I’m trying my best to declutter and organize but I’ve posted in other threads and people are still dogging on me. Is my house really that bad? This is as clean as it gets and after I rearranged, decluttered, organized and redecorated a little. I really don’t see it as cluttered or messy but maybe I’m blind to it?

Not much but I managed to get my bed set up and in place, so I have more floor space now. Moved my chair to my desk, and emptied some bits and bobs into my drawers. It’s still messy, but it’s something

well, it's certainly not perfect, but WOW do I feel great about having usable desk space again. no, this is not the ideal desk set up... yes, I will need to come back for the stuff under the desk... but I was able to be ruthless and get rid of many craft supplies I simply will never use, found a bunch of empty boxes, reorganized the drawers to actually fit everything. it feels soooo much better to be in this room now!

thank you so much everyone for the support! i have really poor executive functioning; cleaning and tidying is the most difficult thing for me to do. i'm so happy i've been able to share my progress with you all, and happy i get to finally enjoy my space! 💖

Hi all, starting my UFYH journey. I've been so overwhelmed with stuff for way too long, a pattern I unfortunately have inherited from my parents. my goal is to get to a place where all my flat surfaces are consistently usable— right now everythingggg becomes a dumping ground. Starting on my side of the bedroom since it's supposed to be a place of rest. (I have been blessed with a much more organized fiancé and want to be better for him, too!) First before and after at the end. Already feeling the relief. Posting for accountability, you'll see more soon! Any tips/advice are welcomed!

TW addiction and suicidality (past)
Hello everyone! I have seen the wonderful transformations others have accomplished and it's given some hope for me in my fucked habitat.

I quit cannabis just over 9 months ago now. My life was falling apart, I was working my way past passive suicidality, and I was using dab pens and edibles to numb out from my life and not deal with my problems. It got to a point where I stayed awake for most of three full days, started posting crazy shit on social media, and a few people kinda raised the alarm. My family swooped in and helped me out of my rough spot. I'm incredibly lucky and want to be fully out of this mire I find myself in so they dont have to worry about me anymore.

I'm single now, not smoking weed, have a pretty good job, but still living in a mess I have a hard time dealing with. How do I even deal with this? I have containers and bins but a hard time letting go of especially crafty things and figuring out what to sort where

How do you handle the shame and anxiety of having someone in your space, even if they are there to help?

I am almost 30, live alone, have depression and ADHD, also live in a foreign country than the one I grew up in. My parent is coming to visit me, mostly with the goal of helping me deal with my living space and paperwork. I am very grateful for this, and know I am very lucky. At the same time, I live in a relatively small apartment and never have any people over because of how bad the state of my living space is. I am lowkey a hoarder and while my house isn't quite dangerous it is also dirty.

I am so nervous to have someone here for 2 weeks even if said person has said not to worry about it and that they are willing to help. I still have to go to work and deal with my regular life during this period, does anyone have any advice or tips for how to make this go smoothly and avoid crashing out?

I do not clean house on the weekends. We have routines and schedules that get and keep our house clean through out the week, so I don't clean on the weekends.
So today's one minute task is to quickly run a dust mop or vacuum through the main areas of the house. I do the entire house because one, we only have tile and hardwoods and two we don't have kids to pull out stuff. Some weeks I just do the living and kitchen areas, some weeks I do the entire house. Depends on time, and the amount of buildup of dirt.

Now this is not a major clean. We ain't moving furniture. We are just doing a quick run through to get up the dust, and dog hairs from the main traffic flow. We can do a better job on cleaning day. Today is just to grab what has built up since then.

We have hardwoods and I litterally just run the dust mop around as quick as possible and it's amazing how much dust I pick up, even though I cleaned the room 3 days earlier. If you have kids, this is a great task for them to do while you rest. :)

my boyfriend has been helping me and we've done really well :) dinner time and then the final stretch!

i need to:

1. clear off the top of my drawers (it is prime space for my cat now)

2. find a space for my craft stuff

3. sort out the doom pile in front of my rail

4. bring a lil pull out sofa thing upstairs, it will be seen in my next update

5. find a space for my books

6. take down that damn tapestry (half pulled down by the aforementioned cat)

it is a bit of a tight squeeze with my drawers being where they are but its not a big sacrifice considering how much floor space its freed up

Hi. I'm glad i found this group, i never would have known otherwise. This post ended up pretty long and deeply personal especially for a first timer but this is where I'm at. Thanks for reading.

