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Depressed over messy, cluttered, ugly house!! Help? - Page 13

post #241 of 255
1/29/08 at 9:07pm
I can tell you one of the greatest feelings in the world is loading up a truckload of useless stuff and watching it go away... forever. And seeing the delightful, empty spaces where it used to be.

I am committed to a weekly clean sweep of excess clutter. It's addicting! My formerly messy, cluttered, ugly house is on it's way to becoming comfortable, beautiful, and functional.

I no longer feel like I need a bigger house. 1100 sq ft feels perfect now for the six of us. I could go even smaller...but now I'm finally content.

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post #242 of 255
1/29/08 at 9:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by marisa View Post
I can tell you one of the greatest feelings in the world is loading up a truckload of useless stuff and watching it go away... forever. And seeing the delightful, empty spaces where it used to be.
I know exactly what you mean. I love looking at the empty back of my car as I pull away from Vinnie's, having emptied it at their back door. And I love savoring the empty spaces in my home.

One thing I still have to work on is letting go of things with some sentimental value. I don't care but I don't want to hurt the feelings of the giver. I also need to work on DH. His man lair in the basement is full of useless crap -- old HTML books, stuffed monkeys, Pillsbury Dough Boy cookie jars, old ticket stubs, about three dozen baseball caps, a box of old computer cables ... just CRAP! I hate it. To me, it makes the space unusable because I don't want to ever go down there and therefore it subtracts from our available square footage. What a waste!
post #243 of 255
1/29/08 at 10:14pm
I don't have time to read the whole thread, but wanted to say that my biggest motivator to clean my house is when I invite someone over! Especially if it's someone I haven't had over before. If I invite someone over once a week, my house stays much cleaner!

Also, I'm finding that decorating our small house is making me like it much more. In the past year or so, we've painted all the rooms and now we're hanging up pictures and decorations to add the finishing touches. We bought a new couch (our stained and worn out old couch really bothered me), and that's also made a big difference. It's amazing what a little decorating can do!
post #244 of 255
1/29/08 at 11:51pm
Just wanted to say that we're finally getting rid of some big clutter and it feels good. We sold the huge entertainment center at last, so our living room will have much more space. We're slowly finding takers for the dressers and such that have taken up space in our attic since we bought this house four years ago. I'm looking forward to actually making the attic a livable space! I have a long way to go, but getting the big things out is making a difference.
Ugh, all of the mushroom stuff that dh inherited from his step father's mother. Yes, he likes mushrooms, but what good does it do us to have orange and brown mushroom themed containers, teapot and such on shelves that could be used for toy storage? They do not serve any purpose or enhance the beauty of our home. Another plus to making the attic livable is at least banishing the mushroom stuff to a dh area in the attic, if not getting rid of it...
post #245 of 255
1/30/08 at 12:12am
Wow -- this really dates me - but I remember when all the "Stylish Kitchens" had a mushroom theme -- like um in the 70's !!

________ THis Thread must hit home for a lot of Mom's - its had over 15,000 HITS ---- WOW
post #246 of 255
1/30/08 at 2:22am
well made it to page 1 of 13, lots of great info. I have a very messy, icky house right now. I had been doing great keeping it clean then I went back to school and f/t work, then got pg and m/c then pg again and it just got worse and worse adn worse. BEcause of it's state the kids have not learned to respect it so they throw garbage etc all over the floor etc. I am in the process of decluttering and getting back on keeping it clean before baby needs the space to learn to crawl.

The one room I am going to put focus on is the master bedroom. It is usually the one I never get to and becomes the catch all for everything. I want it to be my beautiful retreat from a hard day. One thing I am finding works for me right now while I begin is to start tossing things from the floor onto the bed. Makes me actually put them away so I can sleep at night, though I have to be careful, if I put too much up there I just push it back on the floor, so it is a balance. I have also been sorting laundry for keep or good will as it comes out of the dryer. I just took 2 green garbage bags out to the van tongiht for goodwill. It's not going quickly, but I have decided to think of it like losing weight. It didn't gather this clutter and my habits overnight, it's not going to be fixed overnight either. (especially as a singel homsechooling momma of 4, I only have so much energy and time in a day)
post #247 of 255
2/8/08 at 6:17pm
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post #248 of 255
2/8/08 at 6:42pm
The more junk we get rid of, the more junk we see that can go!
It's so freeing.

DP has gotten into it lately, too, which is awesome.
I've been paring down my stuff, but I don't feel right making decisions about his belongings.

