To ask you how you sorted out your messy house?

I get a box and put in everything I want to remove from that room. Then make the room nice/clean.

Then slowly work through the box to recycle/donate/dispose.

This makes the room nice quickly and the sorting can be done gradually.

Everything onto the bed/ just outside the room, get the whole family to take ten things and put them where they should be neatly. Sometimes works, not always (kids disappear;))

Stacey Dooley 'Sort Your Life Out' on iplayer is good, although how anyone has time/ space to empty a room in real life is beyond me.
We got rid of some stuff, eg found a bag of 20+ balls- just kept 3, gave the rest away.
Freecycle also good- people coming to take stuff away.
Charity shops- think of all the money made for motivation?

I agree with not selling. The effort and time involved to recoup £3 on a plastic toy is not worth it. I Facebook marketplace a lot for free. I put the ad up, chuck it outside on the pavement and it's gone in an hour or so.

It can easier to put things in a 'not sure' pile than a 'get rid' pile when trying to work quickly and make hundreds of micro decisions about what to do with stuff.

We are doing it this week, lots of sorting of books and toys. We've done 2 rooms and taken 10 bags to charity, luckily we have one of those metal bins outside a local school and it's been empty so we've loaded it up.

The key is to be pretty ruthless, if it's not been used in 6 months then it goes. If I think it might come into use then it possibly stays or goes to the attic. Attic stuff gets chucked after 12 months.

Oops posted too soon!

I put everything that I'm not 100% certain that I want to keep to one side, and then I go through that stuff and make decisions at the end, once the room is clean and sorted with the essentials.

I find that making decisions about what to do with items can be time consuming and stressful when trying to clean and tidy. I put v

Hire a skip then another then another until you're done. Start with the easiest and take it from there. We've just done pretty much the whole house after a disaster of an extension which ended up taking 8 years rather than the 10 weeks we were quoted.

It's an undertaking but soooo worth it when it's done.

As well as ruthlessly decluttering, taking one room at a time and everything else everyone has said I would also say don't hesitate to dump stuff that's in the wrong room in to the right room even if its in the corner, you don't have to find a home for everything straight away. For example if your focusing on the living room but find a load of things that belong in the kitchen or bedrooms just dump those things in those rooms don't get distracted from the living room and then loop back to them later or the next day for 10 minutes to sort through.

I would find somewhere to store bits and basically empty each room - 1 at a time, scrub it and then put everything back. When you are putting stuff back you can decide if to bin keep or find a new home for it!

Marie kondo changed my life. Plus, don't keep stuff to sell just get rid. Otherwise you end up with a room full of stuff to sell and it's overwhelming.

Two main methods:

• little bit at a time, over the course of months
• Mad weekend where you try to do it all

For the first, the fifteen minute challenges or month long challenges where you do a cupboard at a time will work well. Plan for a big trip to the tip and charity shops at the end of the month, and have assigned places to put the stuff to go, ideally out of sight where no one can claim things back.

For the second, get everyone involved, assign places for stuff to donate, stuff to bin. Wack a good playlist on loud and get everyone in the house cracking on!

If you've got a loft/ garage/ shed etc, get the stuff from their pulled out, and only put stuff back that you actually want or need to keep or will use. If you've got a reliable partner or friend/relative who will help assign them an area too! If there's anything you're particular about then sort that yourself. If you have some spare cash, I'd consider starting the declutter yourself and hiring a cleaner for the cleaning bits.

If your kids are old enough, get them to sort their stuff out themselves (toys, books, clothes etc), if not, then aim to go through some of their stuff in the week leading up to the big weekend, ideally getting them involved a bit (you can pull out stuff that's too young for them like clothes which don't fit, toys they don't play with as they're too old now etc, but ideally let them choose stuff like which books and toys to keep). You can limit in terms of space, or in terms of number of items to keep, or not limit at all and just see how they do!

