Top Tips for a clean tidy home

ravilious_fan

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

These are photos after days of cleaning , by the way. There aren't any of upstairs because I couldn't physically get up there.

Oh. My. Word.

Where on earth do you start

The bathroom sink does look quite clean, to be fair, but so much clutter.. :eek:

GaleSF63

Jojo my heartfelt sympathies - my mother was the same, though not when I was growing up. I have similar photographs to yours.

gettingtheresometime

My hubby spent an absolute age decorating the whole of the downstairs....and as each area was sorted martial law was declared on that area.

This basically means that anything not put away ends up at the top of the garden....and knowing my hubby it would as well, regardless of importance/cost lol

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

ravilious_fan wrote: »

Oh. My. Word.

Where on earth do you start

The bathroom sink does look quite clean, to be fair, but so much clutter.. :eek:

I know it does. Because I'd just spent 45 minutes chiselling muck off it - once I'd emptied it of all the stuff that was in it. Found out it had been cracked at some point as well - I had no idea until the last five minutes.

Took me two days to get the kitchen that clean - including five hours to get to the back door, find the table and two to discover the floor tiles were beige.

My solution of where to start was just get stuck in. I wanted to get to the back door so I could open the thing for the first time in years, partly for some air, partly for a fire escape - but mainly because I was fighting a panic attack from the sheer claustrophobia at all times I was there (and the ever present risk of her going batshit at me for chucking some manky old piece of cloth into a bin bag).


Didn't start like that - but I occasionally revisit the images to remind me what it had become. Getting off the sofa and cleaning my own place is pretty damn easy then.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

avogadro wrote: »

To carry on the conversation from November, I would say the number of people living in the house, or whether or not someone has kids is largely irrelevant. I have known people with children who keep a spotlessly clean home, and people who live alone whose homes look like a midden.

Thanks for sharing the photos JoJo, has your mum made any further progress with the clearing and cleaning?

Nope. She hated it, was deliberately spreading stuff around overnight. And I haven't been back there since - she attacked me out of the blue at the end of the day I took those photos and gave me a black eye.


Sometimes you just have to walk away.

bearcat16

I used to be a little untidy, as I was always working and had no spare time at all. But I gradually learned that clutter and untidiness causes stress.

I cannot relax if the house is untidy, and I hate looking at a messy room. I also can't stand it if something gets broken (eg a lamp, or cupboard door or handle etc) and I have to fix it straight away.

Thankfully my wife is the same and keeps the house nice and clean and tidy too, it's a team effort!

A few years ago we bought a dishwasher, and oh my goodness it is the best thing ever!

I just love the fact that plates and dishes are not piled up in or next to the sink, that makes all the difference! And I read somewhere that dishwashers clean things far better than any other method due to the temperature they clean at.

I also like getting a clean glass or mug out every time rather than feeling obliged to wash the one I'm using in order to save washing up!

I think it's most important to have your own bedroom as a haven of tidiness and tranquility, somewhere you can feel 100% relaxed and peaceful. There's nothing more depressing than waking up in a messy room. So no piles of stuff, no unopened post, no dirty laundry, no crap on the windowsills etc.

It also has to be absolutely clean, no dust

To me this is so important, if you can't relax in your bedroom and feel calm and unstressed, then your sleep will suffer, and so will your outlook on life.

And lastly, I would say how important it is that everything should have a place, because if stuff doesn't have a home, then it becomes clutter.

seven-day-weekend

Two golden tips..

1. Have a general clear out and bin, sell or give away anything you haven't use/looked at for two years .
2. Have a place for everything and put it in that place. Always. If you haven't got (or can't make) a place for something new, then don't buy it.

starrystarry

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Nope. She hated it, was deliberately spreading stuff around overnight. And I haven't been back there since - she attacked me out of the blue at the end of the day I took those photos and gave me a black eye.


Sometimes you just have to walk away.

That's awful Jojo, I think you're right to walk away until she actually wants some help.

I've always thought of my Mum as a hoarder but she's not in the same league as your mum. My Mum has far too much stuff but the house is still functional. I think maybe that's when it becomes a serious problem. It crosses the line when the house is no longer functional.

I KonMarie'd the whole house (apart from my OH's clothes which are still a work in progress) last year and it has transformed how I feel about my house. It's so easy to keep tidy now and therefore easier to clean. I have a schedule for cleaning, it helps me keep on top of things. Some things are done every day, some weekly, some monthly etc. If you do things regularly, it doesn't matter if life gets in the way occasionally. I use a free app called Todoist to keep track of what needs doing when. It's basically a to do list on your phone. You tick things off as they're done and it reminds you if things are overdue.

I second what others have said about breaking stuff down into smaller jobs.

heuchera

BrokenBetty wrote: »

I'm a disaster! No routine, and the place always needs tidied. I have a bit of time of work, so need to get this sorted.

How do you motivate yourself?

How have you established a routine?

I would quite like a magic wand, this would be preferable, however, can't find this on ebay, or Gumtree

You're not alone, I don't think there are that many people who LIKE housework, lol. It's just the lesser of the two evils - the alternative being to live in filth or clutter.

I find it helps to put music on your headphones while you're working, or listen to the radio. I've got the oven to clean soon, - ugh I really hate that task :rotfl:


Not being funny, but people who live in houses like the one in those photos must surely have some sort of mental health problem. Hoarder Disorder I think they call it nowadays. They're clinging onto the "stuff" around them because it makes them feel more secure. It's a difficult thing to deal with, but the way is to address the cause of the problem (ie the mental health problem) rather than just chucking their rubbish into a skip, otherwise they will just replace the clutter as soon as you clear it, which is very frustrating.

System

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Nope. She hated it, was deliberately spreading stuff around overnight. And I haven't been back there since - she attacked me out of the blue at the end of the day I took those photos and gave me a black eye.

Good Grief.


Possibly a social services issue? Not worth risking your own safety.