I'd like to hear about how you organize and keep your home & homestead clean! We have two different places and so much "stuff" ( a nice word for it:)! Don't say throw it away because it is stuff that we need or will need when we build our house at the farm. I am collecting things for the house of our dreams ( old sinks, tubs, lighting,moldings,door knobs, I have made several stain glass windows that we will use, and all my craft stuff, etc.)and my husband is collecting(tractor equipment,all kinds of tools,things to build and make things from scratch with, etc) things we will need to run and maintain the farm. I love dishes, pottery and kitchen "stuff", I sew and make curtains for others~ I have 4 sewing machines and lots of trims and fabrics! My husband loves new and old tools and guns!!! Well, you get the idea! I am beginning to feel much like a BIG rat!!!Any ideas on organizing the mess???? Thanks.Does anyone else have this problem???? HELP

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), August 04, 2000

Answers

I'll enjoy seeing the responses to this question. There's only so many hours in the day, and if I work off the farm, it's hard just to keep up with the necessary chores of keeping all the critters fed and content. Cleaning and organization are low on the totem pole. If I get a rainy day, or no off farm work, building maintenance is first priority. Outside cleaning would be a lot easier if I had lots of visitors visiting, but I live back in the sticks, with zero accidental traffic...if you get to my house, you meant to. Inside the house I try to keep the kitchen, livin room, and bathroom presentable, not spotless, but mostly clean. Other rooms, Chaos rules.

Just seems a waste of time keeping everything spotless. Especially when you've got mud roads. Way too much other stuff to do, hunt, fish, swim, read, etc. The chaos will be there tomorrow, whether I clean today or not. I've never gotten sick from entering a non spotless room.

-- phil briggs (phillipbriggs@thenett.com), August 04, 2000.

Wow!I was thinking of posting a similar question.Can't wait to see the responses.I just wonder how these ladies(for the most part)do it!I have two precious little ones(they occasionally bear the nickname,in my mind,of Hurricane Annie and Typhoon Matthew!)and it just seems that mess is the norm around here.I like to analyze myself and say "perhaps it is because you never cleaned much as a child,Tracy, that you just don't know the proper way. " I'm being facetious. God Bless and I hope you get lots of good advice!Aren't the people on the forum just great? ~~~Tracy~~~

-- Tracy Jo Neff (tntneff@ifriendly.com), August 04, 2000.

I keep the "public" rooms at least picked up. Sometimes they are even clean! The dark recesses of the nether regions of the house, however, are alive with crawly nasty things most of the time....It's a good thing that we live in a small house and can pick stuff up in record time (from the public rooms to the private rooms!)...Has happened on many occasions with visitors on short notice. Also, we like to keep a remodeling project in progress to divert any attention from poor housekeeping..also a great visual distraction for most folk!

Outside is another story. Then I just tell everyone that we are waiting to landscape after we finish remodeling. Works!!! My biggest laugh is when folks come over and negotiate stepping on animal poop! They worry about tracking it into the house. Thoughtful of them, but we just kick our shoes off at the door around here....

Mostly, we just stay very anti-social and invite over only our dirty old farmer friends! I recommend it... :)

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), August 04, 2000.

If you have the budget or can scrounge them, those little storage shed that look so cute at the roadside distributers are awfully handy. I hope one day I have storage sheds of one sort or another for all the stuff my husband drags home. Like the poster, most of it is stuff for the future homestead like building supplies and stuff, but golly it sure is ugly all piled about. I find that a tarp does wonders for tidying up on a moment's notice!

-- Soni Pitts (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), August 05, 2000.

i also keep the public rooms clean,kitchen and living room and 1 bathroom, the rest of the house a search party would be needed to find anyone who wondered in to them. the winter i try to organize but come spring forget it . not enough time in the day, as long as its clutter and not life threatening it stays there until jan. or feb.

-- renee oneill (oneillsr@home.com), August 05, 2000.

