Can I sort this mess by Saturday?

[sadkoala]

I really want to but not sure I can.
It's getting to me and I can't think straight being stuck in a messy house, I'm driving myself up the wall.
We have a small house which gets cluttered v v quickly.
It's a sorry state atm as clothes are taking absolute ages to dry and the washing is mounting up. There's clothes on our bedroom floor that we didn't put away because our wardrobes are already messy.
Same goes for DCs room.
Pretty much every room needs a good declutter and tidy. The amount of crap and stuff to sort through is really overwhelming.
Kitchen is the main culprit as you walk straight into it and I would love to really minimise everything on the worktops as I hate it - but in order to do that I would have to make room in narnia the cupboards.

We are going to be really busy next week and won't have time to do much before Christmas. I've got today with 1yo in tow. Tomorrow with 3yo and 1yo and on Saturday DP is taking both DC's out for a few hrs per my request so I can try to tackle it but I know Saturday itself isn't enough and I need to start now.

Where do I start and what do I do? 😫

Can you get to the launderette today and blitz the washing?
Gut the kitchen tonight after bedtime.

Don't focus on the big picture, it's too overwhelming. Deal with one room at a time. Where do you spend the most time? Start there. I would start with the kitchen. Empty all of your cupboards, check use by dates of food, get rid of anything you know you aren't going to use.

Once you have done 1 room, that is your refuge. Move on to the next room and when it gets too much then run back to the tidy room for a nice cup of tea (or wine).

Whilst this is happening you'll have the washing going and LOUD music, upbeat and something you know well and can sing along to.

Leave the bedrooms until last - they don't matter. All you have to do is sleep there so you can turn the lights off and pretend it's all fine until you have the time.

Any clothes that are never going to fit again, you just don't like or wear - bag them up, they need to go.

When I do something like this I set the timer on my phone (30 mins, 1 hour, however long you need per room really) for each room. I work to the time and then move on to the next room. I usually listen to my audio book as I'm working. Preparation is key. I have a cleaning caddy with all that'll need to each room (sprays, cloths, bin bags etc). If I can I pull the wheelie bins as close to the back door as I can and chuck stuff straight in. If it's too cold to be opening and closing the door I have a bin bag in the kitchen for general waste, recycling, charity etc. My first job in each room is to remove any rubbish and put things away in their right place so that I then have clear surfaces to work with. I don't do floors until the very end (but I do sprinkle shake n vac as I go so it gets a good smell going). As I'm going a long I make a note of bigger non essential jobs (such as cleaning windows, blinds etc) so that I won't get distracted into doing them then. The aim of the game is to do as many little jobs as possible.

I'd be tempted to throw all clothes into launderette for service wash and dry to start with. Even wash everything and tumble at the launderette if service wash is too pricey.

First walk round the house with a carrier bag and put any rubbish in . Get some cheap plastic boxes for the kitchen cupboards to put any bits and bobs in. Have another bag handy per room for stuff for charity and be ruthless!

Another vote for get the clothes in for a service wash. We’ve used them in times of illness/when the washing machine broke and lots of places will even come and collect the washing and bring it back all clean and dry for a very reasonable fee. Worth the money.

Yup be ruthless. 2 bags - bin and charity shop. Work your way around room by room, doing laundry as you go. You’ve probably got too many clothes (we are the same) and won’t ever wear half of them so chuck/donate and forget about them!

Whenever you walk through a room pick some things up and decide what to do with them. It’s easier to tackle it bit by bit.

It will look worse before it looks better!

Do you wear the clothes in the wardrobes or are they stuff that doesn't fit/sentimental value? Because it sounds like you wear the stuff that is in the wash and in/on the floordrobe. Get rid of stuff that doesn't fit.

It is a case of throwing things out, each time you go into a room just pick up one or two items and decide to throw or put away.

1. service wash & dry
2. rubbish & bins from every room
3. dirty dishes from every room
4. bin bag, walk every room. Obvious charity shop stuff. Don't get bogged down. 5)manage your expectations. You are not going to get the whole house decluttered by Xmas!! No one would!
5. go for cleaning quick wins. Kitchen worktop, hoover / mop everywhere.
6. don't get sidetracked.
7. v wise PP above : stuff the bedrooms at this stage. Everybody would like their house immaculate everywhere for Xmas. Why do we set ourselves these impossible targets?!
8. concentrate on entertaining spaces, lounge, kitchen.
9. enjoy your family Xmas together xx

Also, be willing to stick the children in front of the TV/in a playpen/whatever you need so that you can get on with as little disturbance from them as possible just for these couple of days.

I’d do it in layers so you don’t spend too long in one place and feel like you’re making progress. Also you get to pretend you’re an archeologist.

Clear do big stuff on floors (clothes, large toys, books etc) in each room. Then big stuff on surfaces (books, clothes, cups etc) in each room. Then smaller stuff on floors (small toys, tissues, hair bands etc.) until hoover ready. Then smaller stuff on surfaces (lego, post its etc.) until ready to wipe. Then make beds and hoover, wipe etc. Keep him and charity bags handy. I also have a going downstairs box and a going upstairs box.

The kitchen you’ve just got to give away all the stuff you don’t use. If you need motivation put everything you’d consider getting rid of in all pile to see how much space you’d gain. I tell myself it’s not ‘useful’ if it’s not being used and I own zero cookie cutters.

Make sure all the washings is in one place. Work out how many washes you can do a day without mouldy pants and do them.

