sorting all my problems for a new year start can it be done ?

gailey_2

2012ismyyear wrote: »

p.s it doesn't matter if you rent our buy you pay every month that is your home so don't worry. I own a house and we are going to sell it and move into a rented house. I envy you that your already there cause i wish i was.

I get 3montly inspections from letting agents very stressful.

not had working fire for last 2weeks
we rapainted and replaced most floor at our own cost
landlord promised new stairway landing carpet as its frayed, dirty, beige no amount of rug doctoriung helped in fact it bubbled.

bathroom-avacado even when cleaned nevr looks nice. we replaced the ill fitting dusky pink lino ourselves with lino tiles and the shower screen aboove bath is nightmare top clean and have to get in the bath to run the taps

kitchen cupboards keep breaking so he replaced with 2 new ones that dont match and the corner cupboard been hanging off hingles for months not enough cupboard space for food or dishes.

we replaced the chipped floor tiles at our own cost with vinlyl tiles.
the glass porchways a nightmare to clean.
The appliances are all ours apart from crappy oven from hell which is too small for gao its very smal and food goes down side drives me craxy and only 3-4 hibs work and grills broke.well tried cleaning it few times and it just smokes setting off smoke alarms!

Would love a dog but not allowed

wondering if me and sister were freaky kids.
my mums a neat freak cant finish a coffee before its washed up
shes phcho cleaner
my sisters bit weird too.

think easier when house bigger and you have the storage.
but ours is new build and feel like its shrinking in on me.
freinds without kids frequently look horrified.
worry about having people round.
little people have so much stuff.


Most of times feel overwhelmed.

so im doing a rota deep clean a room a day
buy more storage
clean bathroom and kitchen least once a week
polish windows and glass once a week
porchway -once a month
hoover daily
get a mop and mop least twice a week
iron 5days uniform sunday night for daughter and hubby
do least 2loads washing a day most days I do 3-4
change bedding weekly
declutter lounge once a week
bedrooms once a fortnight.

Valli

I haven't read all the thread as yet but what I will 'add' (assuming it hasn't been done already) is that habits can be formed fairly quickly - takes about 2-3 weeks. Once they ARE habits they just 'magically' get done SO my 'tip' (if you can call it mine) is to pick one thing to change/adopt at a time.

Actually there used to be a Make A Change A Week thread - called MACAW for short on here, somewhere...

Anyway - pick ONE thing you want to do - e.g. getting the clothes laid out the night before and focus on that. Give it a couple of weeks - now a habit, and start on the next one. Rather thatn trying to do EVERYTHING at once, missing one thing then feeling that you've failed.

(Like I am perfect;)) - My handbag - and bankcards etc are all at my sister's - my HRT tablets are in it too! An hour's drive away!

Best of luck with it all!

And I recommend the weekly Flylady thread, for the cleaning and (almost more important, the boost to one's morale!)

Re the Slow Cooker recipes - do a search on this section of the forum because I know there are threads/recipes (there used to be a What's in your slow cooker today? thread which was excellent - I would look for that for starters. Having said that any casserole/stew will 'do'on the slow cooker; often prep the veg the night before and fling them in, cold and without pre-frying, before I go to work. Stick the SC on high and I come in to a cooked meal!)

I too iron onto hangers where appropriate. If I tumble dry I fold/hang and don't iron (and I LIKE ironing!). And make life easier (seriously) by labelling every item of school uniform AND shoes AND plimsolls. Copydex is BRILLIANT for gluing labels into footwear. Only last week a parent was complaining her daughter's cardigan had gone missing and it was new... but, when I asked her she admitted it wasn't labelled. Almost 200 kids in the school wearing the same uniform from the same supplier - there's a REASON we ask, and beg, and PLEAD with parents to label clothing! Because you can bet you bottom dollar if it's lost when (if) you do get it back it won't be clean! DS never, ever, got his labelled tie back - in the end I sewed a label onto the one he DID bring home!

esmf73

2012ismyyear - did I write this in my sleep yesterday?? You sound exactly like me. I have two boys 7 and 6. Eldest has autism and behaviour problems, so my days are spent fire fighting the various arguments and just getting through it!! Yesterday my 7yr old headbutted me and gave me a fat lip so I spent most of the day at my father in laws smoking (don't normally) and feeling depressed. Woken up this morning (about 5am by said child!) and have realised that only I can change my life.

