Support group for those trying to get their house sorted

[CatwantsaTidyHome]

Hi all, I know it's a crap title! I'm just fed up of living in an unorganized mess!

Tried to do Flylady but got sick of it, I need a less rigid way of sorting my house as and when the mood takes me.
I have paperwork chaos, tons of washing to get through and I find the washing up tedious! --so it tends to pile up--
Add to the mix 2 children and an untidy husband and I think you get the picture.

Anyone else living in Chaos want to join?
I won't get on here often but will try my best, Hoping there are others like me so we can support each other in trying to get sorted!

Totally wasted day yesterday (Sunday). First we went into the city for the St Patrick's Day parade - which was then cancelled due to rain (would never happen in Ireland ).

Went grocery shopping instead - without a meal plan, I'll regret it later in the week.

Then, just as I was about to start getting a few things done... we had an earthquake. Admittedly small, but enough for DD1 to feel it and freak out and for DH to (finally) have the "who should do what in case of another one" discussion.

By the time everyone had calmed down I decided the day was a washout and played dollies/trains with the DC until bedtime

Hoping for a slightly more productive day today!

We have a 2 drawer filing cabinet and still have piles of paperwork everywhere

I seem to be admitting a lot of my housekeeping sins in this thread, it's very cathartic

I think you're right about the steam cleaners, Jam, there is no such thing as a perfect one I don't think we'll get one for a while yet (probably until after dd has stopped flinging food ) so there's plenty of time to mull it over yet

So, I have bought the extra bits I need for the parcels. I need to send, so will be packaging them up tomorrow ready to send on tuesday morning

Not sure what else I'll get done tomorrow, am at home all day so hopefully get on top of the washing and a few odd jobs.

Hope everyone else is doing ok

Sorry, welcome to Maish

4yo DD's room looking SO much better - a good-old-Ikea Billy bookshelf has been assembled by DH and attached to her wall at the end of her bed. Double-whammy of hiding her crap stuff from view as you walk in the room (much to DH's delight) and keeping her precious crap things out of reach of 18mo DS. Oh and her old bookshelf can go to DS now, so his room will be better soon.

Otherwise we've made Easter bonnets and I've added to the clean-laundry piles on the landing (must sort tomorrow).

Hosting a play date after school tomorrow. Then a friend and her DC over Tuesday, so big incentive to clean tomorrow!

Welcome Maish!

I did a bit more at the weekend. I am so almost finished my son's room. Just a handful of toys to do. Tomorrow I will Hoover and wash all the bedding and it will be done!

Today my husband wanted to chill at home so I did a bit more of the front room where all my boxes from moving house are waiting to be sorted. I have made 3 piles now. Toys, clothes and paperwork. I feel it is doable.

I did a bit more of the kitchen and living room too.

My kids play upstairs after their bath and before bed so I use this time to sit on the bed and fold all the laundry and put it away. I find having a set time to do it means it doesn't pile up. Ironing is a different story though but I don't iron much.

In feeling a lot more organized in my life in general. I have been making lists and dealing with stuff as it comes rather than putting things off all the time. It's a good feeling!

wow I haven't checked in for a couple of days and the thread has moved along pretty fast! I have been very good this week.

I have put a few old baby clothes toegther, I need to find a few more and then get rid of them for free or maybe sell them on my local selling thingo on FB. Maybe it would feel nice to get a couple of dollars for them?! I have also got a few maternity bits that I'd love to sell on.

Ikea deliver?? really? sounds utterly fab. I'm in Australia and I dont think they delivery over here.

my dinng table has been clutter free for almost a week! this is unheard of in my house :) i'm very proud of me and dh :)

also i have started putting recycling straight into a bag ready to be taken downstairs, rather than my usual pile-it-up method which means it gets ignored, when its ready to go in a bag it actually gets taken downstairs pretty regularly.

I'm going to pack away some of dd's toys in an underbed storage bag that i bought. need to claean under my bed then as its gross. we have lamenate flooring in there (we rent)

Yes, Ikea deliver in the UK now and it has Revolutionised My Life Storage.

Right, Operation Clean-This-Shithole starts now just as soon as I've unpacked the shopping, cooked sausages to have cold for play date tea and had a and a biscuit.

thanks for the welcome everyone. I signed up for that flylady thing yesterday after reading about it on here and have already been bombarded with 6 emails of things to do. I can't cope with it, way too stressful!

So far this morning I have cleared the decks in the kitchen & hoovered the kitchen floor. Tumble dryer is on and as soon as it's finished I am going to fold the clothes and put them away. Bins are out too.

I am not allowing myself to have a much needed cup of tea until the clothes in the dryer have been put away & the bed has been changed upstairs.

