How can i be tidy?

[scrumpy78]

I am untidy and really want to be tidy and organised. I'm sick of having to rush round tidying up when people say they are coming round, and i'm fed up of never being able to find anything! I really really do want to be a tidy and organised person. Please help! Whats the secret? I've tried getting rid of stuff, putting all plates and cutlery away bar one set ( so i have to wash it up to use it), I have tried using paper plates. I'm not lazy, I have a very busy lifestyle and tidying seems the last priority. What can I do? What is the best method?

[wendilla]

Tidy up as you go along. Have a place for everything and keep everything in its place

[CheekyChops]

I don't know but if you find the answer let me know!

I am exactly the same, sooo unorganised and untidy. Sunday is supposed to be my tidying up day and where am I? On Answerbank - I only picked my laptop up in order to put it away! I can barely get in the spare room for all the ironing that needs doing and the stairs are covered in stuff that needs taking up but which I keep walking past.

The way I see it, I would rather have a busy social life and an undity house than a perfect house and no life.

Oh if only I could afford a cleaner/housekeeper!

[wendilla]

I have a busy lifestyle too but I have a cook a cleaner a gardner a window cleaner a dog walker and her name is ME

[scrumpy78]

this is precisely my point, some people jsut have it in their genes and can do everything! like my mum, she can come round, tidy and clean for me and do in an hour what takes me a week to do! il ive on my own, so it should be easy enough...

[compman]

I bought a book on how to keep everything organised and in its place, but can I find it, can I .......... ?

[naz_nomad]

Instead of spending time in front of the PC ....use that time to tidy up?

not nagging ...only a suggestion

[wendilla]

to scrumpy78 I am one of them mums. My daughter and family come over and by the time they have gone my house is like a tip but it is her no one else she will go upstairs to look for something as there is still a lot of her things here that she hasn't room for and she never puts things back.I go to her house and I shut my eyes.lol love her to bits .It was my mother that taught me by saying there is a place for everything and keep everything in it's place.

[saxy_jag]

Scrumpy, the world needs messy people, otherwise all the neat people would take over.

My friends say what they like best about coming to my place is that they don't have to watch where they put their coffee cups - in other words, they can relax here. Just as long as you have something clean to eat from and somewhere clear in order to be able to sit down and eat it, don't worry.

And as Frank Spencer would say:

Although you'll find my house a mess,
Come in, sit down, converse.
It doesn't always look like this,
Some days it's even worse.

[Jules001]

try this site www.flylady.net. I have heard good things about it, but never quite achieved it myself :)

[BlueHeaven]

Have to agree with above post linking to http://www.flylady.net

You have to be strict with yourself, but it works!! (Oh, and if you're not at all religious, ignore all the 'god-breeze' stuff)

Flylady talks so much sense though!

Warning, you will get lots of emails from her and the crew each day, but once you get used to them set your email filter to filter out the ones you don't want to receive.

[mormess]

We try to be tidy at home but we've started a new business so are hardly ever there! That helps. However, whenever I leave a room I have a look to see if there's anything that needs taking away, e.g. used cups etc, socks which my partner has taken off.

Get a stair basket and put in it things which need to go upstairs. Whenever you go up or down take something with you.

Keep things in the rooms where you use them. This sounds silly but we always have shoes all over the living room. I decided to stop fighting it and just line them up under the sofa. Now and again I scoop them all up and put them in the shoe cupboard. Same wtih the coats on the coat rack.

When you're watching telly or have a spare 5 minutes, have a tidy. Although it sounds like you don't have time to do either! Or get up 10 mins earlier and tidy up. Makes coming home to a tidy house much better.

Be ruthless with old newspapers, post, etc. Keep a wastepaper bin in each room and maybe even a odds and ends basket.

And give up ironing. Dry all your clothes as flat as possible and hang up all your shirts on hangers to dry. Buy stuff that needs less ironing! I appreciate that if you need to look smart this may be necessary, but there is so much non-iron stuff around these days.