Spring Cleaning Club.

[Fadeaway]

It's spring, time to clear out the junk from our lives, emotionally and physically.

I know I need help getting motivated and I am sure others do too. Hence, the reason I am creating this thread to support, encourage and motivate each other.

Feel free to post your accomplishments and tips for getting things done. If you just can't get motivated feel free to post that as well.

Do you have challenges that keep you from keeping an organized home?

I for one am struggling with finding permanent homes for things. I don't really have the budget to go out and buy storage containers and such. On top of that, my kitchen is super tiny and have very little in the way of cupboard space. It's not like I have a lot of kitchen items, I just don't have places to put things.

 

[Stickler]

*looks at mobile home interior*

...Better nuke it from orbit. Only way to be sure.

Seriously, I need to admit my life is totally off the rails and get help.

 

[EveHarrington]

I'm moving in 1 month. Major de cluttering is going to happen. I have way too much stuff!

 

[Deleted member 33052]

I can't even talk myself into folding my laundry... I'll take all the help I can get.

 

[Fadeaway]

@Stickler I know how you feel. I would nuke mine if I could but it's an apartment and I don't think I could get away with it. So I am starting one step at a time. It got really bad over the winter when I was so ill.

@EveHarrington Moving is a pain, but a great way to de-clutter.

@Mal Content If it isn't going to wrinkle there is nothing wrong with living out of Rubbermaid containers, which is where all my laundry ends up. Folding clothes isn't a necessity. Washing them however, is.

 

[Deleted member 33052]

Fade, you're awesome! Just had to say that...

 

[Fadeaway]

Oops I forgot, it is only spring for the northern half of the planet. So for those of you south of the equator, feel free to join us for some autumn cleaning.

 

[LuckyDuck]

I've got a lot of stuff to get rid of. Clothes from back when Ace of Base was cool, too. Not kidding. I'm too big for it now, but man, does it feel good to say "I've got shirts older than you.". The look of surprise/fear in kids eyes. What a hoot!

LD

 

[Recovery4Me]

I am attempting to rebuild an organized path.:clown: I do not have the space to do much else but I can develop the spirit to clean it up and resort.
Lovely idea for a thread btw (((hugs)).

 

[hodge]

OMG, do I ever need this thread! Great idea, Fade, thank you!

I am not the best housekeeper, hahaha, understatement of the century. A few weeks ago, I made a list of everything we need to do around the house this spring, especially because my stepdaughter, her SO and our new baby granddaughter are visiting later in April. I had planned on looking for a good carpet cleaner cause it kind of looks like baby is going be crawling by the time they get here, but stepdaughter said they don't use those chemicals in their house. They use vinegar and water. I'm, like, eh, well, we have lots of animals in our house and, aside from spotcleaning from throwups, etc., we haven't done anything but vacuum. I haven't asked her how she cleans carpeting with vinegar and water. (I despise the smell of vinegar!) We don't have a lot of carpeting, mostly parquet wood floors, but a large area rug in the living room and carpeting on the stairway.

I'm bad at keeping up with dusting. Also, we have really, really hard water here, and I haven't found anything to get rid of the deposits except to scrape them off with a screwdriver every few months. Lol. Yeah, I'm pretty bad. I'm sure that if I cleaned the sinks like every 3-4 days we wouldn't have the deposits, but . . .I don't. And neither does hubby. At least hubby is more motivated to vacuum every few days, but he doesn't do a very thorough job. Do I complain? Hell, no, because he's doing more than me.

Anyway, I'm going to do my best to view this thread as a way to get myself motivated. I want to get the nastiest one done first, which is cleaning the top of our stove hood. Omg, it gets so greasy. I'm going to try Coke on it. Gonna soak some paper towels in Coke and lay them on the stove hood for awhile and see how that works. My goal is to do this by Saturday. This is essential because evidently SO loves to cook and plans on making meals for us, so our kitchen HAS to be spotless!

Thank you, again, Fade!

 

[Renestel]

Nice topic, Fadeaway. I think this will get a lot of conversation: both positive and negative sides as you opened up because it's a very open, cool topic.

I grew up with VERY motivated parents, (too motivated) and most of my young life I never realized until I separated from them that they did much of the motivating for me, getting me up every day, my crazy schedule and activities in K-12th grade. It was quite a rude awakening to have no self motivation when finally alone. How do you just up and learn that....Well through years of experience, whether good experience in that I took steps to say Hey, I gotta change this, and I do some great stuff once I get up off my butt, or the bad days, and with PTSD, man my mind is SOOOO good at having bad days develop into BAD days, I guess my goal this year is boundaries and forcing myself on low levels to become uncomfortable in spurts. One of these parts of my life is the house, the things in my house, where they are in my house, and the mess they can create. When I feel like crap, everything in me, on me, around me, reflects that. There's still that tiny voice that says I deserve this. Even with sexual and mental abuse counseling, sometimes it's like a messy environment almost makes me feel better. But when I really break it down and think intellectually about it, it's my mind saying I deserve chaos, I deserve a messy, even at times semi dirty or cluttered environment because that's how I feel and got treated most of my life. Huge pat on the back to you for not only wanting this for yourself but also writing this as a bit of a "kick in the a" to follow through. I'm in the 4 out of 10 stage of getting my crap together and we all know when we do the work to get better, feel better, dang it sure feels good. Good luck to you and even to those that are in the part of chaos....I embrace you for being here and all you need is a spark to change it whenever you feel ready. :hug:

 

[Fadeaway]

Well, I made progress today two garbage bags of stuff thrown out. A lot of it was old paperwork I have been dreading going through and stacks of medical bills. I can't pay them and I know they are in collections by now so I just said screw it and tossed them. Old pill bottles, I have no idea why I keep them around. I guess for future reference. I also threw away a scarf I started to crochet never finished and probably never would. The ball of yarn attached was so mangled and knotted from the cats playing with it, I decided I did not feel like untangling it, so in the garbage it went.

@hodge You can rent a carpet cleaner for a day. You do not have to use the shampoo they want you to buy with it. There is a laundry detergent made for baby clothes, that is super gentle and nontoxic, I wonder if that would work in it. I personally use oxyclean went I rent them, because that stuff is awesome, but maybe not so great for a crawling baby.

I found this Link Removed

I am terrible at cleaning my sink and shower, hard water is a pain.

@Renestel Mess makes me feel safe sometimes too. I tend to pile stuff up around my computer desk and by my bed, for some reason it makes me feel safe. It's funny how it can very much be a reflection of how we feel on the inside.

My grandfather was hoarder, but an OCD hoarder, in the fact that everything was super organized and cataloged. No matter what you needed, he had it and knew exactly where it was. I picked up a lot of the "don't throw it away you never know when you might need it." attitude. I just never picked up on the organization part. He also had reactive attachment disorder, so I am sure that was a reflection of his inner self.