I have an hour and a half before I need to go out so in that time I will

1. change duvet
2. put 1 lot of clothes away
3. put a wash on
4. water plants
5. work out what's for dinner tonight

I shouldn't be having my yet but have to do some urgent computer admin (just realised) so can combine the two.

I have survived the nursery/school run in the rain and done the food shop, two lots of laundry done, one lot dried. Bed stripped and ready to wash.

Just need to get on with the actual cleaning/tidying...

Hello, can I join in?

I really have to get my house sorted now - I've been using the fact that I'm about to start a new job as an excuse (had lots of training to do for it) but now that has fallen flat on its face and there is no longer a job for me :( I have no excuse not to crack on...

Plus, DS1 came into my room yesterday and said in horror 'What a messy room! You can't tell us to tidy our rooms when yours is this messy!' He's right of course but I did have a quick comeback along the lines of 'If I didn't spend so much time cleaning up your mess in the rest of the house I'd have time to tidy my own bedroom!'

Anyway, I need to seriously declutter as well as do the general housework better. So today my goal is to fill a bag for the charity shop, put on a couple of loads of laundry, tidy the kitchen and my bedroom. I'll be back when I've done something productive

you see this is what happens - have just been on the phone to my mum for about 45 mins so I now only have about half an hour before I need to leave! AAGH
Am having my now though because I did manage to put a wash on and strip the bed whilst talking to her. Have also put the clothes away that were in the tumble.

2littlemonkeys sorry to hear about your job, how disappointing.
Our bedroom is always the worst in the house too. It's such a mess with far too much shit. It's too much to tackle at the moment.

Welcome monkeys

I've had quite a productive morning, onto second load of washing, bathed myself and two dc (separately), quickly whizzed the mop over the kitchen floor to get rid of muddy paw prints and hoovered the living room I'm currently enjoying the peace and quiet while DD has a nap, DS is watching cbeebies

Sorry to hear about your job, twolittlemonkeys

My morning has gone totally pear-shaped. Did the really-urgent admin then unearthed some more in my inbox, then spent ages on hold on the phone (during which time I did manage to stick another load of washing on).

So I've opted for an early lunch (eating now) and then I get a clear 3 hours to blitz the house before school pick up. I would rather have that then get started, get the adrenalin pumping, and then have to stop in a hour. 3 hours is loads of time to sort a 4-bed detached house, right? . I will focus on downstairs, then DD's bedroom. Must. Focus.

I've washed and hung up one load, another load of washing in. I ought to strip the bed and wash bedding too, but that's my least favourite job so am leaving it til the laundry pile has diminished slightly I have also managed to sort out my wardrobe (everything was shoved in, drawers bulging, complete mess, could barely shut the doors . Anyway it is still more full than I'd like it to be, but is more organised and I have a very full bag of stuff for the charity shop and I can find what I want now. I have waaaaay too many clothes and yet still can't put a decent outfit together (how is that even possible?)

I have to tackle the kitchen next. There's so much of the DC's stuff in here that I don't know what to do with - school work, little cards and things they've made for me etc. What do you do with all this stuff?

I have just the kitchen left to do now too. We can get through this!

I have a huge box in our study which is full-to-the-brim of my 4yo DD's "artwork" etc. I need to go through it, photograph the good bits and take the rest for recycling. But I can't quite bring myself to do it....[sappy so-and-so emoticon]

I do have a "memory box" up in the loft but it's also full-to-bursting. Long-term my plan is to use the DCs' toy boxes for this sort of stuff. But at the moment their toy boxes are still rather full! I've been thinking about buying two of those toy-trunk things from Ikea.

Well after spending time with the dc and not doing house work over the weekend I have just tackled the study. Send shivers just saying study, it's like Burt opening the trapdoor on trapdoor, not sure what might crawl out. But it's done, thankfully all I found were some cards I can use and a load of junk. It's now ready for the sofa bed to go in.

I also did under the stairs, another scary dimension but now the old uni and paperwork is in there with summer shoes and wet weather gear. Not bad so far.

I put some things upstairs and moved some chairs around, did a bit in the kitchen, oh and scrubbed some crayon mark off the wall thanks to 2yr old ds. Great tip is to spray lynx deodorant on the mark and it comes off super easy.
Now I'm watching scooby doo and having a lovely mug of tea.

Not doing anything else except make cheese pie for tea.

I will do ds bedroom tomorrow and vacuum, perhaps upstairs as well as downstairs. Lovely. I swear its a perpetual torture, I think this must be akin to purgatory.

Well done OhMy, our study is definitely my least favourite room to sort.

