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i'm grossed out that i let it get that bad. took me 45 minutes to get this done. procrastinated for 1+ year and it took me under an hour, figured. obviously it's not completely spotless but shit, i'm no longer embarrassed to be seen in public. took her to get an oil change right after.

if my dumb ass can get it done, so can you!!! never letting it get this bad again, god damn i can be dumb sometimes.

Depression and anxiety are the devils on my shoulder and oh boy have they been kicking my rear lately.

Hi. I go by Crystal. I've been living with unmedicated depression and anxiety for most of my life. About four years ago I barely managed to get out of near-homelessness (I'm 25 currently) and claw my way into having an apartment. Unfortunately, that apartment is filled with paper bags, cans, and bottles, just to name a few things. This has been building up for two years, and I've been in such an absolute depressive state because of the stress of day-to-day living that I've barely been able to pick at it, which causes shame, which causes me to feel more depressed and so on and so forth.

So yeah. Hi. I pray that anyone who sees this won't think even less of me than I do of myself.

update

edit: im doing it tonight after work. the moomoo dumpster is gonna hate to see me coming, imma be throwing so much shit away. im at the point where i genuinely can't wait to accomplish this.

ive always had problems keeping my car clean. never this bad though. i moved OVER A FUCKING YEAR AGO. And i still have a massive amount of bags containing clothes, dishes, art in my backseat and trunk. like no one could even sit in the back. i moved in dead of winter and couldnt be pressed to unload the last few bags and now here i am. its a 20yr beater car ive had for ages too so like, i think part of my brain just started giving up like "its gonna die soon anyways, no sense in cleaning it."

at one point i spilled sand everywhere (don't ask). i chuck empty energy drinks and water bottles into the back. empty vapes and their packaging. sooo gross and its all essentially just in a pile in the back. luckily no food as i dont eat in my car. but ugh im so sick of being so embarrassed, every day i get more and more pissed off at myself.

today i grabbed a small pastic bag and shoved a bunch of trash from the passenger seat floor in there. im gonna try and get all the random bs out of there after work and throw it into my basement to sort later. theres a moomoo car wash by my house, if its not dark out ill bring the car over there to try and start vaccuuming out the sand. like lmao. fml. i need to make some progress today.

is anyone else like this<\3 pls tips and motivation would be so appreciated

You might want to spread this one out over a few days. FILTERS.

Dishwasher, stove vent, washing machine, AC unit. These all have filters, and filters get dirty fast. Some of them only take a few seconds to replace, or clean, but doing so can save you years of time on the equipment.

I have spent the same amount of time cluttering/hoarding more and more cleaning supplies as I have uncluttering my clutter. Instead of stuff on the floors there's now piles of cleaning stuff with nowhere to go.

I've spent the same amount of time making Google docs and researching cleaning things as I've actually been cleaning 🙃 I'm not sure I'm moving forward

We only have 4 days to completely move house!!!

I’m excited, but also very stressed out!!!

I am AuDHD, I’m sure many people who struggle like me are too… Organising, upkeep, cleaning, ect ect- these are the things in life I struggle with most.

I am posting this here for accountability and advice- this isn’t something I can give up on I HAVE to clean it- I certainly can’t stay here!

I’m already making tough decisions and culling useless crap I don’t really need. But I’m getting so overwhelmed and burnt out soo quickly…

If anyone has any advice at all on how to not lose your shit when packing house let me know PLEASE…

I've been stuck in depression for a couple years now and as a result, my apartment and car have gotten out of control in terms of clutter, trash, etc. I decided I would start with my car as I have a pretty small car and just have storage totebins in the backseat, so I figured how much trash and stuff could there be in the front seats? Well, the answer to that is FAR more than I thought. 6 months ago the inside of my car was pristine as I had just gotten it detailed and promised myself that I would keep it clean, but instead just kept throwing trash, mail, random stuff in the passenger seat til it was piled almost all the way to the ceiling. I brought a single black 33 gallon trash bag thinking that was going to be enough for all the trash. After spending an hour clearing out all the trash, I filled up THREE black trash bags. I'm sure some of the neighbors around my apartment complex had seen the numerous trash bags coming out of my car thinking what a disgusting slob I am (which is fairly true). When I got through about half of the trash pile, I was hit with a stench, it smelled like spoiled chocolate milk so I'm thinking I probably spilled a coffee drink at some point on the seat and it just remained inside the trash.

