2024 will be my year to Get The House in Order

[BloodyAdultDC]

I'm sick of living like this. Too much stuff. Untidy kids, messy cat. Lazy and CBA when I finish work. I need a virtual support crew to give me the kick/support to get off my arse and Get Shit Done.

I've tried Kondo but get overwhelmed too easily. I don't have any sort of routine for anything. Even grocery shopping. I have diy jobs to do but don't have the time. I've stopped seeing the mess.

I like lists. I need a simple tick-list app that covers everything including clearing out the car, shed, keeping on top of the garden in summer and boxes of stuff from my mum's in the loft.

I could use a personal assistant just to come up with a master plan, and to whip me into shape.

Anyone want to join me? Or any tips for such an elusive app?

Orjenise is on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/orjenise?igsh=MXhudTdvcmNxaXl2aQ==

I’m in.
Ive done various methods over the years and taken bits from each of them because quite frankly I struggle with the idea of following someone else’s routine. 😳

At the moment I’m doing a room/rooms a day for basic cleaning and following fly lady to try to get on top of the more neglected stuff. There’s a very friendly thread on here.

Had a big clear out of toys and games yesterday. Straight into the boot to drop at the charity shop on Monday. However I’m now feeling guilty for not trying to sell any of it. There’s some good stuff in there, wooden toys etc. We aren’t struggling for money but do need to be careful. The money would be helpful but isn’t essential. I feel like I just need the stuff gone rather than hanging around waiting to be sold. Can anyone help me stop feeling guilty about this??

Also to add, I think my quest is complicated by the fact I have no interest in becoming minimalist. I don’t want to go down to 6 mugs or whatever. I like stuff. I love that I can have 30 people round for Christmas Dinner and have enough plates. I love my fondue pot. I love having the right glass for my drinks. I love that my overnight guests don’t need to bring bedding or towels… I just don’t love having to move stuff out of the way to get to what I need. So I’m more about making sure that everything we have is stuff that we use and weeding out the excess. But I’m quite bad for the “what if’s” so it’s harder than it sounds!

Have tackled both bathroom cabinets and the medicine box this morning. Not a huge amount to get rid of; one tube of eye ointment, two old suncreams, one each half empty shampoo/conditioner that no one likes. They survived the last round because it felt wasteful but this time I thought fuck it and poured them down the sink. Also condensed two open boxes of tampons into one and got rid of some other packaging. Cupboards much tidier.
Also found around the house some parts from a broken pen, a broken necklace and a clay —lump— hedgehog that one of the kids made at school. All into the bin! And I finished off a lip balm so that’s gone too.

Tomorrow is bedroom cleaning day for me, hoping ds’ room will be much easier to clean now there’s less stuff in it.

Hope it isn't too late to join. Will RTWT later on today.

I've made a lot of progress over the past couple of years, and am embracing minimalism in theory, but still have a few rooms that need sorting and have ground to a standstill in terms of decluttering.

I no longer buy any new things unless I genuinely need them, my finances are in good order, but I need help as I'm generally just shit at housework and just at shit at
being organised.

I’m not going to get much done this week as I have lots of deadlines at work and DH is away. School called at 11am for me to pick up sick DD2 (she was fine!) and nursery is closed on Friday for DS1. Ugh!

I’m doing the decluttering plan I posted before from the Oprah website where you have 1 area per day to tackle, for at least 15 min. I did paperwork yesterday which was actually fairly in control.

@TheMainCharacter I feel the same about not selling things. But it’s so time consuming I find, that it means you just end up with a “to sell” pile which doesn’t go anywhere until the kids find it and redistribute it back around the house. You could just sell on big ticket items? Or try bundling things together? Or just give it away as you have done - I think we probably overestimate how much we can get for things.

Re your non-minimalism stance - it sounds like you enjoy entertaining and hosting and food and drink. So keep all the stuff that makes you happy doing that. I guess there are other things you don’t feel so attached to which you could pare down more easily?

Hi, can I join in? I have realised my house is causing me such a mental stress load. I WFH and the combination of being always at home and simultaneously stressed by it is not good!

It's not that it's especially awful, just that with two teenagers who CBA to lift a finger and a dog there is a lot to keep on top of. We have a lot of clutter. Agree with a PP who said sorting it for sale doesn't end up working.

Before Xmas I arranged to have 4 furniture items collected by a charity. After rearranging the appointment, they then didn't show up at all so stuff was parked downstairs for ages. It's now gone back up!

