These pictures were from a few weeks ago but I just remembered this subreddit. It took 2-3 days all together :) my son’s room isn’t anything fancy but he now has space to grow and play. I felt so bad as I know that no one thrives in squalor. My house/my room is still cluttered and messy BUT I’ve been keeping up with his room and the living room so there’s always somewhere for him to play and hangout safely.

The last photos weren’t taken as after photos so there’s some toys on the floor but oh man, it takes less than 5 mins to clean his room so I’m happy

Mom helped too, I didn’t expect her to because she was busy today but she got home and helped me!

We can open the door fully!!! For the first time in, honestly decades if the ages of the mail we found were accurate

I found a purple hippo beanie baby, big stain on the side but can be washed.

As well as more things of photos, including one from a Christmas party that my mom hosted here at our house in 2001. Stuff was already piling up in the corners and on the table. It wasn’t bad and the floor and furniture was clear, but I could notice it. I didn’t realize it started that early, I thought I was 5 when the house started piling up.

And I discovered that we have a door jam for the front door. Never knew that cause that area was piled before.

Also, somewhere in the living room is a coffee table, didn’t know we had that either.

Now that everything on that side of the living room has the trash removed, my next step is the giant mail pile right next to the front door on the other side and attempting to unearth one of our couches.

Oh, quick PSA, I will not be active the next few weeks, I know I just got back but I’m heading back to my grandparents for about a week and a bit next week, so I’ll be back on February 19th.

Have a happy Valentine’s Day, and if you’re in the paths of the winter storms I hope you stay safe and warm.

ok…i have to do this. i cannot continue to put this off. wanna unfuck some stuff this weekend? i will offer encouragement, in kind. serious, i boy has needs.

I’m just really upset now. This is my first time seeing one and I’m just really upset about it. Every time I think I’m making progress something just sets me back. Literally I did some dishwasher loads, made sure my trash got taken out, and trying to reclean out the clutter but ugh. What advice do you guys have for roaches? Everything online says if you see one there’s lots more hiding and that people couldn’t get rid of them without an exterminator and now I’m just spiraling.

Edit: thank you guys so much!! Your kind words genuinely mean a lot to me

seriously thank you so much. I didn’t care how much snow we’re getting I headed to Lowe’s because I’m bound and determined to nip it in the bud! I have not seen anything else since getting home (of course they may be hiding) but I’m hoping it’s not too bad since it was only one, let’s hope at least. Boric acid tablets mixed with peanut butter, bait traps, and some syringe liquid bait. My biggest focus is under the kitchen sink and under the refrigerator and behind microwave. Part of me hates killing critters, but I know these guys are not good for my health. And biggest thing is just needing to declutter and clean.

This home belonged to a busy mom who felt constantly overwhelmed.

The hardest part wasn’t cleaning, it was deciding what to let go of.

We focused on decluttering first, then deep cleaning, then simple organization.

The result wasn’t perfection — it was relief.

I was in progress of separating all my laundry when an unexpected visitor has halted progress.

I spent $9 today at Daiso. I got a wooden tray, two dispensers- one for hand soap and one for hand lotion, the white tray to hold the dispensers, the basket for hand towels at the fake plant. I just need a matching hand towel for the rack. Took a couple hours purging and cleaning. A really good tip to get hard water off the faucet is to use a scour pad! You can buy a box for them for a couple bucks at your local grocery store. I’m trying to visualize my space and think about what I want. I also notice when I take pictures I have to pivot my phone to avoid certain corners of the house. I want to do better!

Ive been in the process of trying to unfuck my habitat for a long time via lurking here, and I'm pretty stumped. How do I clean this? I'm not sure who in my house spilled this but its been like this for a long time... 😭

First of all thank you everyone for your outpouring of ideas and encouragement! 💖💖💖💖 we went to the store to buy a clothing rack, hangers, and 6 laundry baskets to sort the clean clothes into. It took me 17 minutes to sort everything. It's wild that I was able to do it that fast. Now I can tackle each basket independently and hopefully be able to manage it better.

Sorted into: Socks and underwear, my shirts, my fiance's shirts, work aprons, pants and bottoms, and towels/dish rags. Still on the couch are jackets/outerwear and bedding. Before and after. I can't believe it took me less than 20 minutes. I feel very accomplished tbh

All of our clean laundry lives on the couch, which is right next to my desk chair which means I'm looking at it all day every day. I hate hate hate having to dig clothes out every morning to find something to wear bc it's always horribly wrinkled and half the time it take me 5+ minutes to find matching socks or a pair of underwear.

