Anyone decluttered their whole house & when did you find time to do it?

[Littlemiss74]

House is chaotic which makes my mind feel chaotic. So much stuff but alot of it needed. Probably too many clothes for us all. Kitchen cupboards never been properly organised since moving in a year ago. So much stuff received by dc’s for Christmas.
I’ve spent the last few days off work tidying, sorting and washing. And then I go back to the room I started in and it’s a shit heap again!

Has anyone managed to declutter and organise their house and keep it that way? If so, please tell me how and when you did it around working and dc’s. TIA

I need to do this! Great tips!

A skip??

Kondo has nowt on you

Thanks for all the skip love

I do it every so often as I find if I don’t have an ‘exit plan’ for the crap, it just piles up and I get overwhelmed.

Also, as you only have them for limited times, it really makes me focus.

Finally... the firm I use directs 95% of stuff skipped away from landfill, so I don’t feel bad about doing it!

Win win.

the main problem I face is that DH and DC’s don’t follow my systems and either leave things all over the place or don’t put things back in the places I might have assigned for them

That problem isn't going to go away.
You are just going to have to resign yourself to picking stuff up and putting it away. Stick to your system yourself. If you want certain things put in certain spots (like school shoes, coats, bags) then you have to directly supervise the DCs as they put things in the right places.

I used to do a good tidy up every night. It is utter drudgery of course, but you might like how you feel when you wake up to ten minutes of tidyness before it all gets wrecked again.

We have been doing a room a weekend I’ve the last few weeks (obviously took a break at Christmas) just the master bedroom to go now. Starting to get into a routine of keeping them sorted once completed by using “the organised mum method” slightly adapted for our circumstance, found the basic principles on google and it seems to be working. All back to school / work / clubs & activities today so will see if we keep it up!

I haven’t heard of the organised mum method but sounds like just what I need!

@Littlemiss74 definitely worth a look, need to Taylor it you your home etc a bit but the principle is simple, in that you split the “housework” tasks into
Daily, weekly, fortnightly & monthly
Then we just make sure they are done when they should be and it just seems to be a bit easier to stay on top of - night not work for everyone but has made a big difference to us

Yes ! Started in August and only halfway through but the difference already is noticeable

Do 1 area/room at a time
Take before and after photos for motivation
Don’t be scared to throw things away tbh unless it has huge sentimental value 99% of things can be easily and cheaply replaced

Thanks for all the tips. I work part time but finish work at 2.00 mon- thursday and then school pick up at 3.00. Friday’s I have off. Weekday afternoons seem to be taken up with going to sburys, preparing dinner, doing school admin and spending time with dc. So I always put off doing anything major then as I think I’ll end up making a load of mess and then not having time to finish it off and creating even more chaos! I guess I could do some in the evenings. Friday looks like the best option as I have a whole 6 hours to myself! Although I always save up all my jobs and errands for Fridays so the time tends to fly by and before I know it it’s school pick up time. Now I’m thinking if I could make better use of the time on Friday’s I could get quite a bit done each week..

OP get a Sainsburys delivery, you'll free up 2 hours there.
Don't underestimate what 20 minutes doing a drawer or shelf once dc are in bed will achieve either.
Perhaps get a friend to start you off, if you're in South Wales I'll help, I LOVE organising

I had to because of immigration.
A few things I did:

• clean out 1 room each weekend. Sort out what you don’t need anymore and donate it / throw it away immediately so it won’t keep laying around.

• choose 1 item per day that you want to get rid of and get rid of all the items you choose during that week during the weekend.

Yes I did it.

I put a date in on a Saturday every month for six months that was connected to Marie Kondo's advice in what order to do it.

Lots of stuff got moved into the shed, at the end, we got a skip in and then over two days filled the skip. We sent the kids to the grandparents for the weekend and just focused on it completely.

It was amazing to complete it. It genuinely means that everything in the house has a place and so there is such less clutter, and tidying takes much less time.

I do a spring clean each year and sort and organise cupboards and throw things out or give them away. You need to invest in good storage as a starting point

Currently doing just this; 'just' the loft and garage to go(!) Catalyst was my husbands sudden death. It has been a good distraction for my grief and was well overdue but its not the reason I would have chosen! He was a bit of a hoarder and collector so most of the stuff is his; some has had a value so ive sold it/will try to sell it; some has gone to charity, some has been binned/recycled and some
more personal stuff Ive kept. The hardest part is knowing what some of it is worth to know whether to sell or give away or throw away! The money it has generated so far has gone towards re-decorating too which has helped; I dont want to fill newly decorated rooms with old junk! I also managed to get rid of some things by re-gifting them over Christmas and I'm also massively cutting down on what I buy in the future; not just for me but for other people; no superfluous tat allowed!