I keep a box by the door for stuff to go to charity. When it's almost full, it goes

I’ve moved a lot so am a champion declutterer. I go room by room, fill bags with stuff for the charity shop and never leave the house empty handed during this period. I’m not interested in selling it myself I like to think of it as a charitable donation (though did once do a huge a very enjoyable car boot sale with the kids- we sold absolutely everything including the containers and bags we’d taken the stuff in. Price accordingly - don’t take anything home with you). You need to be brutal and unsentimental. I have never regretted throwing anything away. Stuff is just stuff - having a lovely calm, clear space to live in is much more important. Get the rooms back in shape one by one. Start with a corner or a cupboard and work your way round (getting rid of more stuff as you go if necessary). It’s good to get one room shipshape first as that will inspire you to do the others - for this reason it’s sometimes good to start with a small room so you feel you are making progress.

We got a storage unit, loads of boxes, and a hell of a lot of bin bags. Did a room at a time, being utterly ruthless with chucking out crap, stuff we want to keep went into labelled boxes and into storage then cleaned each room very thoroughly as we cleared it.

Took ages, we could only do a bit at a time for various reasons but while the place isn't exactly spotless yet it is very well uncluttered and easy to find the things we need. And I'm finding it much easier to keep tidy now.

Unfortunately the storage unit now needs the same treatment!

I did this myself after living in the same place for 15 years and realising you are a hoarder!!

Book time off work if you work. I took a Thursday/Friday one week then Monday/Tuesday two weeks later so I had a week in between back in work to give me a rest (it is HARD WORK!) and effectively had 2x 4 days chunks with the weekends.

Tackle one room at a time. Start in one corner and literally gut it. Be ruthless. If you haven’t used it/touched it in over a year ask yourself if you actually need it. If the answer is no, the bin is the place for it!

I did do literally everything though, down to washing curtains, cleaning curtain poles and windows and every spot that exists. I did it in October and to be honest, it has mostly been a small surface clean needed since.

Good luck!

It’s horses for courses. All ideas above are great and work for PP, but it depends what type of lifestyle you have currently and your character.

Emptying the whole room at once: motivating and exciting or overwhelming and scary?

Sorting by room/area or by category of item?

Slow and steady or a big blitz?

Go it alone to focus, get kids involved to teach them good habits, get a no-nonsense friend or relative involved for fun, or pay a professional to keep you from being too sentimental.

You know you, so to save stress do have a think what appeals / stresses you out and then go for it.

If there are lots of joint things to look at, make sure either DH is decluttering with you or that you have a clear method for remembering everything you want his agreement to Chuck out. Perhaps in a big box or post its?

Honestly, I’d send the children to the grandparents for a day if that’s possible, and tackle the whole thing in one go!

When we last moved I was 39 weeks pregnant with DD2, and DD1 was 2.5. We sent her for a sleepover with the ILs for the whole day, night and following morning of the move, and unpacked in one massive marathon on that long day. DH then took all boxes to the tip the next morning, while I cleaned everything, then collected DD1 to come back to a fully set up home. Good job too, as DD2 arrived four days later.

However, I appreciate that this relies on you having childcare like that as an option. Definitely saved us time and stress though.

Oh great option! I’ll look this up for my next clear out

Kitchen first so you can cook and then livingroom so you can relax.

Omg just read pp. Do not start making lists! This is the ultimate procrastination and time wasting activity.

What I do is:

step 1:
In the morning as soon as I wake up, I get EVERYTHING out, and plonk it on the bed/kitchen counters. Just get everything out. Then you’re forcing yourself to sort it out, as you can’t use your kitchen or bed until you do!

step 2:
Clean the drawers/cupboards

step 3:
Only put away the things you went to keep and things which you use daily.

step 4:
You’ll discover a load of junk. Dump all the junk somewhere else as you go along - garage, garden, car. Wherever - just get it out of the house.

step 5:
Have a date in mind for the tip (or better yet, book a slot at the tip, as you’ll be committed then!) and charity shop. By this day, you must have finished sorting the house out. I’ve dumped all my junk in the garage and I’m going to the tip this Friday.

I’m currently halfway through doing the whole house before the new baby arrives in 5 weeks time! I have completed two children’s bedrooms, our bedroom, and the kitchen, so far. Living room, office and the dreaded garage are next.

Good luck to you!

Before and after pics?

make a list of stuff you have
make a list of where there is place to keep stuff
take a good amount of time out with family to decide upon where every individual item big or small should go
side note munkensmat is based lol throw away stuff you don't need

Set up some ikea bags in your hall. Label them dump, donate, sell. Go through each room one at a time then clean it and move on. Leave bedrooms to last.