Ever been so overwhelmed with the state of your house that you simply don’t know where to start? For various reasons I found myself in that situation today.
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Cleaning a Messy House
Note to self: Avoid going out of town on Mondays. Well, in true procrastinator form, rather than actually clean something, I did a search for “cleaning a messy house”. I found this:
My Messy House (dot. com) Update: This site is no longer available. A reader let me know that the owner has since passed away.
I’m working my way through the instructions in order to get a handle on things today and then I can focus on systematically cleaning one room at a time tomorrow.
Do you have a special routine you follow when you’ve let things get out of hand?
Update: This site mentioned above is no longer available. A reader let me know that the owner has since passed away.
Here is a collection of posts about another cleaning system – The FlyLady – that you might find helpful, especially the one on “Crisis Cleaning”:
Click Below!
Why yes Dee, I do have a special method for handling when the house gets out of control.
I leave.
It's amazing how much more interesting museums, bookstores and the beach become.
😉
I'd much rather read a blog about it than do it!!! 🙂
I like the way both of you think. 😉
I just throw newspaper all over it. That's the best way to clean up any kind of a mess. Of course, I use a classy paper like The New York Times or something similar so people think I'm decorating. The Ada Evening News would never disgrace my literary ambiance.
Caleb, you know that idea we discussed about you finding a sugar mama? Hint: Don't let her find out about your housekeeping methods until after she puts the ring on your finger.
You know I'm the type that doesn't want to be told what to do. I read the article, it's kind of like flylady…
I'll do what I want, when I want, period.
I really like the other comments.
Jason and I have a joke about when it gets out of hand. *Let's just sell the house*
Actually we want to sell the house for many reasons.
My house piles up quick with a husband and 4 kids and pets.
I always see how when we are busy the house is messier, it is an odd phenomenon 🙂
Stephanie: Anyone who knows me well knows I don't like to be told what to do, either. Just ask David. 😉 I think the difference with something like this (or FlyLady) is that I am ASKING for the suggestions. I can always decide whether or not to follow them.
Most of the time I'm on top of things and I'm a pretty naturally good housekeeper. But lately, I've been struggling with exhaustion due to anemia so just barely keeping a grip on things. All it took was a few busy days and a lot of time away from home to tip the scales.
When things get overwhelming and it's hard to know where to start, a list like the one I linked to takes the guesswork out of it. I'm really happier and seem to have more time to do what I want if my house is clean. I'm hoping to achieve that this week!
Flylady helps when I get overwhelmed. I just start in on whatever my main chores are for that day and everything seems to be back to normal by the end of the week. But for the worst of it, I tend to do something along the lines of the messy house list.
Cherie: I first started getting the FlyLady emails over 8 years ago and while I go no mail for months at a time, I do occasionally turn them back on for a little recharge. In fact, just today I pulled out my "Control Journal" which is sort of put together but never really used. I think I'll go back to basics next week.
I loved MyMessyHouse.com. It was a wonderful website. I cleaned my house with her for at least ten years. The owner of it is now deceased, is my understanding, and the website no longer exists. I thin that is sad, because I always liked rereading my previous posts. She really inspired me to go to grad school. I think the name I used on that page was Mayne. Anyway, too bad! She was very funny.
Ah, you found a very, very old post of mine! Looks like I need to update it. Thanks for letting me know. Have you found any other cleaning sites you like?