Help - I can't do the slob thing anymore.

[Melinda]

You are probably over estimating the amount of work that needs to be done.

Both of you get some marigolds, a box and some bin bags.

Put all the plates and mugs in the sink to soak, they will be easy to clean by the time you've cleared the living room.

Just ridding yourself of the clothes and the trash will make a big dent.

Motivate yourself with the thought that mice are incontinent and are currently pissing all over your lovely clothes and shoes.


Any papers go in the box- you can sort them another time while lounging on the sofa.

 

[sheothebudworths]

I think gentlegreen wins to be fair.

 

[bluestreak]

 

[jonH]

Destroy Everything

 

[The Groke]

I really think it's something wrong with my character. It's like the micro decisions that i make in everyday overeating. I know that eating that extra sandwich will make me fatter, but there are so many of those decisions and you have to keep making them every day for the whole of your life and i guess i'm too motivated by instant gratification.

Heh - this is me. In a nutshell.




Oh wait! I mean:



Stupid micro decisions.

 

[Numbers]

mmm - thing is - it needs tidying, rather than cleaning. are there professional tidiers?

Yes there is. Me. I get as much pleasure out of tidying than a lot of other things. I have 3 stages of tidying, there's the tidy, then the TIDY, and finally the Hollywood, that's when the house is perfectly clean & tidy and I go around and ensure everything is in place, that's when even the pen tin gets sorted and the beans and peas etc.. all face forward in their cupboards and not even single specs of seeable dust are safe.

My mam always told me my home should be ready to receive anyone at all times.

Sounds excessive but it's actually quite easy to achieve, once the place is clean it's only a case of having to do the small bits each day and once you get in routine you wont even notice you're tidying.

 

[Kanda]

You're fucking bonkers Numbers!

 

[boohoo]

I live a big room...but it's not that big when you own stuff - so I have to get rid of things all the time... I'm getting a bit overwhelmed with it as I have lots of art equipment and work in progress which needs to find home.

Do a table top sale... or ebay -or just charity shop some stuff...

get a shredder so you can reduce holding onto 'important' docs which are about 20 years old.

 

[jonH]

strong acid helps dissolve stuff

 

[Numbers]

You're fucking bonkers Numbers!

I used to spend my Saturdays, for a cpl of years, at home on my own doing nothing except tidying whilst under the influence.. I had the house so tidy that even my sock drawer was organised into 2 sections, 1 for during the week, and 1 for the weekend, each section then was organised by colour and quality of sock and likelyhood of being worn. Same for my pants, all my clothing was organised by colour and genre of siuation it'll be worn.

I changed this many times until I found my system, now socks new and old fit nicely into my system without me even knowing.

I is inculcated.

 

[sheothebudworths]

I used to spend my Saturdays, for a cpl of years, at home on my own doing nothing except tidying whilst under the influence.. I had the house so tidy that even my sock drawer was organised into 2 sections, 1 for during the week, and 1 for the weekend, each section then was organised by colour and quality of sock and likelyhood of being worn. Same for my pants, all my clothing was organised by colour and genre of siuation it'll be worn.

<headbuts the wall>

 

[Numbers]

As long as you don't make a mess Sheo, help yourself.

 

[aqua]

but when it comes to the micro decisions (pick clothes up off bathroom floor and walk them to the washing basket vs take clothes off and go straight to bed) it just seems like too much faff.

then put the laundry basket in the bathroom

you can make things easier for yourself too

I hate mess, can't stand it, get twitchy if there is more than 1 days pots in the kitchen (but then I need a clean kitchen all the time, what with cakes etc), hate clothes left around - easy to take a load to the machine in a morning

but the bit I've highlighted suggests maybe you need to rethink some of the basic layouts of your house

 

[EastEnder]

I did a big spring clean of my place a couple of weeks ago. Took about 8 hours of solid work, but now my flat is immaculate - cleaner than it's ever been before.

It's worth doing, makes the place a much more welcoming environment.

 

[sheothebudworths]

As long as you don't make a mess Sheo, help yourself.

 

[baldrick]

You have to do *something* every day, it's the only way.

do the dishes, put some washing on, clean the bathroom, chuck papers in the recycling, hoover your bedroom, do some ironing, sort the piles of books out, buy some more shelves, *whatever*.

just ONE thing every day, will make it more liveable in.

we clean the house every weekend - 3 hours work and it's spotless. it's keeping it tidy that's the problem and i do struggle with it. it takes effort though, even when you don't feel like it.

 

[JTG]

change one habit at a time. so first you're going to start putting the recycling together neatly - that sorts the newspapers/magazines stuff.

next, you move the dirty crockery to the kitchen.

and so on.

takes a while 'cos you need to make these things become a habit and get them nailed down before you try the next thing.

in the meantime, take a load of speed and blitz the house this weekend

 

[Roadkill]

Yes there is. Me. I get as much pleasure out of tidying than a lot of other things. I have 3 stages of tidying, there's the tidy, then the TIDY, and finally the Hollywood, that's when the house is perfectly clean & tidy and I go around and ensure everything is in place, that's when even the pen tin gets sorted and the beans and peas etc.. all face forward in their cupboards and not even single specs of seeable dust are safe.

My mam always told me my home should be ready to receive anyone at all times.

