My house is a big mess!
 

I really need to work on cleaning the house but instead I just wasted half an hour taking pictures of the big mess and resizing stuff for posting here and now I am wasting more time showing everyone out there what a big mess my house has become. The big problem is that it's hard to pick a spot to start when everything needs cleaning!

#1. Our bed, the wife left for another week in San Francisco and I told her not to worry I would work on getting the bedroom cleaned up. Since I plan to change the sheets before next Friday I will not bother making the bed.

#2 Dogs bed. Damn dog doesn't even make her bed, do you expect me to?

#3 Various suitcase from the last 3 trips I took since November.

#4 My side of the bathroom sink is on the right so clearly my wife should have to take care of her side first!

more pictures coming!

#5 Wine bottles I bought while out in Napa and there abouts. Think I'll just drink them before I get around to cataloging them in my computer program and putting them away.

#6 Kitchen table has my sister's computer and another one I found in the trash, hope I can find the parts to get her's running again.

#7 My wife's home office desk. I am forbidden to touch or throw anything away.

#8 Kitchen counter where I keep junk, I really need to sort through it though because I have misplaced some important junk there.

Well since you clearly want some motivation to get cleaning, I will oblige you:

Looking at those pictures makes me physically cringe. I could not spend any length of time in that environment. I would seriously just walk through with a contractor's-grade garbage bag and start throwing stuff away indiscriminately, because that's the kind of person I am--I'd rather risk tossing something important than be suffocated by stuff like that.

Dude. That's a mess. Get to work. Start in the bathroom. It's small. Do it now.

#9 Kitchen sink. I need to empty the dishwasher and then put in the dirty dishes. I'll get right on that!

#10 The dining room has turned into a storage area right now.

#11 My tool bench out in the garage.

I'll repost when I get it cleaned up! Right now I have to get back to work.

Those pictures make me freak out just a little.

I agree with Glatt, start in a small room/or small mess, then fan out from there. This is what works for me when my house gets out of control. I tend to start in the kitchen and work from one end of the house to the other, but I have a small house.

For you, the bathroom would likely be a good spot to start, because most of the stuff in there belongs there. The things that don't, just put those in their repective rooms then walk right back to the bathroom until it is completely cleaned/organized.

Then, move to the next least messy room. As you find stuff there that doesn't belong, put in the room it belongs unless it belongs in a room you have already organized, in which case put it where it belongs.

Eventually, you will get a completely organized house. It has taken me several years to perfect this, but it works for me when my house gets out of control...

GOOD LUCK!

Your house really doesn't look all that bad...I should have taken photos of my mom's house before she moved in with my brother. Oprah material I tell you. Picture a whole house like your garage there. Literally just paths, physically measurable amounts of dust in places, a thick coating of doghair on everything and in every corner. It was disgusting, foul, and broke my heart to see what she had let the house run down to after my dad died.

Chris, thanks for posting these pictures. It makes me feel so much better about our house. I actually have a clear spot on my work bench.

Over the last couple of years we've taken car-loads of stuff to the Goodwill, which has made a big difference.

Oh dude. No way my wife could put up with that. No way. I have one room in the house that is sort of like that but that is it. Wow.

We actually had it all really cleaned up in July when we had a wedding for my son in law at the house. No kidding, every room! But my wife and are hardly ever here and when we are we run in on Friday and out of town on Monday. I was only home about 30 days last year, but this year looks better.

I use a system very much like what LabRat described for cleaning my apartment. The only thing in addition is that I have a PDF checklist made up of all the basic cleaning tasks -- scrub the sink, clean the mirrors, etc -- I need to do in each room. Before I start cleaning, I print up my list and stick it to the fridge. The first thing on the list is to "tidy," which just means to put stuff back where it belongs. Once I've done the tidying for the room, I go box by box on my checklist except for vaccuuming/mopping which happens all at the end. As I complete something, I check it off. When I start to get tired or it feels like I'm not making any progress, it feels really good to be able to look at my checklist and think "Yeah! I've done lots!"

Good luck, Chris!

Chris, that's nothing. Srsly.

I can see huge expanses of floor there. Ours is a bit like that, but with no floor. Well except the little bit in the bedroom I found on Saturday while hunting for a missing library book.

I don't think you can make that claim without photographic evidence.

yah. I take pics sometimes semi-intending to post them, but beest erases them. Frankly, I'm, not really interested in the criticism, though. I think Chris' house shows he has a life. ...and a well-developed procrastination skill ...like me :D

:eyebrow:

yebbut, I spent the last half hour making the cover for the cellar calendar. Way more important than crappy tidying

ok, at least you have your priorities straight.