Good luck.

Another 1 here for the service wash - get it all out of the house for a day & take the day to sort the house out.
Storage is key here, go buy plastic tubs for the kids stuff (print their name on it & get them to tidy up their shit!)

A good start would be to get off the computer and stop talking about it! I get amazed at how many people complain of being so, so busy yet spend so much time on-line! BTW, I'm retired with plenty of free time to waste!

Bless you, my house has often been like that and it's quite demoralising.
Get someone in to help if you can afford it. It's worth the expense, especially if you go half each.
Good luck .

Not much help but fellow feeling.

My home is always like that! I have a messy clan.

The way I deal with a massively cluttered room is set aside a good 6 hours (Can DH take the kids out) then I get any plates, cups etc to the sink, clothes go to the right persons bedroom then chuck everything else in a pile in the middle of the room and sort through it. Bin bag for rubbish, bib bag for charity etc. Be ruthless. Don't keep clothes you think you will slim into one day. They are usually out of fashion by the time you do! Don't have too many toys for the kids. They don't play with most of them I bet! It's unlikely you can sort your whole house by Saturday but the kitchen and lounge should be doable in the evenings. But I agree, get off the computer and just do it! You'll feel much better when you do!

Can you get a dehumidifier? That will help the clothes dry more quickly and minimise the condensation./mould.

I've also read good reviews about the Lakeland heated airers - they don't look cheap to buy but cheap to run.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/2476652-Lakeland-heated-dryer

Laundrette is a great idea, even if just for drying the clothes to get rid of them hanging around the house.

If you don't have time for a proper clear out/assessment of what you want to keep, get rid of, is there the possibility of putting half of the clothes currently in the wardrobe in suitcases/black bags and storing them in the attic until the New Year, when you can decide then what you want to keep/bin/donate.

Re the kitchen - try to get some boxes that you can put stuff in that you don't immediately need. Do you have a shed where you can put them?

A good podcast or Christmas music or the radio on will really help the time fly and you'll feel so much better when you've tackled it.

Get the wardrobes and kitchen cupboards sorted out, the mess will be worse before it gets better, but when the cupboards are sorted, you’ll have somewhere to put all the stuff that needs put away, and when you get to this stage it all comes together very quickly.

This is going to go against MN thinking, but forget the charity shop this time, just get rid off stuff out of your house on this occasion. If times against you, don’t waste time deciding what’s worth going to the charity shop, just either keep or get rid

When mine was 1yr old I had a phase of a few months where every time i left the house I took one thing to the charity shop (used to pass it on my way into town). Used to put it on the bottom of the pram.

I know that's not a quick fix, but with a baby it was manageable and over time we shifted a lot of stuff.

Heating on full blast, clothes on radiators, windows open. Bin bags and go room to room just getting rid of any rubbish or moving crockery into kitchen.

Then 20 minutes tidy per room with a box, add items for other rooms into box - throw all dirty laundry into hall. Move box from room to room as you tidy and empty and fill it.

Then put the clothes away that have dried, throw dirty clothes into wash. Cycle other clothes onto radiators or door frames that need to dry.

Give kitchen and bathroom and dining table a wet clean - using rags, fairy liquid and a splash of bleach and a wet cloth - you're just getting muck off not shining anything. Use kitchen roll on toilet and bin the paper.

Then multi surface furniture polish upstairs to downstairs - windows, mirrors, surfaces, bathroom, living areas. Onto kitchen.

Hoover tomorrow and keep going with clothes putting them away and then making things look nice - clearing fridge of old paperwork, rearranging bookshelves etc.

You'll be exhausted but you'll have done amazing!

Gather up all the clothing, take it to the laundrette for a service wash and dry (and iron if they do it) then get some black bags and ruthlessly get rid of anything in the kitchen you don't use. Then reorganise while your little ones are in bed.

Lists are your friend! Write a list of everything that needs to be done for each room and then you can cross it off as you go then you feel like your making progress even if it is hard to see at the start. I always try and add as many silly little things to my lists as possible because then I feel like I'm getting more done the more I cross off.

Also Google house cleaning schedule and there is A few out there that break stuff down really nicely. I used one when my house got really cluttered and it definitely helped.

I have just had to the same after 5 months of being ill and things piling up! I am nearly there but my thoughts echo some of the others above:

• don't try and do it all and get depressed about it! Setting timers and just allowing yourself to do as much as you can in that time is great. Make sure you praise, praise, praise yourself for GETTING ANYTHING DONE AT ALL!
• clothes to the service wash sounds good
• walking with two bags in each room, rubbish and charity, will make a huge difference

Shifting to getting rid of things is hard though, I haven't read Marie Kondo but did pick up a few ideas from it from a summary. One that resonated and I remind myself when looking at things especially clothes to either get rid of (or buy) is: does this bring me joy? If it doesn't I imagine it bringing joy to someone else and also feel rather sorry for it living with me who doesn't appreciate it. Then I can let it go...

There is also my half way house: bag it up and hide it away (if you have room). If you don't get it out within a month or 3/4/6 whatever it goes and you didn't need it.

I would start surprisingly by turning the tele on and watching a couple of episodes of consumed - might sound like procrastinating but may ultimately spur you on to a different way of looking at your stuff.

Key principle of this is you need to throw 75% of your stuff away!

For very complicated reasons we had to merge 4 household belongings into my bog standard 3 bed terrace. Without some inspiration from tiny house living, and organisational videos I would have failed.