Please help me with my hovel of a house.

[PresidentWensleydale]

Please don't judge me, I have been unwell for some time(years) but finally seem to be turning a corner.
At last I seem to have the energy and inclination to actually do something but omg the place needs some serious attention.
Do people wanting to change their ways tackle one room at a time do you think?
I have spent the last couple of days in the kitchen, cleaning cuboards the fridge/microwave. I honestly can't remember the last time I mopped the floor .
So the plan is to finish in there which will take ages but it's little things like cleaning blinds and windows, what else do normal people do?
Any ideas or pointers would be really appreciated,thank you.

Congratulations on feeling better.
My advice would be one room at a time, that way you get the satisfaction of seeing one room done, before moving on to the next. Not that I am the domestic goddess at all you understand. My house regularly degenerates in to hovel status, and that is the way I tackle it.
And also getting rid of things you don't use or need always gives me a wonderful sense of freedom some how. There my advice would be to take it to the charity shop, free cycle it, tip it immediately, don't let piles of stuff build up.
Good luck!

I have no helpful comments, just wanted to let you know that I too have been unwell (depressed) and my house has really slipped. You are not alone and I too want to turn my house from a hovel into a home.

As annoying as Kim and Aggie are, the How clean is your house book is very good, and has a good plan of how to do a major job - when absolutley everything in the house needs doing!

This is what they say about starting from scratch.

-Start at top of house and work down
-Clean top to bottom of each room
-Bedrooms and reception rooms first
-Ceilings, walls, curtains, floors. Pull out furniture and appliances and clean behind and under
-wet clean first - windows, paintwork, then dry - dusting, then hoover.
-Leave bathroom, kitchen and utility to last as you will be using them for filling buckets etc
-After house is sorted then do garage etc.

Good luck

That's really useful thank you.
I think because i've started in the kitchen I might as well finish. Oven definately but really lots of other stuff as well
I loved kim and aggie in the earlier series and quite like watching stuff about hoarders always cheers me up :) I will look for the book though.
spingey sorry you have been poorly as well, my house is several years of crap so may take some time. Hope things go well with you, it's hard.
There was a thread on here about how often you clean your toilet the other day and I was mortified that things have got so bad here and that some people clean their loo daily,not good but things have to change.
Thank you again Sonotwonderwoman , spingey and oreocrumbs for replying :)

Good for you for starting and good luck with it. I had a long period of intermittant illness and am struggling to get on top of it. Got some help from a lovely woaman at a clutter clearing company because that is partly my problem. (I can't let go of who I "used to be") but there is obviously a cost to that and I don't earn a lot. Just keep at it and if you can get some help it will make a huge difference.

Don't feel bad. I love to clean, its like therapy for me. But my house gets way out of control. Its mainly organisation, but after I had DD it got way out of control, and dirty.

I've had to make myself get organised, its a slow and long process but I'm getting there.

In fact just today I was almost in tears talking to DP about the state of the place, I've been doing so well but I have a lot of work on at the moment and its rapidly getting out of control. It just overwhelmed me how quickly it falls back to being a tip.

But onward and upwards.

Try and set small achievable goals.

Plan what you need to do, work, school run, playgroup any other commitments and see what time you have left and then allot it to something.

So you might have an hour - clean the bathroom.

Just 15 twice a day, use that to put the washing on, empty the bins, run the hoover round etc.

I think I fail when I set unrealistic goals, like this week. I knew I was at work every day and had to have DD on my own when I got back, yet I still planned to do major jobs. Of course I couldn't fit that in so then I feel that I failed.

Tomorrow is another day though, so chin up and crack on

On another thread here I followed a link to www.flylady.net/ when you join you do get a ridiculous amount of emails. But there are some really good simple ideas, such a using a timer and only doing short bursts of 15 min, so you don't get overwhelmed with the task at hand.
I think that knowing so many others find it hard to keep on top of thing was a real help to me.
Sounds like you have made a great start in the kitchen already though -well done :)

Come and join us on our tidy your house thread

We are following the Fly Lady principles and are all at different levels and support each other as we do our best to gain control of our houses!

