Clothes explosion. Help needed!

[headinthesand1]

No judgement please!

There has been a massive clothes explosion in the house and I can't get on top of it. Im the only adult in the house so yeah its down to me to fix it - and id just like some tips advice from people who have actually got their shit together

I work full time at my business so sometimes when I finish work, I sort kids then I'm on my lap top doing things for work then I go bed as I'm shattered - every thing else is going out the window.

2 kids 8 & 5

5 year old will regularly wear 2-3 outfits a day. I have really tried to stop this but ex is here looking after them during the holidays so its futile as im not in the house.

We have last years clothes filling the draws up, clothes that don't fit me but I refuse to throw away as im trying to lose weight and two suitcases of summer holiday clothes to add to the mix and I still need to get winter clothes as both kids have had a growth spurt !

My utility room looks like a jumble sale is going on. The stairs, table and chairs have piles of clothes on that the kids knock down.

Every morning I get stressed as I need to wade through the pile of clothes to find socks and clothes and its just so unorganised. I feel like I have a mental block of dealing with it.

Please give me some firm words of advice as I actually have a guest coming next week and they can not see my house like this!

Im just going out now to get school uniform but will be back!

help!

To keep clothes tidy you need enough space to put them away easily. Whether it's drawers, cupboards or wardrobes. Clear this furniture by bagging up ALL the clothes that do not fit you or the kids. Be ruthless. Don't keep clothes you may slim down into. Put them outside until you can take them to a charity shop, sell them or take to a clothes bank. Now you can put away all the clean clothes that you all wear everyday. Go through the suitcases and bag up any clothes there that don't fit or realistically won't be worn. Having less clothes is so much less stressful. Get into the habit of getting rid of clothes as soon as they are unwanted or don't fit.

Get the kids to have a try-on session with their old clothes to weed out anything that's too small. They can work their way through those, while you sort out a few easy piles. You can start off by just going through one or two of the heaps and throwing together each person's clothes into a personal heap, then move on and repeat.

Would you be able to round up a basket, or even use a bag for life type thing, for each person? Then it's quicker to section things out and take them to the right area, which might help reduce it.

Then sort those piles into easy groups, like tops together, and if the kids are up then get them to help with sorting and taking stuff to their drawers. The more things are mixed together the harder it is so tackle, so this might help make it more manageable?

Your kids are 8 &5. They can help sort the laundry, teach them to pair socks, pile underwear, 8 year old trousers. They can sort the rest into piles for each person and once it's all folded, they can put their laundry away.
But this means they need to have space and obvious places for each type of clothing to go.

Sympathies, totally understand the stress and no judgement here. I think you need to dedicate a proper period of time to sorting the initial chaos and getting a system going and then it will be much easier to keep on top of. Sounds ridiculous but I'd probably try and dedicate a whole day to it if that's possible, can Ex take the kids out one weekend or a day in the week you're off work (I know, I know, what a sad way to use a childfree day but it will make your life so much better if you can get on top of it), and I'd do the following:

-Trip to shops to ensure you have enough laundry hampers and baskets, we have loads of them in this house, more than 1 per person (so one is always in use in each person's room for dirty clothes plus one in the bathroom plus a couple that hold clean waiting to be put away) plus large ones that live by the machine for sorting/holding purposes.

-Some time doing a ruthless sort through of old and outgrown clothes and binning/taking to charity. I totally hear you on the wanting to hold onto things while trying to lose weight (been there, got the too small T shirt) but honestly life is so much better if the contents of your wardrobe are current, flattering (to your shape now not what you wish it was) and well fitting rather than items from yesteryear that 'one day' you'll fit back into - in my case I did lose the weight but it took a while and I actually found aside from a few special/timeless items I didn't actually really want to wear my 10 years old clothes from when I was last skinny anymore so storing them all that time was a total waste . I'd just get rid of as much as possible now and tell yourself that when you've lost the weight you'll treat yourself to new things as a reward...

-Sort out your storage, each person needs enough space to put away all their clothes assuming all is clean at once - if they don't they either have too many clothes or not enough storage so sort that out. It's so much easier to keep things tidy and find what you want when it all lives in proper wardrobes/drawers rather than chaotic piles everywhere. Once you have this sorted you can instigate a 'one-in one -out system for new clothes where any time new things arrive you sort through and get rid of the oldest/least suitable other item of that type so you don't get overwhelmed again.

-Put anything clean away neatly. Also try and sort a system for what your 5yo does with clothes she's worn for a few hours then changed out of - agree you probably can't stop this happening if it's on Ex's watch but you can try and stop things that are basically clean cycling through laundry unnecessarily - unless the reason for the endless outfits is that she's getting messy 3-5 times a day?

-Good few loads of laundry on to wash, dry and crucially put away into your nice new storage (if you pick a nice sunny day you'll get loads done - I know, waste of a sunny day etc etc ). Once you are over the hump it will be easier to use an Organised Mum routine or similar where you do a load a day to stay on top of it long-term.

I know it sounds boring but maybe stick some good podcasts or audio books or music on while you work and you'll get through loads in the time. Even dedicating a couple of hours if you can't manage a whole day would be a big help?

You need to have a RUTHLESS clear out. Don't over-think it. If it doesn't fit, out it goes.

Don't get caught up in the "sunken costs fallacy", thinking that there is monetary value in the clothes you are culling.

Get rid of EVERYTHING that doesn't have an active place in your day to day life.

I was in the same position a few weeks ago op I bought 4 kallax units from IKEA with boxes and bagged everything up I done 4 bags a night after work tane the clothes my kids had grown out of I wouldn't get rid of your small clothes if your going to lose weight you just need good storage and only keep what you really like thats what I done the rest went to charity shop and the bin .
I do know how hard it is I work full time and have 3 kids my youngest is only a year old it can be hard to find the time but a bit at a time every night you could be sorted in a week .