Fellow Shit-Tippers - Anyone want to join my thread for sorting your house out?

[RefereezaWanka]

I have tried Fly but can't stick to it. I need a plan! And I need support

I would work around the room clockwise. Set a timer for 15 mins or 30 mins. Whatever you think is a decent time to focus and then have a little break. Start with a proper good clean and then do reorganising. No need to start massive. Sort one cupboard or one shelf at a time. Keep three boxes or bags handy. one for throwing, one for selling recyling or giving away, one for keeping (but needing to be put back in another room or loft).

Hello :)

I don't like FlyLady either, just couldn't get on with it.

Our house is a tip and just got a little bit worse as the painter turned up yesterday (Landlords were supposed to warn us of exact date!) so aaaall the crap from the living room got stuffed into bags and boxes.

Currently stuck in the bedroom while he paints, so I'm sorting out ebay listings as we need the money as well as the space!

After the painting's finished (Wednesday hopefully) we're going to sort through all the bags/boxes of crap.

I'll join you! But I am so slatternly I may forget to come back and revisit the thread very often.

Tried fly lady too and I lasted about a day... I am not very good at things that have to be done every day.

I normally manage to keep my kitchen clean(ish) but I feel like I clean it continually; every time I sweep the floor I turn around and it's covered in detritus again...

The rest of the house gets more or less abandoned, but we do have a cleaner once a week so nothing too terrible; just lots of junk in piles everywhere, and we are also AWFUL at remembering to change the bed...

Anyway, my most pressing tasks at the moment are:

• washing bed linen
• cleaning out the fridge (it's minging)
• doing some online food shopping

I am going to try to do them all tonight!

After that, I need to get into some serious de-cluttering - we are moving house soon and I don't want to take junk over and get into the same mess with never being able to keep the place clean and tidy...

How's your playroom looking?

I am thinking about starting my own business helping people declutter for instance if they are moving house, have inherited a house full of stuff to which they have lot of emotional attachment, or are just feeling swamped (all of which have happended to me at various times in the past and each on more than one occasion....), but am not sure there is a market out there and am very bad at self-promotion. What do you think? Sorry if this is against MN rules, am not touting for business honest, just asking for a bit of feedback.

happened

I would LOVE that service, tigerandtabs!

We havent got a cleaner at the moment, since our last one left. The thing is, our last cleaner did a bit of tidying, too, and since she has gone I manage to keep just about on top of cleaning (well, enough for it to be decent) but the clutter just builds and builds...

Just made some good headway on the play room! back in a bit fellow shit-tippers!

I'll join you ref, I need to sort out the kitchen(dishes since yesterday ), living room (general piles of clutter), hoover/brush&mop the whole house, sort an enormous amount of clothes out (where have they come from?), the kids bedrooms (gross), the play room (urgh I can't even look in there at the mo).

As I type this am sitting at the dining table which is covered in 'clean&dry need to be put away clothes'
procrastination eh... first, I'm walking the dog. Let us know how you get on. I'm going to start after tea.

tiger - I think there would be demand for that service. They have a program on TV don't they where someone helps you come and throw all your stuff out? Can imagine people watching that and thinking 'that's what I need; someone to come round and force me to do it all'.

That's the thing about decluttering - it's simple enough in theory, it's just a matter of getting round to it and being ruthless. If you booked a time and paid for someone to help you then you would know you would DEFINITELY get it done.

I am quite particular about disposing of items (I never just want to send them to landfill) so if someone could help me declutter, and then get stuff on ebay/to charities that can use it/to recycling places etc. I would find that really useful.

Also, if you knew all about storage and could help people organise what they keep in the best way that would be really good.

Anyway, good luck with it if you do set up in business! (and let us know if you need any, er, testers to experience a cut-price declutter!)

Right, the downstairs (apart from front room we haven't touched since decorators left weeks ago) is looking decent now. Still a few clutter piles, but t least its not manky any more.

I'm going to attack the putting away of washing now (my least favourite job).

But first I am having a coffee

Tomorrow I am going to deal with the kids bedrooms, which are grim.

