Out of control house - where do I start?

[Ninjakittysmellz]

I am embarrassed and overwhelmed so please don’t shout at me - I want to make it better.

I’m a single parent, and I’m overwhelmed at the moment working 2 jobs and just about keeping on top of life. We eat out to avoid using the kitchen as I can’t face cleaning it. I’ve bought ds new socks and pants because my laundry is out of control. It’s not fair on either of us and I have to tackle it....

Where do I start? Upstairs? The kitchen? Do I do Laundry first? I can’t dry it because if I put it on radiators the pet hair hasn’t been hoovered.

I am embarrassed, but I don’t know where to start to make this better. There are 3 beds and a bathroom upstairs, clothes on landing in piles of both clean and dirty. We only use my bedroom really but the spare room has clothes piled up on the bed and floor. Ds room is immaculate but hasn’t been hoovered or dusted.

Downstairs there is a playroom (not too bad) living room, kitchen / diner (a hell hole) and utility with clean / dirty laundry in and all the cat food and litter in.

Please tell me where to begin - once I’ve blitzed it I’m getting a cleaner because I never want to be in this position again. It’s really not fair on ds and I dread coming home :(

Just wanted to say how much better and in control I felt coming down this morning. I’ve put another load of washing in, cleaned all the floors again and emptied and filled up the dishwasher.

I need to tackle ALL the clean washing which I moved to Ds room, but it feels manageable. Just maintaining the downstairs rooms this morning took me about 10 mins, so if I can remember this and not let it build up again then I’m so hopeful I won’t get in this situation again.

That said, upstairs is not really tackled to any degree, so that’s my project for today. Setting my timer for half an hour again!

Well done OP! Very productive sounding day. On the back of this thread I've tidied a couple of drawers out in DDs room and tackled the scary paperwork mess keep the momentum going!

That's great @Ninjakittysmellz. The TOMM method has you doing 30 minutes a day, Monday to Friday, nothing at weekends. Plus 15 minutes a day standard stuff like put a load of washing on, wipe round kitchen and bathroom etc. In all honesty, i think I could manage in less than that, once im on top of it all, as it includes weekly bed changes (I do mine fortnightly, shock horror!) And washing pet beds, throws, etc weekly too. Which I don't think is necessary and just creates more washing.

So you do something like :

Monday - living room
Tuesday - bedrooms
Weds - hallways/landings etc
Thursday - kitchen
Friday - 30 minute extra clean of 1 area, on an 8 weeks (or whatever) rotation.

Hi OP, I’m so pleased for you 😊. Must have felt so much better getting up this morning!
I have an app called Home Routines where you can set daily tasks and then a different “focus zone” that can change either daily or weekly. I’ve not done the TOMM but I feel like it would complement it well.

You probably have too much stuff
Clothes washing is a viscous circle too much washing to sort can lead to biying more .I watched a YouTube vlogger who has a large family saying how she used to be over whelmed by laundry. She took advice from someone else and cut the clothes down to just a few outfits and it transformed her life....
Remember you dont need clean clothes every day
Seriously cut down on stuff, the answer is not more storage its less stuff
And cut yourself some slack , do what you can tackle one thing at a time

How did you get on with the clean laundry today @Ninjakittysmellz ? There are 6 people in our house, I iron as little as humanly possible, sort laundry into piles as each load is dry and place on a shelf on the landing. Each of the DC is responsible for putting their own away from there...

Don't beat yourself up about it, it's so hard sometimes & the worse it gets the harder it is.

Your ds is wearing clean pants & socks, so what if you needed to buy them because of laundry issues at least he has them.

It looks like you've made a good list so I hope it helps.

I find keeping on top of the house really stressful for some reason & definately find reasons to go out so I don't have to tackle it. I'm good with laundry but I have a tumble dryer & actually enjoy folding clothes (no idea why!)

Also a really good thing I did which is possibly why I'm always on top of the washing was to go through the kids drawers & really reduce the clothes.

For example I kept 10 pants, 10 socks, 5 vests, 4 pjs, 7 t-shirts, 4 jeans, 3 hoodies etc. Now all the clean clothes fit in the drawers so no reason not to put them away.

I must have filled a bin bag of excess clothes for each dc & I have 3dc!

Sort through the clean washing before you start ironing. There will be loads of clothes that you can put straight into a charity shop bag. Also sort into similar items, if you do 10 t-shirts in a row it really feels very efficient.

You did so well yesterday. Amazing.

Also, on bad days when I'm finding it hard to get away from the TV, I do quick jobs in the adverts. So in one break I may put all the dishes in the kitchen, start the washing machine, clean the loo, strip a bed or two. It really helps make to harder days not end in feelings of failure.

You are doing a fantastic job. We'll done!

One thing that stands out to me is how many piles of laundry you have. I sounds like maybe you have too much stuff. While you are sorting and the clean laundry keep a bin bag beside you to fill with things to give to charity. If you've been buying things instead of washing you must have lots of duplicates.

How's it going now OP? You really inspired me.

I struggle with house work a lot and one thing that helped massively was paring down clothes

I have a system of one in one out, 7 pairs of underpants each. More generous with socks but meh. 4 pairs of trousers / shorts (( trousers put away during the summer )) 7 t-shirts, a couple of carried etc. Washing is done each evening so it doesn't build up.