Well done on your progress. I think that as well as giving your kitchen a right going over, you should identify 2-3 things that you want to make sure are always done to schedule. That way you start getting the sense of a routine, of keeping things going. For example, make sure you put away the children's toys as soon as they are in bed (so you get your living space back to yourself) and that you wash up before going to bed. Then you can start adding other things, like making sure you clean the bathroom every week (you don't need to clean the toilet every day! That way madness lies). And then you can identify the things that really give you pride and pleasure, and make sure those happen too: I find cleaning the windows and mirrors really lifts my mood, and best of all is to do a good declutter and get stuff I don't love down to the charity shop.

So: start small but get into a routine and keep it going. Don't set yourself standards you won't be able to live up to, but be strict with yourself on just a few basics. Then build your routine until it reaches the state of household loveliness that suits you. For example: I will always be embarrassed if someone pops in unannounced because my house rarely looks tidy enough. I used to be very slovenly and it would take me about an hour to get the place looking good enough for guests. Strangely, since having children I have become more houseproud and standards are up: now I would need 15 minutes to run round the hoover, throw stuff in the sink, wipe down surfaces, kick toys under the couch and then I'd be guest-ready. And that's good enough for me.

I think one room at a time is a good idea, but I would start with the kitchen as you have because then you can always sort meals and things quickly and in a nice environment before diving back into the chaos!

What works for me is putting little routines in place.
So I always put away some clean washing at bathtime and sort another load out, which I then put on after I've put my boys to bed.
Unload the dishwasher or do any other little jobs in the kitchen while the kettle boils.
Go back upstairs after clearing breakfast, change the baby's nappy, put my makeup on, quick clean of the loo and make the beds.

I have a windowsill at the top of the stairs where I put anything which needs to go downstairs, and I put things at the bottom that need to go up. Then whenever I go up or down I take something with me if there is anything waiting. Saves loads of extra trips and means that you never end up with vast amounts of things on the wrong floor.

Flylady is great. I have my own methods now, but when I was struggling with PND and everything had gone to hell it was a lifesaver.

I second all the above, but would also add,use the DC's!

What age are yours?

Even the littlest toddler can fling a few bits of lego in a box so get them helping with the clear-up before bed, make it a game or a challenge "bet you can't fill your box by the time I fill mine" or "OK get all the blue/big/small/cuddly things"

Older ones can take it in turns, get them filling/emptying the dishwasher, clearing out the wastebins on bin day,walking the dog. They moan but if it's started eearly enough it becomes second nature.

Sounds like you are really getting on top of the IDEA of decluttering so that's a huge step when you've been ill. Get that kitchen finished and you'll feel great, then sit with a nice & make lists for the other rooms, break it all down into little tasks that are easily achievable to keep you motivated!

Good luck! There's a thread in Good Housekeeping that has loads of ideas. hang on I'll find it!

oops you ARE in Good Housekeeping.... seem to be loads of us aspiring de-clutterers around I'm sure there will be more advice soon!

Am relatively new to MN and this section is a revelation. I always assumed that it was just me and that no-one was really, really finding it hard. Peopel would say, "Sorry my house is a tip" and then I'd walk in tot this lovely, clean , orderly home and wonder how they managed it. The advice here is very good indeed. I looked on the Flylady site last night and it looks interesting.

It's a brilliant resource Busy ! (as is the rest of MN I can recommend!)

Know EXACTLY what you mean about other folks houses. If they say that to me I just laugh and say "No- you should see my house if you think this is a tip!"

Flylady has some good principles, but was too twee and American for me but it depends on what works for you.

A few tips I have learnt from there & others is bit by bit.

Do 15 minutes in one area and feel good about it. Be ruthless about "stuff",I am gradually doing that and have got quite good at going to the charity shops so I don't feel I'm wasting things.

Cheap storage boxes are a boon as are files/document folders.

Def one room at a time OP.

