To be fascinated by tidy people

So you used the highchair but didnt clean up after the meal? I'd start there, cleaning and tidying as you go. Save decluttering for when you are on top of the day to day routines.

I can’t sit down if the room is a mess. So I’m constantly tidying as I have two kids. Im was always the ‘tidy one’ as a kid. I used to do the housework and ironing for fun (sad). If I went to my messy cousins house I’d want to tidy their room not play. I guess my brain is just wired like that. It’s difficult at times as it’s hard to relax. House isn’t perfect but surfaces are clear and toys hidden in boxes or in neat piles. I try to encourage kids by example - one is naturally tidier than the other. I think it’s just how I am. Parents are both shockingly messy so it’s not the way I’ve been brought up, either.

TBH this sounds like a procrastination problem

Ah, you've not learned the secret yet.

I'm very tidy. Always show home visitor ready. Everything is put away, organised, cushions plumped.

But ffs, don't open a cupboard. Not without wearing a hard hat and steel topped boots. The world will fall out on top of you and I'll have to call an ambulance, the coastguard and mountain rescue just to find you from underneath all of the crap!!

You are who you are. I can remember as a young child, tidying up after my Mother, as she lived with clutter everywhere. Then at 18 I went off to do my nurse training at The Nightingale School and we couldn’t leave our patients until everything was tidy. You didn’t want the Sister screaming at you. Since then I have always tidied as I have gone along. Everything has a place and I cannot abide mess or clutter. I literally feel anxious if things are a mess. But I do not criticise anyone and how they live - this is me and how you live is all about you. Life is better when we accept we are all different. Who cares if you are messy?

Storage
Less stuff
Discipline
Also, it needs to be important to you.
So, if it really doesn't bother you, just carry on. Be happy. Care less about what others think.

I hate mess and clutter. I think the secret is to keep on top of it. If there’s too much, it feels overwhelming and it’s easy to lose motivation.

I'm not a naturally tidy or organised person at all but overtime I have learned to be. I just keep on top of it at all times because the minute it goes beyond a certain point I find it overwhelming and I just want to crawl under a rock and hide from it all so I just keep on it and have quite a strict routine for it all. Meal planning, cooking, doing laundry, changing the beds, not buying too much stuff, decluttering, hoovering, dusting etc.

I just feel so much better internally when my home is clean, tidy and well organised and I know what we'll be eating.

I think there is little point tidying halfway through the day tbh. It's only going to get messy again!

To be honest, your situation sounds bad as it’s built up, because you never kept on top of it.

for me, my place never requires a big clean cause I maintain it enough daily.

whereas your place sounds like you need a full professional clean to reset your baseline, then you can attempt to maintain it going forward?

EG my sofa isn’t mucky and neither is my flooring, so a hoover would be more than enough to sort those out to a perfect standard. All I do with my sofa is just sort the cushions and spritz it with linen spray. Whereas if yours are still dirty after that, it suggests they need a thorough clean to get rid of all the dirt/stains/debris.

I used to be quite a house proud person, grew up with it, but since having 3 kids I struggle. I have learned to accept the chaos and mess! I’m too get embarrassed when people come by unannounced.
However I do spend an hour or so after bedtime cleaning, each night I focus on a different task like clean bathrooms, vacuum etc so our house is generally clean but I wouldn’t say tidy during the day time as toys go everywhere (but it is limited to just one room only, our living room). We are thinking of changing our front room which we don’t really use to a toy room so the mess can stay contained ik there while the rest of the house is ok.

i also focus on decluttering something once per week or fortnightly.

If I sit down my dc swarm me "we are bored what can we do?????"

If I am cleaning they miraculously bugger off and independently play and I get to listen to podcasts and audiobooks.

I thought I was doing ok...my house is clean enough....its not hugely cluttered but when you walk in its obvious people live there. But I went to a woman's house a while back...she has three teenagers...well I was flabbergasted. There was absolutely zero sign that they existed. It was a total show home. I have two teens, if you came round, you might see a hoodie draped over a kitchen chair, a phone charger on the side, my dds hair band on the kitchen table, my ds headphones on the side of the sofa...but her house? Nothing. I really really wanted to ask her!

We both put things away when we have finished with them. Everything has a place to go away to.

In the evenings the children’s toys/consoles whatever get reset back to usual positions before we sit down and relax.

Our children have learnt to copy us. I didn’t grow up in a house as tidy as mine though.

Why are you trying them on? I only try things on if I’m decluttering and checking the fit or if I still like it otherwise I choose what I’m going to wear and out it on.

It sounds like you need less stuff and more storage as a first step.

Why do you have three buggies, for example?

I can’t sit down until things are tidy. It is inbuilt