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Keeping home neat & things clutter free behind the scenes! Aaarrrgh!
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Oh I so relate. I am so cluttered up right now I could scream. I spent the entire summer cleaning out one small closet. I went to my clothing closet and just folded things into small piles. My plan is to do one small pile at a time. I don't know about you but I get no help in cleaning out the clutter. The bf is a clutter freak, I swear he makes clutter just to keep me busy or crazy, not quite sure which. My son is coming for a visit in 2 weeks, I feel like just dropping a bomb!
Throw it all away Jo!! LOL That's what I tell my Grandma who seems to have this same problem. If you can toss it...toss it :)
The problem is that I CANT. I am such a collector!!
Clutter seems to be the theme at our house too. The worse is on the DR table, its entry room for the house, and the kitchen counters. We've got little counter space but we still leave all kinds of crap there. Right now I think it is a matter of getting organized. I keep telling myself that though I have not followed through with the organizational plan I have in my head. how much do those organizer people cost?Meg, I understand having a hard time throwing stuff away. I had to sort through my grandparents stuff, talk about guilt over disposal!! I found it helped to donate things instead of just chucking it all. There are a number of non-profits out there that will pick up your stuff (all sorts of stuff!) at your door and then resell it thus earning money for the organization. I used a local group but here are some national groups......
Vietnam Veterans of America
Lupus Foundation
flylady.net. check it out, and take a peek at the forums. it looks a little cheesy, but trust me, her system works. it's all about tiny daily tasks that turn into habits. before long, you get it all done every time without even thinking or worrying about it. (there are over 40,000 people who use the system, and over 6,000 on the forums.)
FLYLADY!!! Her routines are a lifesaver! I totally understand where you are coming from. It was so easy to keep things clean when I was single. But my husband is kind of a slob, so most of the time I feel like I am cleaning up after him and our three dogs to keep our house looking (and smelling) decent!
He's gotten better, especially after I explained that I would rather stay late at work than come home because I can't think in a totally messy house, and I can't spend all my time cleaning up after him.
Ug, ug, ug! I hear ya sister!
Thanks everyone! I can't just throw it all away either! And it's not that I'm a collector. I'll take a look at flylady and see what that's like! (Thanks for mentioning it Brittany!) I don't mean to be messy and disorganized but that's how it always turns out! (Hubby's a Marine but been inactive long enough where his excessive tidy-ness has subsided and I've actually been a bad influence on him!!!)
Yes I agree....I have so many Tupperware like containers around that you know The Container Store is my friend for sure :) What's your major concern with organization right now Jo? Can we help you with ideas for that so we are focusing on a specific room or thing that's out of control?
I am feeling guilty. I am going to start with my office at work, I am not as attached to things there. I ordered a bunch of organizers too, so that should help. Wish me luck!
Good luck Meg!! I love to organize...I'm one of those insane OCD anal people you see when it comes to organization. Even my clothes are in my closet facing the same way with the same exact hangers for each one in season order and in color and style order for the season. Its pretty scary LOL Thank god my boyfriend is the same way or we'd have issues.
holli- i have the same clothes OCD. i think it comes from the time i worked retail. i also love to organize, but have come to realize organizing and decluttering are 2 separate things. as the flylady website states, "you can't organize clutter."
This is where it gets tricky. I am extremely organized. In fact, I get paid for my organizational skills. Go figure! It is the home life and the inability of leaving the collector roles.
LOL Brittany....yes you can't organize clutter!! I agree :) I routinely send things to Goodwill and I don't even keep magazines once I've read them. Off to recycling they go or to a neighbor or dr's office. I go thru my clothes and send them off packing every change of season and we don't keep anything we haven't used in a year.Meg how do you get paid for being organized? I'm intrigued......
I've read this thread at just the right time. I am going through some life changes and now is the time to get rid of things and try to get organized. I spent a few hours in the garage last night going through boxes that had not been opened in the past 2 years. It was easy to get rid of that stuff.My problem is also the DR table and counters. Where to put all that stuff that I just don't have the heart to part with?!
What kind of stuff is it Cyndi? I don't have anything but a wire basket on my dining room table and on my kitchen counters are just decorative stuff and like the coffee pot. I'm curious.....and beginning to wonder if I'm a freak because I'm obviously insanely anal. LOL
Maybe if you HAVE to have some stuff out (like an "in-box" for mail or messages), find a pretty basket and put it in there. It will seem like less of a mess if it's in something rather than just being a pile sitting there.FlyLady calls them "hotspots" - places where clutter just seems to settle. I think the trick is sorting through things and putting them away first rather than just putting it down somewhere, but until have you the habit you just need to consistently go through it. If you do that, it only takes a few minutes at a time, and it doesn't seem so overwhelming.
