If you are naturally messy and lazy how do you keep your house tidy?

[justwondering23]

I am very disorganised. I try to be tidy but I think I
am quite lazy and I have to really try to put things back in places! I'm starting the Marie kondo method to try and declutter and I've taken to trying to keep surfaces clear to make them easier to clean but I always have a mad panic every time someone comes around. I would hate anyone to just drop by unexpectedly as my house is not to the standard I want it to be!!!

Are there any lazy girls / cheats tips you can share if you have managed to make it work for you?

Thanks

Shamelessly following as you’ve summed me up in your title!

I'm too lazy to read the whole thread. Apologies if someone else has mentioned the One Touch thing. This is where if you pick up something you can only touch it once so have to put it away instead of just moving it out of the way. I do it sometimes and it's quite good.

Holiday lady what is TOM?

I do try and invite people round to force myself to be more tidy but then turn into a stressed out nightmare the day before barking orders at everyone! To be fair dh is v neat and tidy and is exasperated by me. If he was like me the house would be Much worse! Ds is picking up all of my bad habits and I want to make sure he puts everything away . The problem is everything is chucked in the nearest Ikea Kallax box .. I do try and sort now and again but it quickly gets back to how it was .. and I only have one child .. no excuse🙁

Oh I’m the same! Part of my problem is a weird inability to make decisions about where stuff should go. I must have sienna days in my lifetime looking for stuff!

@justwondering23 it's a cleaning blog called The Organised Mum Method. It's on Facebook (Team TOMM) and instagram (Theorganisedmum). It's a great way to sort yourself and your house out so ours not cleaning all the one and getting nothing done! Have a nosy! It'll change your life

I can really sympathise OP. Those of you who do the Organised Mum stuff, did you start with the boot camp or just start the standard routines for it? I keep looking at it but just can’t see myself doing the boot camp, especially over summer.

I also follow some cleaning people on You Tube, Clutterbug is good.

I follow Flylady but not with the best results. We have a lovely thread here if anyone wants to join.

I know that clutter is the problem but find dealing with it incredibly time consuming.

I just jumped straight in @TooStressyForMyOwnGood . If you find that your house might need a Bootcamp, you could just add a few extra minutes or jobs in each room that day. Getting partners/children involved makes it a bit easier too!

Thanks WooYa. My house could really benefit from a boot camp! DH is tidier than I am but I really struggle getting the kids involved. I might try it then.

DH is a neat freak so if I use the rooms in my home I’ll be forever cleaning them (or being shouted at for not cleaning them). So I stay out of two of the four bedrooms and the living room to keep them clean, and I sit in the kitchen instead. If it’s reasonably warm I sit in the greenhouse with DC to keep the house clean, it’s better for supervising DC playing in the garden anyway. I restrict myself to one cup and plate during the day to avoid dishes building up.

This is me too. I wish I were either organised and tidy or that I didn't care about being messy. Whereas in fact I adore order and tidiness but am very bad at achieving it. On the rate occasions my house is properly tidy, it makes me ludicrously happy.

Loved Kondo. Failed at it. Loved FlyLady. Failed at that too. I'll have a look at TOM, but any system requires you to be diligent enough to stick at it. And I don't!

I have an amazing cleaner who also tidies

@TooStressyForMyOwnGood bribery  it's got playlists too so you dance and clean.
@Kingkiller TOMM is really easy to change to suit you and hide if you can't be bothered

Yes I think that appealed to me about TOMM too. Kingkiller, Clutterbug is really good for little decluttering challenges for when you have time / can be bothered rather than a super structured routine.

I like Flylady (must get back to the thread here) but also now love How Jen Does It, based on Flylady zones. I find her quite inspiring. Flylady is good for the basics, but I find Jen more inspiring to watch and that makes me do stuff, which is working at the moment

Thanks Wooya

I just printed out all the free printables I could find on the TOMM website. If I read an email that's me lost for a good 40 mins getting distracted.

I've just jumped in with the weekly plan. Only on day 2 though, so will see how it goes.

We are at a crunch point/ step change. Something needs to change as I can't keep living my life like this any more.

Thanks for suggestions I've just joined TOM and clutterbig on Facebook.

Anyone want to join me in a challenge to sort things out by the time the kids go back to school?!

Going to have a look at TOMM (sorry flylady, but sounds interesting) - but kids have long since left school, home, only their clutter left to prove they were ever here 😂 but nothing like a target to focus the mind

I didn’t like TOMM because it’s all videos. If I try and watch something I get two small people rushing over to peer over my phone till I can’t even see it myself.

Are there any alternatives out there? (Tried Flylady but I disagree with her on too many points, like the sink being so important and the need to wear shoes indoors!)

I've found making myself a to-do list and breaking it down into small parts of tasks helps (and I can't forget anything). I feel like I'm achieving something as I cross off the list.
Once I get going I'll work away for hours, it's just the initial starting that gets me!

Judge - the art to getting Flylady to work is to ignore 50% of what she says. She's very fixated on unimportant things, but her hotspots, 5 minute room rescues, 15 mins to company ready and different focus area each day/week are really helpful to keep on top of things. Gets you into a routine - wednesdays for errands in town, Fridays declutter car and handbag etc, so nothing builds up for too long. And learning how much you can do in 5 mins is the biggest incentive I ever had to get on top of the hosuework.

Just- yep I'm in!

Another lazy householder here . I'm much better than I used to be, though. My tips are:

1. Start small: it can be overwhelming to think about how much needs doing (and easier just to try and forget about it!). So just try and do one thing at a time - whether that's changing the beds, clearing out under the stairs or washing the windows. Breaking down tasks makes things much more manageable and they all add up!
2. Good enough is better than nothing: perfection needs much more time and effort, so be realistic about what's acceptable to you.
3. You're not the only one responsible (if you have OH or others living with you): make sure others also fairly pull their weight.
4. Have a backgrounddistraction to make things more fun: whether it's having Netflix on or playing 90s Ibiza anthems too loudly, having something on in the background can make cleaning tolerable!

1. Declutter! less stuff = less things to clean, maintain, store!

I think DesperatelySeekingSnoozing's idea sounds inspired!

I think I do need a weekly and longer-term routine. Things were better when I had one.

Ultimately, though, I think it comes down to needing to spend more time cleaning and tidying than I currently do. I think all these systems are cunning ways

Oops posted by accident, sorry.

... cunning ways to trick yourself into spending more time doing housework. I like the Flylady "home blessing" (ugh!) hour, and I train the children with picking up 5 things, then 5 more things. At the end of the day, inviting people over is the only way we ever tackle the last 10% that always stops us being visitor ready.