Damn... I feel better too.

Wait a minute. I don't understand. You mean there are houses that *don't* look like this?

Try to keep in mind that, last I heard, Chris and Mrs Chris were fairly extensively involved in tending to infirm elders on a pretty constant basis.

That still the case, Chris?

No they are dead now but thanks for remembering! Makes me feel special!

OK OK! I did the bedroom first and will post some pics tomorrow. I was up at 4Am to get my wife to the airport so I'm dosing while watching Rachel Ray make something called Shoup or Stewp or something like that, but I just dozed off. I changed the bedding and found all kinds of things in those suitcases that we bought in South Africa and Hawaii and Alaska last year. I filled a huge trash bag with junk, you would be proud of me!!!

Thanks to everyone who posted. I'm really not an old bag man or woman with a sex change!

OK I can understand the clutter and general disorganization. I would be able to stand that.
The kitchen, dude, do something about that! I would have a serious freak out over it. Could ya'll hired a maid to come clean? Once a week even? Kitchen and bathroom only.

Yeah, I usually start in the kitchen... but I don't do one room at a time, I'm totally add about it with stuff going on in 3 or 4 rooms at once. My house is more often messy than not, we're in and out all week and usually focused on a specific task when we're here (homeschooling, making dinner etc.), but generally it can all be straightened and scrubbed in a Saturday.

CLEAN YO HOUSE...fuck yo couch...shit

I am horrified...! This is unacceptable...!

Half those wine bottles are standing upright instead of on their sides! I can hear the corks drying out. And all of them are in nearly direct light! Please, find a dark, cool closet where they can be stored safely.

Oh and also, I have that Dewalt drill bit holder too. And all the bits are in it!!!

Im pretty much ADD about cleaning too, I start in the kitchen, then will have to go put something in the bathroom...start picking up in there, wonder off to the kids bedrooms...get distracted...blah blah.

The office is the only room that I allow to be messy most of the time.

Kitchen and dining room are straightened several times a day.

When I was employed, I had a cleaner that would come in once a week and do the stuff I never had time for.....scrub barthrooms, wash floors, dusting etc.

Im seriously anal about floors, there be no mess on my floors!

I love this thread! :p

Dude a clean work bench is a sign of a sick mind.

Wow...and I freak out when my wife doesn't dust or vacuum for a few days! That would drive me nuts.

My house was a disaster area. No clear floor patches greater than 2'x2'. Then about 5 years ago, my catsitter very hesitantly told me that I should hire a cleaning lady, you know, once a month or something...

We went on a massive cleaning spree, hired a cleaning lady to come in every week (we told ourselves it would go to every other or once a month when everything was under control). We got used to a clean, tidy house really fast, let me tell you! Never did go to a reduced schedule.

Since the cleaning lady came on Wednesdays, Tuesday night was our 'tidy-up' night. We each spent about 30 minutes putting stuff away. That's the real key to a clean house, not the vacuuming or dusting. It's all in the organization. Having the nice Polish immigrant lady mop and sweep and scrub was just a major motivator for us putting our crap away at least once a week.

Now that we're in the new house, I'm looking for a new cleaning lady or service. Even though we haven't scrubbed/vacuumed/mopped/etc as much as I would have liked, the house is in good enough shape to have people over (except for all the still-packed boxes, natch!) It got to be a habit in the last 5 years, and I don't want to relapse!

The way I figure it, I'd rather work an hour or two (or three) more at my job (which I'm good at), and pay someone else (who could really use the money to feed her family!) to do what I'm not good at.

get out of my head.

I also have those two wooden screw clamps, but not that jack.

That's a way cool jack. I bought it about 20 years ago at a garage sale and used it to level an old house I had with a peer and beam foundation. It says on the side BUDA 25 Ton Locomotive Jack. You know, you just never know when you need to lift something that weighs 50,000 pounds!

I've always wanted to find an old train and try jacking it up!

Chris, tis true, your house is a mess. And I wouldn't want to live there.
That said - my flat before I left was far (x infinite) worse.
In my defence, I was at the lowest point I have ever been in my life. I hope never to touch it again. But it was a health hazard, and I was living there. It took Dani and I days just to clear the rubbish, with my friend Teri in charge of removing binbags in her VW camper.

As you have already identified it is a problem for you, all I can suggest is what Pie did. If this is a regular build-up, get a cleaner. Sacrifice other luxuries in order to do so. You never want to have cans with maggots in them in your kitchen, or have to hold your breath as you walk through it, or have to sleep on the sofa because the bedroom is full of rubbish.

