Our son and wife in Houston are coming home for Thanksgiving. They will stay a week and we just found this out. Talk about motivation!! Immediately started planning the menus and groceries.

Have new living room furniture coming the 14th so this means getting rid of the old to the granddaughter in her just purchased home. Kids will be here the 17th.

Got to finish the job of getting rid of the clutter. Done a lot, but have things to give away, store or just throw in the dumpster. Took loads and loads to the Salvation Army but need to do more.

Guest room needs to be freshened up and covers washed. Our spoiled cat loves to lay on that bed and our son is very allergic to cats....

It seems that I can get highly motivated if I have company coming or a holiday coming up. Play the game of seeing how much I can accomplish by a certain day before the big event.
Can always work miracles if under pressure. Think that is why I was a better housekeeper while working than after I retired.

Dora Lou

For us, it's because we're listing our house to sell in March. I shudder at the thought of packing 20 years worth of "stuff" without first going through a thorough decluttering.

After having picked at things for over a month, and discarding mounds of stuff, I have sworn to myself that I will keep things decluttered in our new home! I hope that I can uphold that!

I'm determined to post pictures of my house before my 50th birthday, so I'm really trying to get it in shape. I also just want the whole house FINISHED by then - we've been living here for 4 years and I've finally figured out how I want it to look.

I find it easier to declutter when it's part of a bigger picture - that is, we're doing some remodeling, painting, switching furniture around, etc. and the decluttering just seems to happen as I go along. When I try to declutter as a separate activity I get too caught up in the details - "hmmm, how long since I wore these socks? I know they're not comfortable, but they are a good color...." But when I'm taking things from one dresser to another, it's much easier for me to just throw the socks into the Goodwill pile. And if giving away a book means I don't have to carry it downstairs to the new bookshelves, that's an added incentive!

Having a definite decoration plan in mind also makes it easier for me to give up those tchotchkes, bedding, etc. that just aren't going to fit. I've been holding onto a lot of things because they just might fit in somewhere - no more!

What's driving me is needing my closet back. Winter clothes were brought up from the basement, and summer needs to go back down. Everything is currently piled in a chair at the moment, since I want to sort/purge before I hang anything up. I think this may involve trying things on which I don't have energy to do right this minute.

The other driving motivation is what I drive, since I want to get my car back in the garage. Some of the leftovers from our sale went to Habitat for Humanity and a thrift store that picked up the rest. You know, I don't have a lot of clutter going on anymore, but there always seems to be a project somewhere that needs a little something...

I'm a Christmas fanatic too. I want the house uncluttered by Thanksgiving and CLEAN by Christmas. I consider it a gift to my family and myself. Today I got 2 rooms decluttered-kitchen and dining room. Onward from here! I want to be able to have room to decorate and enjoy the season.

I have constant motivations... both internal and external.

Externally---
DD's wedding in 10 days;
annual hosting of the Turkey Day Dinner;
annual small group Christmas breakfast.
That takes care of the next four weeks!

Then there's Christmas and all its festivities....

I guess Im just tired of the clutter and really am enjoying a clean house.

The fact that dust under the big heavy dresser had turned brown with age! DH dropped one of his collector coins under it...it's so low I had to use a yard stick to get under the darn thing. Along with the coin came scads of grungy dust.)
Suzi

The thing that keeps me motivated is "keeping it simple". I have a notebook used for lists. I tackle one thing at a time. When item #1 is complete, THEN AND ONLY THEN do I move to #2. And at the same time, I keep adding to the list. Once every 4-6 weeks, I prioritize the list, based on deadlines or how much something is driving me crazy. For example, this week we're heading out of town to visit dear sis for T'giving. We'll be taking her Christmas gifts with us. So, by Wednesday night, I have to have her things gift wrapped. Nothing else has to be wrapped by Wed, so the other gifts wait. Once Thanksgiving is over, I have a pile of paperwork to tackle. Get that done and it's on to Christmas wrapping. In the meantime, if I see that houseplants need dusting, then that moves to the top of the list. But the main thing for me is to do 1 thing at a time and get it done. I also "reward" myself for every 10 things completed. Could be buying something new, could be taking 1 week off from organizing - it depends, but there always is some kind of reward and it doesn't have to have a monetary value. For me, that goal/reward works as a motivator.

That's easy. My Number One underlying motivator is my profound hope that when die I don't leave a royal mess for my children to sort out. The house is definitely a royal mess no longer, but it still needs improvement. I'm not planning to die any time soon, but who can plan these things? I don't want to be remembered for my stuff.

