I want to live in a nice home, but dont know where to start

[DrHarleenFrancesQuinzel]

Please dont suggest Flylady or Kondo, Ive tried Flylady and read the Kondo book (decided it wasn't for me)

I work FT (office job so Mon-Fri days) and have limited funds.

My full house needs a good overhaul. There are areas which look like something from those hoarding programs (corners of rooms, under the beds etc). We have lived here 3 years and still have no stairs carpet or anything in our bedroom (floor wise). The DCs have carpet and we have carpet in the living room and the kitchen and bathrooms have flooring down.

The whole place is grubby.

Where do I start? Its down to me DH is a lazy arse (who while he has some nice qualities - and even does clean, we still live in a hole) Im the one who wants to live in a nice clean house. I want everything to have its place and be in its place.

Where do I start? Do I do a little bit in each room? Pick a room and spend all day Sunday doing it? Do I get the DC's involved (well maybe not the 3YO) What about all the crap we have accumulated? How do I get rid of that easily - CBA with faffing about with Ebay etc, just want to chuck it all?

Any little bits of advice or ideas where to start?

Charity shops will come and collect if you have problems getting it there. Might be useful if you have a lot of stuff.

The basic steps for me are:

1. De-clutter.
2. Find a storage space for everything left in the house - from stuff you use everyday to stuff that's used once a year.
3. Train all members of the household to return stuff to its storage space instead of leaving it lying around (easier said than done!).
4. Stop more clutter coming into the house so it doesn't build up again.

I've found the Kondo method of doing categories useful as you can see how much you've got - I found we had loads of pens scattered around the house and half of them didn't work!

It is difficult, especially when you live with someone who doesn't care as much as you about how things look. Over the years, I've learned to be more tolerant of mess and DH has learned to be tidier.

I would say it's a lot easier to clean/ decorate a tidy, uncluttered house, so that could be put on hold until you're happier with the house.