How to Stop Being a Slob?

[scotthegeek]

I know the label sounds bad but that the best way to describe the person that lives in my house. If any one walked in off the street and saw my house that is what they would say is that a slob live here. I sometimes think I most be mentally ill but when I'm outside in the world I would never litter or if I'm visiting someone I would rinse dishes put them in the sink. I hardly ever at home.

I have tried the fly lady and books on organization but it would not last. I have started doing 15min of housework a day for the last couple of days and its like this is not to hard and my house seem to be getting clean all by its self and I have done this before but for some reason I would give up when things where looking really good. I do want to date so that has given me the motivation to change. I would only have people over a few times a year.

Has anyone gone from being a slob to being neat?
How did the change happen?
How much time do you spend on house work a day or per week?

Scott

[ssandra]

I'm a slob. Very much so.

I do try and not be so much, for the sake of my husband, who is kind of a neat freak.... (yeah, we often joke that we are a match made in hell... )

How? Pure willpower and love (and some money).

Now, I have the mess with my clothes limited to just my side of the bed and in the living room I can have (for a limited period of time) some stuff on the table...

We now also have a cleaning lady who cleans, and cleans up in our house. She comes by 2x a week. This is easy here, because it isn't very expensive and I know that she is single provider for 3 children that are studying, so I don't feel bad about it either.

Would that be a solution for you? A cleaning lady who comes by once every week? Maybe you can get some deal with someone that you help them with whatever it is you are good at, maybe some repairs around the house, garden work etc, and they help you cleaning?

Or maybe you can pay someone to do it?

[scotthegeek]

I not working so I have the time but not the money for a cleaning lady or the motivation. I want to take responsibility for myself and if I can stick to 15mins a day the problem will solve its self though I want to do more than 15mins in the past I would do an hour and the next day say I did a hour so I can skip a day. I want to develop a new habit.

I'm going to see an eating disorder therapist Tuesday to work on binge eating and I know when I prepare healthy meals a clean and organize kitchen is a most.

Scott

[Lifeisamazing]

It's called discipline. You do something you don't like to do in order to achieve something that you want. You always need to pay something to get something else.

Clean one small area at first. Then clean a bigger area. Finally, clean everything. Once it becomes a habit, you'll come here and ask how can I stop cleaning so damn often?

[Leesah]

I think you're half the way there Scot (is it one or two ts?) if you already WANT to be more tidy! A lot of "slobs" are quite happy living that way and don't have the inclination to change, but you want to change, so that's got to count for something.

I can relate a lot. I don't call myself a slob, I don't like that word at all, but I am very untidy and unorganised. I find it a massive effort to keep things tidy (my room mostly). I find it hard to throw things out so I keep things I don't need for years and years (mostly clothes) and in the end I have no space for all of my stuff, so it starts travelling into the spare room, or onto my floor, or wherever! I think the key is to throw everything out that you don't need anymore. Don't be sentimental (I would keep cinema tickets, everything). Once you have less stuff it's much easier to keep things tidy. Everything has its place and you can put things away when you've finished using them.

Hey Scot, maybe you could post a picture when you've tidied your place? (I would suggest a before and after but you're prob not keen on that idea lol) Show us all how nice and shiny it all is! Maybe that could work as motivation for you ... or maybe I'm just being nosy


Oh and to keep things CLEAN (my problem is being tidy, not clean) when I had my own place I would clean once a week usually. I know some people clean way more, but that's not me and I'm never going to turn into someone who wants to hoover daily. I always did my cleaning at the same time and day so it was a routine. It was a small flat though so didn't take too long. I'd hoover and dust and clean the bathroom every Wednesday and it worked really well (if I spilled something or whatever I would clean it right away rather than wait for the next wednesday though). To keep on top of the washing up I'd try to do it after every meal (the sink was manky in that flat though so you wouldn't want to leave things too long lol).


I think you just have to keep at it, keep trying to be a tidy person, eventually you're bound to make improvements even if they're slow! You're capable of keeping a clean house and you're right it would be nice to invite people over when it's clean!

[Honeywith4bees]

What a nice and thoughtful post Leesha!

[LostMyMap]

Hey Scott, I know this well. And the thing is, it's not something that you fix and then your done. You've seen that. You clean up your house and it looks great, but you are still living there, so it gets out of whack again. It's an ongoing thing. Never ends.

One thing that Leesah said "Everything has its place and you can put things away when you've finished using them. "

This is something that you can do that helps tremendously. I have the problem of too much stuff and many times it ends up on any flat surface. I realized over time that the problem is that some things don't have a place to be. I literally can't put them away because there isn't an assigned place. So you can fix that with better shelving, boxes, just getting rid of unneeded things. If everything does in fact have a place, then you can succeed in putting it away.

[Lioness]

I've gotten better at this by:

1) Developing a mind set that clean-up is not a dreaded chore to be done "later". It is a part of the activity. Doing the dishes is the last part of the meal. Making the bed is the first part of getting ready in the morning.

2) Clean as you go. Wipe down the sink/faucets and swish the commode while you are in the bathroom. Takes 10 seconds. Don't look at it as separate chore to be done later. After your shower, spritz down the tub/enclosure with a Clean Shower type spray and you're done.

3) If you see some random scraps of paper, lint etc. on the floor, the inclination is to think, oh, I'll have to sweep/vacuum later. Pick them up by hand instead. Done.

4) Instead of thinking you have to clean the whole kitchen and getting discouraged, just do little things everytime you're in there. Wipe down the counter. Wipe up a floor stain with a wet paper towel instead of waiting till mop time. Next time you open the fridge, wipe down a shelf or two.

5) As you putter around the house in your free time, get in the habit of doing whatever catches your eye, a little dusting here, a little straightening there. It WILL make a difference. Don't think all or nothing.

6) Make decisions right away. Clutter = delayed decisions, for example, you take off your clothes. The temptation is to drape them on a chair or bed. From there they eventually wind-up in a pile. Instead, decide immediately, Are these clean enough to wear again? If yes HANG THEM UP. If no, put them in the hamper/laundry bag. You get a bunch of mail and think, oh I'll sort it later and stick it in a pile somewhere. Instead, put a recycling basket by the door and rip up any junk mail right away. Have a designated desk area or folder to put bills and important papers.

7) To declutter a room, there are a lot of web resources on this if you Google. The easiest method is to grab 3 trash bags, or large boxes. 1 for "Give away", 1 for "Throw away" and 1 for "Put away." Put on some lively music and work on filling the bags in 15 minute increments, take frequent breaks. Put the give away bag in your car for immediate donation.