Help me figure out a plan (cleaners/organizers)

[Anonymous]

My husband and I have always struggled with keeping our house clean. We have gotten a lot better over the past few years about the house being mostly clean or at least easy enough to clean when we have guests. But I'd like to make it better but always feel stuck. Problems/concerns:

1. We have four main areas that are a mess.
- A small playroom with a storage closet that is full of stuff we never use
- A half-organized garage. We would really like to clean it out so we have space for two cars instead of one
- An office that has been a place we send all of the paper and other "stuff" we accumulate. Can never seem to get it sorted out
-Our primary bedroom walk in closet is perpetually a mess

2. We have never had professional cleaners and after living in this house for about 7 years, it can really use some deeper cleaning.

3. There are some home improvement projects I think would help us, like adding built in shelving in some spaces


Where do we start? Should I hire professional organizers? A college student who could help with just taking stuff to the dump or goodwill and organizing? I always feel like the house needs to be all organized and set before we hire cleaners but that clearly isn't working. Should I hire a company to do a deep clean or start with a regular cleaning schedule?

If you are good at this sort of thing, give me advice please!

[Anonymous]

I would just close the door on the problem rooms and get the house cleaned first.

[Anonymous]

I would start with hiring a junk hauler to take away all the stuff you say you don't want in the storage closet and garage, and have them take any other stuff you don't want. You will immediately feel unburdened. Don't think about it too much and let it go, and it may motivate you to clean out other parts of your house. But start there.

Separately, go through the papers and take them to a place like a UPS store that shreds documents. This will take you longer, but set aside time to just do it.

Then hire cleaners for a deep cleaning and have a service come in weekly, twice a month or whatever you can afford.

Periodically go through things and take donations to places or toss, but start with just getting rid of a lot so you feel less overwhelmed.

I have done all these things, more than once, every few years, to keep clutter/possessions/paper at bay. It costs a bit, but worth every penny.

[Anonymous]

I'm in a similar situation except that we've been in our place for twice as long so I think it's worse. I have a plan, but have a stubborn spouse who has yet to accept that we're never going to get on top of this ourselves. It's very frustrating. I've gotten him to agree to a one time deep cleaning, theoretically, but there's no point without the organization happening first.

Anyhow, I have located a local organizer that also seems to have interior design services, and I'm going to at least get a consult and ask for their suggestions of how to triage based on budget (I have no idea what this runs). My goal is that they can help us reset, then we can maintain the systems they'll put in place. Then I'll hire for deep cleaning, maybe twice a year?

[Anonymous]

Sort your valuables out and get your closet together before bringing anyone else in. That’s step 1.

Then think about storage options/built in CABINETS (not shelving) or getting some ikea cabinets installed.

And get a cleaning person

[Anonymous]

OP, three words of advice. THROW. IT. OUT. Seriously. For all but a very few tools, if you haven't used something in a year, you will likely never use it. And if you don't use it, you don't need it. If you feel guilty about getting rid of some sort of inherited item that was sentimental to a relative, take a picture and get then get rid of it.
I have also stopped getting hung up on finding homes for my stuff. If it is easy to donate, I do. If it isn't, I just dump it. I know myself well enough at this point to know that I WON'T put it up on Facebook marketplace to sell. It is yet another job, and one that I will never prioritize. Is it wasteful? Sure, but I at least get rid of the clutter and make my life easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in a similar situation except that we've been in our place for twice as long so I think it's worse. I have a plan, but have a stubborn spouse who has yet to accept that we're never going to get on top of this ourselves. It's very frustrating. I've gotten him to agree to a one time deep cleaning, theoretically, but there's no point without the organization happening first.

Anyhow, I have located a local organizer that also seems to have interior design services, and I'm going to at least get a consult and ask for their suggestions of how to triage based on budget (I have no idea what this runs). My goal is that they can help us reset, then we can maintain the systems they'll put in place. Then I'll hire for deep cleaning, maybe twice a year?

DP, but mind sharing who? I could use someone like that also!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, three words of advice. THROW. IT. OUT. Seriously. For all but a very few tools, if you haven't used something in a year, you will likely never use it. And if you don't use it, you don't need it. If you feel guilty about getting rid of some sort of inherited item that was sentimental to a relative, take a picture and get then get rid of it.
I have also stopped getting hung up on finding homes for my stuff. If it is easy to donate, I do. If it isn't, I just dump it. I know myself well enough at this point to know that I WON'T put it up on Facebook marketplace to sell. It is yet another job, and one that I will never prioritize. Is it wasteful? Sure, but I at least get rid of the clutter and make my life easier.

The problem with this philosophy is that people who end up with too much stuff likely enjoy shopping. They will buy more stuff. They will then have to trash it again and keep buying and tossing. Oh it did not snow last year. Good bye all of the snow gear. Oh no it is going to snow. We need boots and shovels and sleds and scrapers for the car. Gosh we have not gone camping in 2 years. We can trash all of this camping gear. A year later DS is a boy scout and you are replacing your camping gear. but we know longer have room for it because we used the space for a wine cellar.

Sure we all need to get rid of things over time but the key is being committed to stop buying so much!

[Anonymous]

I am in the process of cleaning the house, decluttering and minimizing because my kid is getting married in a year. I think you need to do some decluttering before you call a cleaner.

Here goes -

1) Anything you do not need - give it away on the website - Trash Nothing. Easy to take a picture and post. I have found that things go very fast if I take a flattering picture in a clean space. Also, helps to group things together.
You can also get household stuff and clothes picked up from your home by Purple Heart or Pickup Please donations

2) KonMari your clothes first. Clothes are most easy to tackle because at least it is easy to get rid of clothes that are shabby, fit poorly, or not super flattering.

3) I believe that you need to tackle kitchen next. Mostly there are five categories - 1) All cooking pots and pans and kitchen implements. 2) All dishes and serve ware, 3) All kitchen appliances and 4) All food/pantry/fridge/freezer consumable 5) medicines, cleaning supplies, cling wrap, foil and storage containers. I would suggest to start with the food/pantry/fridge/freezer section first and throw away all the things that are expired, spoiled, stale or you would not eat it. Do not overbuy. What you can donate safely, please do. The next thing would be the medicines etc.


4) Get rid of all the samples or hotel sized toiletries by donating. Discard products that you have not used in a while. or find a use for it so that you can immediately use it up.

At this point you can start calling cleaners to clean your house regularly and you can start getting rid of clutter and organizing on the side.

5) Paper? All of you need to go through it together.