When I've finally had enough (or how I finally got my house organized)

[AnaKhouri]

That looks amazing! You did a great job.

I know people who never even start that stuff because it is too overwhelming. Of course it is, if you look at it all at once. What I do is choose one area- under a bed, or a closet shelf, or a countertop- and clean that up. Then I pick the next area- a drawer, a cabinet, the bookcase- and clean that up. It's less overwhelming to take it piece by piece and seeing even a small part looking nice is encouragement to take on the next part.

[mathnerd]

Racket Man, I think we've discussed the similarities between your late GF and Mr. Mathnerd before. This isn't the first time I e worked on this project. I just get a lot more done every time. I'd have loved to see before and after pictures of your house. I have some pictures, but not many, of what this house looked like before I moved in. He basically lived in two rooms and just ignored the rest. It was pretty bad. Every time I restart I have a better idea of how the house flows and what items need to be accessible and what can be buried, so I do a better job getting it organized. I just found a perfect bed frame on Freecycle, so I'm leaving in about an hour to pick it up and get that downstairs guest room mattress off the floor. Yay!

AnaKhouri, yeah, that's a lot of people's problem. I have a similar method. I start with just trash, then laundry if it exists, then another type of item, and so on and so forth until it looks more manageable. But I did avoid that rec room for days! It was the worst looking, but amazingly once the trash and laundry, then empty boxes were taken care of, it really wasn't that bad.

It's so nice now. I wake up in the morning and don't have that initial mood drop inwas havjng when the place was trashed. My entire outlook on life is more positive waking up to a tidy house.

[Racket_Man]

Racket Man, I think we've discussed the similarities between your late GF and Mr. Mathnerd before. This isn't the first time I e worked on this project. I just get a lot more done every time. I'd have loved to see before and after pictures of your house. .

It was not a matter "hording" or just using 2 rooms and nothing else something like that ---- we combined two COMPLETE fully stocked in all things households into one. mostly it was a matter of in the beginning GF and I (because in the beginning both of us had 2 jobs each) never got around to going through either of our things and possessions to clean out the old unneeded stuff. it was only three years after I moved in that she got diagnosed and by then the motivation was not there on my part.

The garage and basement were full of both of our things. GFs daughter and I did kinda go through stuff before GF passed but in a real half-hearted way ( I think you can understand why).

After GF passed there were obvious reasons to go through EVERTHING both GFs and mine and either trash or donate or sell stuff.

I now have everything down to a manageable size. Time is now on my side

[mathnerd]

Oh! I'm sorry. I must have confused you with another person. Combining households is different entirely, but still a lot of stuff to contend with!

[notalwaysright]

GFs daughter and I did kinda go through stuff before GF passed but in a real half-hearted way ( I think you can understand why).

I may have mentioned it, but I think my mom is a borderline horder, and I also think her mom passing is what pushed her to it. Both her parents are gone, and also multiple brothers. Neither of her surviving brothers have any interest in helping deal with all the stuff. So my mom has it all. She has trouble getting rid of the smallest of things, even an old pickle jar or jeans from 15 years ago that she couldn't wear even if she wanted to.

Anyway, I think she's going to hit a wall and have to face cleaning. She didn't used to be like this. It should be noted that the house she lives in is about 1200 sq ft and has zero closets, so there isn't any place to shove crap. It's all just... there.

[Teysa]

I like that advice about just taking one section at a time. My house has gotten so run down it's scary. The fact that I work two seasonal jobs doesn't help much. I'll have every intention of doing some serious cleaning while I'm between my summer and winter jobs, but get totally overwhelmed and give up.
One section at a time seems a bit more doable. Of course, I won't be able to test that theory until I get back to Texas.

[XCashier]

That's great! I also can feel my mood change if my place is messy. I don't get depressed, but I will just laze around the house. Instead of making a full meal, I'll snack, because the kitchen is a mess. That sort of thing.

You have just described how I've been the last couple of weeks. Looks like I need to start cleaning. Mathnerd's pictures have also given me inspiration.