Clutter

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I don't know if it's an Apsie thing or not, but I have a hard time organizing my house. A lot of my ideas that I come up with naturally are the things professional organizer tell you to do or think is a fabulous idea and start spreading the news, but for whatever reason, it doesn't totally work. I think a lot of it is trying to find something that will work for me in my lifestyle.

So, I found this website from Good Housekeeping. I didn't buy the magazine because sometimes the cover really deceives you about what's inside, but since their cover said something about removing clutter, I looked up the articles it referred to inside from "on the cover" which were basically stupid things and this huge story about a woman who did this clutter diet. I'm not interested in how well an NT did on the clutter diet. I want to know how well an Aspie did, so I wondered if anyone on here has tried it before?

www.clutterdiet.com

WOW. Thank you. This may seriously help!!

That's what I'm thinking, but for whatever reason, I'm hesitant to try it. But the first month is only five bucks, and they say you can cancel at anytime, so I may just give it a whirl.

But it might be more fun if a bunch of us on this forum did it together, and then we could be each other's support group. We could have our own little threads here, but I think they have a member forum too. Not sure if it's members or just members talking to professional organizers.

Honestly, my life is one big disorganized mess I need all the help I can get.

If not for the presence of my family (especially a 2-year-old granddaughter), I would have a very easy time of organizing it...

^^ I must say that I rather enjoy being blessed by clutter. I must say that I do not qiute understand the need for complete tidyness, as often I keep items in a location that I wish for them to be. If I were to tidy them I would most possibly forget where I placed them. For instance, my happy bedroom floor is often very happy and blessed with the happy books I require for University. If I were to place them in another location, I would require to bring them back into the same location the next day. ^^ I believe I can certainly understand why other individuals would wish to be very tidy, however I enjoy happy clutter friends I believe. I am very sorry if this is silly of me. ^^

clutter is related to executive functioning problems some of us have.
I am a hoarder. My hoarding relates directly to my special interest and my ex-partner housemate is great and periodically clears the household for me and takes things away as it is a struggle for me. He throws a lot of special interest work away - otherwise we would be living outside while the house was filled with work. He does this a few times a year and it is very very nice of him. I slash work that is more rote than anything, and it gets taken to the dump ina big trailer.

My bedroom is spartan however - white wall, white sheets, single bed and objects.
some clutter is collecting in one corner - a box of things that is 8 years old and unsorted. Yes. 8 years i have had it sitting in this room and before that in the other room where my bed used to be - waiting to be sorted. I cannot bear to throw the stuff out without sorting it - the pang in my chest in unbearable when i think of that option.

it is interesting, but over the past year since i found out my issues relate to my AS - I am actually far more accepting of this in myself. it is a relief. (But it does help in having a friend who helps to organise me in the manner he does.)

Or you could just join FlyLady, which is almost the exact same thing, except it's free.

http://flylady.net/

If you joined this "Clutter Diet" thing, it would probably end up exactly like a gym membership -- you would use it for a little while, then stop and still be paying for something you're not using because you'll keep thinking that you'll get back to it.

I gave up on the 15 min. per day approach -- it just didn't work for me. I finally ended up just taking 3 days and decluttering my whole apartment at once and then rewarded myself by indulging in one of my special interests.

I've just recently decided to accept the fact that I have executive dysfunction and that my home will never be as spotless as an NT's. I'm just going to do housework whenever I feel like it or when it becomes absolutely necessary. As long as my place is reasonably tidy, I'm not going to beat myself up over not doing the housework.

Thank you for the link. I'm thinking, I'll do both. Like, just do the clutter diet for the one month, see videos and read tips, write notes, and then cancel. Then go to the free one for more tips and the actual support.

I will say I'm like CelticRose on that I like to clean when I'm in the mood, or when it's necessary.

I am also like millie where I hoard things.

I am also like Tomasu where I can find things easier in clutter than organized.

I am also like pakled, where my children make it even harder (I have a one and two year old).

I am also like natesmom where I really need all the help I can get.