Debbie, I bet most of us are packrats. I know I keep bringing home "stuff" that I'm sure I'm gonna need someday. I am not a social butterfly, in fact I can't stand it when people drop in. I live alone, (well, I'm the only human here), so I can't blame this clutter on anyone but me. But, working two jobs, and feeding myself and my animals takes so much time and energy, and there's the garden, etc. My house is a mess; I clean top to bottom every two weeks, but I can't seem to get it together as far as the day to day clutter. Sometimes I think I need to put a clothes hamper and a trash can right in the middle of the livingroom. I guess my biggest problem is I'm not disciplined enough with the little stuff. I'd much rather spend the extra fifteen minutes a day with my wonderful buddies on this forum!!

-- Cathy Horn (hrnofplnty@webtv.net), August 05, 2000.

One thing that has really helped keep the straw, mud and dirt out of most of the house was putting two large, ridged, carpet mats down. One just inside the mudroom door and another just inside the kitchen doorway - one room leads to the other. I think I got them at Home Depot, they were inexpensive ($8.). They are about 3'x4'. It has made a big difference, as we currently have carpet in every room. P.S. I have the same problem, but I'm working on it!

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), August 05, 2000.

Get lot's of different storage containers! We use copy paper boxes that my husband gets from his office, they are a nice size & stack well. I try not to stack things in the living room or the kitchen! We have sturdy shelves in the basement, and put things in plastic containers because it gets damp down there. A sewer I know built cubbyholes and shelves for all her fabrics, I store mine in a small chest of drawers, but I'll admit I have a stack on the sewing machine table too! Hope this helps a little.

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), August 05, 2000.

I try to keep the outside mowed and trimmed as neatly as possible (this keeps down snakes too! at least we can see them when they're out there!

Inside our house, I guess "packrat" is a good way to describe it! My home office is always a complete mess but if either of my editors needs info on something I wrote two or even five years ago I can usually put my finger on it almost immediately! I guess I have "organized chaos" in here.

I try to keep the clothes clean; the kitchen at least clean enough we won't die from some strange dirt disease; and the bathrooms useable.

I seldom make our bed; usually just throw the covers and quilts back up on it.

I keep the inside kitty litter box scooped out every other day to keep down smell.

Other than that we just "live" and both work here!!!!

My screened back porch presently has onions hanging in panty-hose drying; some homeschool cards scattered on the floor (although our last graduated homeschool high school last year we still get the info; an empty rabbit food bag; a plate to feed the outside cat; a rocking chair that needs a new bottom; and an iron kettle I plant to wash and paint....

I would love for my house to be spotless, but today I have to write a major school budget article; call six candidates for mayor of two small towns and do interviews with them; run to town and to the bank; and then pick the remaning grapes off the vine directly behind the house and make about six more pints of grape jelly....

I have already washed a load of clothes and hung them out and washed the breakfast dishes...

Now that I've checked my e-mail; received a phone call about another major drug bust here that occurred yesterday that I need to write about; and checked out this and the BACKWOODS HOME forums, I've got to get to writing! Who has time to keep things spotless!!!

-- Suzy in 'Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), August 05, 2000.

And I forgot to mention already this morning I've also feed and water the Angora rabbits, cleaned underneath their hutches, and got them ready for the nice hot Alabama day by giving them each a big two-liter bottle of frozen water.

-- Suzy in 'Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), August 05, 2000.

Thanks everybody!!! I was raised in the cleanest, neatest house in town! My mother cleaned top to bottom EVERYDAY! It was always more important to clean than to do something with us! I swore when we had children,they would be first--what ever they needed or wanted BUT now they are grown and I am ready to get it a little more organized! I know it will be easier when we only have one place and all our "treasures" are in their place! My husband was raised like we raised our children and his family is much closer than mine!!!So MAYBE the dirt helps to "stick" us together (kinda like glue)!:)

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), August 05, 2000.

