Just coming to this forum makes me anxious - Page 2

[Ellien C]

Ok. I took part in the 150 by Christmas challenge and I'm in the 2011 in 2011 challenge. I guess you could say I'm pacing myself there as I'm not off like gangbusters  but steady stuff is leaving. 

Anyway I went around my house on Jan 1 and took pictures of what it actually looked like. I didn't straighten or clean or anything so I guess you can consider there the "before." I will do it again next year and see if anything looks different after a year of purging. I always look at those before and afters on the web and in magazines and I NEVER think the befores look THAT bad. I'm telling you, WE have stuff. So here they are. I've taken the whole house, but I only put up the downstairs areas. 

Kitchen

http://gallery.me.com/ellienC#100128

Living Room

http://gallery.me.com/ellienc#100135

Family Room 

http://gallery.me.com/ellienc#100135

[mkksmom]

Thanks for posting your before pics without straightening. I did it a few weeks back (I had the organizer come and help me), and felt like the only one. I did take pics of the whole house too and when I am bummed, I look at those and can see improvement. It helps. I keep waiting for the baby to sleep better. If I can just muddle through until then, I know it gets easier... or it did with my 6 yo.

[Oceanone]

Wonderful that you took pics.  I agree with the pp.  I seem to be working perpetually on decluttering and streamlining my living spaces and sometimes feel like I have got nowhere.  If I had taken pics it would have been useful.  Cute baby in the kitchen!

[journeymom]

+ instead of getting on with it I'm actually reading about it ... again !

Yup. 

I am lazy and I can live with that, but it also doesn't prevent me from growing in this area.

This is a really great attitude.

[daisymama12]

There are long periods of time I avoid this forum, too. Usually when my house is a big old mess!

I am trying to go slow and steady in 2011, and take the things I like from flylady. Whenever I am connected to *any* system, I seem to do so much better. My house is actually tidy right not - or at least the main floor. 

We had neighbours over for dinner who wanted to see our basement, and I showed them, even though it was very messy. I am quite embarrassed by that (mortified), and really want to change. For real.

I'm hoping once I've got some routines solidly down myself, I can get my boys (7 and 9) started on some good habits and routines as well. I want them to be better equipped than I was, when I moved out.

[journeymom]

We had neighbours over for dinner who wanted to see our basement, and I showed them, even though it was very messy. I am quite embarrassed by that (mortified), and really want to change. For real.

If your neighbors are anything like me they might have been very pleased to see your messy basement.  It might have been very validating and reassuring.  I would have taken a lot of hope from discovering that someone I perceive as just a regular gal has a messy basement!  Lol! 

We're all in this together. Most of us do not have neat tidy homes from attic to basement. Most of us manage to periodically straighten up the main living area (sometimes regularly), tolerate longer term mess in the bedrooms and then have spaces (closets, spare rooms) that are completely ignored. 

[daisymama12]

Thanks journeymom! I don't think she was judgmental, she seems very very nice, I was just embarrassed - though she did mention a neighbour who is living in a permanent mess. Had I known they were going to go downstairs I would have straightened up! I did a lot of cleaning the next day and want to invite her back and say, see! see! it's not so bad now!

Silly - it's the judgmental voices in my head, not the neighbour.

I'm in-between contracts right now, and my boys are in school during the day, so I have time to build routines and chip away at the excess that we still carry. My living room is what I consider decluttered, and it's never messy - or not more than a 2 minute tidy. It's so great, I would love to have the whole house like that.

I do think that all change is predicated on establishing routines and perseverance. I started to focus on my home on the 1st of January, and I see and feel a difference. Primarily, that things are generally tidy on the main floor, and I am slowly chipping away at clutter. 

I am going to keep reading on this forum to keep me inspired and committed to changing this part of my life. I am so not a suzy homemaker, but I really believe that the mess we often live in causes a lot of stress, and I want to relieve that for all of us.

[Ellien C]

Originally Posted by mkksmom 

Thanks for posting your before pics without straightening. I did it a few weeks back (I had the organizer come and help me), and felt like the only one. I did take pics of the whole house too and when I am bummed, I look at those and can see improvement. It helps.

see - your stuff just didn't look that bad to me. MY stuff looks bad to me! Also, I've got a 10 month old baby and an almost 8 yo, so I think we're kinda in the same boat. For the last 2 Christmases I said I was going to put aside money from my parents for a professional organizer (I've interviewed 3 of them!) but so far it's been needed for other things. I may get one of the books recommended in another thread though -Organizing from the Inside out or It's all too much.

I figured out that the biggest thing DH and I fight about is the house and it would be nice for me to eliminate that source of stress.