Well done :)

Mackrelmint Thanks for the pep talk, and the point about where stuff actually goes - you are right on that, don't want to help people fill up landfill. Am suffering a real crisis of confidence over actually starting it up as it is something I have wanted to do for ages but am a bit backward in coming forward. To be honest, would happily do a few freebie trial runs just to test out the theories and see what works and what doesn't and hopefully gain some more confidence to actually go out there and promote it. Anyone in Hertfordshire who fancies being a guinea pig, let me know! Yikes, does now sound like I am touting for business - sorry MN HQ

I'll join you. I've done a tiny bit of decluttering in the spare room tonight, as that is where I have been throwing all the clutter for the last couple of months. I've got a bag for the charity shop already, but it is mainly toys so I don't think that counts as much. It doesn't seem fair that I am chucking the DC's stuff out before I have done my own.

I have two laundry baskets of clean clothes to put away, and one laundry basket of paperwork that I need to sort out. I shoved it all in there in a panic months ago and it has been there ever since. I need to do a very thorough job with that as there are lots of important documents I have lost. We have a filing system elsewhere in the house but it is really too complicated and we are keeping things we don't need, I'm sure. I have been leaving the filing to DH as the paperwork is so overwhelming and he is better at that sort of thing. I want to get the paperwork under control as I am not comfortable with him doing all the paperwork and me not knowing where to find things.

Paperwork is my main problem. There just seems to be so much of it. I dread the post coming as I know there will just be more crap for me to deal with or shred.

Once I've got the paperwork under control I will make a start on my clothes as they are threatening to take over too. Half term is a rubbish time for me to start this as the DCs have been trashing the downstairs while I have been upstairs in the spare room. If I can get the laundry baskets tamed by the end of the week I will be quite pleased.

Tiger, there is a professional body for declutterers. It is called the Association of Professional Declutterers and Organisers. They have a website I was nosing on earlier, looking for inspiration. I would love to get someone in to deal with all this but there is so much to do the cost would be astronomical.

APDO website. I was going to post this for Tiger and saw you'd mentioned it already!

I'm undecided about paperwork. Having moved house in January, I had 2 or 3 boxes of paperwork I'd sorted and brought from the old place. Do you know how many things I've needed out of the boxes? A big fat zero!

Perhaps you can keep up with it using a filing system once you've shredded what you don't want? Maybe file by date received, or by company, or by subject? I'm not sure of the best way because I had everything in 3 big piles in the kitchen which became the contents of the boxes!

Hurrah, our living room is now a decent light colour (previously it was that horrible grey trade paint stuff with grubby handprints and scribbles all over it) and he's coming back to finish the stairs tonight.

Off to order our game cupboard today, as I get discount in the charity shop chain I work for. We have a stupid amount of board games so it'll really help being able to put them all in one place.

Next job is sorting through bags and bags of random shite but I suspect that won't happen for a few days due to work etc.

Haunty, what sort of cupboard are you going to use for games? We have loads, too, and they are currently balancing precariously on the top of an already-overloaded bookshelf ready to topple at any moment...

I was inspired by all you lot doing stuff last night and actually (kind of) did the stuff on my list - cursory clean of fridge (but better than nothing), loaded the washing machine iwth bed linen (too late to wash and hang out but will do it as soon as I get home tonight) and did the online shopping. Woo.

Paperwork next for me as well - big pile on the side to file. I have a relatively organised filing system which I spent a couple of weeks on a while back - folders for employment, my bank accounts, joint bank account, bills, house purchase etc. - so not too hard to file the stuff that's piled up. Need to start a file for our new house though and start working out what I need to make sure we have on file and I need to go through all banks, utility companies etc and start doing the change of addresses...

Can't believe there is an association for declutterers. Am going to check the site out later and see if I can pick up a few hints.

So, tasks for today:

• File pile of paper on side
• Make list of address changes to make
• Wash bed linen
• Start on pile of junk on landing

I want to do that too, tiger! I really enjoy decluttering and sorting stuff out!

House is ok-ish clutter-wise, apart from one room that I'm trying to sort out. DH is a hoarder though - for example, a bookshelf full of his uni books from the late 90s [grrrr]. Am doing my stuff, then taking deep breaths and trying to live with it! He has a lot of stuff in the atti - IMO, 75% could be freecycled or charity shopped, and 3 wardrobes, mainly full of clothes that no longer fit, old box files stuffed full of paperwork, empty envelopes and tools. Seriously.

All I have done today is take the bag to the charity shop which is quite good for me as I usually drive around with charity shop stuff in the boot for at least a month. I'm trying to park the DCs in front of the tv so I can get upstairs and get on but they're not having any of it. I've got a huge pile of shredding to do which will take ages, and I am thinking of moving the shredder next to the front door so that I can shred the junk as it comes in but I can see that being a problem if the DCs decide to help.

