Does anyone feel like me?? Never had a routine and don't know where to start??

seven-day-weekend

I've realised that you really have to throw things away; that helps an awful lot with the de-cluttering.

My house in the UK has hardly any storage cupboards, so I get those plastic bag thingys that go under the bed, you can get the air out of them and get them really flat. These are great for things like duvets and other bedding.

tigertiger_3

Im sitting in a s*** tip at the mo and do i care .............nnnoooooooooo
I worked full time and looked after the 2 kids, made sure the house was gleaming , washing ironing done without much help form OH and where did it get me...totally burned out! had to have time off work, my attitude to having my home all clean and inviting has done a turn. The kids have toys everywhere, ironing is up to the window :eek: back in work and the housework takes backstage..even going to get a cleaner in!! ( and OH increase his housework lol).

I try to sort out stuff as I go along, if I clean the bedroom sort out the wardrobes, making sure I take all unwanted items to the recycling depot or to charity.

Mics_chick

eryn_kathleen wrote:

Having the spare bedroom full of crap is the only way that FlyLady has worked for me. I can shut the door on that room and pretend it doesn't exist. If we hadn't done that, the general clutter in our flat would drive me mental and I would never get around to the actual cleaning bit.

ETA: I hope I manage to keep it up! I'm pretty proud of myself so far.

Well done EK you deserve to feel proud of yourself
Wish I had a spare room to shove all of my !!!!!! into though - got 2 young squatters in my "spare" rooms who won't be moving out for at least 14 or 15 years :rotfl: :rotfl:

patwa_2

If you're like me and you have the problem of agonizing over what to get rid of and what to keep (no, I do not need 58 issues of PCW from 4 years ago!), it's worth getting someone to help, like a friend or something. they can look at the situation from an abstract point of view, and they won't have the sentimental'ness that may be preventing you from getting rid of what is otherwise a useless waste of space. Also, it'll get done in half the time, and you can also have a laugh and even (shock horror ) have some fun tidying up your house.

Assign yourself a treat for when it's done, or when each room/section is done, maybe a take-away, a movie with the rest of the family in the lounge, or something, and keep in mind the view of what you want your house to be like and work towards it.

Spendless

Hi - I managed moggins FLC once and got 90% there but it was after my college course finished and DD was still at her nursery 3 full days a week,. With eldest at FT school, it was a lot easier than now when youngest is at school nursery for a couple of hours each morning and one of those days I'm back at college for, which will soon be increasing to 2 mornings.

I looked at the new years FLC and I think when I do get there I'm going to divide the days tasks between 2 days, but I thought I needed a proper sort out first before I began with a routine in place. So I told DH of my intentions and today I have now done all the upstairs :T . It has taken me about 5 hours to do this though . DH took the kids out of the way and I also made him in charge of all meal times, cos I wasn't prepared to stop what I was doing to prepare food.


Things that I found helped today. I did the bathroom first. With it being small it didn't take too long and then I had the satisfaction feel of a room being done. The next happened by chance an old work colleague rang me and we caught up with gossip for the best part of an hour, with me on my cordless phone. I didn't notice how much I was getting done as I chatted. I can find housework boring and thankless so talking on phone helped with that, and by time we'd finished our chat our bedroom was almost done. Finishing it then gave me 2 complete rooms done.

Hubby and kids then came home, we had tea, and watched the HP film, but I had left some items on landing window that lived downstairs. I allowed myself the film on the promise that each commercial break I would get up and fetch some items from upstairs and put them in their rightful home. This was acheived before end of film.

