carencake

I used to joke that the kids would have 3 days to clean the house before my funeral. Now I say more like 2 weeks because of projects,etc. Or they can just go out to eat an not clean my house. Their choice. Friends come to see me not my dust bunnies and their friends.

Ramona Byrd

[QUOTE=Prism99;5123941]I'm not a very good one. We need to get our house ready for sale next year, and I am finding dust and dust bunnies and clutter everywhere. It will take an enormous amount of time just to get the surface of things looking pleasant to the eye -- much less cleaning out drawers, closets, storage areas, etc. I've never been very good, but I'd have to say looking at all this I'm actually pretty awful!
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Check out FLYLADY on the Internet. Her letters and suggestions for each day are free. They sure got me going
right. Just last week my sister and her grown son came to visit overnight, and both remarked at how "open" my
house is not, compared to how "Victorian like" crowded it used to be.

Flylady each day sends suggestions for doing each thing in rotation. She says "You are NOT behind, just jump in
and start in...15 minutes at a time" It's surprising how easy it is to work fast for only a few minutes.

By the time the sale starts, your home will be as clean and uncluttered as a Frank Lloyd Wright home is.

Good luck...

yourstrulyquilts

Just get some get well cards and put the out for all to see, and if someone drops in unexpectedly, just point them to the cards, no need to say a word!

redtweety

dusting is only needed when you can write your name, wipe it out and write it again. when there is that much dust, it is time to clean. lol. I am a terrible one, I sit here writing, and look up at the cobwebs on the ceiling. oh well.....

earthwalker

I'm a lot more relaxed now than I used to be....I even have some dust dinosaurs lurking deep in the recesses of some unused rooms. I actually get a bit of a buzz out of cleaning...it's how I keep active. I do have to vacuum every day, with 2 cats and 2 dogs it really is necessary. If I'm having a bit of a rough day healthwise....I just take my glasses off...any dust and cobwebs mysteriously disappear.

QuiltingCrazie

Start off slow is the only advise I can give you. I'm a clean freak but we move every few years and were always in temporary homes. Start in a room a month and clean everything you see. Clean clutter first, move furniture to get under them, dust and windex and vacuum. Have three bags when you start trash, donate and keep. If you get done before the month then rest until you have to start on the next room. Kitchens are the worst I clean my oven and stove weekly deep clean, cabinet fronts and fridge every time we go grocery shopping, microwave daily. Open windows so the fumes don't take over. We also have four helpers/mess causers. As soon as I get a room cleaned by the time I get back someones stuff is somewhere and usually it's the DH who thinks he never makes a mess! Good luck and hang in there go slow and don't overwelm yourself

Annaquilts

LOL That is all I will say.

Neicy

"Inch by inch, it's a cinch -- yard by yard, it's very hard" - This is my motto especially when I have to clean out the garage! I'll do one little corner at a time.

May in Jersey

Have to add this. My granddaughter was staying over for a few days during summer vacation and we had plans to go somewhere later in the day. Of course she was anxious to get going so I told her we'd go as soon as I finished vacumming the living room rug. She replied, Why do you have to vacuum, you aren't having any company! Kids have the right idea. LOL!

w7sue

As I sit here looking around, I can only hope no one drops in ... we have lived in our house since 12/20/78 and we have raised our kids here. I keep looking around at the "stuff" and think it could go ... but they are the memories. I have knick knacks on book cases in our living room and family room - the rule is if you move something or touch the shelf you have to dust because you have just left evidence of how long it has been since I have done it ... dust bunnies/doggie hair under the coffee tables and sofas in the family room ... when was the last time I used the crevice tool to vac the edges around a room and don't even mention under the bed or behind the night stands/dressers.

I spent last year recovering from a broken arm (9 months of not being able to do anything - then surgery and three more months) - there are things that just never got done. Now that I am pretty much recovered it will be time for a deep clean of the whole house. I am thinking that if I started a room every other day I might get done before summer.

It doesn't help that we have an adult child who has moved back home with all her stuff which makes our home even more cluttered than it was when they were kids. To make matters worse our house at the beach is just as cluttered.

I would hire someone to come in, but in the end, I think it is really a matter of reducing the clutter - get rid of the things we don't use/need. The only stuff that is OFF LIMITS is the quilting stuff and I am always working on that - lol. I love making scrap quilts and this is the third year that I have tried not to buy anything unless it is to 'finish' a project. I very seldom have pieces for backs so they have to be purchased as each project reaches that stage.

At a recent quilt show, one of my friends noticed that I liked a lot of the patterns, but didn't purchase any of them. I told her that my new rule is if I am not going to make it in the next 30 days, if I don't already have a home/use for it, then I don't buy it. I am like most other quilters, there are many UFO's at my house and a long list of quilts that I want to make - I really don't NEED any more patterns.