mysterycat
New Member
Joined: February 2017
Posts: 1
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Post by mysterycat on Feb 26, 2017 9:58:17 GMT -5
I love having a clean house. But I never do.
I live alone, and I just let stuff pile up. Then I have a day off, and before I go to bed the night before, I'm excited to tackle the house the next day. Then I try to decide where to start, and I sit on my bed and give up. Clothes are the biggest pile, but can't put them away til I clear the junk in front of the closet or clear out stuff from the drawers, then I feel like I'm just making more of a mess and I give up. Hauling trash to the curb requires stairs and a hill outside, so I never "feel" like taking more than one bag with me.
I have anxiety and mild depression--and I am on meds for it. But it's just a never-ending cycle of my house makes me sad, which makes me too sad to clean, which makes me more upset. My bathroom and laundry room are clean. My kitchen needs some help. But I have piles of boxes I didn't unpack when I moved here 2 years ago, and the pile of clothes and trash bags elsewhere are (seemingly) insurmountable. I can't have anyone over, and I fear anything breaking that requires an outside person to come in. Even typing this makes me want to curl back up in bed for the day.
Anyway, hi. I hope to glean some motivation and tips from everyone here!
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Post by wind on Feb 26, 2017 10:33:27 GMT -5
WELCOME! You are in the right place! Major goals like "get the clothing under control and put away" do require some reverse engineering most times, and yeah, there's a short phase where it does look messier for "a second." I suggest making a list of the steps and breaking it down into microtasks, like: 1) get trash bag and hunt for stuff of little value which can be thrown away from area in front of drawers and closet. 2) move bag outside or close to outside door when full 3) get another bag and hunt for things to be donated from same areas ...and take it from there. Check out the listzilla section here for the "working in threes" thread. takeonestepatatime.proboards.com/thread/29485/working-threes-february-2017Our chat room is also really useful. Good luck!
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Post by dtesposito on Feb 26, 2017 11:15:58 GMT -5
Hi mysterycat, welcome. Guess what? You have too many clothes! Lots of us start out thinking we can organize things and then they'll all be neat and packed away out of sight. But after a while we realize that we have to get rid of a lot of our possessions in order for them to fit neatly in our storage areas.
How about emptying out one drawer from your dresser and collecting everything in that drawer that you don't wear at least once every few weeks. (Other than seasonal things, of course). Donate or discard those things. Then put only items that you wear a lot in it. Go on to the next drawer and continue. Eventually you'll only have things that you wear frequently and you'll have a lot more room.
I can tell you from my own experience, cleaning is a LOT easier when your place isn't full of excess stuff. Think about it--how many of those clothes are you actually using?
Find a working thread and jump in, or try chat, if you like chat rooms. It's challenging to change your mindset and let yourself get rid of some things, but it's easier to work alongside other people--we will encourage you!
Diane
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Post by notanotherdecade on Feb 26, 2017 12:30:40 GMT -5
Hello mysterycat. Welcome to the desqualloring gang I'll confess now that the only reason I don't have the same problem with opening the closet is that my clothes are on open shelves , what is it that normally blocks the closet doors? Does that jumble need looking at first... the cardboard boxes that supermarkets supply to pack shopping into are invaluable to temporarily pop debris into. I think I feel the same resentment and frustration about washing up as you do about laundry,,, it is a chore that never ends , Lots is written about motivation, but observing the "natural behaviour" the tidy members of the species success appears to come from "routine" and habit, rather like the pre-programmed instincts of geese to fly south in the winter.. i'll admit my own routines are not great, and I rely upon bursts of motivation. ...... last week I was in curling up in a ball mode, but this weekend I've got a bit more determination, and by doing the stuff that's most visible, it does give a feel-good factor today.. It's early evening here, but it must be lunch time for you, still time to drag out a few bags of trash and recycling. Ops, time is ticking, i'd best post this and get sorted for the morning.
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Post by charis on Feb 26, 2017 14:25:13 GMT -5
I am all full of plans at night too. Not just the house, but healthy eating, exercise, work projects, etc Working in short timed intervals works for a lot of people and there are many helpful methods out there. A website my DS uses is Unf**k Your Habitat. It has a detailed approach to getting a space livable in a weekend with lots of built in breaks. Glad you are here!
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Post by creativechaos on Mar 5, 2017 19:19:30 GMT -5
welcome, mysterycat! you're in the right place! look around and you will read lots of good stuff - especially in the favorite threads. there are many ways to work and many threads to join, such as working in threes or daily/weekly challenges ETC. or if chat is your thing, try some chat challenges. the people here who seem to succeed (not that i am one), consistently practice good habits of maintenence - putting away, washing up, and releasing excess possessions that interfere with quality of life. you can learn a lot here, and you will have lots of company.
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Post by def6 on Mar 5, 2017 22:46:29 GMT -5
Hello mysterycat What a great member name! We know all about setting time out to get things really cleaned up and then being frozen in inaction because the job is just too daunting or we don't know how to start. Flylady has come out with 31 baby steps videos ,1 for each day, that I have found very helpful. You don't have to have a day off to do these. At any rate, do what works for you and I hope you stick around.
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Post by closetofchaos on Mar 12, 2017 2:57:33 GMT -5
"I love having a clean home but I never do." That is a statement reflected from my own heart. I like you already! Bienvenue (Welcome) mysterycat =^..^= ♡
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