Overwhelmed. Clutter everywhere. Where do I begin???

No this is not another article about hording. Where the piles are so big only pathways to get to and from one room to another are left. What this is a feeling of being overwhelmed. Where you know there is a mess but you continue to walk by it because you are too busy.

Busy with kids, work, classes whatever it is life has just passed by and there has been no time to pick up or go through the papers that are now building. Kids moving out and leaving stuff behind for you to take care of. Kids moving back bringing more stuff with them. The teenager that thinks you are a maid. That someone else should be picking up the dirty dish, the mail that they grabbed from the mailbox.

If this is you, you are not alone! This is the life in a busy household.

In the last few months I have been putting in 50+ hours a week. My oldest daughter and her 2 and 5 year old boys moved back in the house because of a failed relationship. She had no furniture but clothes and the toys! Both boys had three bikes. There were the 2 pools and other yard toys.

My son lost his job and moved back in too. This was in May. He found a job and quit it because he is moving out of state (Alaska). He sold most of his other stuff. But left a pan of old oil from a car change and stuff that he did not sell or did not want to part with so it is stored at my house.

Then our baby. She is entering her last year and a half of college and does not want to give up her room to her sister. Even though she is not planning on coming home next summer she wants her room to remain the same so she can be in her room the 5 times she will probably visit over the next year.

We cannot get rid of their stuff. We are not allowed. But yet the stuff from the last time they moved is still here, filling the garage and basement.

Over the last two weekends we had a rummage / tag sale to get rid of stuff but not everything sold. This fills what is left of the garage yet.

Toys fill the yard. Papers are left all over. I have no idea where the mail is for the last week. It is not in our mailbox.

And yet with all the clutter our 21, 22 and 24 year old adults (kids) walk past everything. Dishes pile up but they will not wash them or even put them away without being told. There are clothes to be folded and toys to be picked up but no help. AAAHHHHH!

So I am home and looking at everything. I am overwhelmed. I do not know where to start. Do I start in the kitchen so we can eat at the table? Do I start in the garage so I can park the car in it again? Or do I just hide in my bedroom with my wife and hope things get better? I have to start but where?

The laundry that never ends! I have been washing clothes all day! My wife folding.

Our son left yesterday with his one suitcase of belongings he was taking with him. The garage sale ended just before we took him to the airport.

Our eldest took the kids and left for the weekend. I just found a dirty cup in the boys’ bedroom. She has her blankets piled on the floor with their dirty/clean laundry. I could put some in the empty dresser but I don’t know what is clean or dirty.

Our youngest came home to work this weekend. Her new job where she lives at school does not start until October. She comes home from work and does laundry and sits on her *&&!

So I am stuck in a mess. It will take time to get it all put away. But where to start? Then it dawns on me that avoiding it does not make it go away. Just start. Where? Anywhere! So here I go.

Just my 2 cents. Jim @ ChangeJarSavings.com

Comments

Nancy K says:

November 29, 2009 at 9:04 am

When I moved out of my parents home, my Mom told me that if I wanted something to take it with me. Anything left behind was going to be thrown out. It’s your Wife’s and your home, not theirs. Put your collective feet down. Make rules and enforce them. They can’t treat you like a maid or servent if you don’t let them. Tough love is the way to go.