When the house is dire and you don't know where to start.

[Alfieisnoisy]

Help!

Where would YOU start?

Every room is a mess.

How do I even begin?

Have got into a rut and am now distracting myself from starting to clean and tidy simply because I don't know where to begin. Suspect I have ADD as am chronically disorganised...lifelong issues. DS has ADD too.

I need a plan.

Smallest room first. Black bag and bin anything that is obviously rubbish. Once you get started don't stop!

Good luck..

One room at a time. Pick one and just start.

Thank you....got a plan now...smallest room is downstairs toilet and then kitchen...both key areas for cleanliness and being tidy.

I out everything into the room it should be in first.
Then I put all the clean laundry on our bed
All the dirty laundry in the basket
Go through the house with a bin bag and bin every bit of rubbish you can see

I then go room by room. Save the living room for last as once it's tidy you will want to sit in it. So the way I'd do it is

Kitchen - hot soapy sink of water and all dishes into it. Wipe down all surfaces. Clean dishes and leave on the rack. Sweep or Vac floor.
Bathroom (ours is off the kitchen) - chuck all bottles and lotions in the storage box, hang all towels, wipe down sink and bath. Wipe down toilet. Bleach into loo. Sweep/Vac floor.
Our bedroom - clean clothes into piles of whose whose on the bed. Bedside tables and chest of drawers tidied on top and wiped over. Bedframe wiped over. Clothes for that room put away. Kids clothes.moved to their room. Make bed. Sweep/Vac floor.
Kids room - clothes away. Toys into toy boxes. Make beds. Sweep/Vac floor.
Hall - sweep/Vac floor.
Lounge - tidy cushions, clear crap of dining table. Wipe down surfaces. Put toys in the basket. Sweep/vac

Open all windows either before or when in each room. All our floors are hardwood so I mop through at the end starting with the bedrooms and then fresh water for the last two rooms (kitchen and bathroom).

On a baaaaad day the above takes about 2.5 hours.

I have got useful cleaning lists on my blog that some people have found helpful - they've been refined by MNetters over the years. This cleaning schedule might be a good one once you get going. Weekly Cleaning Schedule

I'd say kitchen first - clear worktops, wipe, load dishwasher, empty bin.

Then bag up all rubbish from lounge, clear up everything off floor so you can wipe round and hoover.

Just doing that would take 30-60 mins and your house would look better already.

These are all great ideas for an initial blitz, but to prevent the same thing happening over and over you need to read Marie Kondo's Life Changing Magic of Tidying.

It's become a bit of a craze, there are threads on here and groups on Facebook etc. but in essence it's about learning to live with less, but making sure that everything you own sparks joy. Once you get the hang of discerning whether something brings you joy or not (either because it's beautiful, useful or sentimental) it is much easier to throw things away and not hoard clutter 'just in case'.

It's a really quick read and can be, as the title suggests, life changing. People claim that it has affected their job, health/diet and relationships - once you set the barometer for joy it can be used in all parts of your life.

Maybe a quick one two of the whole house. Easy bits, bathroom bins emptied, a few bits put away.
Lounge, kitchen and downstairs toilet.
So that you can give the place a hoover?
Then concentrate on one room at a time? Like other people have suggested?

I write down 6 jobs and roll a dice. Can't argue with a dice.

Die, I mean!

For now - don't try and get each room 'perfect' - don't worry about things like cleaning paint work or cleaning under stuff or seriously decluttering or even changing sheets- just try and get each room 'ok ish'
I leave kitchen till last (as I find things that need to go in there)
Pick a room (bedroom) and do just a 15 min tidy/damp dust then a 10 min hoover. Put things (I often throw things ) that don't belong in that room outside the door (have a rubbish bin/bag and a laundry basket on the go too).
Go through the pile and put the things in the right room - away if you can (always away in the rooms you have done). Stuff for downstairs can just be put on the top/bottom of the stairs to go down/up later. Repeat for each bedroom. Then upstairs bathroom - tidy up towels etc and quick clean loo/sink/shower/bath - don't worry about dirty grout etc -just make it not too bad - should take 15 mins -hoover floor. Hoover and tidy the stairs/landing/hall.
Repeat downstairs - finish with kitchen and empty bins.
Takes a couple of hours depending on size of house.
Now try and do that at least once a week - even split over two days - if you keep it up it doesn't take that long and never gets that bad. You and others are more likely to make less mess if it is relatively tidy - eg if you leave the jam jar out in the middle of a clean worktop it is more obvious than if there are already numerous dirty plates/salt cellars/crumbs etc on it too)
And you get less dust etc as there is less around...(although at first you'll get more as you are stirring it up!)
It will take less time so then you can add on deeper cleaning. Either pick an area/job in a room to tackle during the general clean - clean windows/change sheets/clean paintwork/declutter a cupboard. Or do a deeper clean of a whole room on a different day.