Set a timer for 15/20 mins and after it goes off reward yourself with a cup of tea/coffee/sit down.

Have the radio/cds playing - I find this really helps the jobs go quicker! I also watch TV/catch up when ironing.

For toys I really recommend Ikea storage, especially trofast boxes (we have 3!!)

De-cluttering is ESSENTIAL...for every new thing that comes in your home, let something old/no longer needed go. I am prety ruthless about this...with 2 young dc and a hoarder dh I have to be!

Damp dust rooms - far more effective than polish IMO. When cleaning a room open all the windows to air it out (esp if you have pets). When I change the bed linens I am v naughty and I take them all off, wash them, tumble dry them and put them straight back on!!!! No ironing!!! Just lovely fresh sheets

I hoover twice a week generally - unless it needs it due to spillages etc - and damp dust once a week. I have a steam mop (from lakeland) that I use for the tiled floors and laminate floor.

I bleach the loos at least twice a week and do the kitchen and bathroom once a week....I find this is fine for us. Its a 4 bed detached with 2 recs and a conservatory so quite a few rooms to clean but it doesnt really matter how big the house is tbh as long as you have a "system" for each room/each week/each month so eg: each day rooms need tidying. Each week hoovering and dusting and kitchen and bathroom. Each month windows and skirting boards etc.

HTH

I think you've done the right thing starting with the kitchen. Kitchen is key for me, if the kitchen is clean, bins emptied, everything washed up and put away, then the rest of the house follows with ease.

Hi, I have always had a problem with tidyness........ I have 2 DCs and up until September I worked fulltime. My house was a disaster zone and I was ashamed of it but overwhelmed. If anyone was coming to visit it was a full scale panice session to clean it.

My DS has some behavioural issues that were being made worse by the amount of time he spent in childcare, he was exhausted and stressed and I was beyind the edge so I went part time and I was sure that would mean a spotless house. Hah! How wrong I was. I don't work on a Friday so I allocated this as 'clenaing day' and then went into a blue funk when I couldn't manage the disaster zone all in one day.

So, knowing how overwhelmed I become by large jobs, I sat down and made a list of everything that needed to be done each week. Then I looked at my week. I work late on a Monday and, realisitically there is no time for much apart from washing up and dealing with a bit of laundry. So, I split the rest of the tasks over the week. The first couple of weeks I dealt with catching up. So, Tuesday is my day for the kids rooms and the first couple of weeks it took ages as they were awful but now I do a brief tidy, change beds, dust and hoover and it takes about 30 - 40 mins in total.........

I feel sooo much better. I feel that anyone could drop in and it would be clean and relatively tidy. We have new rules for the kids about clearing up each evening, they have to pick up all toys in the living room and dining room before bed, I used to be a bit lax about that. They like the fact that it means that the floor is clear for more games! This week I have had Ofsted and the timetable slipped BUT because it was all under control fixing it next week will mean a bit extra time not a huge effort.

I just wanted to be able to invite people in..... The loft is still crammed with stuff BUT we have plans to deal with that this summer, I want to get a skip!

Oh, lists that would really useful :) At least I could tick off what has been done and feel a double sense of satisfaction! Thank you.
Really not got a great deal done this weekend but will start again tomorrow with moving the fridge and cleaning behind there, omg what horrors may await me...
I think the oven may be the next most important thing on my list after that.
Thank you again for all the advise and suggestions:)

President treat yourself to having the oven cleaned professionally . Google Ovenclean or Ovenu. I pay £55 for a double oven and grill once a year and it's the best £55 I could spend!!

I did the Flylady "shine the sink" on Saturday and set a timer for 30 mins for the bathroom. It was great! Usually I spend hours on the bathroom because it is so dreadful and then don't finish it or don't get anything else done and feel overwhelmed again. It's not perfect but it will be better next time.

( I agree about the Flylady language - cringe).

Thanks "Neverput...." that makes such sense. I can start that now. When I am at work I stick to to a routine and do certain things on certain days but home is a nightmare.

Good luck too to OP. It is hard work