed to be on a roll!

Is that the roll the egg mayo should have been on? :rotfl:

The sun is out here, not sure how long for so I'm going to get some washing out while I can.
I can't see the grass drying out enough to mow it but might strim a path to the washing line.

Emm-in-a-pickle

Last year I unearthed a bit of concrete path, there was thick weedy turf had grown over it and the concrete hadn`t been seen for years. If it weren`t for that I would have trouble getting to the line too.
I got a bit of second wind after my earlier binge, and I`ve been playing with my new mop-bucket again. Mopped LR, Kitchen, bathroom & downstairs loo, cleaned both loos, and swilled down & brushed outside back door with zoflora...
then the cat came in. So, I shooed her out again and she must have gone in the coal (she`s all black so I wouldn`t notice) so when she sneaked back in there were all these little back pawprints. Buggritt, I`m not doing it all again now!

pollypenny

Oh! I've just seen this thread, with relief after the Flylady one, which terrifies me!

I've spent the afternoon sorting a kitchen cupboard, one of those corner things, and thrown out all the plastic containers which OH insists on keeping for freezing stuff.

I'm in a general panic about the house, everywhere I look there seems a corner which is filthy. I'm for ever wiping the kitchen doors, the Shaker cream was a mistake!

mothernerd

Only up to page 20 but really enjoying this thread and the older tired old- styler one - hilarious. I have never been great at housework - I blame my mother. My brothers were 2 and 4 years younger than me and I was in charge of looking after them whilst she did the housework.

She would disappear upstairs for hours (that's what it felt like) leaving me to stop brother one poking sticks into the fire (and down grids and he ate earwigs - they once had a party and the morning after he climbed on a worktop and emptied the dregs of all the beer bottles into one and drank it)and when the second one came along (I made it clear that I did not want another brother and put a notice in the window offering to give him free to a good home as soon as I could write) I was in charge of stopping them fighting.

She also told me to watch the chip-pan - never said any more, I lived in constant fear of the chip-pan and have never owned one myself.

My ex once said that I was the best mother and the worst house-keeper he had ever met and that's the nicest thing he ever said to me - not that there are many to choose from. He always set very high standards for me despite my having rescued him from an ex-bed-sit (he only got a mortgage because his landlord died and he didn't want to move again). I said if I had seen the state of his kitchen before I accepted a drink of water from him, I wouldn't have drunk it. He also lived on takeaways - he had been living on his own for 10 years and could only cook a fried breakfast.

After having first child I adopted a we all have clean clothes and we have food to eat stance.

Been on my own for many years with 3 boys and when I got rid of ex I decided I had 3 options
1) run round all day cleaning up after boys
2) spend all day yelling/pleading trying to get boys to do for themselves
3) lower standards
Guess which option I chose?

I actually did quite well with the first 2, they would put toys away when requested. Well I would set a time limit and then go in with the 'big black bin'. Anything still on the floor went in the bin and into my room, broken things would be disposed of, some went to the charity shop, toys were returned for good behaviour.

DS3 was a challenge (he still is - he's 23). He would do nothing and would then tell people that 'he had no toys because mummy had sent them all to oxf*m'. He even acquired friends who were so eager to come and play in our house that they would offer to tidy his room for him. The clock was set five minutes fast because it was the only way to get to school on time - DS3 would invariably have 'lost' his shoes, reading book, p.e. kit and we would all rush round locating them - if not watched he would stop getting dressed and go into his own little world and was devastated when the shoe shop no longer had velcro shoes to fit him as he refused to learn to tie laces.

DS3 is the only one left at home and I am trying to get the house fit to sell - plan is to buy something that suits me and my mother as she will come to live with me if/when something happens to her partner (he is older than her, has dementia and other health issues).

For the past six months I have done an awful lot of work with very little money but was overdoing it and have spent the past 2 weeks in bed as the doctor has said I must rest my leg or it will not get better. Sitting downstairs seems to exacerbate the problem (when I finally went to the doctor I couldn't put any weight on my leg or straighten it every time L had been sitting - on the bus, in the waiting room etc) and I would need the heating on so I am dressed but on the bed.

Currently sharing this room with half the attic stairs - a friend of DS3's has been staying for a week, then back home for a week, taking apart the old stairs (DS3 is actually helping him) and mending them to put back properly. He knows what he is doing and has helped with other 'wood' jobs (wardrobe door, kitchen door re-hung, shed door - I started but a bit fell off again) but he has health problems as well and needs to take things at his own pace. I also have most of the stuff from the smallest bedroom in here as that and the bathroom were the rooms I was working on before I stopped being able to go up a ladder (or stand up at all for longer than 10 minutes).

I do think I am getting better but limited at the moment - I get water from the bathroom (2 cups and a water bottle) and go downstairs about 3 times a day for food and do what I can whilst waiting for it. I can't carry a lot but have done 2 lots of washing (threw it downstairs) today and put 1st on the line (1 sheet at a time), put a clean sheet on the bed, moved various waste baskets (easy to carry) of rubbish and recyclables downstairs and to the bins.

I had already done a lot of de-cluttering but I too find fly-lady intimidating although I did post describing the state of my bathroom when I checked what was supposed to be done one day (I was painting the floor to ceiling cupboard, have been trying for weeks to get the rust off the shower rail - new one is £150, had dirty water in the bath - trying to replace bathseal and was soaking a toothpaste encrusted plastic drawer and a garment of DS3's which had red stains on, the sink was full of decorating acoutrements - only place I could reach them when I was up the ladder and plastic 'dustsheets' were waiting to trip the unwary).

So I hurt, I can't mop (bathroom, kitchen and hallway need it desperately) and I'm so frustrated. I like your baby steps and have done the tv advert cleaning often in the past so I will tag along if you don't mind.

km1423

Keeping a house "tidy" or acceptable is a tough chore once it has become out of control. When we were children, (3 of us) our mother told us to tidy our rooms each week, clean bathroom/loo.

If we left anything that wasn't where is was supposed to be, she threw it away. We soon learned to be organised, and she didn't joke with us.

As we became older, we learned to leave kitchen clean, and most importantly clean as we go - that eased the stress of doing a bulk clean.

I apply that same strategy now. Seldom do I leave anything to the point of overwhelming, and little and often, as we have a big house, really works. I hate doing a big task at the weekend, when I want to relax.

Declutter, by either giving to Charity shops, selling at boot fairs, offering on FreeCycle, or selling on Ebay. One man's waste is another man's want.

Take your time, and use the bite size approach.

Don't get stressed about it all, just take your time. Your small efforts will be rewarded, and don't take on what you don't feel will be accomplished in the time you have allowed.

Admitting you are behind or have allowed things to slip, is not a bad thing.

Another way is to ask family/friends to give you a hand on tasks that are obviously a challenge, then you should be able to maintain from there.

Just keep a positive attitude and don't let it get you down.

pollypenny

Trouble OH won't part with stuff! He will be Mr Trebus if I die first!

We had a horrible fall out yesterday evening, because of my clearing out and insisting that we must do more. He has guide books from every damn place we've visited, I don't mean the country, but each individual site!

As the children left home, our stuff expanded to fill the place. I have been disciplined over the last two years and got rid if lots of books, including my lit crit text books, as I won't need them in retirement. He won't follow suit!

Feel very fed up today. :wall: