organised people...help!

[threeelephants]

Right, I need you lovely people to help me sort my life out!
DH and I both work full time- I do very long hours during term time.
We are both naturally messy, and we don't have a lot of time to clean, as you can imagine.
We have 3 children, primary school age.
I need your tips on being more organised!
We are drowning in all the junk!
Our house is quite small, so gets messy quickly if we don't keep on top of it.
It's a bit of a vicious circle...we're basically shattered. So we put off tidying up. Then everything takes longer. Then we're shattered again cos we're tidying/cleaning etc after a long day's work.
I'm rambling.
So as not to drip feed....DH pulls his weight, and the children will help when asked. And we can't afford any help.
Now please, bombard me with your tips!

[Pippidoeswhatshewants]

I used to do this religiously. It works.

organizingmadefun.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/15-minutes-of-cleaning-how-to-have-fake.html?m=1

[threeelephants]

Yes pippi! That is exactly what I'm after, thank you!! Amazing blog.

[Spandexpants007]

Decluttering using this Marie Kondo book. Magic of tidying. See amazon reviews. Totally 110% life transforming and now strangely fashionable in the uk

[Spandexpants007]

We got rid about 60% of our stuff. Don't miss a thing

[NeedSomePeaceAndQuite]

Can I hijack and ask if any one has any amazing storage tips?

[threeelephants]

The Kondo stuff always looks a bit exhausting! Thanks spandex, I will look into it though.

[threeelephants]

That's a great hijack, needsomepeace, I'd like those tips too.

[Spandexpants007]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/2564756-Kondo-thread-10

Kondo thread link above. 10th thread!!

Kondo suggests decluttering completely first before buying storage. I agree. We ended up reproposing some storage and selling others.

Having folded clothes sat upright really works.

[threeelephants]

Thanks spandex, I do like the thread! I might look at downloading the book on my kindle.

[threeelephants]

Bumping for more ideas!

[poocatcherchampion]

I'm going to say kondo as well. The less stuff you have the less mess there cna be.

Our children get out all of our toys and the place looks like a bomb went off and meals need clearing up etc. Takes 15 mins and toys away dishwasher loaded.

I love it!

And we are at home all day too

[Coconut0il]

Don't know about the kondo method but I would say get rid of as much as you can, the less stuff you have the easier it is to keep on top of. Also I try and have a place for everything and keep surfaces clear so a clean is quicker! Before he goes to bed DS1, 12 has to take anything that's his back to his room and DS2's toys are tidied away. For storage kallax from ikea with the cheap Drona boxes holds loads.

[mrsmeerkat]

I followed an old minimism thread on maternity leave a couple of years ago. I didn't follow any rules and also lived in a very small home at the time.

Getting rid of stuff is the key. Keep a large one bag or bin liner in the house and try and fill it for the charity shop. Every day try to put a few things in it. I got rid of seven black bags and honestly it's been the best thing ever. I moved house since and it was tonnes easier.

Try to go paperless with Bill's etc. I have memories box and only keep a few special things and made one for each of the dc.

I need to get back to the job per day thing- I used to do that and it was great.

[mrsmeerkat]

yes to Kallax. I have quite a lot of it now. It's not intrusive and is really great for storage

[Brokenbiscuit]

Shamelessly place marking, as I'm in a similar position, OP.

I think getting rid of stuff is key!

[Spandexpants007]

The more you get rid of the easier life is. Used to take me a couple of days to clear up and prepare for visitors but now an hour or two would be fine.

[Spandexpants007]

Visitors that stay over

[threeelephants]

It looks like it, doesn't it, brokenbiscuit?

It's not just the clutter that we struggle with, tbh. It's the whole package. Cooking healthy meals, cleaning, keeping on top of the washing.

We used to be rubbish at organising the children for school, so dinner money would be late, kit would be forgotten etc. We got on top of that with a wall chart showing what each child needs on each day. Each child also has a plastic box for their school bags, and pe kits/swim stuff/instruments go in the night before.
So we have made progress.

[threeelephants]

We don't have overnight visitors, but we do have a lot of people popping in. I'm forever apologising for the mess.

[Spandexpants007]

Cooking/health just boils down to planning.

Owning less will help with washing/laundry/cleaning.

Also everything needs a home.

[AugustinaDuBois]

When it comes to eating properly, meal planning, batch cooking and freezing and the MN favourite, slow cookers are your best friend.

[SlatternIsTrying]

Don't try to 'cure' every problem at once. I do this and it's all so overwhelming and I get disheartened and slip back into old habits.

[threeelephants]

Very true, slatternistrying. I love your name.

[AgathaMystery]

Half term is coming up I think? Hire a small skip & be ruthless. I mean really really ruthless. If any of the clutter is amazing a charity shop will utterly adore it, by all means donate, but otherwise bin the lot.

I also agree re:charity shop bin bag. We have one on the go all the time now (since oct) & it is filled every week or so.

My husband is appalled and is massively, hugely unsupportive of this mega decluterng long Bender I am on. It sort of Spurs me in TBH.

[washingrail]

we have just decluttered after an extension (yes, wrong way around).

we didnt bother before starting and we shifted stuff from over crowded rooms into the living room, box room and conservatory. it was awful and we looked like we lived in a second hand shop sorting room with jumble and piles of paper.

its taken us about 2 months using the weekends to sort and take to our local council recycling site and dump.

we've got a small house and its taken us years to realise that we just cant't house as much furniture in our house as we'd like to. so we've taken things like coffee tables, lamp tables, bookcases, tonnes of books, old lamps that are dated etc to furniture recycling.

my house isnt like a show home but it has about 40% less clutter than before.

it also feels like cleaning is getting easier with less stuff and i feel more motivated now there is not as much stuff on the floors and shelve units.

we still do have a whole host of crap taking up space like a bulky high chair, airing rails to dry indoors when needed, tiny bits of barbie and lego, school bags/letters/paperwork... but its better than before.

im going to do that oraganizing made easy thing where in addition to picking up after the kids/dishwasher/putting away laundry, im going to do 15 mins daily of extra cleaning.