The kids before tea had been testing their lego boat in the bath! (they are making an unsinkable ship, cos the titanic people didn't know what they were doing which is why theirs is made out of lego:rolleyes: :rotfl: ). And hadn't tidied it :mad: . So this time I made them go upstairs and put the lego back in their bedroom.:D

My downstairs is still a tip, but hopefully I can get some done tomorrow, and if need be let it spill in to Mon AM when kids are at school. I've forfeited a w/end with the family really to get this done, but the idea is that by doing this now, next w/end we shall be able to spend ion any way we choose as Is I *should* be running to a routine by then.

foxy-lady

I usually make a little list of everything i want to do that day- this includes errands as well as housework- On my list for today i have still got to paint my finger nails and dye my eye-lashes. I wont go to bed till i've ticked everything.
I spring up in commercial breaks when i'm watching something- its surprising what you can do in 4 minutes. Load dishwasher, make-bed, empty washing machine, make another bed, peg washing out, empty dishwasher and so on...........xx

victory

sit and watch some episodes of 'how clean is your house' then feel both proud yours is no way as bad as those!! and motivated that you cannot possibly let your house get as bad as those on the tele!! xx

Mics_chick

Edinburghlass wrote:

Have a read of this thread...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=26648

much more fun to read than Flylady, you may not get any decluttering done while reading it but at least you'll have had a laugh

Blimey this puts my junk into perspective - the house might be a mess but at least I can get in all the rooms and sleep in my own bed!! Only read the first 2 pages but thought these people have "real" problems and mine is a mini one in comparison. Like "they" say you can always find someone much worse off than yourself and I think I found a whole bunch of them!!! I suggest some of you other posters might want to have a read and see if it does the same for you.

It hasn't made me feel any differently about my problem but at least I know I'm miles ahead of alot of people on that thread and (sadly) that makes me feel better - not at their misfortune but because I know I could have a much higher mountain to climb than I actually do...

nearlyrich

I discovered a long time ago that you can't organise clutter and if you have stuff with no home it will look messy even if you rearrange it every day.

Over the last couple of years we have evaluated all our possessions and anything we don't use has gone either on ebay or to a charity shop or even to the tip.

The kitchen cupboards were full of gadgets we never used, plates and dishes we only use at Christmas, now that sort of thing is in a high cupboard out of the way of daily use stuff.

Next I made a list of things that I have to do to keep life running smoothly, washing is a big one it easily gets out of control, look at what you are washing, do you have too many clothes or not enough?
I have a washing basket in the family bathroom and one in our bathroom, clothes either go in it or are hung up when taken off. I wash a dark load a light load and towels each weekend now with maybe a load in the week if required, tumble dry and no need to iron.

Meals is another one, you have to eat and wash up, wipe the worktop when you have washed up and put things away after use. Keeps the kitchen tidy so you can start to cook without cleaning first. Empty the bin as part of the tidy up/ wash up routine.

Paperwork,junk mail, bills, stuff children bring in from school, open post next to the paper recycle bin and shredder, put envelopes and other waste paper straight in there, note dates in diary as they come in. My bills are all on DD so not too much to sort out there. Newspapers can take over, I only buy one if I know I really have time to read it then it goes in the recycle bin.

My storage is suitable for what I have to store in each room, I can have the house visitor ready in less than 5 minutes.

I work fulltime and I have got two children to adults and it does get easier when the toys are no longer a feature.

I love watching Kim and Aggie, the state of some houses makes me feel really sorted.

And if it's pshycological as someone said above most of my family are really messy, my mum throws nothing away even if it's broken LOL.

rainbowrisin

Best advice I ever heard for instant de-clutter was to put everything you didn't instantly need into bin bags and put it in the shed / garage / storage. If you haven't been in there rooting for an essential for 12 months, then the stuff is pre-packed for the bin, and in it goes.
I think freecycle, ebay, charity shop etc is fine if you're a decisive "should it go or should it stay" (there's a clash song in there somewhere, i'm sure of it) type of person, but difficult if you're a clutter bug.
My top tips (my house is untidy but clean, I don't have time to make it spotless) are:
to do things in 10 minute bursts;
don't let any surface you have cleared re-clutter;
put things away as soon as you've stopped using them:
deal with paperwork as soon as it arrives;
don't pro-crastinate. The job will not go away, do it now and get it done, then you can forget about it.
Don't beat yourself up too much about it and celebrate your achievements. Other people may have spotless houses, but they may also lead very different lifestyles.