quiltlonger

Put in a call to Peter Walsh!! Only he will make you get rid of two thirds. That got your attention, now buck up princess and get busy if you want to keep it. Think I need to take my own advice thats why I've hid out here today..

MistyMarie

I was just thinking... if this was my kitchen, nobody would EVER want to eat at my house. Thankfully, this mess is NOT indicative of the rest of my home. I cannot stand cooking in a messy kitchen. (Just don't open my cupboards!)

QuiltQtrs

Have recently re-organized again ... but end up with too many "categories"
of quilt related things, fabric, UFO's, newly planned projects, patterns, etc.
However, after doing clean-up once again, am more inspired to tackle and
finish my projects. Cannot "work/sew" in a messy area.

Dingle

Ok, I'll have to admit if I walked into that I would be overwhelmed. There is no way I could work in something like that. I try to stay clean as I work but I also clean up after every project. I have found having peg board helps alot. Anything that can get hung up is hung. Keeps everything at reach too. Just take one thing at a time until you're done. Then try really, really hard to keep it that way. :thumbup: Hope I didn't offend you. :-D

MistyMarie

Part of the reason I want to get all this organized is the new embroidery machine that should be arriving this week. I don't want to even take it out of the box until I have everything cleaned up in the laundry room and dining room. I would get sucked in playing with it and the mess would not get cleaned up for months again. (My dh comes back in October, but I don't want to wait until right before he gets home to get it done!)

JulieR

Well of course you ended up with a mess - your storage space was already packed to capacity, leaving no room for new things to come in! I've fallen into that, too, and it always looks so great for about a hot minute, but then...well, I can't even squeeze a FQ in if I find one I missed, or the section for that color is already full.

This one's going to be about letting go of the things you aren't too keen on, sorting the rest to find out exactly how much you have, and only THEN designing an organizing framework that will contain your current stash and leave room for things to move, change and expand as needed.

No worries - this can definitely be done!

pookie ookie

Try Flylady. She helps people overcome that overwhelmed feeling.

MistyMarie

Nope. Not offended. You echo my feelings about not wanting to sew in that mess!

One of the problems in my back room is having to share the space with laundry, a wall-to-wall pantry in the back, a door to the garage and one to the backyard at the front, and storage for mops, brooms, et cetera.

This mess is why I moved out of that space for a few months. Unfortunately, I was given two large storage containers of fabric, which is now in my dining room... and on the floor. I have the toys to give to charity under my table in the dining room (to put out on Monday) and my mom gave me a big bag of fabric that hasn't made it out of there yet either. The table is a mess because I finished a doll quilt on Sunday night at two in the morning so I could get it in the mail on Monday. I haven't stepped foot in there since I dragged myself to bed Sunday night.

sushi

I find that I get "stuck" in my de-cluttering efforts when I don't have a place to put things. I recommend getting something - plastic boxes (using this week's JoAnn's coupons?) or even paper grocery bags - labeling them broadly ("things that cut," "things that measure," "things that mark," "strips," "misc. scraps I can't bear to throw away," etc.) and use them to sort.

I totally agree with others who say, "Don't try to do it all at once" ... unless you get on a roll and want to keep going.

Wishing you a good roll!

Scrap Happy

Yes, give her a try. In a nutshell she breaks our chores down into smaller sections. Her methods do work! www.flylady.net She is the queen of 15 minutes at a time :)