Those of you that are tidy and organised, tell me your secrets NOW, please

[IllegallyBrunette]

Wether it be some fab piece of storage equiptment or some extra special cleaning product, I want to know.

Oh, and the first person to post 'cleaner', will get thumped, ok

OK then, not a cleaner, obviously.

Soooo my tip is about being ruthless with the clobber......

Don't keep anything you don't need. So when dc outgrows some garment, pass it on. Same with toys. Same with plastic cups, highchairs, other equipment. Same with your own and dh's clothes and shoes. Keep looking at all your stuff and evaluate it. Do I use it, do I need it, do I love it. Or, more simply "What the hell is all this rubbish doing in here?"

This tip doesn't work with teenagers' rooms though.

I have read and re-read Anthea Turners "How to be a perfect housewife" book. It is brilliant. Do a complete de-clutter of the house room by room. Find everything a place and always return it to that place. If you have an upstairs and are constantly running up and down them to leave things in rooms put an attractive box at the bottom of the stairs and pop things into it that belong upstairs. At the end of the day bring it with you and return the items to the appropriate rooms. Get the book or borrow from library - has some really good tips.

Completely agree with both the above - a childhood living with my junk hoarding mother drove me to be ruthless with clutter! Unfortunately, my DD seems to have inherited my mothers hoarding instinct - she is horrified by the kids prog clutter nutters!

I'd also add that I now bribe my DC to tidy and hoover and dust their own rooms for their pocket money each week - saves me loads of stress and I hope helps them to learn some responsibility for their own stuff.

Message withdrawn

yy to nice storage boxes, then you can dump all of the crap in there and sort at your leisure

1. Have one box in the front room in which you chuck in all LOs things throughout the day. At the end of the day, they have to put everything away, if its still there when they go to bed, chuck it.

2. Have boxes for Christmas presents/birthday presents/ebay and bung everything in there and hide away (loft/cupboard) until you need them. Helps if you're married to a removal man who has an unlimited supply of them .

My top tip is to take everything that might look like clutter upstairs, and then keep bedroom doors firmly shut. Downstairs will then look like a triumph of organisation and calm.

Does she say how to stop toddlers from emptying the contents of the attractive box into an unattractive heap?

have a place for everything, preferably a closed/lidded/hidden from view place.

Make sure everyone in the house knows where everytinhg belongs so they can properly tidy up.

Agree with the others re clutter. Don't keep anything you don't need, or if you do put it in a box and shove said box in attic/garage/under bed etc.

Oh and the most obvious tip of them all: put things away after you use them. Tidy up as you go along, do things when you see they need doing, rather than leaving it all until the end of the day/week/month or whatever.

I am so cluttered at the moment that I don't know where to start I am such a naturally messy person too and I'm behind on cleaning and washing after spending the whole half term cleaning up sick from 3 ill kids and washing numerous bedsheets.

I was also ill so found it hard to do anything but the minimum. I need to clean the whole house and do the floors etc and i have no motivation as it seems such a big task.

I'm going to start tomorrow, I know that's procrastinating but I just don't have the energy today.

Throw away/recycle in an evangelical religious sort of way, so that you only hold on to things that you use. The less stuff you own, the easier it is to be tidy and organised.

Organise wardrobes/cupboards into a state of perfection so that there is a place that is easy to reach without disturbing anything else for everything.

Tidy constantly, and have a proper tidy up once a day at least (morning after breakfast for example).

What I do when the whole house is in a really bad state is to tackle it one room at a time starting with the tidiest room. This way you feel like you are making progress and there is a fighting chance that the rooms that you have done will stay in a decent state while you get round to the really bad dumping grounds rooms.

Being ruthless with the clutter is key (as everyone else has said). I remember a rather poncey phrase that I once heard which was "Have nothing in your house which you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful". Just wish I could stick to this

Good luck

So I should get rid of DH then, love2sleep?

room at a time.
keep up with daily stuff ie washing, clothes away, washing up, surfaces, hoover & bathroom...bung bleach down loo before you go out shopping or what ever etc
but one day a week do one room. not even a full day, maybe just a couple of hours tackle one room.
fly lady is brill for tips.

Don't buy 'attractive boxes' until you have cleared out all your crap.

Otherwise you will just keep buying more boxes for your crap and having to find spaces for them.

I'm with the ruthless brigade.

ALSO i make a list.takes 2 mins. dead simple things like,

wash up
wipe kitchen surfaces
put rubish out

hoover
damp dust
clean floors

clean bathroom

etc etc etc

i tick off each as i go along, keeps me focussed and looks good as i cross off.

If you have children keep a large basket for each child (in our house the baskets are kept in the kitchen) and toss any stuff left hanging about into the basket - so you don't have to waste time returning Lego men to the Lego box etc.
Pin all school letters immeditely they come home to a noticeboard - high up!
Always have a Charity shop bag on the go.
Do mending within 48 hours (sewing on buttons, patching etc). If you haven't done it after 3 weeks chances are you never will.

you may laugh at my lists BUT i have no memory since giving birth and also i get distracted and end up getting in a mess.
postit notes rule my life

I think part of the problem with people staying tidy is that we don't want to accept that tidying up is a constant state... its not like you blitz it once and its done, its an every day thing or even an twice/three times a day thing.

Once you can get your head round that and approach the cleaning with a zen like calm, it gets better. Plus all said above about getting rid of clutter and having a place for everything etc.

I'm reading the Simple book of Abundance at the moment, which has now descended into madness (advising all women to have a 'Fancy Pantry') but before that it was quite good and talked about the Greek goddess Hestia, goddess of the hearth and home and said it could really help if you approached tidying up more in the spirit of creating a calm and nurturing enviroment for you and your family, rather than a 'chore'

I think my problem is I don't have enough storage, or not the right kind, for the stuff we do have.

Every day is like trying to walk across quick sand. It is all about maintenance and no time to do extras.

In my defence I have felt pants for the last couple of days so have been a bit slack but I so want a tidy house.

I had one about 3 weeks ago. Everyone went to my IL's for the day and I just got on with it.

I am thinking my house will be tidy in January 2010 when my youngest is at full time school.

I have a basket which goes upstairs and downstairs with me. When I tidy up during the day, I just drop stuff into my basket then when I go upstairs I take it with me. Also the same the other way round. Saves a lot of running up and down stairs and looks reasonably tidy.

I think you can also guilt-trip the rest of your family into becoming tidier (tidying up after themselves) by making their rooms/storage/cupboards as organised and user-friendly as possible, and ensuring all the common areas are tidy.

that's interesting spero - maybe we're all ust looking at housework in the wrong way?

Perhaps I should get that book - or weill that just be more clutter?

I am abject with respect for those leaving advice here!
I'm just not consistent enough to properly declutter. And we have so many CLOTHES. Most don't fit us any more but DH I think has delusions of future weight loss bless 'im!

Also when I declutter, I get all these piles and then can't decide and then don't have time to finish.

My real problem is PAPERWORK!!!
I just have never found a system that works for me because I'm far too erratic.

I have a 'glory hole' on one kitchen counter covered in paper.... I hate it but I don't know where to put stuff when I organise it!

Also I keep newspapers..... for special supplements etc.
That imo is the cardinal crime against clutter!

Surely there's no hope for one such as me?????
(also I HATE cleaning!!)