Debbie,

Make sure when you store something, especially if it is fabric or rubber (that includes anything with wires), you do something to keep the mice OUT. I had so many things ruined in my barn by those boogers (yes, my cat is good but they are sneaky)

I also spend so much time outside that my house suffers but it is mostly clutter. Right now I am building retaining walls and putting up more fencing. Since my husband gets poison ivy so bad, I won't let him help. (I would like to get a cleaning lady though. I can't handle chemicals that get your bathroom really clean anymore)

Lots of luck with your new house and remember not to build it with particle board - use plywood.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), August 05, 2000.

Debbie you sound like me, and I loved everyones answers. I have tuns of stuff because I have foster kids comeing in and out all the time they come in with nothing so it helps to have things they may need on hand. I bought a real cute todler bed today with sheets and everything for 20 $ I dont need it now but I will. the matres alone is wirth 40$ I also raise pure bred chihuahua dogs in the house. I sew and paint and garden raise chickens and turkeys. See I need all that stuff. I plan to build a screened in porch this spring I cant wait it will realy help with the pups and peeps and seedlings, ect ect. Keep up the good work. Lisa

-- Lisa Hopple (hopplehomestead@safezone.net), August 05, 2000.

Even though I'm not a pack rat, it sounds like fun to do all that collecting for the future, especially if hubby's collecting to. I can organize anything, have it all nice and neat and balanced. But what I can't do, is keep it that way. There's too many other things to do. My suggestion is, if you really want to organize, pick one thing at a time, deal with it, label it, go do something more important or fun. Repeat as often as necessary. Once you get settled and find out what you really need, you can have a yard sale. Just remember, the clutter will be there when you get around to it.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), August 05, 2000.

We stuck with the one toy in the living room only rule, toys were for bedroom play only. No shoes allowed in the house. And if your clothes don't make it in the hamper than you go naked to school ;) Outside was easy, my husband is in construction which means endless piles of left over everything, so I stood at my back porch when he was building his shop and said he could build it from here to there....Now his 40 foot long shop is a big screen that hid his crap oppp's I mean valuable material and also the view of my neighbors who are building a two story house on my property line! :( Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), August 05, 2000.

Organize?.......where's my dictionary, I'll have to look that one up.

As for clean, well.......my house doesn't smell bad, there are never more than one days dishes in the sink, it really doesn't take much longer to find socks in the clean laundry basket than in the drawer and I finally have taught my husband to tell me as he is taking the last pair of clean underwear, not as he's dressing for work and yesterday wore the last pair! My kids are healthy, my family is happy, clean ain't the most important thing in the world!

-- Mona (jascamp@ipa.net), August 05, 2000.

We have an old school bus full of my material. Most of it is organized in those big plastic tubs according to type, like "wool," or "white muslin," "dark calicos," etc. Now if I can only keep it that way--I have a daughter that is ADD, and has ethusiastic burst of creativity--but NOT a lot of organization. She can create chaos in there in very short order.

We also have a Semi trailor FULL of building materials--if you don't scrounge, how else do you build a morgage free home? Old cars and trucks keep one teenage boy occupied, old computers keep another one happy (they bothe love figuring out how to "soup" them up!). They all try to get me to throw away stuff like my pasta machine and grain grinder, but I refuse. No closet for my eldest daughter means her clothes are hung up on the metal stand for a matchlock rifle--at least IT'S useful, when Hubby isn't shooting it. NOONE wants to throw away THEIR books, which means NO books get thrown away, resulting in a huge amount of books. NO such thing as too many book shelves!

But somewhere in the house you have to have place for you--my space is my tiny 'Studio"with my drawing table and artist-craft supplies. I get really miffed if that space is invaded.

I wish I knew the answer to this question--how to clear the "chaos." Both sides of the family think that we are AWFUL housekeepers, tho they will agree that our kids are the best behaved of the grandbabies, and that if the bottom fell out of the economy, we would be the ones to best handle it. But I have told Hubby that I could have someone working full time just in the kitchen, and keep her busy- -which would free me up to the garden work and laundry, and keeping the house clean. AND school starts in a few weeks, an I'll go back to work, and I am STILL not get caught up. Sometimes the panic sets in. Wish I knew if it was my attitude or my methods that need adjusting.

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), August 06, 2000.

