What would you focus on?

[wherearetheturrets]

I have a (very) rare opportunity tomorrow and want to make best use of my time. Dp is out the house all day at work and my parents are taking my children out for the day so that I can have a day to do housework without constant interruptions by my small people!

My house is a huge mess. I have constant clutter on every available surface, too much stuff for our smallish sized house and am just bad at being a tidy person. I declutter all the time, and it never seems to make a difference to the amount of stuff everywhere (I already have 2 bin bags in my boot for the charity shop that have been in the boot for a couple of weeks).

I really wanted to be able to do a deep clean, but there’s just so much stuff that would need to be moved and tidied in order to clean that I don’t see how I could possibly have time. Pretty much any time I’ve attempted deep cleaning, one room will take me an entire day 😫

So with all that information, where would you start? What would you prioritise? Would really appreciate any help towards making a plan that will make the most of this opportunity. Thank you in advance :)

I think prioritise the space you live in most and affects every day life. So perhaps your living room/kitchen. I find even if there is clutter, having some organiser's such as small baskets helps with the look/ feeling of overwhelm.

Another tip, I too have been guilty of keeping bags for charity for months on end!! I discovered companies that will come and collect and still give donations to a charity. It really helps to have a date set and gets lots of bags ready. I used a company called icollect and it worked well.
Good luck!

Thanks for suggestions. I actually got some clutter baskets a month or so ago for that exact reason. One for my hallway, one for my living room and one for my kitchen. But there’s just too much clutter for them!!

I think I’d like to get my hallway looking decent because I hate that the second you walk through the door it’s just a mess. Dp and I did a good tidy and clean of our living room last week. So I feel like it’s clean, though already cluttered again, and the younger dc (2 and 4) spend a lot of time in there so it’s messy most of the time even if it’s been tidied/cleaned that very day!

Any final tips as my day begins?

How's it going?
Im too late to offer advice for today.
But maybe come join is on the flylady thread. You do a different zone per week, manage what you manage and then move on to the next zone. It works really well for people who aren't naturally organised/ neat and helps with decluttering.

How is it going? Too late for advice but I would say it sounds like you need to get rid of way more. Watch sort your life out for decluttering inspiration.

Thanks for posts :) @Positivepositroni did consider fly lady method a while back but didn’t get started so perhaps I’ll try again!

@Bunnybunnybunnybunny2026I know what you mean, and maybe I’m just a hoarder! But every time I try to declutter the clutter a lot of it feels important. I feel like I don’t have the mental energy to expand on that right now 😂 but it really just doesn’t feel as simple as get rid of more stuff. But I will give sort your life out a try, perhaps it will help 🤞

Did well I think, though didn’t get anywhere near as much done as I wanted. My hallway is very clean, my living room is tidy again and uncluttered, my downstairs toilet is very clean. And all of my washing is clean (until bedtime!). Once the kids are in bed I might try and get the kitchen done as that’s quite a mess and we’re having fil over for a roast tomorrow.

Well done sounds like you did loads.
It's difficult when children are very young.

That’s loads! I think decluttering is like peeling and onion or some thing else with layers if you’re not used to it. You just had to keep redoing the same rooms once you’ve done them. Each time you do it gets easier. I think especially with young kids there is always more stuff. often remove a bin bags of stuff from the kids rooms every few months.

I like the organised method (used to be the organised mum method) as you can easily ammend it to create a plan which works for you. The point of thr plan is it puts an upper time limit on cleaning so you know when you’re done for that day. She had a recent podacast (15 mins) it’s on spotify but I assume youtube too about why it is hard to declutter. I haven’t listen to it but it maybe helpful to you.

@Bunnybunnybunnybunny2026just listening to it now :) thanks!