Does anyone want to join me in a sort your life out thread?

[mumof1littlebun]

I know this has been down to death but thought I'd start a new one for the new school year.

My life is just a mess of being tired, overweight and a with a house full of clutter!

I need to sort everything out because it is miserable living the way I am at the minute.

Thought I would start with baby steps now and then once the kids are back at school really give it a good go of looking after myself. I have completely lost myself since having children and lack of sleep and the terrible twos are really taking their toll at the minute.

Any support/advice and people to join in would be lovely. It would also be great if anyone has changed their life around could tell me how they did it!

Me!!!! I'm waiting on a 'life changing' book from Amazon today so I need all help I can get

Me too! I'll join. Currently struggling with long covid and really feeling the impact on my life so need to feel a bit more in control. I'm going to make one small change every week knowing that by Christmas I will have made 18 cumulative changes which feels pretty good. This week's is taking the myriad of vitamins and supplements I've bought to try and make myself feel more like myself!

I was going to start a thread about this but then started one about how I just don't think I can be organised and just accept the fact it's probably never going to happen! I've tried so many times but just can't do it!

I will join please. I have clutter everywhere and need a clear out at home and need to sort my working life out too. Some lingering health issues (or peri meno who knows) to get on top of. Family members need support and I need a long term plan for that. Need to not shy away from the bigger decisions. Would love to come out of this with some everyday changes and a longer term plan. Good luck to everyone!

Yes, please! I’m actually a minimalist who used to regularly streamline, declutter and keep on top of everything. It got harder once cohabiting with an ADHD partner who loves Amazon Priming shit almost as much as he loves me, harder still with a three year old who seems to accumulate stuff from nowhere.

Eg. Me living on my own: one bag for life, used for shopping, decluttering stuff to the tip, transporting washing to the line. Me living with DP: NINETEEN of the fuckers, everywhere, filled with laundry and god knows what or just drifting around like fucking supermarket-branded tumbleweed, bursting out from under the stairs, why why why.

Then it all fell apart when I got pregnant and sick, and now Covid on top of it all. We’re moving next week and I’m secretly hoping this will help: the packers pack up all the shit and junk and clutter. I only unpack some of it. The rest of my life falls magically into place, I quit my awful job and return to freelancing, and there are free-range chickens and possibly a rose garden.

Oh god me! Need to sort so much crap out. Upstairs is a tip, diet is shocking, roots are getting on for about 4 inches and I've been meaning to book an opticians appointment for over a year.

I have a son with physical disabilities and 2 daughters (eldest dsughter doesn't even live here) work only 12 hours a week and say I have no time but I have plenty of time to sit scrolling through nothing on my phone.

Yeah life has got way more messy than I would like since my twins were born. I’d like to get back on top of things too. Let’s do it!

Interested. I need to get better at motivating myself into a weekly timetable. I work at home freelance and unless I'm very busy I find I drift. I want to fit in weekly swimming, twice weekly runs or walks, all my work, household jobs and life admin into the hours the DC are at school. I tend to prioritise getting the work done and it leaves little time or motivation for the rest. Little errands get put off until there's not enough time to do them.

I get depressed visiting homes that seem tidy and organised and have become obsessed with the notion that no-one tidies up anything except me. I could spend all day tidying up but refuse to. DH never puts anything away and youngest DC leaves toys and clothes all over the house. Older DC better at keeping his own room tidy which is something.

DH has a spare bedroom for his clothes which he never tidies. I just don't go in there but it's a shame as that's a room in my house I can't use as it makes me angry. He bites my head off or acts like 15 year old if I suggest he tidies it. He's also got 2/3 of the garage for his own use and is campaigning to have all of it so we'll have to store bikes elsewhere.

Maybe I'm over thinking it but it feels like I'm losing control over my life.

Maybe if we make a list of things we want to change then think how we can improve each thing?

I want to:

*lose weight
*start up some exercise
*have a bedtime routine
*declutter the house
*be better with money/saving
*plan what we want to do with the house having only lived here for 9 months I'd like to get on with decorating and really making it a home

As someone who went from clutter everywhere to minimalist I highly recommend working on shedding your life of “stuff” first as the impact it has in the rest of your life is huge! It took me a good two years to get to a minimalist point I was happy with so don’t feel defeated when it doesn’t happen over night!

Forgot to add try and get a dentist appointment 🙄and book an eye test

Me too. I feel a mess. Can't get going most days.
I bought some vit b complex yesterday to see if it helps.
I've started eating more salad meals and fruit but still haven't cut out snacking. I need to lose weight.
I went crazy a few weeks ago and de cluttered the kitchen, living room and kids bedrooms so that's all looking a lot better. I have my bedroom to go
It's actually made a huge difference and it just looks more spacious and is tidy and clean. I really recommend it.
I want to start doing some regular exercise like a weights based home workout. I go walking a lot and sometimes cycle but not regularly enough.
My hope is to get up half an hr earlier and do a 15 min weights work out daily and spend 15 mins writing a to do list and having a coffee.
My friend does this and calls it her daily meeting with herself

Oh yes, Meal planning to save money too.