To add to this, I also can go the rest of my life without any more criticism for my mess. I'm sick of hearing other people complain about it. So that's why i'm trying to do something about it. My landlady has threatened to evict me over it, and i think she's got mental issues. Once in her office, my daughter spilled some dry cereal on her floor. Fruity Pebbles to be exact. Anyway, she only had a broom and dustpan in her office, so I swept it up and when I noticed her trash can wasn't lined, I asked where she wanted me to dump it. She pulled out a plastic bag from her trash can, opened it up, and said right here. Then as I was dumping it in there, she was like, I don't want to invite any bugs. Then she tied it up, and I could tell she was antsy about taking it straight to the dumpster. Last time she surpised visit my apartment, my place was clean except some dirty dishes, some toys out on teh floor, and my daughter had dumped an entire box of goldfish crackers on the floor and did the river dance on them. My landlady threatened eviction, and told me to call her the moment I see a cockroach or any bug. But, when I moved in here, there was a huge colony of ants living in my bedroom. I woke up at 5 am with my wall above me covered in ants, not to mention the floor. There was even ant hills in my room. Then when I told her about it, she was like, "well, you are in the country, expect to get some bugs." So I killed the whole colony with Terro, and it took a month. But I did take pictures. So, I don't get her, but either way, i don't want her calling child protection services because she thinks my place is messy. It doesn't take much for CPS to feel your house is too messy for you to keep kids there. I'm also sick of my friends complaining that my house is messy because I either suck, or my husband does.

I got to find someway to keep my house clean 24/7 with these kids. I figure it's a matter of re-organizing it. Right now, we are 4 people in a 3 BR apartment (where the LR and kitchen are in the same room). Any clutter just makes it look more messy than what it is. I really want to let my kids play with toys without people threatening CPS on the issue. I don't have bugs or mice or a strange mold growing somewhere (though I learned a strange mold will grow in my garbage disposal if I don't rinse it out with bleach frequently). And I do see a strange mold in my bath tub drain and the silver round thing that sucks in a little water to help prevent tub overflow. But no matter how much I clean it, it still is there.

I really do need to move, but I'm so unorganized that packing and unpacking will take forever. And, I don't want to move any trash from place to place. And it's a great opportunity to get better organized. And, my lease is up in June, so I am allowed to put in a 30 day notice anytime now (according to the landlady who has been nothing but nice to me in the last month).

See my issue here?

You definitely need to move and get away from this lady and her filthy place. Ants & mold? And she complains about dirty dishes and a little cereal on the floor? If you have kids, you have cereal on the floor -- comes with the territory.

I don't know what the laws are in your area, but in my state it's illegal for the management to just drop in -- they have to give you 48 hours notice.

Use your move to declutter. As you're packing, get rid of anything that you don't want to take with you. Every time I've moved I've found that a lot of stuff wasn't worth the effort of packing it.

As for other people's opinions, it's your home not theirs. Live the way you want to live.

The only thing that works for me is routine. I have a day for laundry, one for cleaning the whole house and so on. If for any reason my routine gets disturbed, everything gets messy and it's very hard to get back on track. Fortunately, my husband doesn't mind, as he's messier than me, so at least there's no pressure.

this is what i trying to do ( & not doing too well atm ) but sticking with it.

Im terrible round the house, as mentioned earlier sometimes i see no practical need for something to be somewhere where im not used to it being, hence it NEVER moves

is a sticking point with my partner (we live apart now again) & is something i WOULD love to be more adept at, just from my own point of view
my daughter lives with me it & doesn't help much if im honest ! !

one task i DO keep up with is the dish washing without any problem, strange that that seems to be obvious yet generally picking up stuff doesn't??

I don't mind doing the dishes either but I hate grocery shopping so I make lists for my husband and he does it. We sort of found a balance for what I can do and how he can help - it's fair enough I think, after all, if he should cook he would poison us both