I am done. . Wet-mopped flops just drying. Play date tea ready.

Laundry has been dumped on the spare bed for now as cleaning took precedence, so ironing etc will have to be done tomorrow. But getting that admin done earlier was, as it turned out, quite important!

Not even time for a , got to get to school for pick-up!

Hello, can I join in? I was on a really useful declutter for Christmas thread and it really helped. Things have slid again since then. DD2 is now doing 5 mornings a week at nursery but this is really my work time (self employed) and I've had a few deadlines to meet.

I need to sort out all the crap in the loft so I can actually put some stuff away. My sister is travelling for 6 months so all her clothes are up there which doesn't help.

On the plus side I have tackled the washing mountain today...

welcome tommee well done on washing mountain. I've washed 3 loads, dried and put away one. One lot in the dryer, one lot still in washing machine to be dried.

Bed stripped but still not changed - DH can do that when he comes home from work, he's taller than me so doesn't get lost in the duvet cover

Once DCs are in bed I'll clean kitchen (again), put away the washing and that's it for today. Got a cold so CBA

Welcome Tommee

I have tackled a bit of washing today and got most of it put away too, that has got to be some sort of record

Tonight I need to make sure the kitchen floor is clean, find a shit spot to shovel as per habit hacker advice, unload and reload the dishwasher and put a wash on timer for it to start in the morning. Oh, and wrap these bloody parcels!!

Will report back later

Oops, I thought I'd done quite well but the only things I managed were the kitchen floor and the dishwasher. The rest of the time was spent lazing on the sofa
Ah well, tomorrow is another day

Yesterday I finally finished the kids room. It won't stay like that for long but it looks great for now!

Today DS and DD were playing outside so I got all the dead leaves and rubbish that had accumulated over winter swept up. However the kids managed to get themselves so muddy so I really do need to scrub the hallway tiles and clean the bath now.

Kitchen is a bit messy bit living room is a total disaster zone. I'm trying to muster the energy to do it.

One of my Ikea Samla boxes was for kids memory box. I need to get another as their stuff is everywhere.

Hi, My plans changed yesterday so I got nothing done.

Today I need to strip the bed, do some washing, unload and reload the dishwasher, hoover throughout and steam the kitchen and bathroom floors.

And I REALLY need to sort out the car insurance, its got to be done by the end of the week and I keep forgetting about it.

Luckily I have planned dinner to be something in the slow cooker so that can sit on the side without me having to fuss.

Can I join you? House is a pigsty and I literally don't know where to start with it. Have tried FlyLady but can't keep up with it.....too disorganised to cope with it.

Definitely have too much stuff....love books etc so have two bookcases....they never look tidy but there are books I can't part with.

I am sick of seeing other people's organised living rooms.....even if its organised chaos. Mine is disorganised chaos and I need to get rid of stuff but don't know where to begin.
Kitchen is cramped and tiny....not enough cupboard space. Do I start by going through cupboards and sorting stuff out so I have storage space? Or will I then look round at the chaos outside the cupboards and still feel despair.
DS is autistic but high functioning.....he loves Lego and its everywhere. Jus want to cry when I look round as I feel so overwhelmed by it all.

Where do I start?

Wow Jake, you sound despairing. Welcome, we'll try and help as much as we can.

Is your DS OK with you tidying up his Lego? I confess I don't know much about AS so I wouldn't want to suggest things to disrupt him.
Have you got a kindle or app on your phone/tablet/ PC? I have used mine to replace a lot of my books as and when I can afford it. I also can't bear to part with books but have managed to get it down to one bookcase. its taken a year!

It might be time to bring out the Black BinBag of Doom!

Flylady can be a bit intense and isn't for everyone. I use a couple of the rules but don't live by it.
I used to live in a terrible mess but have managed to clear it and keep on top of it. If it helps, my rules were:
Be ruthless. If its broken or not used, bin it or charity shop it.
Don't put it down put it away. (although I still have problems with this and don't always stick to it! )
The clockwise room. tidy a room clockwise from where you step into it.
15 minute bursts per room. use a timer. clear as much as you can, then have a 5 minute break. then start again in another room.
Keep on top of the daily stuff. washing, washing up, etc. Tackle the other stuff afterwards, or you'll get even more behind.
Storage. only buy it for what you need. pick a job, realise what you need and then get the appropriate storage otherwise you might be throwing money at another pile of stuff to sort out.

Would your DS like to sort his Lego by shape/ colour? Lots of places do the compartment storage so he could have his own Lego box. He can cover it with stickers if he wants!

I've found that putting my daily intentions on here has helped get my arse in gear, plus I can log on at night and check I've done it all.

Good luck. Hope that helps. x