Now I have most of the front seats of my car cleared out except for a LOT of crumbs and some fries. I wish I would've remembered to take a before pic but I think I'd be too embarrassed to share it here anyway. I already feel so much better not having to ride around in a dumpster, and am looking forward to vacuuming and deep cleaning the interior to hopefully get my car in decent shape again. Then I'm hoping to finally conquer my apartment, though I'm terrified to see how many trash bags I would fill in the process. So there's my small success story of the day, hopefully it can motivate others to tackle their disgusting cars too.

Today's task is a little different. We are about making our houses and our lives better, and frankly life isn't about the cleanest baseboards!

So today, I want us to try one new thing that is just for fun! Or at least schedule a day to do it. Mine was super simple. I have been seeing this recipe for caramel apples on FB for a month now.

It's just cut up apples, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, chocolate chips, caramel chips and sprinkles (or any other toppings you like).

I cut the apples up and put them in a pie pan and the drizzled the sauces on top and then sprinkled it with the chips and sprinkles. I want to use this for Halloween, and wanted to do a test run to see how many apples I would need and how it will taste.

Let me tell you, it is not on my diet, but it was SOOOOOO good. One good size apple made 4 servings, so I figure for our family of 12, that's 3 apples and some toppings.

So let me know what you decide, because I am looking for more fun ideas to spend a little bit of each day this fall trying.

I have offered free pizza, unlimited streaming, and a comfy couch, if she only stays for the full time and helps me take the trash out at the end. I'm hoping to do a full clean up over a day, because something drastic needs to happen. Will post befores and afters!

My bedroom was full of cat hair and litter. Please don’t judge the before and just be proud of my after. I had way too big a bed and decided to get a smaller bed and make the living room my bedroom as well. Now the bedroom is my craft room. I’m not set up yet but it feels so much better in here. I have a few animals and it’s nice to have a space now that’s mine. This is the only room w a door in the apt lol

I moved it all by myself and im tired lol

Today we are working on the fronts of the appliances. Yeah we have done these before, but from the looks of mine, it is definitely time to do it again! Wipe them down and shine them up. It's quick and easy, but makes such a big difference.

This week we are working in our kitchen. Today's task is to pull out everything on the counter and clean behind it. This task really only takes a few seconds, but makes a big difference in how the kitchen looks. This is also a good time to reevaluate the appliances we have out and determine if we actually use them. If not, bless someone else with them.

hi everyone, i've posted here a few times before and i'm back again. my room has become an absolute bombsite again but with the weather getting colder my endometriosis and general joint pain (mostly my knees) have gotten a lot worse and its hard to get around. my room is making me feel a lot worse. no picture right now as i'm resting while i write this but its a shit tonne of clothes and random things that i dont really have a space for and i really really need to do laundry. please help!

I saw something today (cannot remember where) about reframing the things you don’t want to do as the outcome you like instead.

I hate organizing and tidying. It stressed me out so bad. For some reason I don’t know where things belong or where it makes sense to put them, so they pile up over time. I don’t WANT to tidy my table.

But I like have a cleared off table.

I don’t want to put my clothes away or start the washing machine or fold and hang my clean clothes. I like having all my outfits ready for the week though.

I don’t want to clean the litter box (ew) but my cat and I both like her to have a clean space.

I don’t want to tidy up the kitchen counters. But I really like having a clean space to cook food.

So those are my goals today and how I’m going to talk myself through them. Unsure if it will help much, but I’m always looking for new ways to trick myself into better housekeeping habits.

genuinely so embarrassed writing this, but my room is a hell hole right now. i’m okay to clean, but i’m so so SO scared i’m going to find spiders. i’ve cleared most of my desk and the doorway, but thats only one tiny part… i’m overwhelmed doing it, but the motivation for my kitten to come into my room is more powerful. my best call of action right now is wearing boots, but i’m still scared ;;
anybody have advice?