This is great! I really needed this! I struggle with this very thing. I tend towards "over organizing". The home we have now is less than half the sq' we had in our other home, so when we moved in trying to fit our "stuff" in was like trying to put a horse in a chicken nest. Not easy. The first thing I did was get rid of stuff, then I got rid of some more stuff. Then more. What do you do when you have one closet (not including the TINY bdrm closests) and a kitchen that has 2 upper cabinets and 3 lower ones? And about 4 ft of counter space? Should I use the one closet for coats, etc...? Or things like batteries, light bulbs, storage for used, but not daily, foodstuffs? I choose the latter. We built shelves and now have all of the above and more in it. I do use lots of the small plastic containters w/lids to store things in. Like one for batteries, one bigger one for lightbulbs, ect.. During canning season, out goes the things on the floor of the closet and the bottom shelves for all my canning stuff. We built the shelves to accomadate these things. Praise God I have a very small room upstairs off our daughter's bdrm that I use as my storage station, so to speak. I have the big heavy duty food storage containers (round, heavy duty plastic) that can be stacked on top of each other. Also, 2 movable storage racks. I keep extra supplies of medicines - first aid items, canned goods (not all, but some), paper goods, syrups, honey, dry goods, ect... all organizeds according to usage. We also have a metal 55 gal drum, with a airtight lid for storing of wheat, sugar, etc.. that have not yet been put in our food containers (the food containers are different sizes, the large ones can hold 50lbs sugar, flour, etc.) I do not like to run out of things and be "caught" unprepared! For storage of extra blankets and sheets, I put them "on" the bed of our fold out couch, they are there when needed - but out of the way. We have pull out draws (nice, big ones) two of them under our sons bunk beds. This holds things like wrapping paper, gift boxes a container with labels, tape, etc.. Also, sheets, pillowcases and replacement blankets for "wash" time - only the frequently used stuff. The really, really hard thing for me is all our school stuff-crafts, books, reference materials, posters, workbooks, tapes....ugh, we have several book cases, even tho we do not have "space" for them, but this is something I can NOT do without! he-he. Again, I use all sizes of plastic containers w/lids to store this stuff - one for pencils, erasers, pens, markers - one for glue, scissors, crayons. I have the upright containers w/lids that have handles to store the "workbook" type items. And those magazines I constantly reference, as well as one for catalogs (seed, farm, etc..). These can sit on each other and take up very little space. Example, all my Countryside magazines are kept in one of these and when I need to go back to one, I at least know where to start. I found an old "cabinet/dresser" type thing-one long drawer and underneath 2 doors that open up to 2 shelves, kind of like a "buffet". It serves as our "curriculum holder", each child has their own container with what they are currently working on. Manuals, etc... We also have our own small business, so must contend with that. In our dining room/office/schoolroom I have our computer in a "computer cabinet", this holds the computer, printer, etc.. as well as invoices, labels, envelopes. A dresser with 3 long drawers serves to hold our personal bill files, paid files, address book, stamps etc.. (lots of etc..'s- sorry)Another drawer holds phone books, more office stuff (again, in containers so it stays "organized") We have two 2 drawer file cabinets- both are covered with the round glass tops and a "table cloth" - it just looks nicer and is easily accessed. We have a detached garage that is only about 8-10 feet from our kitchen door. My husband and I "split" the garage, he gets a little more than half and the "household" stuff gets the other. On one whole wall, he built great big shelves for me. Again, I use the plastic containers - the big ones- for seasonal clothes storage or clothes the kids will grow in to. One container for son's winter clothes, another for son's to grow in to clothes, etc... Containers for Christmas decorations, fall, easter. Extra canning jars (not in use)and needed, but not used very often, items. These all fit perfectly, built to specs-so to speak- and are clearly labeled. So when spring hits, out come the containers and summer clothes and back in goes winter stuff that will be used (clothes that are still in good shape but are outgrown we give away), I also go thru all of our clothes in drawers and closets at least once every "season" and "cull" out what is not being used. We have another clean metal 55 gal barrel with airtight lid for our winter items, hats, gloves, coats- it is our only option as we dont have room in the house. This is kept in the garage on "my" he-he side! Another barrel holds our "keepsake" stuff, I cant say enough good things about these barrel's-so many uses, and a LOT of room. Also, in our feed bin we use the barrels, garbage cans & metal trash cans for feed. Have not had any problem with rodents! I wont bore you with the barn areas or my husband's "side of the garage" ( he is a painter and ALL paint is valuable!!he-he)and likes stuff-you never know when you might need it!!......cant understand why -- but he won't let me "help" him organize his stuff!! LOL!! Anyway, sorry I've been so longwinded but it is hard to describe without the gory details! And still it is a daily battle to keep the homestead neat, clean and organized!! I know I am preaching to the choir when I say it is amazing how much "stuff" we can actually do without. Not so much with the "outside stuff" as the "household stuff", by the way - as anyone heard that country song - STUFF - I love that song!! Anyway, everyone who has posted seeems to have reached a great balance on how they run their homestead - thanks!!! Wendy

