What a Mess!!!

[Mother Sanity (JackieRodzinski)]

There are a couple of scenarios

1. You have young children, pets, maybe you live with several people who will not take responsibility for their 'junk'. Soon layer piles upon layer, junk mail is mixed with bills, dishes are not removed to the sink. No one takes responsibility for anything, or those that do, find it almost impossible to catch up. One day, the person sweating to keep up get sick The place takes an evil turn downward.

2. You like working in a 'disorganized area', and so do your other 3 housemates. The living space you share is very small. Before long, things start overlapping until no one person can sort anything out. Moreover, there is not enough room for all of you to be in the same living space simultaneously. The mess becomes too big for anyone to care anymore. Your pets get fleas....Your kids friends undress and leave their clothing behind.

3.You live in an organized mess. On occassion you clean up, but for the most part you are happy. You have several housemates, 1 of which confines his mess to his room. Its an abomination, but it's his abomination. Housemate 2 needs psychiatric help. There are homework papers layered ontop of unfinished sandwhiches and cups filled with liquid that would make Louis Pasteur cringe. When the sandwich has solidified onto her pillow and a safe pathway to the bed is impossible to establish, she moves into the 'general living area'. Your fourth housemate owns very little, but doesnt give a damn about what any one else owns either. He has a habit of picking up shiny things, looking at them as he walks, then dropping them in random spots. To turn off a light he unplugs it....

4. All of the above plus the washer and dryer are broken, the litterboxes and fleas are out of control. One person was more or less responsible for keeping order, but that person developes a long term illness. The property is very large but the living space is small. Money is tight so forget a professional cleaning service. As several of the people are hoarders, even wrappers and packaging is saved. If a social worker showed up, your kids would be put in foster care. Finding anything is an hours task. Its easier to buy a new one and so money gets tighter. Fleas have infested the carpets (you know from the bite marks on your ankles) and its almost fly season. God knows when the refrigerator was last cleaned out. The major effort is spent outdoors, so that the neighbors might be fooled.

Folks, I dont know where to begin.If we could all separate from eachother, we would. When the major income earner leaves the country on a business trip, order is restotred and maintained.  No one is particularly fond of the primary income earner, but nobody can afford to pitch him out. Take ALL OF THE ABOVE and what do you have? Hopeless, expensive chaos in which misery, and I stress misery predominates. What do you do? Where do you start?

[Aggie]

No

[J Lee S]

First, I have to ask, is this a workshop area in the picture?

[Mother Sanity (JackieRodzinski)]

Yes, and a garage. It is not the specific area I am refering to, but it suffers from some of the same disorders.

[Mother Sanity (JackieRodzinski)]

My friend Wolfie said we should burn it down.

[Mother Sanity (JackieRodzinski)]

Ah, but its easier to light the match.

[J Lee S]

Just from watching some of the shows on TLC I would recommend baby steps. Pick one area (a frequently used common area perhaps) and work on that space first. Once there is a feeling of accomplishment set you guys could move on to another area.Don't start too big because that could lead to an overwhelming feeling and stress you out. Maybe a hallway, or even that workshop area. Cleaning up the workshop area would give you some room to move stuff and sort things from the other rooms as you work around. Or...the bulldozer to scoop up the ashes after some creative BBQing. ;-)

[Mother Sanity (JackieRodzinski)]

The problem here is that, once work is begun, other individuals move in to disrupt or destroy it....