Anyone else not done their home & garden jobs

[frozendaisy]

Even though we have had, forever, stuck in to tackle the to-do list?

Hopefully we are running out of lockdown (fingers crossed) so do we resign ourselves we are just never going to get them done?

My house is like Miss Havisham’s - clutter and cobwebs everywhere. We have a five year old and are both working so our clocks stopped the day homeschool started. We had a brief clean-up for Christmas but since then it’s shocking.

Even in the glorious summer lull we neglected the house as were out in the garden every waking hour.

I’m not sure if we’ll be able to do any actual redecorating or building work because of job insecurity.

Ours is like a greasy spoon at the end of a busy day mixed with a classroom with 150 reception kids!

It's the small things, like find a permanent home out of the way for the step ladder.

But to do that I need a bit of a declutter, and to declutter I need the charity shops open.

So everything grinds to a halt.

I have done some garden stuff. I like being outside. We haven't done the house as we will probably move in the next couple of years. I have lots of clutter and not much space. I am also looking forward to being able to donate to charity shops again

Nope. I've had less time. Trying to work and home school two kids. Who are these people who've had forever to do it?

I hadn’t realised how much my housework was dependent on people visiting.

As we haven’t had anyone over for a year, I haven’t had to do the Frenzied Clean Of Shame abs spruce the place up before visitors. Turns out we are shocking slobs of not held to account.

The DIY and gardening is done, it’s the cleaning that’s just not happening

Er, I've had less time than normal actually.

looking forward to getting back into the garden, mine was fabulous last year (work in a home/garden centre store)

just decorating slowly as i work full time. literally just taken less than an hour to put first coat of paint on a door frame

jobs seem huge at times

I have less time than ever and when I do find the time I just can’t be arsed. As a result my house is an absolute shit tip. Resigned myself to just getting a skip next month and lobbing half of every room in it

Same here @ConnectFortyFour, don't think I've ever worked so hard in my entire career as in the last 12 months, and weekends are just recuperation time before the next bout. I have no energy left and am on the brink of burnout, never mind redecorating the house!

Unfortunately my house with DH and 2 adult DSs, all we seem to do is cook, eat and wash up. Myself cooking, DH washing up and adult sons doing dam all, but eat, eat, eat.

There is still plenty of clothes washing to do, although I’m not bothering ironing anything. Nobody is seeing what we are wearing, both DS work, one at home and one in manufacturing.

I have started spring cleaning, well I’ve washed the kitchen floor and all downstairs doors. We hoover most days because we have a dog.

I've had less time than normal and my house has had a teenager in 24:7 for the best part of a year so no, no jobs have been done!

We are home schooling, wfh, but seem to have much more time at weekends because there is nothing to do that we used to outside the house but things still don't happen.

I might have a go at the windows soon as they should get cleaned at least once a year!

No, we have a 4 year old and a 1 year old so not a lot of time for that sort of thing! We have cleared the garden, painted the hall and bathroom, and done a few small jobs around the house, but there is still quite a lot we could do.

I managed to put my Xmas decorations into the attic yesterday. Been sitting on the landing for weeks.

Homeschooling 4 kids has shunted a lot of housework way down my to-do list, but I never liked cleaning anyway.

Have realised I clean because other people would judge me otherwise. Now nobody can visit I have no motivation.

I definitely clean less now. I used to panic clean before people came to visit. I'm telling myself it is better for everyone's immune system...less chemicals too, so better for the environment and I have more time to do other more interesting things.

No, I’ve worked solidly and at the weekends even though we can’t do normal stuff I just want to relax not decorate the house

I did do a lot in the garden last summer so hoping once the weather gets a bit better I’ll get that sorted again. We still have piles of laundry that need to be put away constantly, I think that’s just us

A mush mash here. We’ve done some bigger jobs like redecorating (not yet finished though) and have new carpets going down next month. Also chosen some new soft furnishings.

But the amount of clutter is out of control, and it was hardly minimalist here last March.

Home schooling, working from home, low energy levels, combined with us all being around all the time has meant that my ‘tidying up’ time is taken just shifting each day’s mess rather than tackling bigger piles of unused stuff. I barely see it now, but it horrifies me when I do. There are piles of books that the school had for Christmas, decorating bits and bobs, craft things, clothes that are too small for the DC and earmarked for family members etc.

mish mash

It’s easy to put off by saying wait for charity shops to open. I feel that when they do, they may have to reject a certain amount of donations anyway given everyone is hoarding them up!

I have de cluttered a lot and been ruthless about it. If it’s something not great or that a charity shop could only sell for 50p or so, I just bin it. Anything someone might want went on the edge of the drive outside my house with a small sign saying “help yourself” and it all went! (I’ve seen others round here do the same). That way it’s still gone to someone who can make use of it.

It’s then so much easier to crack on with the cleaning when you know everything is organised. I did invest in various baskets, fabric boxes etc which has made life easier. I am nowhere near a minimalist. I still have a lot of stuff but every single thing now has a place and I’m not just moving piles around.