[LostInClutter]

My house has over run me litterly! After my mother passed away almost a year ago, she lived w/me I took care of her she was in a wheelchair, she was most of my life her and my children.

I work 3 jobs, have 2 kids and animals. I have let the house go stuff everywhere, in boxes and sections of rooms, can't find nothing, can't stand to be at home but, won't leave cause it over runs me. No clue where to start or the best way to organzine it. I'm so overwhelmed, makes it hard to start a section or what to do. I've been working on sections at a time but it figureing out where to put things to catorize things, so things end up in more boxes. We have accumlated too much stuff over the years, all of us. My mom's room is still as it was the day she past away, can't bring myself to deal with it yet.

I've been reading alot of forms and Flylady trying to find some order and light at the end of the tunel. Right now I'm working on setting up a household note book trying to help me get organized with my life time to take hold and controll of it again. Tired of feeling traped by my house and feeling lost..

Sorry so long any suggestions on methods, where to start, best way to catagory things any help PLEAE!!!

[dave]

Make a daily routine and focus more on small work, time- and space-limited tasks. Home organization for busy people book will also help you to get step by step home organization tips.

[Beryl]

You did the right thing reaching out for help. Congratulations on taking this important step to regain control of your home. Overwhelming jobs like this need to be broken down into small steps. It took a while for the clutter to accumulate, so you need to be patient with yourself and not expect too much too soon.

There are lots of ways to tackle this, but the main points to remember are to do small amounts at a time. You can do a lot just working 15 minutes a day. You can take two bags and go through your home trying to fill one bag with trash and the other bag with things to donate. After a week of doing this, you will have less clutter in your home. After a month, even better. This might be all you need to help you feel less overwhelmed. Once you get past being overwhelmed, it will be easier for you to think and plan.

There will be some items you're not sure about. For now, if you're not sure about something, just keep it. You can always donate it later. It's more important that you keep moving. There will be lots of other things that you are sure about, so focus on those.

As far as where to start, choose a room where you spend a lot of time, and start with all the stuff that's visible, out in the open. Don't worry about what's in drawers or cupboards right now. Have a box where you can set aside important items that need your attention, like bills.

Try and spend some time decluttering like this every day, even if it's only for 15 minutes. You will make slow but steady progress. Once you have cleared a spot, use it and enjoy it but remember to clean up after yourself and keep it clear so clutter doesn't come back.

Take the donation bags to the donation center regularly, or arrange to have them picked up so you can get them out of the house as soon as possible.

Keep making several passes through your house until you aren't finding much to donate or trash. This might take days, weeks or even months, but things will be slowly getting better all along the way. Then you can categorize by where things should go. Box things up according to what room they belong in. Once all the boxes are in the right room, then you can put them away according to where you use them and how often you use them. Again, if you're not sure where something should go, just keep it in a "not sure" box for now. Focus on the easy decisions for now and worry about the tough stuff later. It won't seem so difficult later on, and you will have made a lot of progress in the meantime.

You can also work on the stuff in the cupboards and drawers once you start putting stuff away in the different rooms of the house.

Your mom's room will be difficult. You might want to wait and do that last, once you are feeling better about the rest of your home.

Please report back and let us know how things are going.

-Beryl

[KT!]

Good advice from others and I may be repeating somewhat.

My suggestion would be to gain control of your daily life. "Take care of today!" That may sound easy, but think about it:

1. Mail - dispose of today's junk mail and put the bills and catalogs in their homes today.

2. Purchases - whether it's food, clothes, or something for the car, if it was brought in today, find a home for it today. Do not let groceries sit in bags on the counters and floor.

3. Clothes - if today's clothes can still be worn again, hang them in the closet. If today's clothes are soiled, put them in a hamper or laundry basket today.

4. Dishes - wash today's dishes and put them away today.

5. Spills - in the refrigerator/microwave, on the counter/table/floor wipe them up with a paper towel today. You don't have be "perfect" and scrub the entire floor or fridge, clean today's spills today.

6. Laundry - Do at least one load of laundry per day. But do it from start to finish - sort, wash, dry, fold, hang, put away. Enlist the help of the kids when and where you can. Remember, our job as parents is to prepare them to be responsible, independent adults. We teach them to ride bikes and drive cars. They need to be taught how to do laundry, dishes, vacuuming, and all of those things which are required for living.

By taking care of today you are preventing new clutter from building up.

Sure you have old clutter: mail, bills, catalogs, dirty dishes, dirty laundry, clean laundry, and boxes of stuff everywhere. You can't take care of everything at once. So why not practice getting control of your daily life. Do this for about 3 weeks to a month. THEN, when you go to do today's dishes, grab 2 or 3 dirty dishes that have been living on the counter for months.

When you are putting today's clothes in the closet or the laundry, pick up 2 or 3 pieces from the floor or a chair and put those where they belong.

When you are gathering/sorting dirty laundry, pick up those pieces that are scattered around. When putting away today's clean laundry, gather up some of the clean laundry that has been on the chair or dresser for months and put those away, too. If you happen to have a lot of clothes lying around, it means that you have too many. Doing laundry is a good time to set aside clothes for donation or the trash. Trash clothes that are ripped or stained. Freshly laundered clothes that are to be donated can be immediately placed in bags or boxes in the trunk of your car. When you happen to pass the Salvation Army or Goodwill, stop and drop them off. A clothes round-up does not have to take a whole afternoon or weekend. It can be done on a daily basis.

When you are taking care of today's mail, gather up some pieces of old mail and dispose of those, too.

By taking care of today, you are preventing new clutter. By disposing of the old clutter bit by bit, the logical conclusion is that some day (2 months? 4 months? a year?) you will be clutter free.

By the time you get around to your mother's room, perhaps your heart will be better healed and you will be able to work in her room and smile when each piece of clothing or knick-knack provides a memory.

A final suggestion........................
Since you have so much to accomplish, I would not make a To-Do list. That would be so overwhelming and discouraging to look at. A better solution might be to make a Ta-Da list. That is one where you write down everything you have accomplished. It is satisfying to see that grow.

Best of luck to you. Please check back and let us know how your are doing.

[dave]

Great advice, thanks!