I routinely go through and throw things away and set books aside for the senior apt building around the corner. (Another HUGE batch of books will be going over there in September - I'm giving them time to get through the HUGE batch of books I gave them in May!) I don't do it once a week and I think that could be why I end up like this! (I tend to do it every other week or if I've been sick a lot, it could be once in a month!)It's not so much overall as it is in the kitchen and our bedroom ~ basically the 2 'catch-all' places in our home! Our dining room table frequently gets full of crap! (Right now, it's clean!)
The kitchen is pretty good to go! I went through it yesterday, including the pantry and got things pretty much straitened out! That took a load off me!
We're going to get rid of some excess odds & ends furniture in the spare room on Saturday so the tead mill & stationary bike will go in there instead of in our room and the living room, so that will free up lots of space! (I'm going to put the extra tv in the spare room too so using the exercise equiptment isn't so boring for me!) I've got a lot of idea's for the spare room too in the way of turning it into a partial home office (which would help straiten up our bedroom since that's where the pc and files are now) and guest room.
Hubby and I both need new hampers for our dirty laundry since both of ours broke, so we're getting those tomorrow night! (Alsoa big help straitening up our room!)
Hubby's going to put up (hopefully in September) long shelves in the living room and our room about 18 inches down from the ceiling for books because we have A LOT and need more places to put them! Another huge help!
Friday I'm going to tackle the basement which I got all messy when I was getting ready for the yard sale in May looking for stuff to put out! I need to straiten it up so we can put the new (used) washer where it needs to go!
Part of my problem with keeping things neat is that I've never been able to budget my time no matter how hard or what I try!
I'm feeling better about things yesterday and today - partially thanks to all of you & your support! (Thank you!)
jo did you check out the flylady site?emily are you on the flylady forums at all?
I haven't had a chance yet, been so busy around here!
i just read this thread and am cracking up...Holli...I am severly OCD!! i'm the same way - my closet is color coordinated by season. i go through everything i own every six months - and if i haven't worn it or used it - it goes to goodwill or the trash (if it's not useable). i allow myself ONE junk drawer and after awhile that will drive me to insanity and i'll clean it. my fiance is a pretty neat guy...but thinks i'm a freak about it. i notice if ANYTHING has been moved out of place and i obsess over stuff being organized just right. i've learned to pick my battles on the stupid stuff that used to drive me nuts. i figure someday i'll want kids and i can't be over-obsessive or i'll go insane cleaning all day long. and there's just not enough time in a day! lol. i have never heard of flylady...but i want to check that out! i try to keep up on stuff every week so things don't get really out of hand. i hope it pays off because i'll be moving in a month and hopefully won't have too much 'junk' to get rid of or unnecessary things to move.
Brandie...we are EXACTLY alike....that's funny! I have ONE junk drawer too but that drove me crazy so I bought an organzier for it and now its just a drawer with stuff in it LOLIs your basement and garage organized too? We have everything in the basement boxed up and labeled and put away in one corner and everyone that sees our garage wants to know our secret because the only things in it are the 2 cars, the other frig, the lawn mower, the garbage can, and the yard stuff hanging on hooks. Even our shoes have a basket they go in by the door into the house!!!
We also have a cat and even she is OCD ;)
lol..YES. i have all of my stuff in bins that are labeled. my fiance is a very organized person too, and he keeps it super neat. that's too funny!we have two cats and two dogs...so i'm constantly vacuuming because i won't put up with any hair! lol. too funny!!
Roxy, like you I'm a clutter-bug...we need Holli to come spend some time at our houses getting them organized and purging all the stuff we have no idea why we keep! LOL.
I would be thrilled to do that ladies.....if I could get paid to organize I would be one happy girlie!!
I love this post! Let me just say that when I go to Office Depot I get sweaty palms at all the possibilities! I love organizing...although you might not be able to tell from my house.
Sounds like me in the Container Store Jodi!! ;)
Thank you , thank you, thank you. I thought I was the only one who color coordinated their closet. Every other person I've ever mentioned it to have looked at me like I was coo-koo!Every hanger goes the same way and all the colors are together.
Bless all of you fellow crazies like me I LOVeYOU
That's sane to me Maureen!! You have nothing to worry about lol
For those of you struggling to become organized, go out and buy a label maker. You will love it.
Ok, ya'll are making me puke! ;)
i have a label maker, but it certainly has not changed my life. lol.
i color coordinate my closet by season bu I have not used a label maker yet! LOL, what do you label?
I am afraid if I buy a label maker it will become another thing to collect..........
i just used a label maker to label the boxes in the basement so i know what is what. it needs to be done again before we move because my labels are old.
Mod
Ok,you want to really puke...My refrigerator at the house where I moved out of 3 years ago was labeled.
The door: Ketchup, mustard..etc.
The cabinets were all labeled, pasta, taco mix, flour..etc.
It actually contributed to my moving out.
The labels were printed in the wrong font, but that is a whole other story.
oh yes, the font will make or break a word! And that is a fact---I work with fonts for my living and it can change the entire meaning of a word or saying.
I promise it is a big deal! =)
Any suggestions?