Seeking Tidying/decluttering buddy/ies

[petal2019]

Does anyone fancy a tidying buddy? Or in fact a virtual decluttering buddy? I need to do some major decluttering and tidying... I wonder if anyone would like to join me in this and we could cheer each other on!!!?

Still following thread. But now no idea where to hon with the decluttering. My living room is filled with baby toys (big toys!) etc xx

Yeah *hon is meant to be go

Can I join in? I started decluttering my daughters room today and came out with around 4 x 20 Liter bags of rubbish and a huge pile of games and jigsaws to eBay. She is 8! Her room has so much stuff in it. I think my goal for the summer holidays (ours started today, not Uk) is to get all three children‘s rooms decluttered, and the sellable items sold.

gin that's amazing, how do you feel now 1 rooms done? Were you kids quite happy to help?

Yesterday started off well, tidied, got a few forms filled in but it all stopped about 1130 because I had visitors all afternoon, then by the time I got the kids, took them to the clubs, sorted tea etc I was exhausted (2.30am get up is never a good idea )

Today's plan is my general day to day stuff, wash & change the kids bedding, and get a few more things checked off my list that bothering me most. Fingers crossed it a more productive day!

What's everyone's plans for the day ?

2:30am wake up time how do you manage that I get up at 6 unless I've had a bad night with pain but then it's major rush around for dc3 to be picked up by transport at 7:30 would like to get up half hr before dc so I can get myself sorted but at the moment sleep issues in the house don't allow it.
Today it's a general tidy finish laundry and wash paintwork in hallway and kitchen. If time and energy and pain allow I want to deep clean bathroom but that might be a tomorrow job.

mag 2.30am wasn't on purpose I couldn't sleep because I was anxious about the state of the house so I decided to take control instead of worrying about it all the time. I wrote down what is bothering me the most and I'm going to chip away at them each day alongside my normal day to day routine.
So far this morning ,

• 5 mins on the kids rooms , all 3 beds are stripped and in the washer
• 5 mins tidying living room
• 5 mins digging into the kitchen side dumping ground (haven't even scratched the surface of it but it's a start)

I've now been summoned by my 3 year old to cuddle and watch my little pony attempting to have another couple of 5 minutes blasts when she lets me , she did well to let me potter about for a full 15 mins.

Looks like people are doing a good job, by doing little bits at a time here and there. Doesn’t seem so overwhelming then.

I’ve done a lot of decluttering in the living room 👏 (but a lot of stuff has been hidden in the baby’s room!). I have this huge storage footstool, which is so handy. But too big. So, going to try room without that. Will mean lots of sorting out what is inside!

Has anyone else managed much today?

Not good tidy, anxiety can make you do all sort I make lists when mine gets really bad. I end up with a list of all my lists. My oldest knows when he sees list everywhere that I'm not in a good place and has been k ow to start handing out lists of jobs to younger ones who can do them to help out.

I've managed general tidying but that's it pain in my back has gotten to bad that it's hard to move around so not going to even try and hope that tomorrow I can do the jobs I wanted to do today.

Tonight I've completely cleared my washing and ironing pile, replaced three picture frames, and screwed my new Billy bookcase to the wall in the cupboard.

A little bit at a time definitely stops it becoming overwhelming, and I like the accountability to myself of writing on this thread.

Hello fellow tidier/declutterers. Im just back from being away and so am going to tackle the usual unpacking challenge. See what I can get done in an hour!

petal how did the unpacking go? It’s always a bit of a travesty in this house that a suitcase can remain PRACTICALLY INVISIBLE AND HALF UNPACKED for a fortnight.

This morning I cleared everything off the "chair of doom" in the bedroom and put it in the washing machine. It's dried perfectly so it's all either in the ironing pile (which I may feel obliged to tackle tonight since I'm on a mission here) or folded up and put away.

The struggle I had getting the drawers shut with all these extra clothes makes me think that should probably be the next area to be tackled (but I might have to work up to that).