-- Wendy@GraceAcres (wjl7@hotmail.com), August 06, 2000.

Hi Debbie! This is Cindy in Kentucky. When we bought this big old farmhouse, the bedroom was way to big for just a bedroom. We put up a wall going down one side about 10 from the side wall. The other side of the wall was the dining room. The two bedroom closets were in the space we walled off so we took one of the closet doors and put it in the dining room going into the new "huge walk in room to put all the stuff room". The wall in the bedroom was made into a long closet with poles to hang clothes and shelves. So one whole wall in the bedroom is a 2 ft wide closet (to hide stuff) and now we have this HUGE room in the middle of our house. It's C shaped only square. All our plastic, coffee cans, egg cartons, kitchen appliances used only once in a while, winter clother, rag bags, stacks of tile my husband brings home, christmas stuff, canning jars, all the animal vet supplies, you name it its in there.Its great cuz no one can see it. You don't even know its there except for the door in the dining room. Now my house is clean looking everywhere cuz I put the extra stuff in there. We also have a little upstairs over the log cabin part of the house to put light stuff, but no one goes up there.

-- goatroper (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), August 06, 2000.

This is for whoever e-mailed me about where we got the 55 gal barrels. Sorry, I somehow deleted the e-mail (I am still learning how to use this thing!). Anyway, I hope you get this. We found them in our local paper, being sold by a man who buys them used from various companys. The ones we got had had vegetable oil in them, the seller had cleaned them really, really well and we also cleaned them, then let them sit outside in the sun for awhile. They had no residue on them. He also sold plastic barrels. I believe we paid $10.00 for the ones w/lids, a great deal for us. Might check with local companys...this gentleman does a great business! Hope this helps! Wendy

-- Wendy@GraceAcres (wjl7@hotmail.com), August 06, 2000.

I am kind of a neat freak, but I also have to sleep so what I have found to work the best is everyday I do a little cleaning in the house, doing the dishes doesn't count as cleaning for me; and a small house certainly helps to resist the impulses for things that you don't need.

Also after an expensive lesson in buying concrete, having it delivered and stacked in the open, immediately hurting my back and getting hit with a thunderstorm, I will never put expensive stuff somewhere temporarily again. I now am the proud owner of some very heavy unshapely blocks. So I guess that adage of a place for everything and everything in it's place is a truism!

Lot's of good ideas here though!Thanks, I will use them!

-- Doreen (livinginskin@yahoo.com), August 07, 2000.