I have so much "headstuff" to work through as well that I can't promise to be clear by NYE, but I will make a proper start. I find that if I do the 15 minute rule (set a timer and just do for 15 mins) that I get so into it that I carry on and finish the room!! It also helps on days when I'm just too tired (as I'm not 100% myself!) as I make sure that I finish the 15 mins and then have 15 mins on the sofa. I'm amazed at what I get done.

I've decided that when OH goes back to work (he works away during the week) that I'll get the fitness DVDs etc out and will do an hour a day - been watching fat families on freeview and have been inspired!! So will get myself into gear - had my hair cut before christmas as all the advisors (parent support advisors I have for DS1 said I needed to spend more time on myself!). Worst thing I did as I'm not in the right place mentally yet, so most of the time it looks like a crows nest - however..... I'll get there! And so will you - feel free (anyone!) to PM me!

Bitsy_Beans

For those ofmyou looking to look after yourself a bit more there is this thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3688841
It's not about quick fixes but slow and gentle change.

Re the state of the house I have 2 kids 6 and 3, they are swines for getting stuff out and not putting away. So I implement a tidy up time. They have to do this at school so why not at home. Ok they generally need help and being an anally retentive person myself who likes it all back the "right" way they rarely do it the way I want BUT they are learning slowly about tidying up. I am finally coming round to the conclusion that my house will never look like a show home whilst I have young children. The amount of carp they have is untrue. I managed to buy an ikea trofast unit off eBay for £35 which stores some of the stuff. If you can only afford cardboard boxes then use those, OK they will have to be stacked but it's better than nothing.
It is hard when you have several kids at home, just when you start something there come demands, arguments etc. The Flylady is quite a good system. You need to find a system that is flexible enough to fit around your home life and needs and this generally works. I'd never find the time to clean my whole house in one day but bite sized chunks is more manageable. Get the kids involved more by them helping mummy to tidy up. Ok benefit at this age is limited but it's about training for future habits I find my cleaning takes twice as long if I have to keep tidying up first. So first rule should be "if you get it out then you put it back" and this applies to kids, husbands and yourself

Spendless

2012ismyyear wrote: »

I posted today that the kids tidied there room but also they have messed it up again

This is what is stopping me doing my kids rooms before they go back to school. That and that I've lost my job. I'd currently be off work for Christmas anyway but I'm not returning Jan 3rd so i want organising the house to be my job for a few months. I've had a think about where I could do though, as the mess is currently driving me nutty and come up with my bedroom and the bathroom, as the kids won't wreck them.

Sambucus_Nigra

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

As Angela says, the fantastic 2012 calander is here (yay!) - how about downloading a copy and using it to write a rota of things that need done each day?

Some of the dates at the end of 2012 are wrong, they need changing to 2013 - but i don't know who to tell.

I just showed the OH this - I printed January and he said 'great, keep printing'. When I first met him, he couldn't fathom me keeping leftovers and reheating stuff the next day and now he makes extra just to save the cooking time. :T:T:T

vgstar44

Hello and Welcome to Board.

Lots of great tips from everyone and ike someone has said....dont aim for perfect aim for better. find a level that you are happy with but dont feel overly stressed acheiving it.

my biggest thing also is to have a huge declutter......i used to be the same.....especially with clothes. I would have all these clothes i would never wear or were too big/small and they were taking up so much space it was crazy....i found i actually wore alot of the same stuff so bit the bullet and got rid of stuff if i hadnt worn it in the last year.