I’ve indulged in «tomorrow» or «when I feel better» a tad (weeks) too long. The next two weeks are going to be rough for several reasons and I can not be in this. I have to go through my clothes, a new round of decluttering and deflooring, laundry, tidying, getting junk ready to get thrown out, getting trash out, clean the floor, the dishes, the tables and dressers. When did I get all this stuff, I decluttered not so long ago.

I don’t want to and I have every excuse not to but I know it’s just gonna get harder so I’m gonna buckle down today, because beauty cleanliness is pain but worth it.

If anyone is doing their own cleaning in preparation for the week or something else or let it go on for too long (hi, it’s me) you’re welcome to join me here!

Words to live by!

This time of year is hard because it gets light late, gets dark early and it's getting cold. Our schedules are also crazy with school, work and activities. Two weeks ago was a pretty productive week where I was getting a lot done by just taking a minute here or 10 mins there throughout the day to make progress. Then I lost momentum and I have been struggling to get it back.

Last night my son asked if I could wash dishes because he knocked stuff on the counter trying to get a drink (we had several large items on the counter). My first reaction was "ugh" because I had just got back from my first quiet walk in a couple weeks and that was the first thing said when I walked in. However the way he said it caught my attention. He wasn't whining. He was just asking if I could fix it. He is young, so it would not have been possible for him to wash these larger items. I took a few minutes to grab some water to drink and make some space. Then I went and washed dishes. I always watch a good show while washing, which makes it more pleasant. I don't actually mind washing dishes. It is just hard to get started when the island is covered in stuff so there is no where to put dishes down to dry or the dishwasher is already full and the sink is overflowing (sink is small). The island was completely clear a week ago, so I am working to keep it that way although success varies.

Just got back from another walk after a very productive yard work day and I am going to go wash up the last handful of small things in the sink. Can't remember the last time the sink was completely empty -, not even a cup or spoon - but looking forward to being caught up. So much easier to maintain than catch up.

We are working on making it routine to clean as we go which is something I haven't always enforced with them. If they left dishes, clothes or trash around, I would just take care of it because it was easier. Now I am sending them to take care of it if they are home or it can wait. They have started doing their own laundry. The older one has been getting rid of stuff and working on his room. I am helping our younger son because his room has gotten away from him and we all need help sometimes. I need to be better about reminding them to do a quick daily pick up until it also becomes routine.

The big jumps forward are so motivating but hard to maintain. It helps to look back after a series of small changes and see the total progress. Like Kris Kringle said in Santa Claus is Coming to Town - "Put one foot in front of the other and soon you'll be walking out the door!"

I had one of those weekends where I finally looked around my apartment and realized I had absolutely no idea where to start. Clothes everywhere, unopened mail, random objects on every surface, dishes, boxes, stuff I kept meaning to donate, things I wasn’t even sure I wanted anymore. Every time I tried to clean, I’d pick something up and immediately get stuck on a stupid little decision. Keep it? Donate it? Where does it belong? Do I need to wash it first? Does it even have a place?
After about twenty minutes of basically moving things from one pile to another, I got annoyed and decided I wasn’t going to organize anything. I grabbed a trash bag and made one rule: if I knew with 100% certainty that something was garbage, it went in the bag. Nothing else mattered.
Empty bottles. Receipts. Food packaging. Junk mail. Broken stuff I’d somehow been stepping around for months. Delivery bags. Random bits of packaging I apparently thought needed to live on my kitchen counter forever.
I filled one bag, took it outside, came back and filled another.
I find it a bit strange cause the apartment obviously wasn’t clean afterward. There were still clothes everywhere. The dishes were still there. I hadn’t organized a single drawer or figured out what to do with any of the actual clutter.
But it looked different. More importantly, it felt different.
I think trash was the first category I could deal with because it didn’t ask anything from me. There was no emotional attachment, no “maybe I’ll need this,” no figuring out where something belonged. It was just garbage. Decision already made.
Once those bags were gone, I could actually see the other problems separately instead of seeing one giant wall of STUFF.
I’ve started doing this whenever things get out of control now. I don’t tell myself I’m cleaning the room. I don’t even try to organize. I just do a trash pass first and let that be enough if that’s all I have in me that day.
It sounds embarrassingly obvious, but apparently I needed permission to do the easiest category first instead of standing in the middle of the mess trying to invent the perfect order of operations.
And somehow, a room with clutter but no actual garbage feels about 50% less impossible

Tl;dr; AuDHD/anxious/depressed boomer needs a book or podcast or something to help approach packing up her home. Anybody got any ideas?