I, too, am guilty of abandoning an overnight suitcase by the side of the bed and being completely oblivious to it for weeks on end. It is very gratifying to know that it has been emptied before you go to bed the night you get home.

petal good luck with the unpacking! One of my pet hates!

mag a fellow list maker ! I've kept mine really short with bite size tasks this time so it's more manageable .

9green well done on your chair of doom achievement!

My kitchen 'dumping ground ' side is clear , so I'm going to concentrate on the shoe box next it won't get done tomorrow because I'm in and out all day until around 830ish tomorrow night but will hopefully be sorted before the weekend !

I'm keeping all my lists in a small notebook I can carry around in my bag at the moment as I kept losing the bloody things and it was stressing me out. Got frustrated as pain making it hard to do much so enlisted the help of 1 of dc and we've made a list of all the kniiting stuff I have and organised it into sections of what is needed for each pattern I planned on making. My cross stitch is next and setting challenge of trying to do a bit of 1 each night while teaching dd1 how to either knit or cross stitch. She has adhd so hoping it will help her learn to focus while we use it all up with the agreement not to buy more until what's here is all gone. The older dc have agreed this weekend to all pick 1 job off my big list to earn extra pocket money so hopefully that should be 4 jobs off my list.

Day off today so trying to get on before flat gets too hot.

This small flat thing is hard. I don’t know how much more I can do really. It’s more about trying to be tidy every day but tbh I find that hard.

I also need to get home printer with the smallest possible footprint, any ideas?

No recommendations for the printer from me Rosa but google portable printers and you might find something?

Today I've sanded down a doorway and painted it. Sitting down for the evening now.

I'm not sure on the footprint but hp printers are good. You can buy 2 sizes of cartridges and the bigger ones last ages. Hp do a thing where you can subscribe to a monthly payment it starts at 1.99 and you pay for the ink you use and if you don't use it all it apparently rolls over to the next month. I'm not entirely sure how it works as i take my cartridges to be filled as there is somewhere local to me that do it. So the cartridges get reused.
Managed to get woodwork in kitchen cleaned last night with help if 2 dc one was a but over enthusiastic on the door and we've discovered the door isn't wook but plastic and a bright white underneath so need to find out how to get paint off with out scratching the plastic.

Nice weather for painting 9 !

Rosa how did you get on yesterday?

mag good idea to delegate, what kind of things do you like to make craft wise? I always start projects but never finish them, I keep saying one day I'll have more time but it never happens.

Nothing too much got done yesterday, so I'll be on catch up this morning and we're out this evening so getting everyone's outfits ready. It's going to be a beautiful day again so I'll keep taking my toddler outside to play and get bits done when she wants to come into cool off. 5 minute blasts at the chores seem to be working really well this week so I'll keep that up, it's manageable for my toddler aswell

Normally baby sized things I'm good enough to make adult sized clothing yet. I'm currently making some cardigans and blankets for a few friends who are pregnant. The testing swatches I save and I'm going to make a throw with them when I have enough.
I managed the downstairs windows this morning but can't do anymore pulled my back yet again.

Last night I went through the toy cupboard and set aside a load of things to donate to the school for the toy stall at the summer fair. There’s still a lot in the cupboard but at least we can see inside it now.

Doing a little often and consistently is effective in lots of things that we do - so keep it up Tidy!

And it's great when you can see the space at the back of the cupboard (the light at the end of the tunnel) Cru

I've just managed to tame my ironing pile from the chair of doom and I'm going to tip out the worst drawer in the bedroom before dinner.

And I'm going to keep recording and celebrating every tiny step. I found a notebook I had when I was decluttering and decorating to sell my last house so there may have been a list of what I had to do but there was definitely an acknowledgment to myself about how much I did every day.

Hello! Ok... 30 min kitchen clean!

Magnet thank you.

I got quite a lot done.

I watched a 5 min clip of Marie Kondo on office desk type space - that was 5 mins of my life I won't get back!

We've managed to strip half of living room and have a dishwasher being plumbed up later. Hoping to get living room done and kitchen which just needs painting done this month and that gets rid of some of the decorating stuff that will be gonna and clear up more space.