I really do have many good reasons to move, but the reasons to stay... I don't have to pack up and move. My hubby doesn't help me much with household chores, and that would include packing up the house. So, I'm a one man show, and with two girls 2 and under, that's not an easy task. The other thing is that my rent is less than 600 a month. This place is all electric, no gas. That bill averages 100 a month, and we go hog wild with our electrical use. The internet is 50 a month, and it sucks. We don't do cable or satellite because they are lousy deals because we are so far out in the country. Landlady won't let us get satellite on our own. It's a new thing that she's offering it because the cable company is going out of business I think. I think what she's going to do with it is we can only go through her, and there will only be one dish all apartments run from, and they will only offer one tv package and that's it. I don't watch NT popular channels, so I have no idea if any of our favorites would fall into that, but if it were, it would be 40 a month. And I would pay that for PBS Sprout (my 2 year old loves it, and I love it when the TV can babysit my kids as it's my only babysitter, like I might actually get to clean something without chasing kids in the process...wears me out). Anyway, I'm not really sure how legit this is because it sounds to me she's paying less to DirectTV than what she's charging tenants. Someone is getting a good deal whether it be her, the apartment owners, or Direct TV with one dish and more than one person paying 40 a month. They usually charge that much for the dish and then offer free up to four more tvs to take it to, and then usually only charge like 10 bucks to add any others after that right? Anyway, they pay our water and trash. It's a good deal, and this is the largest 3br apartment I've ever seen. Anything larger would be an actual house. I'm looking at rental houses, and if I find something I like, affordable, and worth any extra, I might go for it.

We are not ready to buy a house yet. Our credit still has some work, I'm thinking 2 more years. And, we have no idea where we want to live. This job he has is a great paying dead end job. They won't train him, nor do they seem to be willing to advance him at all. He's an electrician, so that's important in his field. His main problem is he was trained in the military which doesn't transfer into civilian all that well, so he's like a day one apprentice with four years of experience.

He has family in Virginia who is in their electrical apprenticeship program, and he's wanting to do that. But it would be a pay cut for the first year or two, and then we'd be in Virginia where I have no family, but he does. He's a jerk around his family. He ignores me, argues with me, helps less, cares less, etc., and then doesn't notice, and when I point it out, I'm in the wrong. I refuse to live near his family at this point for sake of my marriage. What's sad is they are really nice and helpful with the kids, especially his parents (in Puerto Rico, not Virginia). But, he's a complete jerk around any family member. I don't get it. What I hate more, if he and I were to die today, the best option for the kids are his family. And they are totally different parents than I am. Their house is clean, and their bills are generally paid, but man are they strict, and since I have girls, there's still just too much gender roles going on with that in Puerto Rico. Sorry, i'm trying to plan my will and I'm at wits ends trying to decide custody of the children and custody of their property. I don't know anyone capable of both. And what's worse, I don't know if my husband could handle it all on his own if I died, and I don't like the idea of him taking the kids to PR with his family because they'd never see my family. His family will always find a way to visit my kids. Mine won't. So wouldn't that mean that they deserve my children more? I don't know. All I know is that this is probably one of the most important decisions I can make, and I'm to the point where I just don't think death for me is an option until the kids are on their own. Neither is sleep either. They woke me up at 5 Am, and it being 7:30, they still have their fussy crying moments. I don't know why they aren't sleeping well.

Routine doesn't work for me at all. I really don't like them, but at this point, I'm on my children's routine which changes all the time. My biggest problem is laundry.

When we first got married, we got an apartment in Wyoming when I bought a used dryer. Then we moved to base housing, and all was good until that dryer broke. Then I did laundromat all the time, but when I got pregnant, it wasn't my favorite thing to do. I was still doing decent keeping up. After I had the baby, we finally paid to get the dryer fixed (the same cost of buying another used dryer). It lasted a month before breaking again. So, then laundry started getting behind because taking a newborn when I'm not sleeping ever because I breast fed to a laundromat was not happening. Especially when I got pregnant again 6 months after having my first. Then we throw away the busted dryer and got rid of the washer when we moved at his separation. We got an apartment with no washer and dryer, and I had the second baby days after moving. So with a newborn and a one year old, I didn't do laundry at all. It was easier to buy new clothes at Walmart. Finally, after a few months, my sister got around to getting together the washer and dryer she wanted to give me, basically when I was ready to buy new ones, and so we took those in. It was great, but I never did get laundry caught up totally with it because we soon later moved again. And then, after we moved, the dryer broke yet again. Now this place has a little laundry room charging 75 cents for usage of one machine, and the dryer often needs it twice and you can't just add one more quarter to it, and since it's a little walk, I haven't done laundy much this winter to avoid dragging out my girls. Two girls 2 and under with me dragging laundry isn't happening in the snow. So here I am with about 40 loads of laundry to do.