My fridge is filthy, but it will have to wait. Bed needs changing but I will leave that to DH. Also trying not to do any more laundry until I have put the clean stuff away.

Hello! Can I join? I badly need to Declutter. It?s getting really bad? my OH is a terrible hoarder, not because he wants to keep things, but because he can?t be bothered to sort things out. He?s self employed, so we have paperwork coming out of our ears. The house is badly in need of decorating too (as in wallpaper pealing off the walls and permanent marker everywhere!), so even when it?s tidy, it still looks a mess, if you see what I mean. So it?s a little de-motivating. Hopefully when I get rid of the clutter I can actually get on with the decorating!
A friend of mine is in a similar situation, so we?re going to be Declutter buddies. Hopefully between her and this thread I?ll be able to keep motivated. I?m going to start out with the dreaded ?under the bed? ? I?m a little scared of what I might find!

Ref (love the name btw!) the cupboard we've got is called a wall unit (?) - it's about 5ft wide and just over head height. The bottom half is deeper with cupboards (where the big games will go) and drawers (for card/dice games), the top half is separate and just rests on top, it's got various display cupboards/shelves.

We might some of the DCs' games in there too so that'll save some space in their tiny bedroom.

Hurrah for this thread! I spent a pleasant hour trying to get into the garage yesterday, resulting in 3 bags for charity shop and have listed4 things on gumtree.
DS room needs sorting before the big birthday / Xmas onslaught of more crap
I have made an art form of procrastinating so joining in with fellow slatterns will be great.. And a relief from my lovely friends who display Stepford Wife tendencies when it comes to house stuff

I've done about half the laundry basket of paper and I've put away one basketload of clothing. I've hung up clothes that were lying on the bed and put most of the stuff on the bed away. It looks a lot better now but there is still lots to do. There were two lever arch files of notes from university which I retrieved from my mum's loft in the summer. I can't bring myself to chuck them so they are now on the bookcase. Board games are a problem for us too, piled up precariously on top of the bookcase. I wouldn't mind but we don't really play them as the DCs lose all the bits within seconds of the cellophane being removed. I've found a board game I like but they've lost some of the bits from that too. Maybe if we had a tidier house we wouldn't keep losing stuff.

I've got another few bits for the charity shop and they are in the boot waiting to go.

I know what you mean about the Stepford Wife friends Mrsshopalot. I live in an area where everyone has identical houses with identical interiors, all carefully planned and co-ordinated. Nobody has a haphazard collection of furniture that they have been given, picked up cheaply or suchlike. The women are often obsessed with housework and cleaning and tidiness and they really do look down on anybody who doesn't share their values. The worst one has never been over my doorstep but she has made it clear I am no match for her and makes lots of stupid sexist remarks about how I should be getting on with my housework. I make a point of telling her what a terrible example I would be to the DCs if they saw it as my place to do all the housework, and I always try to insert the word "antifeminist" into every conversation which results in a look that brings me enormous pleasure. I would love to move to a more bohemian area but the houses are twice the price there so that's out. This is why my spare room is such a mess. The downstairs of my house is usually quite clean and tidy but mainly because I fling all the clutter in the spare room out of view of the Stepford Wives.

Hi, Can I join you?
I have areas of untidiness and clutter, not very good at keeping a clean kitchen and also have some very unmotivated days (Today being one of them!).

Ooooh, is it too late to join in too?

I'm not very good at keeping up with threads but I have a child and husband free week and I have a list as long as my arm, all to get done in the evenings!!

I need some sort of motivation because as I sit here I have my tea in the oven and a glass of wine in my hand, the candles lit and it's looking less and less likely I'll be sorting the office tonight!

On my list:

sort office/paperwork (I literally open the door and throw stuff in there as it's the only place the dcs can't access)

sort and clean garage. have tons of stuff I've dumped in there in the same style as the office. I hate throwing stuff away if I think I can sell or recycle it, but never have the time to sort it.

fill walls in kitchen and paint

tidy and sort playroom.

put ALL the clean clothes away and don;t leave them in piles all over the place.

who am i kidding, it's never going to happen.

Well nothing done for me tonight - heavy cold with sinus pain so I'm in bed already. Pretty sure I'm not going to go into work tomorrow though (15 wks pregnant and I have to look after 15mo dd for the rest of the week so I really need the rest for any chance of getting better!)

So inbetween daytime tv and a hot bath and probably too much time on mn I reckon I can get a few chores done then...

Rumpled your list does sound a bit daunting. I reckon just pick one and start with that!