But always do the once a week tidy/clean -set a day for it if nec.

I put everything in its proper place and anything that has no place gets put in a spare plastic storage box,
Then the box gets sorted through if can't find a home then it's chucked/donated.

When I need a declutter, I usually find it easier to start with getting the dirty laundry washed/dried/ then put it away - straight away, don't let it hang around in laundry baskets to do later, because if you are like me you won't bother ;)

I always find it easier to tackle the kitchen and bathroom first as they are usually the ones that need the most attention.

Bedroom - anything on the floor gets put on the bed, carpet hoovered, then I get everything off the bed and into their rightful places or the sort box.

There are 7 rooms in our house so each area gets designated a day of the week to keep on top of. Saturday or Sunday is usually the hallway as its nice and easy - just a quick Hoover and dust.

Subbing this for helpful
Posts :)

When mine were babies, and there was crap all over the floor, I get a broom and sweep it up into one big pile on the floor.

Now dd's are older and play with Lego, I threaten the Hoover going on. It soon gets cleared up

Do one room. It's easy to start small and stay focused. Put music on that makes you bop. Your rule needs to be that nothing is moved from that room til it's put away into its place or into a black bin bag. Then tidy, hoover, wipe/polish. Youll feel so chuffed with yourself. You might get into it so much that you decide today to do.another room as well but don't start out expecting to (bathroom 2nd I'd say or kitchen). Then pick a room each day.
Things don't seem too bad or overwhelming when you just start with one room....

Oooh thankyou boffin that is such a useful link. I'm stealing that schedule too!

I'm more of a one job at a time woman.
So go through with a bin bag and get rid of anything that needs binning.
Go through with a laundry box and pick up anything that needs washing (get a load in the machine)
Collect all the random stuff that doesn't belong in room one, take it to room two and put in what belongs there while collecting what doesn't. So your box gets a few items in and a few out in every room. You end up with a box of stuff that doesn't belong anywhere, but that's ok, sort it later.

Good luck!

Big plastic box. Revolutionized my life.

First of all, take box around the house and hunt down any dirty washing. Also strip the beds. The last room you visit should be the room where your laundry basket is. Transfer all dirty clothes to laundry basket, take laundry basket downstairs and stick in the washing machine. If it's not a full load, don't switch it on yet. If it is a full load, switch it on immediately and any extras stay in the basket for now.

Start in 1 room and anything that doesnt belong in there, add to your now empty box. Once tidy move on to next room. Decant anything in plastic box that belongs in new room out, fill back up with things from new room that shouldn't be there. Rinse and repeat until you've done the entire house. Anything left in the box at the end gets chucked or, in rare cases, found a new home.

Then once your box is empty, fill box with the cleaning products you need. EG: All purpose surface cleanser, bathroom spray, toilet cleaner, bleach, floor cleaner, carpet cleaner etc etc and then all the cloths you'll need. Attack house without mercy from room to room until you've wiped, rinsed, polished and scrubbed everything that needs it.

Decant box contents back into cleaning drawer. Throw dirty cloths in laundry basket.

Vac throughout, then steam mop hard floors. Bung mop heads in the washing machine.

Box also becomes a useful step up to reach the top of kitchen cupboards and curtain rails if you're doing a deeper clean

I have 7 rooms and a stair case, whole process takes me about an hour and a half and I do it once a week :)

I then spot- clean daily which takes 15 mins tops :)