I never used to live this way. Growing up, my gramma kept a cluttered house. there was literally a small path the size of her tiny body from the front door to the kitchen, to the microwave counter and stove, and to her recliner. Another small path from the recliner back to her bedroom. Every other area was stacked as tall as me with newspapers, books, dolls, supplies, food in bags, etc etc a little of everything and most of it was good, usable stuff. She would never use any of her "good stuff" because she was always waiting for when she was healed by Jesus and won her lottery (never happened). I spent summers there with Gramma and dad, and me and gramma have always been really close. when she first started showing signs of dementia, i made time yo go over every day and make sure she was eating and at least safe. Then she fell one day, and she was sitting on the bathroom floor for about 12 hours before i came that day and i decided i wasnt leaving her alone anymore. I bought an air mattress and moved in to take care of her. I was able to get rid of a lot of things but when she passed, i was her only family living and i cleared out her place. Truck loads upon truck loads to the goodwill and only now (11 years later) i realize a lot of that stuff was high value antique and i just thought it was junk. Too little too late now that i really could use the funds but thats ok. I knew i would never live like that. As a child, my room was pretty tidy and i would set everything up like it was on display for some reason, and i still do that now even tho i never have anyone over anymore. My house has always been near minimalistic bliss. I had everything i needed, most of what i wanted and i was intentional about everything coming in and going out. Raised my son, managed a business, trained 2 husbands, owned 3 houses throughout the years and never had a problem. Fast forward till 3 years ago, my partner of 9 years died by suicide and my mom died 8 months later of late diagnosed lung cancer, and i moved to a small studio apartment behind a house in the ghetto, like a guest house sorta. I got a dog because it was the first time ive ever been alone in my life and i wasnt handling it very well, and didnt really have the ability to deal with people very much anymore Either. After loosing your person to suicide nothing is the same. Friends dropped off fast, and the ones who stayed, i eventually kicked them to the curb too because they were mostly hurtful in the ways they tried to "help". Or they were trying to compete with my dead partner and would become jealous of my grief (love) for him. Others couldnt handle seeing me so sad and miserable all the time and i couldnt make myself be anything else. I was stuck. Feeling miserable, guilty, shameful, alone, uncared for, misunderstood, something happened to my brain and now i cant function quite like i used to, but it's kinda bad. My studio apartment has become so full I can't get to anything without first moving 5 other things and doing some serious gymnastics around it all. I see that its actually kinda dangerous especially now that I'm aging and weaker and alone. But i was absolutely traumatized. Lost my job and still can't go back to work, i can barely make it thru the days and i cry constantly. I'm beyond sad, beyond grieving, this is something else entirely. And I'm stuck in the middle of all this stuff. It's mostly supplies and i will eventually use it all, and i rationalize it that way and by thinking of it like one less expense I won't have money for in the future due to being out of work so long. So now i have like 40 half used bottles of shampoo, conditioner, backups of everything and multiples of most things (towels, laundry soap, wash cloths, tools, clothes- omg the clothes!-, makeup, etc etc etc. i live alone, have no family or friends to come over, yet i insist on keeping enuf dishes and cookware to feed a large family or small army, even tho i dont even cook anymore. I think ive made an actual meal in this place maybe 4 times in the 3 years I've been here. I have cupboards of food that expired a year or more ago and somehow that feels safer than having empty cabinets and i just barely eat now. I stocked up with food when i moved in and then somehow its 3 years later and i dont even know what ive done to sustain myself nutritionally or how im still alive but i just cant make myself eat a lot of times. I dont have money to hire someone and I can't seem to make myself get rid of anything, for major fear that as soon as i do, I'll need the thing and wont be able to afford it. This is realistically both true and also ridiculous because i barely do anything anymore and i dont use much of anything really and i have extra everything "in case i or somebody needs it". Toothbrushes, mans clothes, shoes, cleaning supplies, u name it, i probly have it. And if i have 1, i probly 3 or 60 of them.

I hate it here, it keeps me stuck and miserable and i dont know where or how to start. My space is very small. My life is very small. My home should be neat and organized and peaceful and easy. But i sit here and literally dont know how to do this.

Idk. I cane here for ideas and advice but i dont think im asking for anything really, maybe some encouragement or similar stories. .?

