Messy House; Messy Life Thread ??

MayBeMaw

It’s a sort of conjugation though isn’t it
1 I like my house to reflect my personality
2 You are relaxed about your home looking lived in
3 He/she is very messy
Plural
1 We don’t get over obsessed with minimalism
2 You (plural) could do with a good sort out
3 They live in a pigsty ???

Love it!! I think we come under the heading of "pigsty"!! When a schoolteacher marries a children's librarian, everything gets saved "just in case" and we both had large libraries. Now we are retired, it's proving hard to kick the habit of hoarding, plus if things get put away we forget we have them......

Hope you don't mind, but I've just passed a quote of your post on to my very messy family!!

Helgawills, if you put your worn-out clothes in a bag and clearly mark it rags virtually any charity shop will take it as they can get money for it.
I like a clean, tidy home but am definitely not a minimalist. My husband is a hoarder and l find the only way to cope with this is firm boundaries so his part of the bedroom and his office are where l turn a blind eye. Everywhere else is kept to the standards l prefer. Some of our friends have truly messy homes but because they make us so welcome it doesn’t matter. I would not want to live like this, though.

I have a great many "clever cubes". In the hall, they contain my shoes. In the dining room, they contain board games. In the living room, toys for the grandchildren. In my study, craft and stationery items. In his study, computer paraphernalia and in the utility room, garden shoes, mop attachments and bags. All tidy here!
Ignore the thin layer of dust on top of the units please.
Happy New Year btw! xxx

No offence Naninka but if I had enough space for ‘his and hers’ studies, and a utility room, I’d be ‘all tidy here’ too!

I think that I need to look at ‘small living spaces’ on YouTube and Pinterest for inspiration.
Any thoughts please?

FannyCornforth

I think that I need to look at ‘small living spaces’ on YouTube and Pinterest for inspiration.
Any thoughts please?

Do you have any unnecessary furniture taking up space?

And any other unnecessary possessions?

i think that you can be a bit cluttered at home but keep a clean house, it's when messy becomes unwashed dishes, piles of rubbish, a dirty cooker, fridge, microwave etc then there is a serious issue needing sorted. I never feel relaxed in a minimalist, magazine styled house, I always feel that to relax in that you are interfering with the "look" someone has achieved.

Furniture is a good place to start Lucca.
I think I said before, you need to look for horizontal lines to make the room look longer or wider. So keep sideboards, and remove little cabinets and clutter. You can follow this through with striped rugs, curtains and cushions. If you choose vertical stripes it can make the room look taller too if that's what you want.

There's a tread about being overly sentimental about possessions.

I think that's me - much of my "stuff" has memories attached to it, either inherited, someone gave it to me, or it holds a memory of someone or somewhere.

Then I wonder ifI might throw out something then see it on the ARS valued at thousands of pounds, the new owner saying they picked it up for £2 in a charity shop ?

I doubt that, somehow.

tread - thread

Lol. Oh dear. I’m messy. But having a huge clear out. I’m doing a cross between the thirty day black bin liner challenge and the Swedish death clear out. I’m not tidy so I’ve decided to get rid of clutter. Day three of the black bin liner challenge. I’m throwing out the grandchildrens baby toys as we speak.

Calistemon

tread - thread

Thought you’d gone all Irish on us ……

I’m throwing out the grandchildrens baby toys as we speak.

I've thrown a lot out to the charity shops, given some away but when I suggested giving away some Fisher Price toys my youngest DGC immediately got them out and started playing with them again.

Thank you, Calistemon I'll try that Re books, I take mine to Age UK, buy there as well, cheapest around, win win

Lucca

Calistemon

tread - thread

Thought you’d gone all Irish on us ……

It's watching The Tourist wot done it.

Before anyone says anything, I know he's from Belfast and that's more South.

I'm of the "That might come in useful" and " Wonder if that's worth anything?" mentality which I struggle to overcome.

I live in a 1930’s two bed semi.
I have two small bedrooms (his and hers) an extended kitchen to incorporate a small table.
No -I definitely don’t have any unnecessary furniture!
I know that I’ve made the most that I can with it.
It’s just that it can’t contain my arts and crafts things, books, clothes etc that others with larger houses could and do easily contain.

I’m going to give a lot of things to my dad to ‘look after’ for me, I think.
He has loads of room and lives alone, and the house will be mine eventually (hopefully a long, long way off)…

What has everyone done with their dvds?

How about a kind of hobbies trolley that you could wheel out of the way Fanny and even cover with fabric? Maybe with baskets in it for your craft stuff?

spabbygirl I work to the creative piles method. It is written up by Sheila Chandra - Organising for Creative People.

I try to get a visit from a declutterer once a year. thanks to covid havn't had one for 2 yars now a new one is coming Friday.

It does help me to have a plan devised in partnership with a professional.

FannyCornforth

What has everyone done with their dvds?

Loads of them in posh boxes taking up room in a small cupboard that we don't need. CDs in boxes too, most not mine.
I got rid of 45s and LPs before they became collectable ?

FannyCornforth

What has everyone done with their dvds?

I tend to buy DVD’s and not get round to watching them. Same with books . And I used to video lots of things which, again, I want to watch. I feel that if I throw videos out they’ll just end up in landfill and I feel guilty about that so they remain on shelves or in boxes.

Whilst I can admire clutter free minimalist homes I don't think I could live in one. We put things down on a flat surface and it could be days, weeks or even months before it finds its way back to its proper place. I like mementoes and memories where I can see them, not hidden away in cupboards and drawers.

I am naturally untidy, and I only clean when it really needs it, but I know where everything is and I can live with the clutter. If visitors choose to just drop in they have to take us as they find us; dust, dog hair and cobwebs included!

As I think I mentioned on another thread I write a To Do List at the start of each year. This year it includes sorting out our two lofts, three sheds and my craft room.

DH says I should throw out or give away the crafting materials and tools I no longer need or use. This includes thousands of pounds worth of precious and semi-precious stones, gold and silver findings, PMC clay and a mini kiln from my jewellery making days, together with boxes of unsold jewellery. Top quality mohair fabric for teddy bears. Boxes of card and paper for cards and stationery and so much more. And as for the boxes and boxes and boxes of fabric and over 400 reels of ribbon...... need I say more! He has no idea how much they have cost over the years, and I don't intend to tell him! I don't know what I'll do with it all but it will be hard to let it go.

The sheds are (mostly) his domain. Boxes and drawers full of rusty old tools etc. Tins of paint that are from our last house! Boxes of greetings cards from family going back 30 years perhaps. Lots of boxes of photos. And then there's the books, hundreds of them. Charity shops don't want books now. And you can bet your life that as soon as he throws something out he finds a need for it.

I have to feel fit and energised to tackle decluttering and at the moment days like that are few and far between. Roll on the Spring. Ask me in 6 months how it's going and chances are it won't have gone very far! Putting the Christmas decorations away is my only target this week. I'm considering turning our summerhouse into a storage space for all the Christmas stuff (my Christmas Village included) rather than the garden furniture which we rarely use.

Oh well, must get back to stripping the tree!

PS. Sorry for the long response. I'm a bit of a waffler aren't I!