Tidying up the Old Stylers' Way: Taking things up, taking things down

Former_MSE_Andrea

I'm just going to blow my own and your trumpet for a moment and go woohoo and thank you Old Stylers!

For years you Old Stylers have been advocating never going up or down stairs without taking something with you.

I'd never consistently used it as a decluttering and tidying technique until the last few weeks and especially this Bank Holiday weekend - don't ask me why - now I'm totally converted!

My spare room/office was a junk yard for so many of our things, especially the kids toys! Their idea of tidying their room to-date has been "move it to the spare room"!

But after using the upstairs/downstairs technique for the last few weeks I can actually see the floor!

With a car boot sale coming up between the kids and I we've managed to sort loads of stuff, get lots of used scrap paper (drawn on on both sides) and cardboard on the compost heap and anything not re-usable into the recycling bin.

We're not there yet but it's amazing how much we've been able to clear without it being a huge hard slog! Any time I get to the top of the stairs and realise I don't have anything to take down I turn round and find something.

It's fantastic!

Thank you

PS. I may even be able to pull the bed out and have family sleep in it at some point in the next few months!

LameWolf

Well done MSE Andrea:T
We don't have an upstairs, as we live in a bungalow, but we like Flylady Valli's mantra "Don't put it down, put it away - the bungalow stays a lot tidier than ever it used to since we've been living by that.:o

Former_MSE_Andrea

LameWolf wrote: »

Well done MSE Andrea:T
We don't have an upstairs, as we live in a bungalow, but we like Flylady Valli's mantra "Don't put it down, put it away - the bungalow stays a lot tidier than ever it used to since we've been living by that.:o

I like that too! I'm constantly using it with the kids :rotfl:

Susan1962

I keep falling off the wagon with this method but it does work when you give it the chance. Time to start again!

GreyQueen

I use this when I visit the parents' house but at home in the flat, I try to make sure that I save some steps by taking stuff from A to B when I go about the place.

It's energy-saving, too, and as someone with ME, it's important that I get maximum bang for my energy buck.

I'm chuffed that this old chestnut is still finding new fans.

nursemaggie

Anyone know how I can get my DS to never come downstairs empty handed? I keep telling him it will save him having to spend all day tidying away all the energy drink cans and bottles and having to keep clearing his dirty pots away.

I don't find I go upstairs without something very often but I do often find myself back downstairs without what I went for or even worse even more desperate for the loo.

meritaten

lol, as I get older I rarely go upstairs empty handed! or come downstairs without something. if something needs to go upstairs it gets put on a stair until I NEED to go up (the only loo is upstairs). and at least the bathroom bin gets emptied a lot!

jinny

Im like Grey Queen I live in a flat so try to put things in their 'home' straight away. Thanks to another thread 'The marie kondo' most stuff has a home now with having much less of it. However having a tiny kitchen and cooking for at least one or two grown sons every day I try to keep to the rule 'dont put it down put it away'. If I didnt, I wouldnt have room.
Peter Walsh, Oprah Winfreys declutter guru, says 'see a job or task through to the end'. That means tidy as you go or when you've finished. Mind you, some people seem to think empty toilet rolls jump into the bathroom bin themselves :mad:

[Deleted User]

I too never go up or down empty handed I have a stair lift in my house and its great as stuff to go up gets put on the seat until I have to go up for something:) so I don't even have to haul stuff up it sits on my lap

When my late OH and I downsized from our large family home in 1995 to my present tiny cottage he would walk around saying 'Think Caravan'.and I still do.

Its a case of putting things away asap, or in a smaller house it soon mounts up and looks cluttered.Back then our grandchildren were quite small and my youngest DD had quite a few babies so we had to make the house child friendly so they couldn't hurt themselves.Everything possible was put up beyond breakable reach Even the tv was hung on the wall for awhile :):).
I have minimilised as much as possible in my small sitting room for now owing to my restricted mobility its not good to have things that I may fall over on:)So things still get put away asap and I still 'think caravan' as much as I can :):).My one slightly cluttered room is the upstairs smallest bedroom which is my hobby/computer/study/bookshelf/everything-in-its-mine-for-a-reason to-save room.I am the only one who goes in there so its my 'clutter' room :):)

Eenymeeny

nursemaggie wrote: »

Anyone know how I can get my DS to never come downstairs empty handed? I keep telling him it will save him having to spend all day tidying away all the energy drink cans and bottles and having to keep clearing his dirty pots away.

I don't find I go upstairs without something very often but I do often find myself back downstairs without what I went for or even worse even more desperate for the loo.

Have you thought of having a small bucket or tub where he drinks the stuff? Means that the recycling is already sorted!

Gers

I've got a wicker basket which goes up at night with anything that needs to be upstairs and it comes back down in the morning with ditto. Our stairs are very old and so fairly high making the going up more of chore than it would be in a modern house. Thank goodness for a downstairs loo!

I try to hold to the 'handle paper only once' which fits with the 'don't put it down put it away' theme, just wish OH had the same attitude.