Where should I start? This isn't your normal my house is a mess thread

[Karcheer]

Last October we started a large extension, the project has dragged on and still isn't finished. Initially we were going to get decorators in, but dwindling budgets mean we have to do it, including fitting doors, skirting as well as painting.
We were also going to get one of those cleaning companies in at the end, but again we can't afford it. I've done very basic cleaning, the house is now very dirty, lots of cobwebs.
Every single room except the downstairs loo is full of things from other rooms, living room has bathroom suites, dining room has three bikes, dog crates, spare room is full of junk ( you can't walk in the room), new study and family room full of garage things - get the idea.

I'm feeling really overwhelmed with the mess and volume of decorating. I was going to sand coving today but felt pretty sick and dizzy so have sat in decorating clothes watching films and eating cake all afternoon.
Even the cat has brought in a pigeon today and added to the chaos (most of the feathers are hoovered up) and the dogs in season and I keep finding blood.

I feel really down about it all.

Where should I start? Help...

[chocolatecakemakesmefat]

Calm down and have a cuppa also could you hire a skip for a few days and get rid of all the junk? That would possibly free up some space to move

[OneFlewOverTheDodosNest]

Choose the most important space you have (for me it would be the kitchen) and focus on getting that tidy first and then as clean as possible in the your house's current situation.
Then, worst come to worst you'll have somewhere to hide from the rest of the clutter!

You need to go through all your stuff in the other rooms and sort out what you're keeping and get rid of anything that's a question mark, I think a skip would be a great idea like a PP said. Once you've reduced the volume of stuff it will become easier to get organised.

[Karcheer]

chocolate we have a skip in the garden for the builders and no more room for another. I think most of it is good junk but just in the wrong places and mixed up junk where junk has been moved from room to room since October.

I think I have to actually decorate a room and then move things into the new rooms, but I just don't know where to begin.

[InternationalHouseofToast]

Go out and find a cafe. Sit in it, drink a coffee and then get out some paper and write down your priority rooms - maybe bathroom, then kid's bedroom then kitchen.

Three is plenty. Work your way through them then start again. Can you banish the cat and dog into the garden whilst the weather's fine to reduce the chaos?

[Onlytimewilltell]

Is the building work finished? As there's really not a lot of point cleaning until it is.
Have you got rid of the garage for the extension? Garage things and bikes should be in the garage or a shed, if you no longer have a garage then you shouldn't be keeping garage stuff!
If you have a bathroom suite in the living room then you are really not at a decorating/organising stage! You may have to just put up with it a bit longer but just try and get rid of any obvious junk/ furniture that will not go in your remodelled home

[Mymouthgetsmeintrouble]

I would recommend getting one room done fully at a time and keeping the door shut so will only need a light clean to keep it nice , empty a room clean walls with sugar soap and get rid of cobwebs , wipe the windowsills , fully decorate and fit doors , flooring and skirting then clean floor , locate the pieces of furniture and scrub before putting them in the room then what i would do is leave all items that go in each room until you come across them when emptying the other rooms , always have a bin bag on the go and box for charity , throw away rubbish at the end of each day and put box for charity in the car and take it straight away so you cant change your mind if you go through all rooms not allowing things that dont belong back in by the time you get to the last one everything will be in its correct place

[Karcheer]

only the interior building work has finished with the exception of the tiler and bathroom fitter. But non bathroom rooms are done.
The builders haven't put the garage door back on yet, and they still use it for storage, so our stuff is in the house.
mymouth I think that's what I need to do.

[LaserShark]

I have been prevaricating over sorting my house for ages, feeling totally paralysed by the scope of the task and not knowing where or how to start. This week, I just started. Booked in loads of childcare and filled bags of rubbish to take to the tip. That made me feel loads better. I got the key room sorted out, which was the room which had become the general dumping ground - cleared it totally and then arranged it so it looks nice with big storage units to keep things in, but I organised everything into them without just dumping it all in so that it was hidden but still a mess. It's all actually sorted and anything I was unsure about went to the tip. Once that room was done, all the other rooms were much easier - it seemed to unblock everything somehow and make it possible to do the other rooms. I've tidied, painted and de cluttered and it feels great. For months it has seemed impossible so I understand your feelings but my only advice really is to just plunge yourself in. I felt full of despair at first that there was so much to do and I wasn't makin a difference but every bin bag I filled was a bag of rubbish gone from my house and with each one I felt the space becoming clear and becoming mine. I pushed through the hopeless feeling and the part when it seemed like I was actually making it all worse rather than better and just told myself that even if I couldn't see the difference, I was making one. A week later and my house is transformed. Go for it!

[bearleftmonkeyright]

Hi op, I think you're on to a bit of a non starter with this until you get you're garage back. How long before that happens? Nobody can keep a house tidy with bikes and stuff in the way. Can you press the builders on this?

[ElspethFlashman]

I'd forget about doing "a room" and focus on doing "a corner".

So if you have a side table in a room you think"I'm going to clean that side table today and sort all the shit on it out".

Once that corner is clean it's lovely. And then the next day you look at the next corner.

So you only do it in 15 min bursts and only concentrate really narrowly. You don't get worn out but you have a sparkling corner to give you a boost.

Another tip is clearing the kitchen table of bills and newspapers every day without fail. A clear kitchen table makes the whole room look better. Same for dining room tables which can be deadly clutter catchers. Sort the tables, and the difference is amazing even if there's crap climbing up the walls.

[bearleftmonkeyright]

The corner thing is a good idea. Do you follow fly lady? She is always telling you to spend 15 minutes to clear a hotspot, a place where junk regularly accumulates. It just makes it seem less overwhelming. I love flylady.

[ElspethFlashman]

Yeah I think it was from Fly lady I got it from actually. Less daunting.