Scrounged storage and organizers: My husband and I tend to make the rounds of the stores when we go into town for groceries and stuff, driving around back to see what's been pitched. Usually its junk, but sometimes you get lucky - like the time a store revamped their cigarette display and threw out several of those big metal adjustable shelves that they used to keep them in. They're 6' tall and about 16" deep, with all of the shelves. Some even had plastic doors. We got them for the hauling. We also got the tip-alarm sensors that were bolted onto the bottoms, and they're probably worth something as well. A lot of our storage and shelving comes form this sort of thing. 2 rules: 1)Always make sure that the object is trash, and not just sitting out back. Chances are, bakery racks, plastic trays (in multiples), and similar objects are NOT trash (when in doubt, ask a manager) If its in an enclosed area, err on the side of caution, as these little "corrals" are considered private property. 2)Leave the area at least as neat as you found, it if not neater. A store owner can be fined in some areas if the trash gets strewn about and if you make a mess, not only will you lose a valuable resource, you'll ruin it for the rest of us. Remember, recycling is good, and scrounging is perfectly legal. Once a person or business throws something out, they relinquish ownership.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), August 08, 2000.

Organized? I still have a pair of jeans I wore when I was sixteen -- who knows -- miracles can happen, right???

Anyhow -- if you're looking to do a real cleanout, I found this really neat resource on the web -- check it out:

http://members.aol.com/bullseye57/webtest/geto/grandplan.html

Some folks have more time than I do, apparently, but it looks like a good plan. One I'll probably utilize if my mother-in-law ever decides to visit again.

-- Tracy (trimmer@westzone.com), August 08, 2000.

I loved reading this thread! Great responses! I too, grew up in a 'sterile' house, we weren't allowed in the 'livingroom'-so why was it there?! I went thru my total slob faze in the first apartment. By the time I had kids, I got a little organized. By the time the kiddies were in school, 'laundry baskets' ruled! Every member of the family had/has a basket or several, assigned, Yellow basket in the hall, Nicole you have 'stuff' to deal with! 'Blue basket-Brian! I'm waiting!' Wether it be school books, shoes, toys.....etc. Plus, I taught the 3 of them to use the washing machine, and sewing machine early on, and if you plan on eating in this kitchen, you better help clean it! Ditto for the loo! So, the moral of this story is, don't worry about cleaning and stuff, till the kids are old enough to help! Now if I could only teach the bird......and the dog.........!

-- Kathy (catfish@bestweb.net), August 10, 2000.

Wendy, I am a little compulsive and your post was giving me anxiety! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), August 11, 2000.

Hey Vicki, don't get too anxious, LOL, it sounds worse than it is! Sure, you spend the time initially to get "set up", but from there it is simply a matter of putting "stuff" back where they go. It really is not my nature, I have had to work at being organized. For me it is a more effiecient use of my time. I have done it (more my nature) the other way and found too much time was being wasted trying to "find" something or figure out where to put it. Also, neccesity being the mother of invention, or something like that, I HAD to incorporate a "system". Start with a 1100 Sq' house - 2 adults, 3 children (and 2 more occaisonally), 1 bath and a tiny, tiny kitchen with 1 household closet. Add a home business, schoolhouse, and washer and dryer located right in the dining room and you will either get busy setting up a system to run a smooth and effecient home, or chaos will RULE! LOL! I do admit to being overly aware of trying to achieve "effeciency" in all that I do, so this probably stems from that. Anyway, life is much smoother for us now, and believe me I have done it the other way. Much less time involved now. God Bless! Wendy

-- Wendy@GraceAcres (wjl7@hotmail.com), August 11, 2000.

This is fun! Thanks everyone!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), August 11, 2000.

I'm glad we aren't the only ones who struggle with this -- though I still wish the yard wasn't in full sight of the road! My husband and I butt heads over his mess, that is supposed to be contained in the garage -- which you usually can't even get into -- and has overflowed into the yard. He *says* he is cleaning the garage, but . . . The problem isn't quite as bad in the house, but he is a packrat and leaves stuff all over, which makes it a lot harder to clean. I do organize, have gotten one small area after another under control, and periodically go through and get rid of things that aren't being used. We do have some stuff stored for anticipated future use, but I don't keep things that are broken, outgrown, not needed, etc. We also thin books once in a while -- they aren't all gems worth keeping forever!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), August 11, 2000.

See, I knew I liked this forum...my kind of people. I thought I was the only one who called the living room, family room and kitchen the public rooms and try to kind of keep them passable. LOL

-- Mary (mlogan298@yahoo.com), August 13, 2000.