For me
Short term
*book eye test
*get hair done
*get dogs groomed (the moulting is not helping with the overall look of the place)

• get DH to transfer his credit card to 0%

Longer term
*Find a bloody carer for DS. He was awarded direct payments in February and still not managed to find anyone.
*Clear out conservatory

• Go through DD2's bedroom
• Sort spare room
• Meal plan
• Sort and stick to a proper budget
• Find time for more running and get some weights in there somewhere.

I'm so in need of this. Constantly fantasising about not spending this much energy and mental bandwidth on just staying afloat, and then coming to and being irritated and depressed with the reality.

My list:
Me:
Resume exercise: 30 mins yoga a day mon-fri, run on Sat. Not enough but I'm not even managing this at the moment, and it makes a massive difference when I do.

Bed at 1030 so that I can get up at 6 and have time to do the above

Get a grip of dentist, hair and eye appointments. I've had a temporary filling for over 2 years.

Wear the good clothes and do makeup even if I'm not leaving the house, feeling like a scruff isn't helping anything

Get out into green space every weekend, on my own if the kids won't come, it's the best rebalencer I know.

House:
We have building work going on so it's a crapfest anyway but use the opportunity for a radical declutter

Book a regular online grocery delivery and get out of the who blinks first chicken run with DH over who's going to do the shopping this week.

Life admin:
The list is too huge and chaotic to even try to capture, but I want to do one life admin task a day. That should see it gradually come under control rather than keep spiralling out of control.

LOVE a to-do list. Mine is:

• Significantly declutter, including DD’s stuff and hope it inspires DP
• De-plastic and de-waste the kitchen (have already managed with my and DD’s bathroom stuff; see above re DP)
• Resume meal planning, which fell by the wayside during the dark days of first trimester sickness
• Establish a routine/rhythm for the house – our shopping/laundry/cleaning/family time etc is all haphazard atm, feel like we’re playing catch-up constantly but a rota would help
• Incorporate regular swimming and walking back into my routine
• Sort out the new house and garden (needs a million sub lists of its own)
• Wean myself off my phone to regain time to spend reading, writing and drawing. I’m a daily doomscroller and it needs to stop
• Save six months childcare and bills to take the freelance leap once No2 turns 3

Yes please!

I'm going to start with the decluttering this week - one step at a time for me 😊

Oh god @ststuntbubbles I feel your bag for life pain so acutely! If my husband brings ONE more into the house instead of just taking one with him it's divorce.

De clutter for me.

I need vacuum storage bags!

I did manage to order permanent marker pens to write on said vacuum bags when I get them!

I have managed to empty out a large cupboard in the living room, an old silver service box....loads of dvds...I kept the dvd but got rid of the boxes...huge amount of spaces Freed up.
I'm slowly tackling a bed side drawer, I've managed to get an IKEA drawer organiser in it and have put medicines in that!
Slowly slowly!

We are also over run with bags for life.
However once we do use them for rubbish they go very quickly. I am good and put one in the car but it never gets taken back to the car

This is everything which I need to do!!

Suggestion for anyone wanting to tackle clutter - books by The Minimalists. They also have a podcast and instagram page etc.

Can I join?

@mumif1littlebun how are you getting on?

I think I want to do most of the same things, but I know I can't try and change too much at once.

• Weight is creeping up and I want to lose around 10lb and get into better eating habits. I'm thinking about stopping eating after evening meal, and trying to plan healthier lunches I can make in advance.
• Exercise. Currently just walk a bit and really need to sort this. DH and I are thinking about family membership at gym with creche and kids club.
• Routines. I keep reading stuff about habits and I find it really hard to stick to things. Listened to some of A Slob Comes Clean and trying to be consistent with her basic habits as a starting point (basically dishes, sweep kitchen floor, 5 minute tidy and check bathrooms for clutter). Hopefully can add some more around getting sorted for next day, and spending time on creative things I enjoy.
• Declutter. This is such a struggle. We both have loads of stuff, and I keep thinking things might be useful, I'll get back into x when kids are older etc. I think I'm going to try and tackle small amounts every week and try and do some with DH while watching something a bit mindless/listening to something together.

I want to sort out making the house nice too, but feels impossible to discuss and make decisions sometimes.

Also there's a podcast called Happier that has lots of ideas for making you happier, healthier, more on top of things etc, might be good place for ideas to try. First episode has 1 minute rule for example (if takes less than 1 minute do it now) which I try and remember.