The Organised Mum Method

[IcanDorisIwillDoris]

Does anyone fancy joining me in following the organised mum method?

Back to work tomorrow after the summer off (work term time only) and need to get on top of a house work routine after struggling this last year or so to stay on top of things.

I suffer with anxiety and can easily get lost in my mood without structure and I like what I saw on the website. Will probably tweek the method as I go but it's a good structured plan to kick things off.

I work odd hours around the kids being at school but have a clear hour each day to dedicate to this. Plus I am sick of losing my weekends to playing catch up when I could be doing nicer things with the kids!!

Four of us in a 4 bed semi which is clean, just full of stuff that comes with having kids. It can get pretty messy!

Have done the odd bit of decluttering over the summer which has made a bit of a difference!

Looking forward to having a house that doesn't embarrass me on the odd occasion a guest arrives unannounced

I would like to send the OP a.huge thank you for starting this thread. @TheOrganisedMum has been an inspiration: finally a household routine that actually feels achievable.

I need a bit of a bootcamp, and have decided to do this over the next few weekends, while trying to stick to the normal routine in the week, as it would be years before I got enough time to start with a full clean of the whole house.

Big thanks again!

@doleritedinosaur it's my birthday too! I'm having a day off 😂

@WooYa awww a birthday twin! Happy Birthday!
I would have loved to have a day off but we’re going away soon so I’ve got 6 days off the housework coming up.

@Littlechocola thank you!

Tonight I’ve been my future friend by sorting out tomorrow’s laundry, packing tomorrow’s changing bag & lunch box for the day & clearing the kitchen table. I like to celebrate in style .

I love this thread @IcanDorisIwillDoris and have been keeping up with it each day.

I also love that I recruited a friend to @TheOrganisedMum this week and she's been texting me each day about how happy she is with her bootcamping

Now...my house is tidy...but I need a kick up the arse! Been on TOMM for 4 weeks but my sticking point is the paperwork. I have a big pile and I am just too daunted to start. Anyone got any tips? Burn it?!

Haven't posted for a while, work has been mental and physically draining. But my house is looking fine!

Been following it loosely again for the lad week but even that's been enough, perhaps it wasn't as bad as I actually thought.

Glad people are still finding this thread and finding it helpful. I will catch up properly with my morning coffee!!

@wineusuallyhelps the best thing is just to start sorting it out. It's usually not as bad as you think it will be speaking from a lot of experience

I struggle with paperwork and I recently started a method called the Sunday Basket. Basically I have a medium sized basket and several labelled folders (finance, calendar, to deal with, urgent etc). Any paperwork that comes in goes straight in the appropriate folder. The key thing is you must go through the folder weekly and deal with everything. I find it helps just to have stuff 'hidden' and not taking up mental space, knowing I will deal with it at some point in the week. There's videos on YouTube if you're interested.

@Chimichangaz you're right, I should just start. Even if I only do 5 mins at a time. I bet most of it is junk anyway!

Thank you for the weekly sorting tip. Makes sense

My thoughts exactly Arborea , I too am very grateful to have found this thread! I feel that it is slowly transforming my life, so thank you very much from me too Op !

Re the Facebook group - most posts are quite unhelpful to me personally too. I agree that a lot of the houses look quite good even before the Bootcamp, whereas mine looked mostly like a bomb site, thus making me feel like a dirty sloth! Also, my “after” pics will never compare either, as we live in a very small, old cottage with lots of nooks and crannies/lots of stuff on the walls/old furniture/potted plants anywhere etc, whereas the fb pics mostly seem to be of next-catalogue type houses, all minimalistic and light and airy. For better or for worse, my home will never look like that. And all the competitive, thinly veiled fishing for compliments- type posts are doing my head in. You have done a great job, just say that you are proud of what you have achieved, don’t pretend you want opinions if you have too many rugs on your laminate flooring!

My Bootcamp progress is very slow and will be like that for another few weeks due to work. I work full time and am in the middle of quite an intense year long course in my speciality which requires me to do a lot of studying alongside and I have my final exams coming up in a few weeks time, so there is only so much I can achieve. But I try and be kind to myself and keep repeating over and over that anything I achieve means things are better than before!
I am only getting level 1 stuff done on a regular basis, and am doing a bit of bootcamping alongside now, so i recon once I’m done with the “proper” Bootcamp I will have to start another mini-Bootcamp straight away, which will be much quicker because my time won’t be taken up with sorting through and getting rid of piles and piles of crap! So I’m trying to stay positive and not get overwhelmed by it all. I will get there!