We have an entire room that's been piled up with boxes and random stuff since we moved into this house. DS is getting to an age where he should have his own space (we cosleep, and his clothes are in our room) so our goal is to hoe out all that junk and set it up as a bedroom. A clean, organized bedroom you can simply walk through without having to step over/around things.
post #249 of 255
2/8/08 at 8:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ramlita View Post
The more junk we get rid of, the more junk we see that can go!
____________

This is so so true. Its funny - but after I started Decluttering and actually giving myself permission to let go of "my things" ... I "saw" stuff in my house that I needed to get rid of that I wouldn't have even considered getting rid of before... infact I don't think I was even seeing it! Now I Look for stuff to get rid of!

Someone posted in another thread their best advice is stop shuffling your stuff and piles around -- get rid of it!!
post #250 of 255
2/11/08 at 7:14pm
I'm nak. Just bumping so I can come back and post. Great thread.
post #251 of 255
2/12/08 at 2:52pm
Took five bags of outgrown kids' clothes to our local thrift store today!!!!
post #252 of 255
2/12/08 at 3:00pm
I'm among the "clean up every once in a while" crowd. When my son goes down for naptime at noon (i'm a big believer of routines), I tidy up his toys. I clean up a bit just before my husband gets home from work. The same thing often happens at supper, so that we can eat without the mess on our minds (or mine anyway.) Before he goes to bed, he helps us clean up again. He gets one basket of toys in the living room and his faves (all cars) are kept in one spot. He has a small basket of books in the living room as well. If a toy comes out of his room that doesn't belong in the living room, it goes back in either right away or right when he's done playing with it (he takes it back when requested, not us. he's 2 so completely capable of helping clean up his own mess.) He's starting to understand that we clean up our messes, but he's young so it's going to take time!
Though we have a ways to go, as I'm just not an organized person, I've really made a difference. I've de-cluttered quite a bit of stuff (every month, I donate to a charity drive that comes around) and really taken a load of my mind. My husband has been working on getting rid of everything possible from the basement and if we have a girl this time around, we're getting rid of all our son's baby clothes (I have them in totes in the basement.)
Every once in a while, we make sure to clean up our son's room as well and get rid of things he doesn't bother with. It can be seen from the front hall, so it needs it!
My tips? Clean up every few hours. Try to keep up with the dishes. When your counter is clean, the house feels cleaner. Don't hide clutter. I feel so much better now that the basement has been taken care of. Get rid of anything you don't need (still working on that one myself.)
post #253 of 255
2/15/08 at 9:09pm
Can I join the club?

There's three of us living in a small (read no separate kitchen, no hallway, no entrance to speak of except for a door) one bedroom apartment, and I just can't bear the look of it anymore. We have very little money now, and in the past we've had zero money, so almost all our furniture is either stuff we've been given by my parents, or my husband has taken from the curb. Not a lot anyway, there's only that much you can fit in here. I've started decluttering areas of the apartment, and the most amazing thing I've noticed is: We can actually make this work. As so many have said here in this thread, the size of our apartment is just an excuse. We might be able to move soon, but I really want to get this under control before we leave here: I know now that I just need to change my attitude, and if I don't do that now and here, there won't be any better reason for me to do it elsewhere.
post #254 of 255
2/17/08 at 3:07am
I just read this whole thread. Including a post in 2006 that sounded familiar - it was mine! At the time, I was talking about cleaning out our office (that we were using to throw everything that we didn't have a place for). Well, I'm happy to say that the office is long gone and my beautiful daughter's room is there now. It actually took us about a year to get rid of everything in there (some moved to the garage, but we had to get rid of a lot of garage stuff before we could do that!) and redo the room.

I'm sure if we had had another bedroom, that office would still be here dragging me down. It is possible everyone! All that stuff you think you need - you really don't need it. We now have one corner armoire for the computer and related stuff that now lives in the family room. We moved the filing cabinet and the pinball machine (cough!) to the garage. We got rid of a couple big desks. I sold a very pretty rug on Craigslist (because there was nowhere else for it to go). Um... I can't even remember what else was in there! Now it is a beautiful and spacious girls' room. Yay!

We had two garage sales during that year and at both people asked if we were moving because we had so much stuff. We also did a lot of Goodwill runs. It has totally paid off and what used to be my least favorite room is now my favorite room in the house!
post #255 of 255
2/21/08 at 4:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ramlita View Post
The more junk we get rid of, the more junk we see that can go!
It's so freeing.
I have been getting this feeling also, now if I could only find time to simplify and declutter I'd be in good shape!

You may also like:

Make Naptime Restful with Yoga
There Is Not Always a "Fix" For the Difficult Child
10 Things You Don't Need For a New Baby
Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Natural Family Living › The Mindful Home › Decluttering, Organizing, & Simplifying › Depressed over messy, cluttered, ugly house!! Help?