What does a person do when they feel that they absolutely cannot get out from the clutter and disorganization of the stuff they live with? I’m not talking Hoarders state of living, but I’m seriously scared that starting to feel the way I feel, if we don’t get a handle on things that we’ll be heading that way!:eek:
I can’t tell you how many times I feel like I start to get organized, get rid of things we don’t need, or find a home for things, but I don’t feel like I can make a dent.
It’s like I just can’t mentally tackle it. The decisions are too much. And physically I just can’t do it either. Not to mention time. I’m working full-time and have two preschoolers, so other than 30 minutes here and there, I don’t have a lot of time that isn’t accounted for or that the kids don’t need me.
If it were a few areas, it might be that I would be able to begin, but it’s an issue everywhere: Kid’s rooms, basement, garage, playroom, etc.
My mom said people need to move every 5 years just to force them to get rid of stuff and truly clean. She’s lived in the same house now almost 40 years! We’ve been here almost 10, and at least the last 6 with kids, which really led to ridiculous accumulation.
I guess if it were easy to “just get rid of stuff” that would be one thing, but there’s deciding what I need and what I can purge, plus what to do with it, how to find the time, etc.:smack:
Grab a garbage bag right now. Throw away 25 things. Don’t worry about the whole “donate, giveaway, sell” thing - that just creates piles to get rid of. THROW AWAY 25 THINGS. Do it quickly (five minutes) without thinking about it.
The most valuable thing in your home is space. People pay lots of money for space. They move in order to get more space. If you have clutter, it is taking up your very important, valuable space. The more spacious-looking your home, the more you can sell it for.
I sometimes have a hard time getting rid of stuff. Maybe I see what I paid for it, or I think I might need it in the future. That kind of thinking is backwards! The thing you paid the most for is the very space you are living in. Everything you own is replaceable. Everything! So, don’t keep anything that is not deserving of your very valuable, very precious, space.
I threw away a dozen paperback books today. They were just taking up too much space in my home.
So look around and throw away! Everything you throw out of your home is a victory in the battle to keep empty space. Get mad at the “stuff”. How dare it try to take over your space!
Anyway, that’s the self talk I give myself to force me to pitch things, lol.
It also helps (me) to watch house hunter type shows and see how peaceful and serene uncluttered rooms are. I want that feeling in my home and if it means I have to be ruthless about throwing stuff away, so be it.
If it is becoming that much of an issue for you, and you feel you just can’t get started by yourself, splurge a bit of money on a professional organizer. It will repay itself in reduced stress, refound stuff you need and would otherwise have bought again, and money saved by having your financial administration in working order. You’ll find one through Craigslist or on the Yellow pages, here’s an example.
Start here. Flylady helped me understand that it’s not about getting it all done in a day - it’s about getting a little done every day, consistently. The advice seems to be targeted specifically at women with young children, so it might be even more helpful than it was for me (a married, childless grad student.)
FYI, threads like these are my favorite thing about the Dope. So much wonderful and practical advice. Posting this thread was probably one of the best things you could have done!
I am with you, Roseanne Roseannadanna, am in the same situation as you describe. I am actually looking into buying another house right now - not only so I can move some of my stuff there, but mainly just to get some motivation going to try to get more organized. Like you, I am not worthy of the “hoarders - buried alive” show. But the situation really sucks.
Just wanted to offer some moral support, good luck getting a handle on things.
We have a general rule at our house that if you haven’t used it in six months, it needs to go. There are some exceptions, like x-mas decorations and art supplies, but just about everything else follows it.
It’s not as bad as you would think. I don’t think I have ever regretted getting rid of something this way.
I have felt exactly the way you feel. Yes, it is overwhelming and it seems like you can’t even make a dent but you can if you just do a little bit every day.
I used to avoid filing. I hate filing. I had a basket and I’d let the paperwork pile up until it was 2 feet high. I did eventually get through that 2 feet of paper stuff and here’s how I did it.
I set myself a time limit of 30 minutes. Then I filed diligently for that 30 minutes and I stopped when the timer went off. The rest of it sat until the next time and I’d file for 30 minutes again. Eventually it was all organized, filed or thrown away.