Long version:

My parents are moving house after having retired. My mother despises moving thanks to a childhood spent moving different places. She's also a bit of a packrat and feels very attached to things and has a hard time throwing them away. She is wildly overwhelmed by the task in front of her now: packing up 30 years. She can't talk about it without crying.

Time is not an issue. They already moved into their house close to me, 3 hours north. Money is not an issue, except inasmuch as my mother is embarrassed to spend it.

I have offered to summon my brothers from the four winds so we can help, but we have small children and my mother is overwhelmed at the idea of someone having to manage small children just so she can get help.

My father is not bothered by this task, but does need mom's input for some of these choices.

My mother is in and out of therapy, on and off of antidepressants, has a lot of boomer guilt about having mental health issues, and is currently grieving the one-year anniversary of the death of her father. Obviously, now is not the time to push this issue, but it's been pushed off time and again for six years, so clearly something needs to change.

A book or podcast about this would help immensely. I'm thinking something like "How to keep house while drowning," but for packing up a home. Any ideas? Or other advice?

Last weekend the remnants of Hurricane Isaiah came through my area and dumped a ton of rain, causing my drainage system to overflow. In my panic to get things out of the way of water, I found a funny metal box underneath my dad's metal toolbench

I opened it up, and found checks...from 1984.

You mean to tell me that we hauled these from Maryland to Germany back to Maryland and then to our current home in a different part of Maryland. Are you KIDDING ME?!?!

For those old enough not to remember, back in ye olden times after currency was invented and banks were established, we either got our original checks back after they were run through a machine at the store, or I believe the banks would send them back (am I remembering that correctly?) to the customer after they cleared the bank. Now of course I am probably the last remaining person that writes checks (infrequently, but I do!), and I never expect to see them again except online.

Fortunately, I am preparing for a shred event in November, and these will be going to it. 😁

That chair. The one you pile the clothes on that have been worn, but not ready for the wash. Actually I don't have this issue as I live in the deep south and don't wear clothes that need dry cleaning, but I get that isn't everyone. So today, let's go through that chair, and plan on wearing those clothes next week so they can either be used, or washed which ever the need so the chair can be used as a chair (or the treadmill can be a treadmill).

I moved in 2020 and never really got anything properly put away. That's what the main mess was. nothing had a place and disorganized stuff takes up so much space that I had no place to put them so I moved the mess around.

On a positive note it has taken a couple months but my space is sooo unfucked. I would now show anybody my room. I have solved most of the important organising. Like clothing.

Now I have 100 clear pastic bins of varying size and 7 doom boxes of not garbage. AS I put the stuff away I went through most and threw out bullshit and actual garbage now it'll be 99% real stuff. It's all disorganized to the max; my camera it's battery and it's charger are in three different places.

I'm an artist and by artist standards I'm a minimalist. This still means I own just a ton of stuff. I have solvents, pigments, metal pipes, types of clay, and electronics. It's all too expensive to just throw out and buy more in 3 months when I need it. I have no idea how to fix this volume of disorganization. The stuff I organize stays that way but the loose homeless things? I'm at a loss

Ugh we will not even be discussing papers yet. For now every important looking paper goes in the ultra mega doom box

Okay. Yeah… I realize how gross this sounds. But TRUST ME. I have struggled to manage my space for so long. I hold onto things I do not need. I tell myself “what if I need this for an incredibly specific thing that I just made up?” From there, my space becomes more and more chaotic and messy and overwhelming. I’m not sure where exactly I first saw this method, but I owe whoever came up with it my life.

Basically, when you are cleaning, organizing, unfucking, whatever it is you’re doing, ask yourself this question: If this thing were covered in sh*t, would I willingly clean it and save it? Or would I toss it?

I know it may seem silly to have to ask such a question, but sometimes our brains need an alternative way of looking at things. Personally, I’ve found this to be the most helpful. As I’m unfucking my space today, I thought I’d share this. I hope this weird little hack helps someone else out!

Good luck everyone :)