My DH is stellar and is constantly grafting alongside me but we're not making much impact.

I'll read the whole thread later but could do with a bit of company to raise energy levels!

@chloechloe thank you. It’s all gone to the charity shop 👏. I had a to sell pile in my airing cupboard but some of the stuff had been in there for 2 years and not been sold so that’s gone too. Gave dd1 a couple of bits of the branded clothing to try to sell on vinted to raise herself some money for clothes.

There are things I’m less attached to yes…problem is it’s mostly other people’s stuff 🤣

That’s a great idea to recruit your daughter to sell stuff @TheMainCharacter . My kids are too young to get on board with that unfortunately. DS (5) is also a hoarder who can’t part with anything - if he sees me throwing empty toilet rolls in the recycling he has to save them! There are plenty of kids toys which I could get rid of but he won’t let me and has an uncanny habit of asking where the things are that I’ve just got rid of.

@TheMainCharacter keep the stuff you need for 30 people at Christmas but you don't necessarily need to keep it in the same place, maybe put enough for 15 people on the very top shelf so it is not too much to manage on a daily basis.
my kitchen cupboards are right up to the ceiling. I keep enough for 10 where \i can reach from the floor the spares are on top shelf I use them only occasionally so don't mind getting the step ladder but it means the main crockery shelf isn't too cluttered

I’ve been poorly since new year currently off work with flu and now a chest infection so not made much progress here with what I wanted to do
Dh is away with work for 6 weeks from next week so I’m going to make a list of what needs doing and go through each room decluttering and giving everywhere a good clean whilst he is away hopefully by the time he’s home I’ll be in more of a routine and on top of things

He sounds like my dc3! Wants to keep every scrap of paper, a broken box that’s a “home for my pets”, still remembers and complains about toys I got rid of when she was 2!

Thanks. My plates etc are in a sideboard so it’s not too bad but I think I’ll separate out some towels for guests and keep them in a box or something rather than on the main shelves as they do tend to topple and look messy.

Three boxes going out the door today courtesy of Anglo Doorstep Collections 🙌🏻 My kingdom (and budget) for both a skip to just merrily dump everything, and the lack of landfill guilt. I’ve got stuff someone can and will use! I just hate the faff in doling it out piecemeal. Genuinely considering waiting for a sunny week and doing a free-for-all in the front garden and facing the shame from the neighbours…

DS starts nursery in nine days (if he can shake this cold), and I’ve got everything ready to GO GO GO with my freedom. In my head this means an immediate empty house; in reality it means I’ll finally have time to photograph and list things properly on eBay and vinterior then they will sit there for weeks.

I have also started stripping the hateful woodchip wallpaper from the entire house, inch by inch, after the kids have gone to bed – eventually I want a whole wall of shaker pegs in the back hallway for calendars and paperwork, opposite the coat cupboard I’m building that’s currently piles of tools and MDF on the floor. It’s all looking worse before it looks better… but hey, three boxes of god-knows-what out the door.

I feel deep shame about how much STUFF we have; even if much of it has been inflicted on me by way of presents for children, or it was well-used when we needed to use it. The way you somehow have to have a bouncer for a baby and it’s a godsend, right up until the second it becomes “get this fucking thing out of my house aaargh”.

Genuinely considering waiting for a sunny week and doing a free-for-all in the front garden and facing the shame from the neighbours…

If you contact some charities dealing with homelessness and poverty in advance of the date so they can advertise to their clients, I'll bet your stuff disappears quite fast on the day.

Just realised it’s almost a month since I last posted.

really pleased with myself, although there’s still an awful lot to do. The home office is pretty much been stripped of any paperwork over seven years old for both the business and our own paperwork. I am going to arrange the shredding company to come mid February and that’s going to see the back of an almost thigh high pile.

i took a deep breath yesterday and dejunked my shoes, boots and sandals from under my bed and found some I’d forgotten I had which was nice. Teamed those with a skirt and jumper I haven’t worn for ages today and felt pretty in my outfit.

I’ve decided to concentrate on one room at a time now, I did the utility room last week and the foods/ingredients cupboards before that.

Sold a couple of really random things on FB, and yet other things I thought would be snapped up are still here.

this post has been helpful in reminding me how much I’ve done and I feel good about it. DH I think is a bit OOOOerrrrr, but even he said yesterday it was nice to be less cluttered.