Where do I start

kazmeister

Hi,

First time posting here and need help in getting my act together!

Usually I am a full time working mum to a 15 and 8 year old with a partner who works shifts.

Ive been off worked for the last 2 weeks suffering exhaustion due to anaemia and my doc has this morning signed me off for another month.

I need to get my house back in order during that time - its a tip, I mean a serious tip and i dont know where to start.

When I was at work I managed to cook decent meals most nights, cleaned, shopped and did all washing at weekends and managed to fit in loads of home baking in between.

I have quite a big house, 3 reception, 5 beds (but only 3 in use!) - feels like the forth bridge as we've been in it 7 years and havent managed to decorate top to toe yet and what we did do now needs doing again! Every room seems to have clutter and all I ever seem to do is move it from room to room finally settling it in the attic which is in danger of becoming full.

Do I start to clean rooms first or declutter first - the latter will probably take months!

Any how do I get into a routine for meal planning etc.

I'm in total chaos at the mo!

Any help appreciated.

Kaz

boo81

If I have clutter I try to put it all in one place to start with and preferably a room where you can shut the door at the end of the day!

I imagine you really shouldnt be trying to do too much so set yourself small tasks. I find putting on music makes housework much more enjoyable too!

ZIZA

Sorry to hear you are poorly- Hope you get better soon

First I suggest you sit down with your family and work out a way to do this together. It is not your sole responsibility.

Then take a look at the Flylady Thread. It certainly helped me to get into some sort of routine.

kazmeister

Hi peeps,

thanks for quick replies.

Have tried putting clutter away in a room where I can shut the door - trouble is cant get in there now as so much that needs sorting!

Have tried encouraging the family, cant ask OH as he works long hours and loads of overtime in our quest to be debt free. Impossible with kids, started with lists they had to pick a job from each day (small jobs of course) otherwise they dont get pocket money. It lasted a week so now they dont get any. 8 year old daughter is terrible, refuses to tidy up and 3 months ago I removed everything from her bedroom and told her she could only choose 10 things plus have use of the bookshelf. She still manages to trash her room.

Looked at fly lady and could only find Mon - Wed of jobs then got lost in the pages

[Deleted User]

Hi,

sorry about your probs, though I think that some of it could be job related.

So, you are off work for another month, and the place is a tip,

have a good clean out, get rid of the clutter, be ruthless, anything that you don't really need get rid of, bin it, or if it is any good, why not have a boot sale, get the kids into it as well, if you say they will get a cut of the sales, then I'm sure that will make them more interested and will assist you in the clean out.

There is no point in shiffting stuff from room to room, just to move it back again, you are only creating more work for yourself.

Meals,

get into making you own soup, even cutting up veg can be quite calming, have the radio on at the same time and just dream, but don't get so carried away that you cut the end off your finger.

Chill, breath in count to ten,

chill, breathe in count to ten,

again,,,,,,, again,,,,,,,again.

angie_loves_veg

kazmeister wrote: »

Looked at fly lady and could only find Mon - Wed of jobs then got lost in the pages

Daily, the first post is added to, so, by Friday morning you will have the 'complete week' as it were.....

I printed this out (just that first post) one friday morning, and stuck it to a vacant piece of wall in my 'study' :rolleyes: means that I don't have to trawl through all the threads unless I am in the mood to do so... (usually with a cuppa:o )

Gingham_Ribbon

Here's the latest flylady thread.
And here's The complete 'how to declutter and organise your home' collection

I hope something in there will be of use. Don't forget to take it steady. If you're ill that comes first. Slow and steady wins the race!

[Deleted User]

Hi,

that's the answer, make a wee list of things, do a wee job each day, and stroke it off, it gives you less to think about, and clears the head. :T

moanymoany

Kazmeister I've just had a thought - it woke the dog up, he's not used to it - Clutter is rotten stuff and I bet you can't find anything, I never can when things get a bit out of hand. So...

here's the thought: why not buy a roll of black plastic bags and without looking or going through it, empty the clutter into them and tie the tops. The bags can be stored away, label them with the room.

This will give you nice empty rooms that will be a doddle to clean as it is always the clearing up that is the hard work.

The flylady thing is terrific. There are lots of threads by christian fundamentalist housewives out there. At least one has been on the threads. They are very interesting and often give cleaning routines and links to books about all this. The household manual features heavily, it sounds a good idea but I've never done it. I'll have a search and see if I can find one, you might find it interesting.

In the old days anaemia was treated by eating raw ox liver - it's true, I saw it on Dr. Finlay - so there is a bright side, even if it's a little one!

belfastgirl23

Just wanted to drop by to say well done on all the work so far. It does look worse before it gets better but you know how much you've progressed.

I was going to suggest, is there something you as a family might like but can't afford, eg a holiday or a new tv or something? If so, you could encourage everyone to get rid of their old stuff on ebay or car boot sales and put the cash in a big family pot towards this. It might be the way to get the kids interested in decluttering.

The other thing is that once you get things cleared it does get easier. When everything is cluttered people don't think twice about dropping stuff on top whereas when a space is clear it's harder to justify. I have that on good authority from a friend who had been in the same position as you. She found her kids liked the place looking clean once they'd seen it. She also said for her teenager, once she started inviting friends over she took a lot more interest in the state of the house. Might work on some of your kids??

Anyway good luck and don't forget to rest.

BTW just to add, it's worth looking at flylady stuff but taking it at your own pace. I'm dead dead impressed by all the flyladies out their but their lists scare the life out of me and I do sometimes feel I can never live up to that so why bother So I adapted it to suit my life...

kazmeister

Hi guys,

well had the laziest of days today (kids at home tomorrow). Got up late, watched daytime tv, had a leisurely bath, dropped med cert into work and got given a plant, bottle wine, box chocs and bag chewies to cheer me up, and OH got takeaway for tea.

Bin a tiring day - sigh