To ask you how you sorted out your messy house?

Invited friends to come visit 😂
They're arriving tonight and I've spent the last 8 days sorting 1 room at a time, doing a proper job of it and even deep cleaning things that haven't been done for a long time (I've probably still managed to miss things like the fridge that needs a clean, but I've run out of steam now but the whole place is so much more tidy and clean and I won't be embarrassed to have them staying with us now).
The difficulties come with maintaining the rooms you've already done whilst doing a new room each day, but the motivation of impending visitors always works for me, plus I spent today doing the last easiest room (guest room) and then re-tidied and cleaned the rest of the apartment, which was very quick due to having been done so recently anyway.
Do the hardest/most important rooms when the kids are at school so you have no distractions.

I've started following declutterdollies on Instagram (Dilly from Sort Your Life Out) and she has an April challenge at the moment. Every day is a different area eg kitchen appliances, cutlery etc. you get all of the items you have in that category and put them all together so you can see exactly what you have and then declutter and organise what's left.

You also have to remove 1 thing from your house on the 1st day, 2 on the 2nd day etc for the whole month. So you get rid of bigger items at the start of the month, then smaller items towards the end.

I'm finding it really motivating. Maybe because I love the tv show Sort Your Life Out, I could really do with going on it myself but would be far too embarrassed!

Fly Lady. It’s absolutely brilliant.

id take it a room at a time!! last weekend we pulled every single thing out of all the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen! all out of date food / spices / items we were never gonna use were thrown out!! got rid of a load of mugs / cups / plates / glasses - we had way too many!

then put everything back neatly and in a more organised way!

will tackle the bedroom this weekend - same way take absoutley everything out and get rid of loads of stuff ahead of putting back

Little and often is the key

Marie Kondo approach feels positive, as it's about keeping things you love

Start small. Anything you pick up from the floor that is either broken or grown out of goes in the bin

Start small. Anything you pick up from the floor that is either broken or grown out of goes in the bin

Start small. Anything you pick up from the floor goes in the bin

Definitely start with the kitchen as that’s the room you need to be functional.

I find it overwhelming looking at the whole room, so now I always start in the corner opposite the door and then work my way around clockwise.

On the first pass around I chuck obvious rubbish, remove things that should go to another room, pile up things for the charity shop.

Anything that’s in the right room but wrong place, move it to the right place straightaway even if that area’s not sorted yet.

Once you’ve done the first pass around the whole room, you go again and this time sort and clean each section as you go.

You can now order a collection online, so it has become quite easy to schedule a date and put bags outside for charity to collect. No need to throw things away out of convenience.

I think that with little kids, it's a marathon, not a sprint. I love the idea of emptying a room or do a whole category Kondo - style, but I just didn't have the time with small kids. I'd get everything out, then get interrupted, and then there's stuff everywhere and you never get back to it.

I just made a habit of making sure that did dmsll declutterings daily, even if it's just one or two things.

I followed Marie Kondo's method and sorted by category rather than room. The Kondo method is about keeping what brings you joy, but whether you follow that or a more standard decluttering approach, the principle of needing to remove a lot of stuff remains the same. It's absolutely worth it by the time you get to the end and you have a place for everything and everything in its place.

I did a big declutter before putting my last house on the market (and further decluttered as I packed) being methodical was the key for me.

I wrote a list of jobs per room, and did a room at a time, I always start to the right of the door and work around clockwise. As others have said with a bin bag and a cloth and cleaning spray, plus the vacuum cleaner to hand.

It's good to recycle but you need to do charity shop donations as you go along, or at least put them in the car, same with tip runs.

Repatriating things to their correct place needs to be done as you go along so you don't just create piles for sorting later.

A place for everything I find is key to maintaining tidiness otherwise things just get put the nearest cupboard or drawer out of sight.

If the kitchen is your main concern and time is an issue then consider getting a cleaner in to do a one off deep clean once you've decluttered, booking things like that in gives you a deadline and I find helps with motivation.

Lots of boxes for temporary storage. When you're sorting through things you keep finding stuff that needs to go in a different room, or doesn't really have a place to go right now. Give those things a temporary box while you're thinking about it then come back to that box when you're finished the main sort. You might find that you own five shoe horns when you barely need one, but if you keep storing them separately in different rooms you'll never notice. If they end up together in the box of things that have no place you will notice and either get rid of some or decide that that's enough to warrant their own specific storage place.

We pay a decluttering goddess to come and spend 3 hours with us once a month. While she is here we are all working at decluttering and she manages the process, helps us cope with the "too difficult" stuff and helps us work out whether we reall need things (no keeping this obsolete cable in case it's 1998 again)

The house isn't perfect but each time she comes we focus on one or two rooms so each room gets done sooner or later and it doesn't get too awful in between. It's so much better than the clutter-filled mess we used to live in.

Not the most eco solution, but don’t bother keeping boxes or bags “to donate” unless you’re physically going to get in the car and have take it down that day. If you know at the end of the day you can’t be bothered, just chuck it away.

If you struggle being ruthless enough, find a close friend or relative who can hold you to account. I’ve done this for a sibling and it really helped (my ruthlessness balanced their hoarding tendencies) but both parties had to agree and I wasn’t as ruthless as I could have been!

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Repeat post, sorry.

I did a massive declutter last year, so I could get the house decorated. It was years since it was done before that, and there was a lot to get rid of. I found that starting with cupboards was a good way to do it. In my case I cleared a sideboard and moved it to the hallway, which freed up the space where it had been and gave me a sideboard's worth of space for when I cleared another cupboard. I moved around downstairs doing that - making space in cupboards for the 'stuff' that made the cut, and ruthlessly binning or donating the rest.

Upstairs was similar. I cleared the linen cupboard of kids' duvet covers (mine are adults) old towels and so on, and created space for some of the clutter. Wardrobes were difficult, as I hate throwing out clothes, but I persevered, and made sure that there was enough space to house everything - nothing on spare beds or draped on chairs. They need doing again, really - I guess it will be necessary every six months or so - but it is great to know that it's possible to tidy up, as there is somewhere to put things that were previously lying about.

If it’s within your means, get a skip. It takes the hassle out of decluttering. You can just throw everything away easily and without any excuses.

Also, I would leave nicer things outside of it for people to take.

Do one small area daily. The most difficult thing is to start throwing things away but once you filled a couple of bin bags, you sort of go through "fuck it" moment and parting with clutter becomes fun.
Personally, I always start with clothes. I get everything out of wardrobes and drawers. I ask myself - does it fit, do I like it, has it been warn in the last two years, is it vintage. If I like it, but it doesn't fit, then it goes into donation pile. If it fits and it's vintage but hasn't been warn for two years, I tend to keep it for the most part.
Then move on to books, toys, sentimentals etc.
8 house moves in 10 years and I can pretty much fit all my possessions into a boot of a car.

Agree with previous people. Remove everything from the room. Literally as though you're moving out. You can pack it all into boxes/bags or if you've got a big enough space somewhere lay it all out in another room or the garden on the floor.

Clean the whole room top to bottom now that it's empty.

Return things back into the room, but be ruthless and only return the things you genuinely need. It's easier if it's all laid out, but you can do it box by box or bag by bag depending on how much space you have available.

Get rid of everything left over. Try to not focus on 'lost' money etc. Your happiness is worth more.