How do you start tidying up when you are overwhelmed? This question is the key to why many of us don’t like our home. We feel stressed, overwhelmed and trapped. But the thing is, our homes are important – after all, it’s where we spend most of our time!
When you’re stuck in a cluttered home, it’s natural to feel completely overwhelmed by the clutter. Of course, it seems impossible to know where and how to start decluttering your home when you’re overwhelmed.
If this sounds familiar, this article is for you and will help you learn how to start tidying up your home when you’re overwhelmed.
But before we begin, let me assure you that you are not alone: most of us have clutter at home. Since decluttering is hard work, finding the motivation to do it is just as hard.
So let’s take it step by step, and have some fun in the process.
How do you start to tidy up when you’re overwhelmed?
1. Give the gift of an object every day.
“It is more blessed to give than to receive”. I’m sure we’ve all heard this phrase at one time or another, and I honestly believe it’s true. I personally love being able to bless others with small gifts, which is why this is such a fun way to start decluttering your home when you’re overwhelmed!
There’s another simple but true quote to keep in mind, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” You see, you have some things you want to get rid of. There’s probably a lot more than you think.
There are probably a lot more people than you think who need those items. So you’ll get rid of one item every day until you’re left with only the ones you really need.
How do I give them away?
There are several ways to do this. You can post the items on your Facebook page to see if your friends or family need them. You can also post them in the Buy Nothing group in your city.
Another option is to put the items in a box each day of the week and take it to your favorite donation point at the end of the week.
Before you know it, you’ll only have things at home that you like or can actually use. The best part is that you’ll be de-cluttering your home without having to deal with the whole house at once.
Getting rid of one thing each day is easy, even if you have a lot to do or feel overwhelmed!
If you get rid of just one thing a day, by the end of the month you will have gotten rid of 30 items you no longer need AND you will have blessed 30 people!
These little things add up to something pretty incredible! Including the motivation to de-clutter your house even more once and for all.
- Take the 15-minute challenge.
I like to play, there’s nothing overwhelming about it! If you’re the competitive type, it can get a little intense, but it’s always fun !!!!!.
Some time ago there was a popular TV show called “Minute to Win it”. They would give you a specific challenge that you had to complete and you had 60 seconds to do as much as you could.
Let’s play the same game with your mess.
Let’s start like this:
First, go around your house and look on the floor, countertops, tables and dressers for items that don’t belong there. Do you have knick-knacks that are many years old that you don’t like? Write them down.
Now grab a laundry basket and set 10 minutes on your phone.
You have 10 minutes to go through your house and pick up all the clutter and items that are all over the floor, countertops, tables, dressers and anything else you don’t like. Fill the basket with as many items as you can.
When the timer runs out, stop! Now look around your house. Don’t you feel better? You’ve already taken the first step.
While you’re watching TV, clean out the trash can. Grab a garbage bag and a box or two. Start by throwing out everything that is trash. Then put the items you want to donate in one box and all the lost items in the other. This is very simple.
- Keep it simple
Speaking of simplifying, when it’s time to start decluttering, take it slow.
It’s no fun playing a game you know you’ll never win or that it will take you years to master. You want a little challenge, but you also want to know that you have a chance to win.
The same is true of cleaning your home. So let’s look for the easiest ways to master the clutter, so we don’t lose sight of the progress we’re making.
How do we do that? I’m glad you asked.
Pick a space to focus on, we’ll talk about that later. Within that space, choose an area to focus on.
It should be an area that allows you to make simple decisions. For example, a medicine cabinet in the bathroom, a junk drawer or a drawer for kitchen utensils.
Once you have chosen an area, start by throwing out anything that is clearly trash. Things that are broken, stained or no longer in use.
By starting with these things, you can practice making decisions when it seems easier, so you can then tackle the harder stuff. And you’ll be surprised at how many things you can get rid of.
Don’t believe me? Try it and see for yourself.
These small successes will motivate you instead of overwhelming you. You’ll be surprised at how much you can get rid of.
- Play the mystery box challenge.
To keep the messy chores fun, we’ll play another game. At this point, you start to find objects in your house that you don’t know about.
To help you make these decisions, we are going to play the mystery box challenge.
To play this game, you need a medium-sized cardboard box. Each time you find an object in your house that you don’t know whether to keep or leave, put it in the box.
When the box is full, close it and write the date on it. Then store the box in the garage or a closet.
If after three months you haven’t needed any of the items in the box and don’t remember what was in it, you can donate the entire box.
One important rule: opening the box at that time is cheating! If the contents of the box are a mystery, or if you haven’t needed the items after three months, you can let them go!
Read this to learn how to identify clutter in your home.
- Make a plan
Look at all you’ve accomplished by eliminating your chaos! Congratulate yourself, you deserve it!
But now it’s time to get down to business, because things are starting to get more difficult. At this point, you’ve cleared your home of many of the little things that were cluttering it up.
You’ve also filled up on motivation and are ready to tackle bigger projects. The best way to tackle big projects and not get overwhelmed is to have a plan before you start.
If you know what you’re going to do, when you’re going to do it, and how long it’s going to take, it’s much easier to declutter!
Start by taking the time to think about how you want your room to look and feel. This will help you decide what should stay and what should go.
Get out your planner and write down when you are going to work on your project.
Having a clear plan is the best thing you can do to start tidying up if you feel overwhelmed by your stuff.
- divide and conquer
Now that you have a clear plan, it’s time to divide and rule. Splitting up a large task is essential if you want to start tidying up when you feel overwhelmed.
It’s very common to feel overwhelmed when faced with a large amount of work (such as going through an entire house full of items) and not know where to start.
In fact, because of the magnitude of the task, we tend to put it off until we start to notice the effects.
However, the solution is very simple.
Stop thinking about tidying the whole house at once. Instead, divide a room in your house into several zones. For example, when working in your bedroom, first think only about the dressers.
Now divide that area into several sections. For example, concentrate only on decluttering one drawer of your bedroom dresser. That’s your task for the day.
Sounds much better, doesn’t it?
There’s no need to feel overwhelmed if you divide and conquer the clutter one section at a time. You can also reduce clutter with this method. In no time you’ll have created a home you’ll love.
- have a sorting system
One of the reasons we ask ourselves the question, “How do I start sorting out when I’m overwhelmed?” is because we don’t know where to start or what to do with the things we’re sorting out.
We’ve looked at the different starting points for your decluttering efforts, so now let’s take a look at what to do with the things you’re sorting out.
It’s simple. Before you set out on the sorting task, have four boxes and a felt tip pen handy.
Label the boxes as follows: “trash,” “donate,” “keep,” and “undecided.” The first three boxes are self-explanatory, the last is the mystery box mentioned earlier.
As you go through the items in the room you are decluttering, place them in the correct box. When you are done decluttering a room, put the items in the “mystery box” back in their place.
Take the “Trash Box” and empty it into the outside container. Then take the “To Donate” box to the donation location you selected in the planning process, and finally close the “Don’t Decide” box as described above.
By following this simple process, you will rid your home of more litter than you could have ever imagined.
