Help me sort out my house, please

[GhoulishGlendaFestersAgain]

My house is an absolute shit tip. Imagine you left 10 feral teenage boys to live unsupervised for several months. Er, teenage boys who knit and buy lots of magazines. ok it's nearly all my mess

Anyway, I have loads of piles of crap everywhere, needs a massive sort out. But I am the sort of person who does either - nothing, or starts by cleaning the kitchen cupboards even though the childrens floor is impossible to walk on.

So - first, some suggestions with what to do with some of this stuff.

Big box full of outgrown shoes - CBA to ebay and some are too worn to sell. Freecycle? Bin? Some sort of recycling?

Massive stack of recentish mags - womens glossies mainly - Red/Easy living etc. GP surgery? Recycling bin? Would anyone want them on freecycle?

Am planning to do the 15 minute chunks thing of flylady when I can get off mumsnet

I'm going to join you if that's ok .
My house is also a state and although I'm a SAHM I never find the time or motivation to sort it all out.
I've just took a binliner round the house and thrown in everything that needs to go in the bin. There wasn't that much tbh. My problem is ironing and lack of storage for toys and clothes etc. Plus most of our house is in dire need of decorating so the incentive isn't there to keep it clean and tidy as even if it was it would still look shit .

I have a rule of 'one in, two out'. If I buy something new then two things (at least) go in the bin, get sold or donated.
I have learned to say no to stuff being giving that I don't need. I have a tiny house and need to be ruthless.

OK I have cleaned out the pans and plates cupboard, got rid of chipped stuff and put new dishes in.

Cleaning cutlery drawer/tray later I think. And may walk DD to charity shop to get rid of one of yesterdays bags. Done some knitting too A bit each day is much easier to cope with.

Tomorrow - not decided yet.

You see reading this just actually really makes me want to...knit. I've two The Snowman scarves to do for Christmas stockings. I did keep the kids all alive and well today and made a nice dinner if that counts. But rooting out the knitting bag from the god forsaken under-the-stairs has just made a bit of new mess. Anyway I am starting in earnest tomorrow. Going to make a weekly plan of what needs to be done to keep us from being designated a biohazard area.

I seem to have a new attitude to my clutter since reading this thread.

I've just gone through my cook books and picked out 10 to take to the charity shop and I'm hoping if I look through them again next week I'll be able to pick out a few more.

I now have a new deadline for sorting out the bedrooms. My friend is coming to stay next thursday with her 3 children so both bedrooms need to be tidy by then.

My house is a complete shit hole too, my mission is to completely gut the house in time for christmas to make room for all the new crap

Have just taken around 10 carrier bags of clothes/shoes to the clothes bank and it has made no difference what so ever

This is an old thread but I am coming back to it because I have definitely made some inroads into sorting out the house in the last couple of weeks. Storage, it is definitely all about storage. And I don't yet have enough but I will. As my sister pointed out - once the Christmas is over supermarkets will be filling the seasonal aisle with huge palstic tubs for all the new stuff. We have all got too much stuff.

Consider having less stuff rather than buying more storage.

i used to store things to sell on ebay too...but gosh it was ruining my life...i NEVER got round to it and i couldnt move for the ammount of stuff waiting to be listed! lol!
My house is an absolute tip too! and i know exactly how yuo feel when yuo said going round to other peoples houses and they say sorry for the mess and secretly thinking about the mess back home...i mean it is so bad that i have literally a mountain of washing and sometimes its dangerous to walk accross the floor. I simply dont have the time to tidy. I found an answer in the tip...i go regular...and everything ive accumulated goes in. It usually has recycle options listed. i had to laugh when i was disscussing this with a friend once...i was so relieved to hear that her house was so messy that her bedroom mess was level with her bed from wall to wall! lol!

If you have clothes that are too worn for charity shops to sell, they still may want them as long as you tell them. I've asked my local Scope shop if the take clothing for rags, which they do. I then sort the clothes into "good enough to sell" and "rags" and label them, so they don't have to do the sorting. I think they only get upset if it is all lumped in together and they have to sort it all!