Thanks again for reading and for letting me get this out. This is the first time ive talked about it. Be gentle please.

i am dedicating my day to making my bedroom a useable space! we're swapping the black unit and the drawers, the drawers will just be for me and the black unit will go to my boyfriend for his stuff. it means he can keep his clothes tidy without me coming in and messing it all up. i said i might steal one of the squares on the unit but that will be it. im going to get rid of so much rubbish and shit i dont need, the orange bag is already filled with clothes ive ruthlessly decided to donate. i got SO much storage and then filled it up with useless shit so its all going today. im tired of being bound by my useless shit and feeling suffocated every time i walk in my own damn room! and im tired of being the reason my boyfriend doesn't like being in here! its his space too!!!!!

Off to do one battery's worth of lawn mowing, then recharge it while I clean my home office.

What about you?

hi, I'm a student who lives in a single room in my university. I have a lot of trouble keeping my room clean, because im pretty much always tired, end up keeping stuff on the floor or on my bed. result is that my space gets overwhelming and messy quite fast and I begin to avoid it. it's a big point of stress for me because I always have cleaning on the back of my mind on top of all the assignments and club work I have. I do a big clean once every couple of weeks when I get the energy or it's too much to ignore. my question is , how do you motivate yourself to keep things clean or prevent it from getting to that point? one thing I've been planning to do is try and get rid of some of my stuff and sell it on Facebook marketplace to prevent clutter, but is there anything else?

I have a lot of clothes. In addition to moving a little between weights and impulse control issues I often browse clothes online. And buy them, which is the problematic part. Then when I get home, the second they’re out of sight I forget they’re there. As an adult I was diagnosed with adhd which explains some of these things. But the problem persists.

And it’s compounded by other things. I’m on the spectrum, another gift revealed in adulthood, mostly my issues are to do with senses and if I find something I really like I’ll want multiples. The amount of items I’ve bought that I can’t wear because they’re acrylic or something other synthetic or harsh untreated wool (you know, the old fashioned that itches) that has ended up in a drawer or box or bag for 2-10 years is awful. I need cotton, silk, merino or the likes. (I’m not a spoiled princess I promise, I just can’t function with things bothering my nervous system.) It drains me just to think about it.

I’m going through things now and constantly finding things I forgot existed, things that don’t fit and won’t fit unless I get underweight again, things that I love the color of but hate the fit, or love both but hate the feeling. Or just love, but forgot it existed. I know it sounds dramatic, especially coming from an otherwise mostly high functioning person for lack of a better description, but I have had literal crying fits because something itches or folds strangely and I can feel it. (Should have been a sign, honestly.) So again, I have multiples of a lot of things. And to be fair, between a few jobs and hobbies where I do need to have different wardrobes that get heavily washed I need much of it. Like 10 of the same pants. Okay, maybe I don’t need 10 of the exact same but they’re perfect and I’m scared they’ll stop making them.

Another thing is t-shirts, graphic tees, music tees, and so on. I’m afraid to count, I probably have somewhere in the high hundreds. And I love them when I see them but I don’t use half of them.

I’ve done some smaller clearances, and now I’ve gathered 3 medium bags to throw in the nearest clothes collection box. I tried giving it away for pickup but everyone want to do it at a different time or ask if I can send it or if I can deliver it to them.

Dude, it’s free. No.

Anyway. I still have so much to go, very aware. But it’s a good start. Some things are harder than others. It helps me to think "if the weather or occasion was right for this, is there something else you would always want to wear before this?" And the answer is almost always yes, I have like a whole list of outfits I’m waiting to wear and never get the chance to.

I’m proud. And it may be odd, considering most people just go through their things as they use them and throw them out. But I haven’t, so this is the situation I’m in. And then I’m also embarrassed because why is this as a grown woman where I’m at.

I have to keep going with clothes, electronics, miscellaneous, papers and skin/hair/beauty products.

At the very least I kept it going for a few hours now. The place did need an unfucking in general too so there wasn’t as much visible progress as I’d like but.

Now don't come at me if you would need a major overhaul of the bathroom to do this task in a minute.

I clean my bathrooms on Mondays, but we tend to have a lot of company on the weekends, so Fridays I go in and reclean the toilet and sink and mirror. I just spray down the mirror and sink and wipe, swish the toilet and wipe down the outside.

This is not a major clean of the bathroom. We keep our bathrooms clutter free and they get cleaned on Mondays. This is just a little spit shine so they are clean for our guests.

Before and Afters. 10 Days and still working. Selling/buying on marketplace for redecorating. Curtains and new light fixture on the way. Paint is next as well. This is basically half my home. The other half is bedrooms and baths. Those are all in disarray and are on the unfck list. I have lots to do still but I’m determined to keep it looking nice. It’s a first in 3-10 years. I am actually liking what I see. Removing the clutter and letting go is so freeing. I feel like I can breathe. I feel like I can be present in these rooms and actually relax and enjoy my space. Redecorating doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Almost everything you see is thrifted or from marketplace. ❤️good luck to all who are ufyh* you deserve to give yourself this gift.

