Has anyone ever actually transformed from lazy slattern with serious clutter problems to uncluttered, lovely house type person.

[thatlldopigthatlldo]

I'm so in the zone now. Am working through a list of areas that need sorting and i'm about half was through.

But will i manage to keep the house that way?

Inspiration please.

Shall be watching quietly from the corner to read more in hopes of inspiration.

Reformed hoarder/messy type person here.

I could go on about it for ages but realising that less than perfect is ok, was a key thing.

eg I have a tiled hall floor, and I like to properly scrub and then polish it which takes ages. But a quick swish with a microfibre mop is ok, and crucially better than nothing. It's ok to take shortcuts and better than waiting until you have time to do it properly

Another key thing is not leaving a room empty handed. Something always needs to go somewhere else, be it in the bin, kitchen, upstairs etc depending on whether said item is rubbish/clean washing/things that need washing up. I also leave things on the stairs ready for my next trip up there.

I regularly de-junk and de-clutter, which now takes about 20 mins to quickly scan around for what needs chucking out, and isn't a whole day/week job!

Storage is key too and regularly checkign that you're not storing things you don't need.

I have tried, but I tend to get bored once the novelty of it wears off, or get distracted by other life stuff, and go back to my usual slatternly self.

I'm not a hoarder particularly, just disorganised and forgetful and a bit lazy.

I was very organised - tidied up all the toys back into their storage boxes, counted jigsaw pieces, put all bits together but kids kept pulling everything out and refused to tidy it back up - particularly after playdates so I said if they didn't care then why should I? So we are at a stalemate - I refuse to tidy up their mess and they don't play with the stuff anymore cos can't find the bits! And no more playdates. I am going to blitz over half term BUT I am packing the toys up and either selling or giving to charity shops. If they want to keep it, they have to tidy it up and find the bits. I did warn them!

Toy sort out done! Each child now has a Special box for odds and sods treasures and a general toy box each. Plus there are separate Polly Pocket and Sylvanians boxes. 4 large boxes have gone into the loft and one carrier bagful is waiting to go to the charity shop. Room looks empty but has made me realize that they need more shelving for books.

arty crafty area done! the looming tower of paper and pens and all sorts of other shit is gone! all of the best pictures are now in a presentation file taking up no space at all.

i did the bedroom last weekend and i'm now actually choosing to spend time in it.

DH has tackled his office. a bit half hearted if you ask me, but he's already using the room again to play his guitar so immediate changes in behaviour with the creation of space.

yay.

i'm about half way through my list and the end of the list seems so far away but still motivated to get there.

I am a minimalist and my husband is a hoarder. We live in a 1st floor flat so the living floor is minimalist and the loft is hubby's hoarding hole where he can clutter til his heart's content

We're getting there. Some of it is just habits, doing a daily Swype of the bathroom and kitchen, running the Hoover around a few times a week and always putting things away.

I found it helped if away was easy, so an in tray downstairs so unfilled mail isn't hanging around, a big box to throw toys in etc. I got from somewhere on MN don't put it down, put it away. So if something is in your hand, rather than leaving it to clutter the place up, put it straight away. Got dh in that habit too now.

I started a new regime in August after being fed up with endless cycle of blitz cleaning/ let mess develop to ridiculous levels/ extreme blitz clean. I am finding it very hard to break old habits.

One of my aims is to get everything off the floor. Well not the furniture obviously but all of the bits and pieces which make the place look cluttered like shoes, bags, scooters etc.

Am also doing this. Have made more progress than ever in last few months but need to keep going. The kitchen is the worst for backsliding. Still need a proper system for paperwork which I actually act upon instead of 17 different piles with a post it saying 'Urgent, do asap!' which I have then ignored

you two in the corner are making the thread look untidy.

No, I'm in a fabulous storage cupboard, I am. No-one can see me being messy. I just look through a slit in the door.

I am trying really hard to reform but it's not been easy, and not currently possible as we are living in a house whilst having loads of work done to it so stuff gets moved all the time. a few tips that have helped me:
1)if something takes less than 10 seconds, do it straight away (eg hanging your coat up, putting shoes back onto shoe rack)
2) if you hate throwing stuff out, make boxes and say to yourself "if I don't open this to use the stuff inside within X time (eg 3 months) then I will just chuck it all"
3) ignore buy one get one free deals on bathrooms stuff! not worth the clutter
4) do one room a day
thanks for all the other ideas too, i am aiming to pick stuff up as i go along-great idea