A few minutes each day, one room at a time and don’t beat yourself up about not getting everything done.
I’ve been working this year on making small changes to many things. Since January I have recovered my laundry room from the unpacked boxes that had been there since we moved in and completely cleared the closet in the spare bedroom.
It’s not much for 3 months but it’s more than I did in the year of staring at it and throwing up my hands in despair, and I have never spent more than 15 mins at a time on it. I did the laundry room mostly by going in when the washer timer went off knowing I had about 10 mins til the dryer timer would expire.
I started on the “hidden” areas because I was fairly certain that they would not be immediately destroyed again and that was important to me. If you’re more social, starting on the more public areas might motivate you more.
Start with one little area. Clean up just a table or cupboard or wherever it looks easy to start. Tackle it in little easy to do chunks, and gradually work up to bigger more involved things. My house is OK in most respects, but there are some disaster areas. The table in my recording studio is an ever growing pile of cables and power adapters and papers of all kinds and CDs and jewel boxes and… I am giving it the stink eye. It’s next on the list. Good luck.
Wow, you certainly sound overwhelmed. Yes, start small. Pretend that this particular area where you have started is the only area that needs addressing. Organize it, purge…make decisions about what you will keep and discard even if difficult. Then move on to the next area. Don’t feel pressured to have a deadline. One at a time is ok…whatever you have the time and energy for. You can do it, and in the end it will feel so good.
A long time ago I realized two things - I am not a filer…most information I need to go back to is accessible online.
I keep a yearly bin (I keep my tax stuff separate). It goes into the bin. At the end of the year a lid goes on the bin. After five years in my basement, the contents of the bin get shredded.
Understand which activities are required for value. When its a low value return, find a low time way to deal with it.
Toys - similar. Toys would go into laundry baskets. As baskets overflow (as they do), another basket was added. When you pick up toys, you figure out which toys are coming out of the baskets. Once in a while, move the toys that never come out of a basket all into one basket, and the other basket is toys that get used. Move other basket to unused part of home and pass it along.
(Where do toys come from with kids? We almost never bought any, and yet we had so many toys!).
I’ll go ahead and echo what others have said about Flylady; she does tend to be preachy and cheerleader-y at times, but if you can weed through the chaff and get to the grain, it’s great stuff. Small, consistent changes. Making major anti-clutter moves is something like going on a crash diet; the results are fast, impressive, and feel good, but they probably won’t last. If you work up routines (Flylady’s big on routines), after a while, you will find yourself doing certain chores without even noticing you’re doing them!
Hmm - so I just checked out Flylady and did step 1 - I shined my kitchen sink. I had actually shined my bathroom sink already today just by chance.
So, feeling pretty good I started clicking through the following days:
Day 2: do up shoes, comb hair, etc - well I had already done that so, great. I’ll keep going.
Day 3: Feel positive about yourself. Ok -can do.
Day 4: Put up post it notes to remind yourself to do stuff?
Day 5: Go to a tent? I’m super confused.
Sooo - I assume there’s more to the website than that, but depending on where you’re at OP, it may be a bit…basic.
However, as to a tip I use to try to keep the joint under control - do at least one load of laundry a day - then you never wind up with 87 loads to do.
Second, pick one corner of one room and throw out a bunch of crap. The less stuff you have, the easier it will be to keep organized.
Step 5 probably has something to do with the fact that the site is hosted by Big Tent now, so you probably have to sign up for that in order to get the daily emails, etc.
As for laundry, yes! If you make throwing a load in the washer part of your morning routine (eventually; you’ll get there!), putting it into the drier part of your afternoon routine, and getting it out of the drier and folding it part of your evening routine, you will never end up with what she likes to call “Mount Washmore”! Also, if you have plenty of clean laundry, it’s extra-easy to lay out clothes for tomorrow, which has been a life-saver for me!
Ahh - that makes more sense. I went back and clicked through a bunch more days and eventually you get to a 5 minute declutter and a 15 minute power tidy/clean.