Keep me motivated tonight?

[Peppapigforlife]

My toddler daughter is asleep. I'm a single mum. I've been having a bad time lately because of the state of my house. She never sleeps this early regularly and I don't usually have the energy that I have right now. I'm trying to get my house organised and decluttered, one room at a time and would like to start right now, however after all those months of lockdown I'm currently paralysed, as has been the case whenever I try to do something productive these days. I'm going to TRY and attempt to sort through some floor strewn clothes and get my bedroom looking more peaceful. I need some cheerleaders, groupies, temporary wannabee mentors and happy mums to keep me company whilst I tackle this beast. If you're up for it, thank you and welcome to my madness!

Go for it @Peppapigforlife!

I know that feeling well so I'll certainly keep you company, what do you fancy tackling?

Grab all floor clothes and throw them on your bed. Now you've got to sort them before you go to sleep. Clothes on the floor always look overwhelming, I've been there many times myself but they will probably be sorted within a matter of minutes once you start x

Cheering you on here OP!!

Fingers crossed you not coming back to your thread for an hour is a good sign. You can do it Peppa!

You can do it op! I'll happily stick around for the duration. I'm working late tonight (all night). Let us know how you get on.

Thanks everyone! I didn't get a notification which is why I didn't come back! I thought it was the Twilight zone here. I'm really encouraged by all these messages. Well, I did sort some clothes and cleared some dishes up out of the way and threw a few bits on the pile for the charity shop. I cleared out a drawer too which had DD's craft bits in. I'm going to try that putting clothes on my bed thing and see if I can do a second round! To be honest I spent a lot of the time I was away contemplating on how it got to the point of me going from being a backpacker that always said she would never fill her house with junk, to being a mum with a house full of junk. But I think the contemplation was necessary to make me tackle this seriously. I'll be back in fifteen! Go go go!

You did well @Peppapigforlife! In fact you're motivating me to tackle some of my own DD's stuff tomorrow when she's at school!

Well within a few minutes of reading those comments, the bedroom is done! It really works! Thank you all. I'm trying not to think about the rest of the house whilst I celebrate.

The clothes on bed thing was great. Even though I knew I could just throw them all back on the floor if I wanted to, seeing them from a different angle made such a difference. I think the best part is that for these last few hot days, I concluded that I had no summer clothes. Then I found all the summer clothes folded up nicely under the pile of strewn clothes. I had only worn them all an hour or two during our last bit of summer in July and had left them out thinking they would get worn again that week or whatever and they've been hidden there ever since, under warmer clothes 😂 so if it's still hot tomorrow I actually have options to wear.

I might go and finish up the kitchen a bit and put some clothes into the washing machine for the morning. I'll come back tomorrow night for more late night house transformations!

Fantastic Peppa so pleased you made a start and got a drawer cleared too! Life's funny isn't it, one extreme to another!

Awww thank you! I know just goes to show doesn't it, that when it is meant to happen it will happen. I've realised as well the root of my lack of productivity is because I've always been a night owl, and since I've had DD I've had to go to sleep quite early and always miss my productive slot. But I'm gonna try and stay up at least a few nights a week to get my stuff done now!

Well I managed to finish some dishes (left the big pans for tomorrow) and even ran out in the rain to throw out some old food to the food waste bin, so I wouldn't wake up to the smell. I still have a way to go until this house feels like mine and organised, but thank you to those of you who have propelled me forwards. I'm tempted to stay up all night and finish it but I know I'll feel horrible tomorrow (albeit it in a fresh house), if I do!

@rainbowninja I'm really glad you're feeling motivated too! Let us know how it goes, I do really love a good declutter story!

I'm coming back again tonight if anyone is around for the next exciting installment. Living room is next...

OP I missed your update about the bedroom getting finished last night! How fantastic well done. Im pleased the clothes on the bed trick helped you. How are you getting on with the living room? What needs doing in there?

Awww thank you @ChuckMater

Sooo the living room is just lots of toys everywhere but everytime they get put away , it doesn't last for very long. I'm trying to find a system where my daughter can't get everything out at once but I don't have much storage and I don't want to hide everything away from her.

I've also got some clean clothes in there in a pile to put away, because my spare room has a musty smell to it which needs fixing (call council is on the list!). Little things I guess but when it's been so repetitive, it puts me off doing it quickly. I didn't get round to it last night, an ex called me out of the blue and I got stuck processing those emotions. But I'm on it today I hope!

I hear you with the toys all over the living room, we have a similar situation, it seems pointless for them to all be dragged out again doesnt it, but in that brief time frame that they're all away I feel happy haha

Hope the decluttering and sprucing up is going well @Peppapigforlife 😍

Awwww thank you @rainbowninja

Well I stopped because somehow I've managed to actually maintain the tidiness which hasn't been possible before. I looked through the decluttering thread on here and there was a YouTube guy suggested on there, who I looked up and he talked about one minute jobs and washing plates straight away. So since I tidied the living room and bedroom I've been maintaining order in those, as well as the kitchen, by just doing anything that takes a minute, whenever I spot it, and washing my plates, cutlery and drinks glasses straight away. There's been some pans sitting there which I wash every time I'm needing to use one, and the second bedroom and my big hallway cupboard is still full of stuff, but I figured if I just maintain for now, I can relax a bit, and then do some more decluttering and deeper tidying again soon.

Also my ex boyfriend coming back has really derialed me and I've been in a bit of a foggy cloud of confusion so I haven't been as attached to my surroundings as I was before. I hope I can work through those yucky emotions soon.
Thank you for checking back in with me. For some reason I don't get notifications for my own threads!

@rainbowninja how did yours go?

@ChuckMater it does feel so good when they're away doesn't it? I wonder what it is about a tidy place that creates such warm happy feelings? Maybe it's order and stability in a chaotic world.

So now is a time to write a list of the next three things you want to do (not too long or it will feel un-doable).
When you're next on the mood, try to do one from the list.
Well done for the progress so far!

@Peppapigforlife I think you are subconsciously motivating me, I have been much better at tidying as I go today in the kitchen 😊

@rainbowninja oooh I do hope so! That motivates me to keep going, if it helps others. I do believe we are all intrinsically linked somehow.

@mineofuselessinformation thank you! I will try that. I'm I guess the three things are, to get the washing up/drying up area clean and cleared. That's quite a big job in itself for me mentally (although have no idea why, it's only since I had a baby!)
Second would be to work through my pile for eBay/marketplace to declutter and make some cash from.
Third would be to sort out the pile of clothes in bedroom that is half worn/half clean, might need the laundry or might not.
Thank you!