Also with household items too......i had tons of mismatched plates and bowls which never ever got used. I must have had the equivilent to about 4 sets so i took only what we really needed and a coupe of extra plates/bowls and got rid of the rest.

Its really hard to start with but once you get into the swin of it you get the hang of it.

do a room at at time and you will have it done in no time hun......and you will feel so much better in yourself once you acheive it

Good luck :T

camNolliesMUMMY

i too have struggled all i can say is follow the weekly flylady i only started last week and i can now sit down and say i love my home nothing it out of place, everytime i used to clean on the basis of leaving it for a week or two and the clutter get on top of me and my 4 year old following me getting things back out again aghhhh.

now he tidies his own room up and i do the things he has missed, he loves vacuuming his room as its a little vax that you pull so its not noisy and he can pull it along, sometimes he will offer to do other places too bless him and i give him a treat if hes helped.

my target is to save myself £5 a week to save up to get my hair done as a treat to me, im pregnant too but i am still full of energy but i think i deserve to treat myself 2011 was not our year as mother going through rough divorce, inlaws to be not mil but grandparents in law taking the P with us and the kids, and too top it off we got burgled in sept and moved in oct so had loads to sort out, next year we will have our baby, and end our year with our wedding on the 5th of nov, hopefully it will be uphill form the 1st of jan fingers crossed lol.


i too have the trofast system from ikea a tall one and the l shaped one they are a godsend please look into getting one they all so do wall units but they are woth it, i have labelled the draws with a picture so ds knows what goes in them, like a stick man for his action men a car for his cars and so on/............
good luck ladies honestly keep it up and the jobs will not be such hard work because you will be ontop of everything.

i have also started cooking x2 the amount of things like casseroles/chilli/spag bol/bangers n mash etc in slow cooker as cheaper to cook in (same as a light bulb so im told and cheaper than putting the oven on) and i freeze half of it so the next week i dont need to cook only fresh veg/pasta/rice etc so if ive had a busy day and dont have time we are sorted, plus im keeping some stored ready for when i go to hospital to have ds2 so i know oh and ds1 are having some good food lol

Alisonpennypincher

Hiya. Just wanted to say good luck with your task ahead! This time last year i was very disorganised and really lacked motivation to do much. I follow Memory Girls thread (debt free board) and the one thing that really resonated with me and worked was 15 minutes at time. Set your timer for 15 minutes and spend that time cleaning/tidying/organising. When the timer goes off take 15 minutes for you MSE/cup of tea/15 mins reading etc. Then start again.

This gradually got me into more of a routine and i started seeing results in my house. Now i have a cleaning system that works for me and i now do maybe a hour cleaning etc and then 15-20 minutes me time. Now i fins it a lot easier to keep on top of everyting, and when things slip (like this week having DH and DS home for Xmas making mess!) i know that once they are back at work and school i can soon bring things round again.

Just thought i would let you know that if i can get going any one can! I will be following your thread and cheering you on!

APP

2012ismyyear

Well all the windows are open and the fresh air is coming in. I MEAN BUISNESS lol!
thanks to everyone again please post how your getting on if you have decided to make a change to something!
camnolliesmummy - will deffo look at flylady x
valli - will look into the slowcooker recipes, will get labelling as i am a non labeller but a serial complainer whoops x
esmf73- you can do it we all can. the fitness dvd is a great idea but i swear the woman on mine is trying to kill me lol. think i will look at getting an easier one for now. I had my only i can change me moment on boxing day so lets go for it and make 2012 all our year whos with me wooo! I will PM you later on x
bitsy beans- thanks for the looking after yourself more thread will be looking later x

Well i'm off to see the wizard the wonderfull wizard of oz, hang on no, no i'm of to fight my house aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (war cry) sorry in a bit of a silly mood this morning see you later xxx