More short term, I'm increasingly aware of my need to have friends around me on a more regular basis. I want to start entertaining on a fun, casual basis. I know my friends would turn a blind eye to clutter (and pet hair), but I wouldn't. At least not in my own house. So the push is on!

I had been doing very well, but began to backslide when my DS and his girlfriend moved out. Nothing like living by yourself to erode good habits . . .

Wanting room to quilt and reupholster furniture.
Wanting not to trip when getting out of bed or sliding on papers.
Wanting to be able to vacuum everywhere, in every corner, not go around stuff.

FREEDOM

Have I missed anything?

Big motivation is that we will be listing our home next spring. Have already cleaned up most of our living space except for clothing and linen closets. Have a few rooms to repaint trim in too. Next it will be on to tackle the basement that runs the full length of the house. I need to clean out 25 years of stuff down there over the winter. OY!

What's driving me is I've reached my breaking point and suddenly want to torch the whole thing. Another catalyst is I just sent my antique couch and chair out to be reupholstered... after months of being halfway through the job myself and finally coming to grips with the fact they need structural rebuilding which is out of my league. Also, my sewing machine is too wimpy for the fabric I'm using (mohair velvet). I want my LR to look nice when they come back. What keeps me motivated is seeing even one little area looking better than it has before.

McPeg-great suggestion. i love to do crafts. Quilting,knitting,embroidery, any of the needle arts, If I clean, and especially get rid of clutter.I will have room for my craft supplies and time to do my projects. Great motivator!

My motivation is to be able to clean/dust/vacuum easily and have a neat, simple living space. I've said it before, I want a place for everything and everything in its place. I'm even recycling up a storm--stopping junk mail from coming in (catalogchoice.org) and using more natural cleaning supplies and personal hygiene stuff. All that chemical stuff in all those different containers takes up too much space and isn't good to breathe or intorduce into the water system anyway. It's like I NEED to keep doing this until I reach that point.
I've stopped buying/bringing in more stuff 99% of the time now--which is a big thing for me! I used to load up things weekly!
I have to go through my clothing, file cabinets and bathroom cupboards/drawers and I'll have made the complete rounds. Then, I'll go around again until there's nothing I want/need to get rid of anymore. YAY ME!

Mine lately has strictly been internal, the feeling I've gotten when I open the doors to those two closets that I've finished. That's been my hobby lately - checkin' out those closets! LOL

Today the cabinet in the bathroom gets it!

I've been going through each room of my house. Put everything away, or find a place for it. And if I can't find a place,it gets thrown out. After I declutter, it's eaxy to clean a room. I know how to dust,sweep and wash.

Hi, I am new to this forum. I found all of your reasons for trying to get organized very familiar. I must have every one of them..lol. I was feeling quite excited before Christmas about the idea of spending the winter getting a lot of things done, but now that Christmas is over...not so much. I have started making lists, but they seem pretty overwhelming and I had a few things come up over the holiday to add to the list of things that need my attention and now I seem to have lost my motivation and am spinning my wheels today.

Anyone have a solution for this type of obstacle?

Thanks

Prairiemoon, my first thought is to start simply and keep it that way! Clean out one cabinet, etc. Go back and visit and just smile about how it looks. I promise you, it will be contagious! Good Luck!

I'm with Alisande - Don't want the boys to go thru stuff and mutter "what was she thinking". I've been to a lot of estate/yard sales (not antique type) and wondered the same thing, along with "Ugghh, all this carp".

That said, I've been sidelined crocheting, which seems to be my new job :-) Since I've donated around 50 throws and baby afghans, I've been working on some gifts (baby, anniversary, etc.) and have become one of the addicted. The yarn is still under control, but I have 3 projects going at a time in 3 different rooms (sigh).

We had a decent snowfall before Christmas, another foot night before last, and ANOTHER FOOT predicted for today (NY Day)!!! I can't think of anything better than being snowed in right now. Oops, I'm rambling. More coffee......

What's motivating me right now is that the rental agency inspector is making her appearance on Tuesday next. The house is in need of a deep clean anyway so that's a good thing. Also I need to declutter some areas that I didn't get to in my last decluttering frenzy. I hope I have everything done that I want done, but I am a world class slowy and a top notch procrastinator. Sigh! Anyone here love to clean? I sure could use several hands. ;)

Yeona