I just take three bags into each room. One to keep, one for the bin/tip and one for the charity shop. You have to be ruthless with things, if you really don’t need it then get rid of it. You’ll find a lot of it is unnecessary and unwanted.

I followed Marie Kondo to the letter, took about 3 months in total (no kids here though). Then started the organised mum method, and on Friday focus weeks, sometimes spend an extra 10 minutes decluttering. The result? Two years of an immaculate house, DESPITE us self renovating the whole thing. It’s amazing.

For me, the Kondo clear out helped a lot because I am now so much more careful about what comes into the house. No stupid promo pens or mugs or whatever that never get used, expect for my very favourite beer glasses. The real revelation of it all, I’m certain.

Talking of mementos, I had an awful lot of these What I did was to take photographs of them all then I could take them to Charity shops and still have the memory in the form of the photograph. I even did this with clothes I bought for special occasions years ago and will never wear again.

Just moved internationally and did a major declutter. Took 3 months in all.
Broke it down room by room
Sold bulky unwanted furniture first, donated books, puzzles and craft stuff to school, listed bundles of kiddie equipment on FB pages, did a car boot, joint garage sale and gave lots and lots away on freecycle. A friend and I shared taking kids to sports activity at the weekend so used those mornings to do their rooms.
Proud to say I personally threw nothing in the bin. Worked fulltime so did all the clearing in the evenings instead of telly/mumsnet.

Well done, habibihabibi, I also try not to throw anything in the bin. There are Facebook groups, Freecycle and Freegle for the things that can't go to charity shops or be sold (e g. electrical items often can't be taken by charity shops but can be given away on Facebook or even broken vacuum cleaners and old laptops and things can be given to and restored by those who know how, old towels can be given to someone with a dog or an animal shelter, an old comb went to someone with a horse, an old and peeling baking tray and colander were taken to be used in a mud kitchen at a preschool, etc) and lastly, some things can be recycled (old paperwork, some plastic items, and so on). It might take me slightly longer finding the right homes for things but I would feel awful and probably not be able to part with things if I thought they were going straight into landfill.

Can anyone tell me in a nutshell what Marie kondo is, I'm clearing out this week and could do with tips but don't have time to research it all. Thanks.

In a word - no not really :D You have to read the book to get the full method, it doesn't work to just get the gist of it. It's not a very long book.

In short you tidy with a goal in mind (what you want your house/space/life to look like when you've finished), separate by category rather than by space, feel every item to see if it "sparks joy" (makes you feel good), say thank you to items you discard, discard (ie get out of house) ASAP. "Joy" can be utility ie hoover probably doesn't spark joy, but a gritty floor does whatever the opposite of sparking joy is so the hoover represents the means to have a clean floor, and sparks joy that way.

Sentimental items are their own category and go right at the end.

Then, store things vertically so you can see/access it all at once without disturbing a pile.

You kind of have to read the book but if I had to summarise it in 3 steps

1. write a vision of what your life will be like after you have done your clear out
2. but everything in a big pile to sort via category eg all book together
3. pick everything up and decide what to keep rather than decide what to get rid of

Number 3 is/was a real game changer for me.

Yeah, number 3 is the game changer, changed my de-cluttering from simply moving things around and 'storing them in case i needed them' to actually getting rid of stuff.
Once you've decluttered, it's much easier to find space to store things you actually want.
Also, a neatly folded drawer of clothes where you can actually see what's in there is a thing of joy in itself.

Thanks

elrider I feel the same - I hate waste which is why I used to keep everything.
I gave old packets of pasta etc to school for crafting.
Years worth of jars went on a jar recycling facebook page.
My local animal rescue took all my mops/brooms, sponges and all the cleaning products I didn't want spilling in the container.

Someone took over 1000 tin cans to make a living wall at a nursery school.
I took alot of bits and bobs of broken or unloved jewellery/chains,mostly silver but some gold cashed it in and had some nice cufflinks made for my husband.
All my unwanted newer clothes, not worn underwear,gifted soaps, tac lotions etc, I took to a womans shelter.
It takes time is the only thing.