If you're an organised person how do you do it?

[atticusclaw]

I literally feel like crying. The house is a tip and never seems to get any better, the garden is a jungle, I can never find anything, the DCs never have what they need for school, there are always a million jobs to do and we haemorrhage money.

Is there a solution to life?

Yes it is big. That does include a separate office building though.

I am focussed. We will be organised!!!! I've already had the DCs sort out their things for tomorrow.

Added waste paper bins to the amazon order so that they can have one in their rooms and stop leaving rubbish around.

Also added a separate laundry basket so that we have one for whites and one for coloureds/darks.

The other option for getting rid if clutter is to get one of those cash 4 clothes type places to come and pick it up. There are no charity shops with parking anywhere near round here, so I'm going to get them to come and pick up the 10 bin bags full of toys. I'd rather they went to charity, but just too much hassle with two kids in the car too, as would have to cross roads without holding their hands.

Decluttering and consistency are the key things I think.

It's very dull but you need to do everything repeatedly to stay on top of things. I use a to do list on my iPhone called Remember the Milk. You can set the repeat intervals to 'every' day, week, month, year (or 2, 3, 4, etc.) or 'after' the event (so clean bathroom 1 week after you've cleaned it).

As I see a new job, I add it to my list and set a repeat interval. My list is as long as my arm but it does help me to keep vaguely on track. Most of my to dos are broken down so they are short 5 minute jobs. That way, I can have a look at the list and fit in a job while the kettle is boiling.

Like the others have said, you do have to keep chipping away though. There is always something that needs doing.

Stop ironing anything that's not for work/school. Creases drop out naturally as soon as you put most clothes on.

I have three washing baskets, one has a section each for lights and darks, one is for brights (9mo refluxy Ds has a lot) and the other in the bathroom is for towels, tea towels and cleaning cloths. It means I can just grab everything in the basket to go in one wash without having to trawl through and separate.

Clothes for Charity will come and collect any clothing you wish to donate to charity. They send you a huge bag to fill, then you go onto the website to arrange free courier collection.

My biggest piece of advice is never handle something twice so when I open post I recycle what I can then and there like envelopes or junk mail, all bills are paid on-line automatically so there are no paper bills to pay, anything for filing goes straight into a filing cabinet and the shredder is handy for anything with our personal details on.

Same with laundry I have Ikea Sortera tubs and we all separate washing as it is taken off, so one for whites, blacks, darks, lights etc that way I am not rifling through dirty laundry trying to make up a load.

I did FlyLady years ago, spend just 15 minutes sorting out "hot spots" ie places you regularly dump stuff. Take a break, and if you can come back for another 15 minutes do it.

I always have a charity bag ready to go, so if it too small for the children it is washed and put into the bag (if youngest ds) if oldest it goes into the "I've grown out of it" drawer in his wardrobe to be handed down.

Declutter, Declutter, Declutter! You honestly won't get any sort of system going if you have too much stuff. I have used the Flylady system in the past off and on. One of her best tips was to walk around the house with a charity bag in your hand and fill it with 27 items. Then put the bag straight in your car to be dropped off. It really does work and it's so much easier to be organised with less in the house.

I agree with the PP who said just keep going and don't procrastinate. Set yourself a 'stop' time, say 8pm, so you don't frazzle. Only put a load of laundry on once the previous one is dried and put away. Don't try to do it all at once. Get a calendar, a big one, and make it a family rule that unless it's on the calendar then it's not happening. Pick up stuff as you leave a room. Put things back when you finish.

You need to pretend as though you are moving house (or country!) and be really ruthless. Was the best thing I ever did - had to get our possessions down into 16 boxes.

Do it properly, right down to ordering/borrowing moving boxes and taking a couple of days off work when the kids are at school/finding someone to look after them. You can get boxes for £20 on amazon. Then go through every room, packing stuff up, you ONLY keep it if it has a purpose, something it's actually useful for - so not something you've used once in five years, not something which has a tenuous sentimental link, not something which you bought because you liked it but it really doesn't fit anywhere in the house. "Useful" can also mean "makes the living room look nice" or "Helps me remember when DS was a baby". Start with cupboards - it's much easier than trying to sort through stuff which you use every day but you need to work up to that. Pack every last teaspoon!

