New...and overwhelmed!

[AmBam]

I just found this board. I.need.it.

I'm overwhelmed with the state of my house. I don't feel like I'm ever caught up. I know that it's because: #1, we have too much stuff...and #2, nothing has a home. So I feel like I'm at least on the right track to get ahold of it, now I just have to do it. I'm a hsing mama to my three littlest kids and help my self employed dh with his business', so I'm busy...but thats no excuse. By the end of 2011 my whole entire house WILL BE ORGANIZED!!

So...anyone have any advise, words of wisdom, success stories, blogs or websites that you can't live without? I figured this would be a great place for such!

Thanks ladies!

[Ellien C]

I'm in the same boat.

1) Join the 2011 in 2011 thread and commit to removing 2011 things from your home. You can count whatever you want including trash, things that break or anything borrowed. Never to late to join.

2) Crayfish has some GREAT advice for the chronically housekeeping challenged. Look for some of her posts.

3) Pick ONE new habit and commit to changing it for 30 days. Mine was to keep my front doorway clear (hang up coats, put bags away, keep in-box managable.) Celebrate success and go from there!

[IsaFrench]

When I felt overwhelmed (move, too big of a house in a foreign country, another baby, another move ....) what helped me most was telling myself that the minimum I should do (especially post partum) was the water points in the house

1 - toilet

2 - kitchen sink

3 - wash basin and shower or bath

Getting back in the habit (and if it's done nearly every day or at least 5 times every week, then it's a really fast routine to get through, maybe like 5 minutes each, whenever it's possible during the day) really made me feel that I had a good starting point for adding up other routines.

I'm a messy person, I won't pick up nor put away easily ... = my children didn't learn that either and it's hard now improve but I'm trying ... I like reading here so as to get ideas ....

I used motivated moms calendar for a while, read a lot about flylady ... and now am trying to work out my own system .. still working on my weekly tasks list (and getting around to doing it) but am rather happy so far about daily tasks (even if I don't always get through to number 7 and 8 on the list), my system for laundry, dishes and the sink ....

still have a lot of work in perspective to get a good grip on clutter + on montly and quarterly tasks ....

making lists in a 3 ring binder really helped me (.. at least to think that I was getting organised about it, even if I regularly slip ....)

[crazyms]

I think I've finally gotten a better grip on our stuff but I still need to do more here. (It helped that I didn't have much choice when we went ft in the rv lol) I'm bad about clutter though especially when we were in the house. My biggest problem with decluttering and organizing was trying to feel like I'd actually accomplished everything. I'm a big list person too though so making a list to start with helped me. I kept stalling in decluttering when I would want to keep/think I could need an item. The best way for me was to make a list of what I needed/had to have for a room or "section" (like bedding). Then I would start with that one room or section taking everything out and only replacing what was on the list. Everything else had to go. I put it all in a box/bag/something, took out the list items, and then just closed up the box to toss/donate. I didn't get to go through what was left in the box because it wasn't on the list. May not work for you but that was my biggest helper.

[philomom]

What helps me is that everything has a home.

Also, if you keep surfaces like tabletops and counters clear... it's easier to dust and wipe them often.

Delegate help. Give the dh some chores and if the kids are old enough, give them some, too.

Establish a great weekly routine with some cleaning time built in. I clean up after the kids go to school and thirty minutes before bedtime. That and and having everyone pitch in helps enormously.

Have friends over often. This really keeps me motivated to make my house clean and shiny. I love to have parties and I love to feed people. Keeping a clean house means I can have folks over anytime without panic.