Sounds excessive but it's actually quite easy to achieve, once the place is clean it's only a case of having to do the small bits each day and once you get in routine you wont even notice you're tidying.

Yes, this is me too. I'm compulsively tidy. Washing up gets done after most meals and the worktops and cooker top get a squirt of cleaner and a wipe down at the same time. Clothes go back in the wardrobe or straight into the washing basket when I've worn them. Books and papers get scattered all over the living room whilst I'm working, but at the end of the day everything is filed away and shelved - it's a way of enforcing a distinction between work and leisure time when I do both in the same room, I think. The morning after a session, the place gets a quick tidy-round once any visitors have gone before I sit down with a coffee.

Shelves and surfaces get dusted and polished once a week, the bathroom gets a scrub at the same time and the floors are swept, mopped and hoovered. The inside of cupboards, the oven and the fridge and various nooks and crannies get done less frequently, but when the dust or grime get noticeable I get everything out and have a thorough clean.

By the sound of this thread I'm not nearly as organised as Mr Numbers, though. I'm not bothered about the tins in the cupboard being the right way round or the socks in the drawer neatly lined up! Provided I know where things are I'm not concerned about the order. Although, I must admit, I'm thinking of having a major sort-out of my books and shelving them by subject because it's getting to the stage where I can't find things I know I've got.

A big spring clean is really satisfying. It's nice to sit down in a really smart flat afterwards, and once it's done it doesn't take much work - a few minutes a day - to keep it tidy. It's just a habit you get into.

If it's a big job, spangles, my advice is to do one room at a time and go through it like a tornado. Do the easiest room first, and use the sense of achievement from that to motivate you to start on the more difficult bits.

 

[aqua]

we clean the house every weekend - 3 hours work and it's spotless. it's keeping it tidy that's the problem and i do struggle with it. it takes effort though, even when you don't feel like it.

urgh jesus no we don't clean every week, thats just too much for us but I do do it probably about every 2 weeks

bees is away a lot so it doesn't ever really get dirty as such (although our bathroom is atm )

 

[baldrick]

Jaz insists that we do it. he's much more of a clean freak than me.

 

[citydreams]

I'm with Numbers. There's nothing like the sight of a good pair of marigolds to warm my heart.

My advice is to get some boxes, and empty your flat and start again. Once your flat is clean, you can only keep what you can put away.

The trick then is to keep it that way. That means cleaning every night and every morning. Doesn't have to be much, but at least one thing.

And make a rota with MGO (sorry MGO). One deep clean of one part of the house a week. No excuses or you have to do the other person's rota on top of your own.

e2a.. you can borrow my van if you want somewhere to dump stuff..

 

[ethel]

my mum does a full house clean every week. she dusts and hoovers the living room and mops the kitchen floor every day too.

i'm messy but if stuff starts to accumulate dirt then i have to clean it up sharpish.

 

[citydreams]

in the meantime, take a load of speed and blitz the house this weekend

or this

 

[Dravinian]

I have not let my place get that bad since I moved to the new place. I been where you are though, where you just think oh fuck this is an endless job that is too depressing to start, you also get to the point where you think...well it can't possibly get much worse.

I found a little technic for getting around that, well it works for me.

Simply do one room. Just one, I would start on the bathroom, usually the smallest room. Clean it, know that it is the only room you are going to do that entire day.

Thing is, once it's spotless, once it's really clean, and you get a fresh look at what it's like clean, you find yourself a little more driven to maybe get the kitchen done tomorrow. Will take longer, but look how nice it is to have a shiny clean room.

I find my livingroom the hardest to do, cause its soo damn large, and obviously you spend most of your time there when at home, so it tends to get battered faster then most places. The other problem is the amount of crap I actually own, 7 guitars, a Bass, a Keyboard, a Violin, 4 Tracks, Effects, Mixing Desks, PC and peripherals, plus all the normal stuff everyone has in their living rooms, it depresses me cause it never looks 'done' like the Bathroom, Kitchen and Bedrooms can look done.

 

[JTG]

I find that not eating very much at home and never buying any new stuff helps with keeping things tidy tbh

 

[aqua]

a bloody good sort out too - i love having a sort out, hate hoarding things

 

[spanglechick]

bloody hell - it's not that bad!

you don't do it cos there's always something more fun to do. Buy a newspaper rack and get 3 French Maids

cos i'm going to take advice from you, Stig.

we clean the house every weekend - 3 hours work and it's spotless. it's keeping it tidy that's the problem and i do struggle with it. it takes effort though, even when you don't feel like it.

you devote 3 hours of sofa time every single week? Blimey. I'm just too lazy.

I find that not eating very much at home and never buying any new stuff helps with keeping things tidy tbh

I do have too much stuff. And I accumulate more stuff at a fair rate of knots.

 

[JTG]

shiny new things are not the key to happiness. I stopped buying new stuff a while ago, after a while I stopped pining after it too.

 

[aqua]

shiny new things are not the key to happiness. I stopped buying new stuff a while ago, after a while I stopped pining after it too.

this

I also am very ruthless with clothes, I can't wear them all, and often I haven't worn them for a year, in which case they get given to a charity shop

 

[rennie]

You need to start somewhere spangles otherwise it looks like you'll need to move!