You have to be really ruthless. Don't keep two things which fulfil the same purpose unless you actually need two.

Once you've cut everything down, you know what the purpose of everything in the house is, which means it's easier to find a logical home for it. In addition, everything is in boxes. You can do a proper deep clean of the house and/or repaint any rooms that need it. Now you can go through the boxes and unpack everything but make sure that where it goes is logical - if the purpose is related to cleaning, designate a cleaning area. If something is used mainly in the living room, store it in or near the living room.

Then like Contented said, set up systems which work. If you have clothes lying around the house, put smaller laundry baskets around for clothes to be put into rather than left. Get a place for paperwork to go if you can't deal with it straight away or set aside a time of day/week to sort it. Sort recycling as you go rather than sorting it out later. Etc. Don't try and work against your nature thinking "I will remember to take all of the dirty clothes up to the laundry basket" just work your actual patterns into something livable and then don't beat yourself up about it! If you give children easily achievable goals too, they're more likely to do them and you can increase it later if you have the inclination.

I agree with Bertie - you need to make a big hit on decluttering to ever have a hope of staying on top of it. And then I usually do another two a year to get rid of new stuff - kids party favors, paper work that builds up or kids have been drawing on, even just older clothes that have got worn or grown out of. Now my kids are older they help - although DD at 5 loves it and is ruthless, DS (7) is much more emotionally attached to things so we now have a box for storage where he can keep his more precious items

I also work from home. Best thing is to get a filing system - either Amazon or Ikea and then keep your work paper in that. If necessary you can move it away from the dining room. Or - and I suspect this would make a huge difference - get your office sorted both wifi and heating. My office is my haven and I find I am much more efficient there then elsewhere the house where real life can intrude...

And for your cleaner - make a list. Explain you are on a mission to sort the house and these are the jobs you need doing. If they are any good they won't mind - and if they do... well consider getting someone else.

Organisation takes time - there is set up time (inventing a system/buying furniture/getting rid of unnecessary stuff) and maintenance time (which you need to have some sort of routine to enforce).

Give the cleaner the boot, declutter like a mad woman, make daily lists, get the kids to help with chores and decluttering and if all else fails what about looking at Flylady? Some people are born organised, I'm not and it helped me.

I have been without wifi for a week and so didn't realise I had further comments but I have made use of the time without wifi distraction!

I now have six boxes of toys, kitchen stuff and random bits to take to the charity shop plus six bin bags full of old clothes. There are many more old clothes to sort but its a start. Threw away four bin bags of rubbish and broken toys etc just from the playroom.

Upped the cleaner's hours a bit more to eight hours a week, had the gardeners come in and blitz the garden, had four damaged trees taken down and have arranged a monthly window clean.

This must make a difference surely

We have a new cleaner starting tomorrow. In that much time I'm hoping she does a lot of general housekeeping stuff too like changing sheets etc.

Annoyingly our old cleaner (through the same company) cleaned the house on Friday better than she's ever cleaned the house before in the past four years. Presumably because she knew the boss was coming in tomorrow with the new cleaner and would see how little she's been doing. Very frustrating that she couldn't clean this well before she was moved off the contract.

I agree with previous comments that it's a two-stage process - dealing with the backlog (decluttering etc), then setting up new systems to stop it piling up again.

I also think that it you're not a naturally organised person, trying to change everything at once will be difficult and you could end up feeling worse for not being able to do it. It's probably better to pick one area to improve - paperwork, laundry, grocery shopping - get into a better routine in that area, then move onto the next area.

Being organised makes life easier, i dont have a cleaner would rather do it myself, i plan meals ahead, i never leave dirty dishes until the next day, change beds every 2 weeks, get carpets cleaned twice a year, hate things lying around, bathroom and kitchen must always be clean for hygiene reasons, the only help i pay for is a window cleaner, i live in a semi my upstairs windows dont swivel around for me to clean the outside. I work part time up at 6am home at 12.30pm, being organised has never been a problem.