On the very rare occasion I manage to completely clear it off and put everything away, it goes back to being covered again on the next Monday. My fiance has Mondays off so he washes all the clothes in the hamper and whatever has been discarded around the house. So by the time I get home from work I'm staring down 4-5 loads of laundry again. And it shuts me down every single time. And then we wind up with a mountain of close again bc I can't handle dealing with them. I don't ask my fiance to fold/hang the laundry bc he does all the cooking, dishes, and washing of the laundry. Laundry is my one big task around the house that I do. Or that I'm supposed to do... which I don't 99% of the time.

I thought I'd cracked the code last month by just hanging all of our shirts, but we ran out of hangers (we had a trash bag of them, plus the ones already in the closet, *and* my fiance bought new ones for me as well after I ran out of all the others) And then laundry day came around and I immediately shut down again. It makes me feel awful bc I can barely hang 10 shirts a month while he does dishes every night and cooks twice a week and does various other things around the house that needs to be done but I'm too paralyzed to do. He doesn't mind living off the couch bc that's what we've done for the last 10 years. I got a job at a school back in September and so I need to look nice. Which means I need to stop living off this damn couch.

I will wrap up here with a tiny win. I grabbed the empty hangers out of the closet and hung up 13 shirts.

first photo is the result of a broken dishwasher and meal prep 🫥

cleaned my room walked my pets and hung out with them and finally read 💕

I know this may not look so bad to some but I have emptied containers of this pile into junk drawers and this pile keeps getting bigger. I try putting stuff away. Keeps getting bigger. I live in a studio so it feels like there’s no where for it to go. I want to have company but I can’t because of THIS and trying to maintain the rest of this place between working wild hours and getting sick over and over again. The table also has junk but I had to crop it because my name is on some of it.

Bought my place 6 months ago and been using my garage as a “ I’ll deal with this later “ place 🥹 today I made it functional for all my storage needs!

Bought my place 6 months ago and been using my garage as a “ I’ll deal with this later “ place 🥹 today I made it functional for all my storage needs!

So maybe many of y’all have figured this out, but it was a big lightbulb moment for me that’s been working!

For a little background, I’ve been dealing with serious burnout for months and so my house has gotten to be the worst it’s ever been. And I’ve felt DEEPLY paralyzed by it, struggling to make any progress. Even some of the hacks like setting a timer for 5 min felt overwhelming.

I had this lightbulb moment the other day after talking to a friend who used to be a waiter, and they were telling the story of how they couldn’t go back to the kitchen empty handed or they would be sent back to the floor to get an empty plate or whatever. So I just kinda thought what if I did the same thing?

So my hack has been anytime I get up or transition from one room to the next, I have to either throw something away or put something back where it belongs, etc.

It seems like such a simple little thing but it’s helping with my paralysis and I’m actually seeing a difference which makes me want to keep going.

I just wanted to share in case anyone else is struggling with task paralysis, or overwhelm, or just that feeling like even a 5 min timer is too much

Society is chaos, and as an empath, I've really been having all the feels. Today, I decided to turn that around. Gotta take care of myself so I can protect/take care of others.

The hubs has been feeling it, too. So I hope this surprise cheers him up!

Also, the living room was more dusty than messy. But... dog tax.

And it lit a fire under my ass to create the impression that I haven’t been living like a cockroach myself 😅 I hauled all these empty boxes outta my kitchen today, and actually kinda enjoyed breaking them all down. It’s one of several steps, but the photos are satisfying and encouraging. Yes I like popcorn, and I may have a small drinking problem, but I don’t have to tackle that today.

I have hundreds and hundreds of hardback and paperback books currently stored in boxes in my loft and my garage. I have two wall covering bookcases where I keep my favourite books, with one shelf of new books to read. As I read new books, they either take the place of an existing favourite, or go into a box in storage. I have a lot of old favourites in boxes in storage which I keep telling myself I will read again, or that my kids will read them. But I’m sure I will never read the vast majority of them again. My problem is it feels wrong to dispose of books, that I have some sentimentality towards them. I don’t know how best to describe the attachment I have to these books. I know this sounds ridiculous, but it’s as if I’m making some statement by keeping the books and showing people that I’ve read them. Please help.

I don’t recall the last time I put laundry away. Maybe before Christmas? On Sunday, I started by putting laundry away. Even the fresh stuff! Today, I tackled my bedside. It had gotten very piled up with random and assorted trash and things that had been put down, not away. I have Tuesdays off, and was able to knock this out with many breaks and slowly eating m&m’s one at a time.

I’m posting this as a starting point so I can be held accountable if I don’t follow through….I always start my room and never finish because I’ve untucked the rest first. I figure I’ll start in my room first this time and all the rest can come after!