How do I keep my house clean and organized? I'm a mess!?

Question

I am perhaps the most disorganized person I have ever met. My car is full of millions of half empty water bottles and old school papers, and I just cannot keep it together in my house. I am a 23 year old college student. I live in a small house with my boyfriend and our two dogs. I have lived here about 2 1/2 years. Prior to this I lived with my parents or in a sorority so I have never really had to be responsible for something like this. I could never even keep just my room clean as a child. My house gets messy sooooo fast and then I just feel so frustrated and overwhelmed that I don't even know where to start . Any tips... I know it's ridiculous... like you just wanna smack me and say,"Just do it!" Please skip those comments... I 'm really looking for some ideas here. Any kind of ideas..... I'm not just a lazy person... I do a gagillion hours of homework and work and take care of other things... I'm just insanely out of control with this.... help!

Answer 1

Here's what I did: Pick a place to start. Then go one room at a time. Separate things into piles; trash, give-away junk, garage sale stuff or items to sell on e-bay, than things you want to keep. First, throw out the trash, then put all the give away or "to sell" stuff in separate boxes and store them in a closet or basement until you can give them to Goodwill or sell them.
Next,really sort through the stuff you have chosen to keep. Do you really want it? Do you use it? Do you need it? If you can't answer yes to any of those than trash it or stick it in the give away pile.
Then, sort and separate the remainder of the keeper stuff. Put stuff you use infrequently away, and organize the rest. Keep things you use frequently in arms reach. And file important papers. For things you decide to keep bins, bookshelves, boxes and other containers will really help. Everything will have a place and you will know where they are.
After you've organized the "stuff" in the room than you can proceed to clean it. Vacuum, dust, wipes surfaces, etc.

Do this with all the rooms in your house (ONE at a time mind you) and you will be well on your way to being organized and staying that way!!

Answer 2

This all depends on how fast you want to change. The small steps are the easiest. When you get home, don't kick your shoes off, put them away. Don't throw your jacket over the chair, hang it up. For each thing that you will have to clean later, get in the habit of taking the few extra seconds of putting it in its place from the start. This is forming a new habit and isn't as hard as it seems.

The hard part is the actual organization. Are you disorganized because you have too much stuff, or you have the behavior like above? If you have too much stuff, this isn't necessarily hard but will take more time to fix. I would suggest starting with a room. For an example I will use the kitchen. Put everything in this room in boxes. Keep this somewhat organized. As you need something, pull it out of the box, use it, clean it, find a home for it. And so on, and so on. At the end of a month chances are what's left in the boxes is not needed, get rid of it. Make a trip to the Salvation Army. This will work for any room, even closets.

As for the car, give it a good cleaning and then make an effort to keep it that way. Everytime you pull in at night, take out the trash, etc.

Small steps, but you'll get there.

Answer 3

I struggle with this myself. Flylady.net helps, but there's a lot of information there that will overwhelm you as well. I think the biggest thing is to start with paper clutter. Go through your house and car with a big trash bag and throw away ALL bottles, old papers, unopened mail/bills over 3 months old and anything else you KNOW is junk. Anything you run across during the throw away period that you want to keep, stick in a stack or pile and then put all that stuff away or put it in another bag to give away/donate. Do the same thing with clothes, anything you haven't worn in a long time or something that doesn't fit, throw it away or put it in a bag and put in your car NOW to drop off by the Salvation Army. Don't let it sit around for a yard sale or something months down the road. You can also decide to tackle each drawer, closet, shelf etc. one at a time and throw away, organize, give away, etc. so in a few months your entire house will be organized from inside out.
Also you may need to ask your boyfriend for help if you need more support with household chores. It sounds like you have a lot going on and it's easy to get overwhelmed.

Answer 4

well here is a little tip that just might be a help to you and your boyfriend,Pick a room each then set the alarm clock for 15 min´s see how much you can do in this time,yes it´s seem´s this is not enough time to do anything but trust me you will be surprised just how much you can achieve in 15 min´s. So the bedroom all dirty clothes in a pile next to the door,& anything else that does´t belong .You can put them in their right places when you have finished the room. All clean clothes to the closet, Jumpers. folden jeans on hangers shoes in the right place and carry on like this,when the alarm goes off stop and have a rest or finish for the day,if you would like to carry on then do the same again 15, min´s here and there will make a big difference to your house . Just remember when you do decide to call it a day always reward yourself ,relax with your feet up and look around at all the hard work you have just finished.So give it a try It might work for you

Answer 5

I agree with SaraSue, and along with that, make it easier for yourself to keep things clean once they are.
I have a small trash can in almost every room, that I line with a plastic grocery bag. When you use something with a wrapper, you have instant access to a place to put the garbage. I usually keep a plastic bag on the floor in my backseat to hold trash in my car. Part of it is just getting in the habit of doing something you aren't used to doing. Saturdays are cleaning day's at our house, well we try to do this. We can't be good all the time :) All the bedding get's washed and if it's nice we open windows to air the house out. I just moved and it was a good chance for me to start going through and getting rid of stuff that I don't need anymore, or don't have space for. Just decide what is really important to you, and get rid of the rest. Really, just start somewhere and do a little bit at a time. You don't have to make it perfect overnight!!!! Best Wishes, and happy cleaning!

Answer 6

Check out www.flylady.net

Also get the book called The Home Organizing Workbook: Clearing your clutter step by step. By Meryl Starr

Answer 7

The biggest problem with staying organized is staying on top of clutter problems. Check out this article called 'Decluttering Made Simple'. It explains how to declutter with a few boxes, trash bags, and some simple questions. I hope you read it.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/170388/decluttering_made_simple.html

Good luck. I know what you're going through.

Answer 8

I am the most disorganized person around, but i went ahead and cleaned, organized and even put new carpet in over the weekend. Now I just need to organize my files. You just got to want to do it.

Answer 9

You will want to meet Marla Cilley aka The Flylady. Her site is absolutely free and it will help you get your act together. www.flylady.net

Answer 10

Get rid of everything that you don't need or that you don't love. And remember that everything needs a home.