Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the mess that you call home? And after a while, you start to feel the crushing weight of all the mess? If you need a starting point for where to begin when you’re feeling overwhelmed by your messy home, you’re in the right place. 

There’s always so much to do and seemingly never enough time or energy to get it all done. 

Before I discovered the life-changing act of decluttering, I felt like I was constantly cleaning. I was so frustrated about things not having their own place, odd ‘bits and bobs’ scattered over the surfaces in my kitchen, tons of products in my bathroom that just took up space, and throwing everything into the junk drawer (we all have one!) just to get it out of the way and never feeling truly ‘zen’ in my home.

Then I found the Fly Lady. Wayyyyy back when my kids were small. She started me on the right path, and I’ve learned so much since then. 

The Benefits of Decluttering

Decluttering has so many benefits. There’s no better time to start than now!

• Quicker and easier to clean your home
• Live in a less stressful environment
• Be able to find things quickly
• Have more space
• Gain clarity and a sense of control over your surroundings
• Reduce anxiety
• You will finally LOVE your home!

So how do you tackle what seems like an absolutely mammoth-sized task? The same way you eat an elephant: one bite at a time. (I don’t want to eat an elephant, it’s just an analogy!)

How to Start Decluttering When You’re Overwhelmed

First, Find Some Motivation and Inspiration

There are so many resources to help you get started with decluttering.

• Play a podcast while you’re doing housework. 
• Watch Marie Kondo or the Home Edit on Netflix. 
• Read a book about decluttering and organizing or look at one with pretty pictures. 

These actions can really get you in the motivational mindset of decluttering. You’ll discover so many new ideas from people who have actually done this already and currently live this clutter-free lifestyle. Hopefully, you will come away inspired to tackle your own home!

Podcasts About Decluttering

• clean.simple.free
• The Minimalists Podcast
• The Art of Decluttering

Helpful Decluttering and Organizing Books

Give them a shot, they may just be life-changing for you. 

Make a plan

Start with the room that you spend most of your time in. Is that the kitchen? Living room? Office? Wherever it is, we’ll start there.

Why? Once you’ve finished decluttering the busiest room in your home, the sense of well-being you’ll get will be so great that you’ll be driven to get the rest of your home decluttered – fast. Okay, so it’s not always quite as magical as I just made it sound, but think of it like the snowball method of decluttering. Get one room checked off the list and you have the motivation to move on to the next.

Block off some time

Even if it’s just 20 minutes at a time, working in small chunks keeps me on track. When you can really focus on the task at hand without getting distracted, everything moves faster. If you have little ones under foot, this may mean cleaning up a little at a time after they go to bed. You can enlist the help of the kiddos, but sometimes that makes a bigger mess than you started with!

Start with anything time sensitive

If you are feeling overwhelmed by your home, you need to start with the things that have some time sensitivity to them.

This might include things like bills that need to be paid, library books that need to be returned, etc.

Focus on these items first, and then tackle the rest little by little.

Make Sure Clothes and Food are Looked After

Once you have dealt with all of the time-sensitive items, move on to clothes and food.

If you need to go to the grocery store, make a meal plan and head to the store. If you need to order a pizza tonight so you can get caught up, that is okay. Focus on feeding everyone, and making a plan for the rest of the week or month.

Next, it’s time to deal with the clothes.

Take a laundry basket and go through each room of the home to pick up all the dirty clothes. Throughout the day, make small loads and get through that pile of laundry.

Set a timer for just 15 minutes each day

Take some time either at the beginning or end of each day and set a timer for 15 minutes. See how much you can get done during this period, and when the timer is up, stop.

If you didn’t get through everything, that’s okay. Tomorrow is another day, and you can pick up where you left off from there.

Start with one big task each day

After you have done each of the above things, it’s time to decide what you need to handle first.

Choose one big task for each day in the week, or room if you prefer to do it that way. Set aside time to go through and do a good clean of this area or to do this task.

Use the 4-bag hack

Many years ago, I read a blog post titled something like How to Clean Fast When Company is on Their Way Over. I read about the “four bag hack” and adapted it to make it my own. I use totes for belongings we are keeping, a box for belongings we are donating, and one trash bag for trash.

1. Things to go in the trash

Broken things, sentimental items that you’ve been hanging on to for years, expired food, junk mail, clothes that don’t fit anymore  – you get the idea. All things trash go in the – you guessed it – trash bag.

2. Things to recycle

Do your part to save the planet! What can you recycle instead of throwing out? Look around and I’m sure you’ll find something. Then, give yourself a pat on the back for going the extra mile rather than taking the easy option of putting them all in the trash.

3. Things to give to charity

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, right? The beauty of giving things to charity is that there might be someone out there who couldn’t normally afford quality clothes, furniture, or books, and because of your donation, they’re able to buy them at a reasonable price.

If you are in need of extra cash, take the items you could donate and sell them instead. This requires a little extra work, but can pay a bill or two if need be – or the cash can go straight into your savings account.

4. Things you want to keep

If the item you’re keeping doesn’t bring you joy or make you feel fantastic when you’re wearing it, do you really want to keep it? Be ruthless here. The aim of the game is to declutter and get rid of everything that isn’t currently necessary in your life.

Finish the job

That wasn’t so bad, was it? But your job isn’t done just yet!

1. Put the trash bag… in the trash!
2. Take the recycling to your local recycling center
3. Contact charities close to you who would be willing to take or even collect your things, then list the things that are worth selling on eBay (for example)
4. Find a home for all the things you’re keeping, or put them back where they came from.

Now you can use this exact set of actions on the rest of the rooms in your house. Simply rinse and repeat! Don’t feel like you have to do all of this in one day, but if you do feel like you can – that’s great, go for it!

Quick Decluttering Tips

When you’ve finally finished this task, the next habit you need to get into is not reversing all of your hard work. How can you keep your house clutter free? What systems can you put in place to ensure the clutter doesn’t stack up again?

Keep a small box in each room for clutter 

It will accumulate quicker than you think! You will start looking around like “how did all of this new stuff get in here?” At the end of every week, you can go through this in just a few minutes and figure out where all these things belong.

Invest in the right kind of storage for your space

Once everything has its permanent place, you’ll find it far easier to keep on top of things and you’ll never have to go hunting for something you need.

If you live with other people or have children, show them around and explain where things go now

Getting everyone involved will make this way of living simpler and less of a chore for you all. Especially with kids, making it fun and clear (using pictures or pretty letters) is key to keeping everything in its place. Studies have shown if you repeat an action over the course of two months it will become a habit. I know, I know, two months seems like a long time, but it will have long-term benefits – so stick to it!