heartosunshine Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 We moved into our house about 3 years ago & it's been one thing after another. I never fully unpacked (only a few boxes left), organized (lots of decluttering now), painted the walls, or arranged things how I wanted. There are also some minor repairs, etc. that I'd like to do. I've declared this summer to be the time to get started! I realize I won't be able to get everything done this summer, but I'd like to be efficient & do as much as I can. The only problem is...where do I start? Should I go room by room completing everything in one room before moving to the next? Should I declutter throughout the house, then unpack throughout the house, then paint or should I use some other system? Help! I'm seriously overwhelmed here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikkistone Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 :grouphug: Take a deep breath. It will all get done! I'd start in your main areas (kitchen, living room, wherever you spend a lot of your time). Set a timer for 20 or 30 minutes and work for only that long. Then later in the day, set your timer again and work a little. You'd be surprised at how much you can get down in that short amount of time! I'd take care of your main areas first, and then tackle smaller rooms (like kids rooms) later. It's hard to work and live in your main areas when everything is a mess! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anissa Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 If it were me I would declutter and unpack room by room. That way I could get rid of stuff no longer needed. Painting would happen last. Pick the room that drives you the craziest and go for it! Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 I just moved and this is how we did it - however there is no painting involved, this makes it more complicated. I set up the kitchen and bathroom right away so they were functional if not complete. Kept working on that until everything in kitchen and bathroom was done. Then, started working on the living room - down to one box, yeah! Bedrooms are a mess because we are waiting for the weekend when dh can install some shelves in the closets. So I would make a rule and unpack 5 boxes a day and put things where they need to be. At least in the corner of the room where they should be. Since you are talking about painting, evaluate where you need to paint first and then unpack the rest. Whatever is out of boxes, needs to be moved anyway if you are painting. At this point, I would go room by room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvasMom Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 I would go through each room and MAJOR declutter. Like Wendy said, if you haven't used the packed stuff in 3 years... Once you've got the "stuff" sifted through then I'd go room by room and organize each room one at a time. After all that is done then worry about painting and stuff. The first priority is decluttering and organizing and I'd make it my summer goal to get that done throughout the whole house and then if you have time to paint that's fine but it's not a big deal if that doesn't get done right away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartosunshine Posted June 10, 2011 Author Share Posted June 10, 2011 Thanks for the advice! Some of the stuff that's still packed I definitely want to keep (my very nice curio cabinet & contents, & other things that I have really missed), but I agree that some of it can go. Most of what is left in boxes is decorator type items. I've not had the time to decorate my house & so I never unpacked those items. I like the idea of starting in the main areas, especially the kitchen. My husband "helped out" by unpacking some kitchen items & things are quite disorganized (cooking utensils in 3 different drawers?!). I just never pulled it all out, decluttered & organized it. The timer set to 20 minutes will help a lot! Save the painting/repairs for last. Great advice! OK, now I can breathe! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T'smom Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 I'd make a list of what needs to be done, broken down into little pieces. Like "organize kitchen utensils" Then when you have just an extra 30 minutes you can get something knocked off the list. If you leave the list in an obvious place- maybe your dh will pitch in too! It's really nice to see things crossed off the list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tohru Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 When we go through mass cleaning/decluttering, I start in the room farthest from the door/exit. The idea is to spiral the mess out of the house. First clean that room, anything that doesn't belong gets pushed out, then move into the next room. Usually some stuff will be put into other rooms. At the end, everything I don't want in the house gets pushed out the exit door, at which point it is thrown in the trash or donated. Also, it's easier to put something back into a room if we want to keep it when the room is clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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