I'm not saying you will get to that stage (at least not without mental illness) but a clean house is a beautiful thing. It's really taken the sting out of moving home I can tell you.

There's prolly one under a pile of something, if you look around. ;)

A previous shot of my flat. In case I came across as harsh.

SG, please tell me that is not a pile of trash in your flat.

It's not. It's a pile of trash in her previous flat.

:eyebrow: Oh, well that makes a difference. :eek:

Oh, man...I'm sorry.

Now get yer ass to work. Your place is atrocious! :D

You should really sort your recycling outside, honey.

My house has pretty much always looked like that. Sometimes better, sometimes worse, but always messy. I've made a great deal of progress in the last couple of years by getting help, making an effort, really thinking about where things go, and decluttering. Some suggestions:

1) Get help. Hire someone, pay your kids to do one room, bribe your friends with pizza and beer. Just clearing enough stuff away to allow people in your house can be a big step and a big motivator. Do something!

2) Throw crap away! Get rid of junk! This will help A LOT. Don't hold on to crap you don't need. Identify stuff you need and then taking it all the way out the door to the trash or Salvation Army.

3) Do one thing at a time: one room, one corner. Clear a path! Progress not perfection.

Here are some resources I highly recommend:

flylady.net. This is a good one, because they have a daily task, and baby steps. A little cutsie, but still good. http://www.flylady.net/

Good on you for getting tidied up chris. I personally can't imagine living in a house that cluttered up. I get annoyed when too much stuff collects on our coffee table, so to have stuff all over the floor would drive me crazy. lol

I like having my house clean and tidy, but I have plenty of time to manage it. I think if I were working full time, we'd have a cleaner come in to do the floors and washing because those are two of the things I like to have squared up all the time as much as possible.

Good luck with the rest of it. I'm looking forward to the pics of the transformation. :)

People who tell you, well, just put stuff away where it belongs, don't understand that most of that stuff doesn't have a place to belong. So identifying and designating a place for stuff to go is a big step, too.

Some things to keep in mind: Store stuff where you use it. Put all your morning coffee making supplies together, for example, instead of in 3 separate places in your kitchen.

That's from Julia Morgenstern: Organizing from the Inside out.

Another great book for this is Apartment Therapy: The Eight Step Home Cure. I like some of the concepts in it, such as letting your home "breathe" and how every home needs refreshing after 5 years. and there's a blog, too: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/

A lot of people will tell you that if your house is cluttered your mind will be too.

I don't know if that's true or not, but I do know that when my house is messy I can't relax. Also, I have to do a spring clean at least once a year. I usually get a mini-skip and just go through and throw stuff out that I haven't used for the last 12 months. This is particularly good with the shed out the back. Somehow 'stuff' just collects out there. lol (I blame the males in the house)

I think it's true though. You have to have room to move. To live in your home.

Rebel, people! Tidiness it a waste of time in a busy life. Make sure your trash gets in the bin, and out on the kerb, your laundry gets to the machine before you run out of clothes or it walks there itself, and your dishes get done before they attract flies and you're good. The rest can wait til you retire. Or die. Then it'll be a bonding experience for your kids.

:D

(pur home has been messy for 20 years, and we have nooo problems relaxing :D It's all a matter of state of mind. And mine is certainly a state :lol:)

I agree to a point. But if it's causing you distress, or if you feel things are out of control (never a good feeling); or keeping you from having people in your home, even just to fix stuff or do necessary things, then--make a plan, take some steps. If it's not perfect, so what?

Don't listen to her! She's crazy!!!!

oh yes, distress is bad. but sometimes it's easier to fix your distress triggers than your house.... ;) after all, pets don't care, so it must be a learned behaviour..... :D

I just wanted to post that again because it was so good.

aim for "lived in" but not slovenly

why?

why not aim for the bext you can do given the time and willing avaialable? (you may assume a positive correlstion between distress over mess and willingness)

I love you Monster! :D

God damn! There sure are a lot of people that want to tell other people how to live. If you don't like it, don't let the door hit you in the ass, ya judgmental pricks. :p

What is it with all the pricks around this place this arvy???

They're too damn judgmental.

because lived in is comfortable and slovenly is a health hazard. I would never be comfortable or happy in a too-clean house or a Martha Stewart type house.

Bah, those clean freaks never build up any resistance... the terrorists will wipe them out in the first wave.

That's why you get your kids to play in the dirt. It's just better if they don't have to live in it. ;)

Clutter (mess) does not equal dirty/unhealthy... that's a connection too many people (my mother) incorrectly make.