On a positive note the DCs have been motivated by all the decluttering and started on their own rooms over the past week without too much prompting and younges DS who is really too young to do a proper declutter by himself has asked me if I can help him to do his room because he wants it to be nice and tidy too so it’s nice to think that maybe they will see the benefits of TOMM and maybe apply them to their own homes one day.

summers I'm glad it's not just me who feels like that about some of the Facebook posts! I'm always a little bit about 'show us your house' posts since one thread on here when someone was caught out posting pictures of a swanky hotel and pretending it was their bedroom

It's not an instant turnaround here either but I figure that next week will be easier than last week and so on. I realise that in the past I when I have managed to get the house really tidy, I've always been shocked that it was messy a week later (not having tidied in the meantime, duh). So having an ongoing plan for keeping on top of it is brilliant.

I would never show my house on there. So cluttered!

I like the photos on the fb page when they show a specific problem and posters are looking for advice.
I ignore the "before and after" shots because I cynically see them as stealth boasts!
I am going to out right boast now! I split grease from cooking sausages this morning. Normally I would have wiped up with kitchen towel and ignored. Today I used the kitchen towel and then got out the mop and bucket and actually cleaned up the mess!

There’s one on there at the moment who says she has 5 kids in a three bedtimes terrace. She’s shown all the rooms, where are the older children’s bedrooms then?

This is the first I've heard of TOM! We have been doing major renovations for years months & we are in the home strait now. Once it's completed (hopefully in November) I'm getting a cleaning company in to do a "deep tenancy" clean. I'll be able to keep on top of it after that (I hope). I'll bookmark this thread

Quick tidy up of the kitchen, and I need to put a wash on. Even though the house isn't looking particularly better yet, I do finding myself spending time keeping some areas tidier than before, so I guess it's slowly working!

Following

Not much done today, well it doesn't feel much but was productive!
Hoovered hall and living room, did online food shop and put holes in some planters plus a wash on

I have had a mare of a week - upstairs bathroom installation which means everything upstairs is covered in a layer of stoor and will need cleaning. And living room and halls are filled with boxes and stuff that has been displaced by the work, so I haven't been able to clean those areas properly on their designated days. Oh and a major flood late on Friday night, everything smells musty.

But yesterday I cleaned and sorted lots of stuff in the kitchen (I was feeling anxious with the plumber here all day sorting the flood aftermath and I needed to do something, kitchen was the only room available while all the work was going on!). Two cupboards emptied, cleaned and decluttered, oven hood and bin cleaned and shined, plus more. Helped me feel less out of control and I will have less to do come kitchen day.

Looking forward to doing TOMM properly this week (although house will still be in a bit of a guddle).

Oh, pony, what a week! Just concentrate your 30mins each day on the grimiest, most noticeable problems. This is probably not the week for cleaning out the fridge or decluttering. After this week, you'll be back on track. Good luck!

We had a leak this week too, we live in an old house and the smell is awful, all that old wet wood! I bought a dehumidifier and it’s amazing, made a big difference straight away. Now just to repaint my living room ceiling!

Oh my goodness, zoflora.... What do they put in that stuff? Everyone keeps raving about it on the Facebook page so I thought I should try some.... It stinks!! It's not horrible, just very overpowering and artificial. Still, you don't know unless you try!

@beela which one did you get?

I’m trying to get my 12 year old to do his room today and I’ll be doing the kitchen or my bedroom. Can’t decide which is less scary!

@beela yes it's very strong isn't it!

I don't really understand the zoflora craze. It's useful for certain things, but I am trying to find a more ecological replacement for when my current supply is used up.

I don’t mind zoflora (only the linen one) I put a capful in the conditioner bit of the washing machine with towels and sheets and I occasionally use it when mopping the floor but apart from that I can’t really find any other use for it!

I dont gwt zoflora. Is it just spending extra money to make things smell strongly?