To ask you to help me sort my house out?

[SingleSidedShoulderShrug]

I have PTSD and severe depression after a current court process (AS me to read more). Now my psychiatrist have tweaked my meds and I feel like we've hit a golden point! He brought my meds down from 335 venlafaxine with the idea to wean down entirely and off onto another drug with an anti psychotic, as last week when i saw him I was so depressed and low I couldn't stop crying and I felt actively suicidal. I'm also on mirtazapine 15mg a night

However during the wean down I've felt so amazing, at my appointment today he agreed I looked a 100 times better, I'm not crying anymore, I'm not staring catatonic into space for ages, I'm not suicidal, I'm able to write down how I feel, write letters to the person who attacked me and burn them in the fireplace to help me move on and deal with it so agreed to keep me on the dosage I'm on now as sometimes venlafaxine can make you too stimulated at higher doseages.

Anyway thats the background.

I'm living away from my husband currently as my MH issues were so hard for him to deal with. But I'm thinking of moving back soonish, but when I was really really unwell the house was a total shit tip, and I know it was, it was full of dog hair, dog toys everywhere, dishes all over the place, surfaces not cleaned, floors not mopped, bathroom not cleaned, clothes dumped everywhere..

How do I get into a routine now I feel better so I never let the house get that bad? Do I tackle it one room at a time? My husband has cleaned the kitchen and living room really well whilst I've been living at my parents, but the basement where our washing machine and tumble dryer live is covered in washing.

The spare room with a bed is covered in clothes, the spare room without a bed is full of boxes and clothes because we're moving house soon, and our room is just full of dirty washing and plates and mugs and stuff.

If I'm totally honest I don't where to start. It feels so overwhelming and huge I don't know what to do. And then when we move I don't want to get myself in this mess again. It'll be months before I'm mentally ready for work so I will be at home and I can sort it out but I don't know where to start!

Please help me!!

I do half an hour a day. I can face half an hour. I tackle whichever job is most critical with the understanding that I'll do as much as I can in half an hour (I can carry on longer if I want to).

Oh and in terms of the reset areas, I would have a think about which thing is annoying you most undone, and also the place you would most value being nice. Do those first.

@SingleSidedShoulderShrug how are you getting on? You keep crossing my mind (usually as I ignore another pile of crap that needs sorted!)

There's a book out, can't remember what it's called but it says sort things by items. Like all the shoes. Then all your jumpers, then dresses ect. Just put all the dirty stuff in the basement and do a few loads a day. Do as much as you can cope with and don't push yourself.
If you can afford it maybe get someone in to help you. Or maybe a few family members come over for a few days and help each day. X

If you have Netflix look out the Marie kondo series about courting your house out. It's really inspirational. Also the organised mum method (TOMM) on Facebook has a group and that's very helpful. Goodluck

I do things in tens ie put away ten items, wash up ten items etc. Then I can choose to do another ten or I can stop.

I also decided when unwell a few years ago to only do things in the room they should be in. So I only ate in the dining room, only watched tv in the lounge etc. It was when I needed structure and routine so it worked well for then and meant there weren’t things in the “wrong” rooms

Sorry you have been having such a rough time recently op

For the laundry:

• buy two drying racks and some new laundry baskets (one for each member of household plus two for house). Write the name of each person in your house, including yourself, on an index card or similar, and sellotape to each basket. Stick another card with 'house' written on it on another basket for bedsheets, tea towels, etc and ditto one more for towels.
• collect all dirty laundry up from all over the house and take it down to join the washing on the basement floor *put motivating music on *collect all dirty laundry in to one large mountain *quickly hoover rest of floor around mountain *divide washing in to piles eg darks, hot whites, mixed, woollens, bed-linen, towels, etc. Don't despair, even if you have 25 piles on floor.
  *do some "editing" as you are putting laundry in to piles eg chuck out anything ripped, torn, terribly old or stained and put anything unflattering or superfluous on a "charity" pile to wash last

*start working your way through the laundry piles and washing each one. Hang up suitable things to dry on racks (socks, woollens, trousers, cotton shirts on hangers) and TD bedsheets, towels, underpants, jeans etc.
*while a laundered and dried item is waiting to be put away, or ironed, or worn : fold neatly in named basket so it can be easily found
*the above system will buy you time to work your way through all chest of drawers and wardrobes in house, organising, chucking and sorting and cleaning. Be ruthless. Each person should be able to manage with one chest of drawers and one wardrobe each. Plus one communal rack somewhere in the house for spare coats and another storage unit for scarves, hats, gloves and sportswear. Use IKEA drawer dividers for underwear.
*if you want to iron some of your washing and can afford it, get someone in to help or send it out. Otherwise, set up a routine to do it yourself, in one or two bouts at regular times during the day, in front of favourite TV progs.
*make sure you do one or two loads of washing a day from start to finish (line dried clothes may need overnight) without fail. Consistency is key here. Use the delayed start button on your wm or TD to set up machines last thing at night, so you have a load ready to hang up or tumble dry first thing in the morning.
*while doing all of above, make sure you keep up with current washing, by not letting it build up again, and incorporating contents of bathroom laundry basket in to existing piles
*every time you handle an item of clothing during process above, ask yourself, is it in good condition, is it worn regularly, can I chuck it?
*keep going and don't give up until you have clean clothes in clean chests of drawers and wardrobes AND with any waiting for ironing or to be put away in named baskets

For the rest of house:
*Join us on fledgling Fly thread on housekeeping board - new March thread just about to start - lots of support from people who are struggling with a variety of problems, including mh issues, and people who find house-keeping a bit of a lonely, ground-hog tedious task.
*Key principles are : self-care, short sharp focused bursts of choring with rest breaks in between done consistently (but not perfectly!) 6 days a week, according to zones of your house, with the help of routines established over 31 days (the baby-steps) with different focuses on different days. The things that help me in particular are knowing roughly what I am doing on set days (ie make all appts on Thursdays and do main house clean Monday) so imposes structure on week, keeping kitchen sink clear and clean, keeping up with laundry, and forcing myself every morning to get straight up and dressed right down to lace-up shoes so you get straight on with task in hand. You don't have to do the latter - best to adapt Flylady system and principles to suit yourself and your home- but I find it really helps.

Best of luck

By the way op, I recommend a book called "Decluttering at the speed of life" by Dana K White. It's really sensible, practical and helpful. (And no, I'm not related.)

I also really rate Unfuck Your Habitat. There’s a very supportive Facebook group too. Marie Kondo isn’t great for people who are very overwhelmed in life. It’s just too much and you’ll end up getting stuck part way. What I like about UFYH is that it’s very supportive and non-judgmental. Take a photo of a room, set a timer for as long as you think you can manage and give it a go. You’ll make progress a lot more quickly than you think.

Btw , just to be clear, when I said below that line dried laundry might need longer then a day to complete full cycle (wash, dry, put away) I wasn't recommending leaving line dried washing overnight! (God forbid it be darked on ) I meant laundry hanging on any sort of indoor drying rack.. .

@Sizeablecontours never mind darked on, what about spider willies!

Lawks, forgot about spider willies Stronger!