clean up my house

Jeeze, it seems like we’re never home anymore. I guess then I never have to look at the clutter, but it would be nice to be at home and be able to enjoy being there. We did make some headway on cleaning up the post-wedding clutter, but it’s not done yet.

Well, I procrastinated on this goal for so long, I finally resolved it by packing all of my crap up and moving it, so now it’s all in boxes in my garage!

But, I’m still keeping it as a goal, because I eventually need to weed through all of those boxes! I have started boxes for donations to thrift stores that support charities, and I’m also actually contemplating a garage sale. YIKES!

Since I am in the “unpacking mode” for my new house, I expect to get all of this accomplished within the next couple of months. I’m having a big Open House/40th Birthday Bash in September, so that deadline ought to force me get a whole lot done in August!

OK, so the apartment is extra cluttered right now because we just got married—guests in town, gift opening party, ... there has definitely been lots going on. But it’s time to start uncluttering now.

Went through the last month’s pile of accumulated mail

yea, i did it. it took some time and some planning (and to cut off my phone). but i got it done. the messed up part about it is…..it ends right back the way it was. next time…....i’m just gonna get a bigger place!!!

just get off my ars basically lol

Been my goal for last ten years!

I’ve always been bad about clutter. Instead of putting things away, I just set them somewhere until I can “make time” to decide what to do with them. Because I hate picking up, I put it off. I’m never motivated to clean house, aside from the routine, necessary stuff like vacuuming, toilets/sinks/tub, mopping, and dusting. I just move the clutter to one side, clean behind it, then put it right back where it was. Sometimes, I’ll “straighten a pile,” but that’s about it. To make matters worse, I’ve got 2 kids in elementary school who are always bringing home worksheets and artwork and school newsletters. Then, I have a mother who is constantly dropping off piles of magazines or catalogs. And what do I do with it? I make more piles. Nobody ever comes to visit me, so it’s not like I have any incentives to keep my house tidy.

But now the mess is overwhelming. I could seriously be a candidate for one of those HGTV shows – it’s THAT BAD! It’s so hard to get started, when there is so much that needs to be done. Plus, my house is small, my garage is tiny, and a lot of the stuff that we need to get rid of is not stuff that should go into a landfill – like the kids’ toys and outgrown clothing.

I’m going to use www.flylady.net and spend my weekends and weeknights concentraing on just one room at a time. I admit that I spend far more time watching TV then I do cleaning up. That has to stop. I also need to make my kids help. They contribute to an awful lot of the mess by dragging their toys out to the living room and just leaving stuff lying around all over the place. When I do make them put things away, they just pile everything on the floor in their rooms, transferring the mess from one place to another. Ah, yes, what a fine example I have set!

No more.

It’s time to take control. I’ve worked steadily all weekend on getting started. It’s a gargantuan task, and easy to get discouraged, but I’m focusing on the small milestones, like getting one countertop cleared.

I’ve got to get a handle on this. I’ve got to make my kids help, too. I want to have a nice home someday – one that I can be proud of, and one that they can be proud of, too.

So, I’m setting goals. Today, I weeded the garden and pulled up all of the weeds in the sideyard. I’m also going to get the living room completely de-cluttered. Next, I will work on the kitchen countertops. The rest of this week it will be the kids’ rooms (we’re going to go through them together). This weekend it will be my bedroom. All I’m going to focus on are the piles. I’m going to sort stuff into 3 boxes: throw away, give away, keep. The “Keep” box will sit until another weekend when I will have the time to go through it in depth and figure out exactly where everything needs to go. I’m not going to allow myself any “down time” until I get through this. No reading library books, no movies, no TV, no nothing until I at least get through the “piles.”

I am getting there – it turns out that the motivation needed is getting a girlfriend. The fear of her seeing the place in the mess that it was was enough to get me off my backside to clean up!

Ok, I have now found additional motivation to get the house clean. I have met a girl that I really like and need to get the house cleaned up or she will run a mile if she ever comes over!