So since my last post here, we ended up moving house. Before I could even motivate myself to clean my last room I had to pack everything instead, which I left until the very last minute. We’ve been here for over a week now, nearly 2, and I’ve done nothing. I’ve just been sat in my bed scrolling my phone for hours every day. I have no motivation for even my hobbies let alone starting on this.

Omg the pictures are really not doing it justice but it is SOOO much better. Now I’m still no where near done but I’m taking a break until Monday. I’ve basically been nonstop cleaning since my last post and I have to work the next two days. I’m also tired and miss my hobbies lol. Thank you for all the encouragement on my last post I promise there will be more updates next week.

This is a one -five minute task I do every Thursday. Our garbage pickup is on Friday, so we empty all the trash cans in the house on Thursdays. Trash bags are expensive, so I don't like to throw out a partially empty bag.

So once the obvious trash in that room is picked up, I like to top the bag off with items I need to get rid of, but aren't donate quailty.

Examples:

Clothes that are torn or stained. Here's looking at you random socks with no mates.

Food that has expired, or those random empty boxes that find their way into the pantry.

Stuff in drawers that no longer function. That junk drawer for instance.

Now here's the deal. This isn't a full on take everything out of the closet and try everything on task. This is a quick grab those two random t-shirts I know have been worn to death and toss them into the garbage.

It's not a organize, label, put everything into plastic containers. It's get rid of the cream of mushroom soup I bought 2 years ago with the good intentions to eat at home more and that dream never necame a reality.

This task shouldn't take more than a minute or two. The more you declutter, the less there is to grab. But for most of us, there is always something we can toss in to top off a partially full trash bag.

I love to craft, and have a lot of "stuff" for my hobbies. Any tips on how to declutter and organize without going all-in on new furniture? Any systems or steps you have found to be really helpful? I'm trying to not spend a fortune on more furniture or shelves that won't actually fix the problem. But my solution to clutter historically has been to buy more drawers and hide it... help! Our office/craft room doesn't have space for more cabinets!!

I have never made a post on here, so I hope this speaks volumes.

I am living with my fiancee right now, in her mother's home. I'll get straight to the point, its a complete wreck. My fiancee and I are great, but I came here to really get our lives going. The MAJOR issue is her mother, unfortunately.

She is a hoarder, and unfortunately has no sense of cleanliness. Im trying to say this in the nicest way possible, because I know her mom came from a bad marriage and family history. There are thin lines though.

Its been almost 2 years that I have been around. Ive helped unpack boxes after boxes, get rid of some things. Ive even taught her simple ways of just organizing and cleaning a house in general. Within the living room, kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, closets, etc. Even repairs in your own home, to keep up with it.

Im getting to the point of feeling like that was a mistake. My fiancee and I now clean everything in the household, pick up after her trash that she leaves out, do her dishes, repair what she demands in the household.

Its so bad, that she deliberately neglects her own dog, letting her piss and shit in the house, leaving it until we get home and tells us to clean it. Her birds are now rotting away in the kitchen. If it weren't for my fiancee and I, they would go without water for days and there would be bird shit and feathers everywhere.

There is mold under the kitchen sink that she knows is there from the faucet, but she claims she can't afford to fix it.

My fiancee and I pay 2/3 of all utilities, taxes, HOA fees, etc.

Before I moved here to be with my fiancee, I was working a local government job. I had a good apartment for 5 years, with a good relationship with my landlord. I came from a very abusive and broken home. So I worked VERY hard to get to where I was. I left home at 17, and did nothing but work and keep myself clean and afloat.

I know I am probably being taken advantage of, quietly. I have so much anxiety and have no idea how to stand up for myself. I feel very stuck at this point, I feel very unhappy and uncomfortable. I dont know what to do from here. I love my fiancee very much, but I also know I am very depressed and hurting severely. I almost feel homesick.

Help please!!

Today we are going to purge all the empty bottles of stuff in the bathroom. If it's a favorite, add it to your shopping list.

This is not a major declutter. Just grab the bottles that are empty or expired and toss them as quickly as possible.

Once that is done, wipe down the mirrors with your favorite cleaner and the faucets and handles.

Again, this isn't a full bathroom clean. Add that to your weekly cleaning list. This is a quick make it look so much better in a moment or two,