Even the treadmill is looking to escape out the window!!! 
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I feel like this should be a page in an âI Spyâ book.
Can you find the treadmill�
I have a higher tolerance for clutter than some people, but even for me that room is overwhelming. Even at our busiest, messiest times things were much neater than than. (And twice a month all was cleared, getting ready for the house cleaners.). But it seems that family is OK with it. Perhaps theyâd look at neater houses and find them to lack personality(?)
I will admit being wistful seeing the dollhouse, since our kids have been gone a long time. However the mess that would drive me bonkers.
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Me too!! I canât unsee this!
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Guess I shouldnât post my sewing room pics here! 
The windows that were supposed to be installed tomorrow just got postponed to next Wed. HUGE amounts of cleaning here, as we have to move our bed for the installlers, and it hasnât been moved since we bought the house 25 years ago. Found a lot of stuff, and the dust has kicked my allergies into full throttle.
Because we had such a short timeframe to be ready, I tossed a lot of stuff into boxes and will sort through what else I can pass on/toss out after the windows are finished. Also plan to paint two rooms, and need to check if my middle sister was serious about coming to help.
My older sonâs Intel STS research board is still in the house. Not ready to part with that.
OTOH, Iâve gotten lots of stuff out the door. H questions why Iâm doing this (he also complains that the house is cluttered â so I donât know whatâs going on in his head) and I told him I want to get rid of stuff because if Iâm not here and he has to do all of this, I want him to remember me with love, not with annoyance!
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It looks from the picture that the homeowner has small children. I see a Barbie dream house.
Two working adults and small children, itâs hard! They may not be able to hire a house cleaner, they may be ok with the clutter, they may be trying to keep their heads above water.
My house may have looked like that a time or two when the kids were little. 
Itâs a season of life that passes.
My son and daughter in law are 2 such people. Lots of clutter, a one year old who is constantly sick and two people are trying to hold down jobs with a child who doesnât seem to be able to make a full week in daycare. I wish they would hire a house cleaning service and a lawn service but they donât seem inclined to do so.
I have another kid, no kids but one of the partners is very invested in have a clean tidy home. Itâs hard to keep up. Especially when one of the partners isnât feeling well, trying to work full time and do all the things you need to do. I think thatâs difficult also, one person whoâs very neat but also expects a neat house when they come home.
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For sure many circumstances and also many levels of comfort or non with clutter in a home. There are people who just really donât see it or are not uncomfortable with it!
When my kids were young (I also worked), I could stand bigger messes temporarily but when the play with that mess ended, the mess had to end! Most nights I would end my day with a clean sweep of all rooms except where people were sleeping to do a 5 minute pick up. Outer order = inner calm is REALLY a way I need to function.
(H is not this way. I wouldnât call him messy but he doesnât âseeâ the messes I see. Itâs an area of difficulty for us!) I reluctantly compromise in certain areas of the house but it ainât easy!)
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I also think it makes a big difference if a mess affects others. H and I are heading out of state to spend a week helping clear out MILâs house. Older sister and BIL will also be working with us. In addition to MIL having hoarding tendencies, younger sister has never cleaned out her stuff from her parents house and has in fact (along with her kids) added to it by "storing " stuff there. We are willing to clean out MILâs stuff (she is 90 and in assisted living) but we plan to tell younger sis that it is on her/her kids to clean out their stuff and set a deadline. Hopefully that will be met as we need to do something about the house and this should not be on the rest of us.
Younger sis is otherwise a lovely person and her own house is cluttered. I donât have a problem with that.
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In our house I am the one who can live with clutter. Dishes have to be done, toilets have to be clean, etc., but I have stuff in lots of places. Husband could go a month without changing sheets, would eat things well past their good by dates, doesnât notice scum in the tub, etc. Some how we live together, but we do drive each other crazy.
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Oh, I agree that when one has young kids (and this friendâs sister does) your home is definitely prone to clutter because of toys. But that room is crazy to me. You canât even walk behind the sofa!
We always tidied toys at the end of each evening. Now, if there was a big Kânex roller coaster being worked on (or similar) that stayed out. Large items (like the Dream House) likely have to stay out unless one has incredible closet space. My home was certainly not open house realtor ready at all times, but it never looked like that room. Thereâs no way those kids even know what all they have.
As far as cleaning goes, IMO one cannot clean around that much clutter. It would be impossible to clean the floor. Weâve had clean v tidy discussions in a thread here before. Having a housekeeper while ds was growing up was helpful because he had to pick up his room completely the night before the housekeeper came.
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I could do a whole thread on cleaning out my momâs house.
We (my husband and I) warned when we would be there. Set a timetable and were extremely accommodating.
Didnât really work 
. Could not corral the untamable.
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Weâve had that level of clutter with and without kids. H objects to a housecleaner. Heâs a master of weaponized obliviousness. I donât expect him to wipe the baseboards, but could he put his food scraps in the trash and dishes into the dishwasher? Iâd have a lot more time to do the discerning level of cleaning and organization if I didnât have to clean the same 150 sq ft every stinkinâ day.
/rant
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The community garage sale at our local park went on despite rain for the first two hours. Not as many people as theyâd hoped to sell or buy, but I made $55 after the $15 fee! And passed on my kidsâ old toys and games to people who wanted them. After the rain it was a beautiful day to sit outside and I chatted with a couple of people I knew and several I didnât know who seemed to be mostly looking for someone to talk to.
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Can dream of auctioning inherited clutterâŠ
not my stuff, better get on with declutteringâŠ
I FINALLY am throwing away my kids tai kwon do uniforms. They both became 2nd degree black belts, and I paid lots of money for those belts. I took pics and tossed them.
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Too late this time but, depending on condition, the studio might have taken those for students who canât afford or who forgot to bring - my Dâs dance studio used to take dance shoes that were outgrown (as opposed to worn out) and just leave them for people to take as needed.
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Great idea but nobody would want to wear these. I pulled the pants down and the elastic is no longer elastic.
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Ha, Iâve thrown out some old bathing suits like that with non-elastic elastic.
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Update to my post re:cleaning out MILâs house.
Two days before we planned to head out, MIL had a medical emergency and she is now on hospice. She has returned to her home to live out her final days and is being cared for by her children (including H) , some adult grandchildren, and some some nurses.
It turns out that younger SIL wants to keep the house, so the big cleanout will not be so extensive. Meanwhile, while H is there he and his sisters are working on doing some cleaning out. They got rid of FILâs clothes (he has been gone several years), gone through the pantry, donated lots of books, etc.
Iâm back at my own home and putting some items out on Buy Nothing. Itâs a continual process.