How do you start decluttering when your house is so messy you don’t know where to start?
You are feeling overwhelmed by all the mess. Every room has issues. Every closet is overflowing. You want a clean and organised space, but it all just seems too much. Where do you even start decluttering?
Here are 12 ways you can start tackling clutter which are easy to begin with and will help you build momentum for lasting change.
1. Start Decluttering by Making the Bed
Overwhelm is hard. Even the smallest task can feel like an insurmountable mountain. So to break free of the overwhelm you need to push through and get started.
When things are really chaotic you’ll want to start with easy wins that get you into the right mindset to tackle the rest of your home. You want a win that can give you the momentum and courage to carry on.
Starting your day with a win gives you that quick victory that sets you up for more wins. Making the bed, irrelevant as it may seem, is actually a key element in Navy Seal training, as Admiral William H. McRaven explained in his commencement address to the students of The University of Texas.
Here is what Navy Seal ADMIRAL WILLIAM H. MCRAVEN said about the importance of making your bed:
“If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.”
Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.
And, if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made — that you made — and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.”
Admiral William H McRaven
You can read the full transcript of the speech here
2. Start Decluttering by Doing Laundry
It’s hard to sort, organise or put away clothing when it is dirty. So start with an easy win and do the laundry.
Round up all clothing, towels and bedding from all parts of the house and run all dirty items through the wash. That way, even if you will ultimately be donating some of them they are clean.
Now all your clothes are in a fit state to put away, or if they no longer serve you, they are clean and can be donated.
3. Start Small and Short
This is great for when you are feeling really overwhelmed, or perhaps limited in what you can do by illness or fatigue. You can always do something, and something is better than nothing.
Tasks you might start with could be your purse, the top of a bedside table, one shelf or a desk drawer.
The key here is to start with something that will be pretty easy for you so you don’t hit any emotional blocks right at the start.
So don’t for example start with family photos or sentimental mementos.
But instead chose something that will make a difference in your day to day life. That way you get to enjoy the win. There is no point starting with for example a box of old school books in the attic. You don’t see them day to day, so you won’t be able to enjoy that quick win.
Set a timer for 15 minutes, and go through your chosen small area. Discard any rubbish, pull out any duplicates, remove anything you don’t actually use.
You’ll be amazed how much you can accomplish in 15 minutes. And if you do that daily, over the course of a year that will be over 90 hours dedicated to decluttering! In 90 hours you can make a massive difference in your home.
4. Start Decluttering With a Category
The category method is what Marie Kondo recommends in her book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying.
The problem with her method, if you are overwhelmed, is that she tackles large categories at once. Like all your clothing. Or all paperwork.
This is great for doing a thorough job, but if you don’t have the energy or time to commit to massive sorting sessions this can simply leave you with a bigger mess and more overwhelm as you have big mountains of clothing, books or paperwork to sort through.
So as with the previous example of starting small, when you are organising by category I also recommend picking a small and easy category.
It could be as simple as “socks”. The key to the category method is to round up ALL the items in this category, from every part of the house.
There is no point sorting all the socks in your bedroom, only to find that there is the same amount again in the laundry. So make sure you have them all before you start.
The category method is great for reviewing the volume of stuff you have in a category. Do you need 21 pairs of socks, 6 pepper mills or 4 colanders? Compare them, keep your favourites and get rid of the rest.
5. Start With Rubbish
Sometimes you might find that if your space has been neglected for a while, the easiest place to start is with the rubbish and recycling.
Keep it simple and don’t overthink this. Just round up everything that is clearly rubbish.
Getting these things out will give you the breathing space to tackle more meaningful decisions.
So grab a garbage bag and a recycling container, and go for a tour of your home. Do a quick pickup of all the obvious rubbish. Grab cardboard boxes, break them down and take them out to the recycling. Round up all plastic bags and wrappers and recycle if possible, or add them to the trash bag. Grab any food packaging, tissues, envelopes or old newspapers.
Do this fast and you’ll start to build momentum to tackle items that need decision making.
6. Start by Cleaning
Most of the time you should declutter first, then clean. But occasionally a space will simply be too dirty for you to want to go through.
In this case it makes sense to start with a general clean. The goal here is not perfection. Deep cleaning a cluttered space is a bit like rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic. It doesn’t deal with the root cause of the problem.
But what it will do is give you a space that is more pleasant to tackle.
Start at the top. Take a duster and go through every room, starting with light fittings, ceiling cobwebs, shelves, windowsills and baseboards.
Dust the tops of any piles of stuff.
You might wash the windows and frames.
Then pick up as much as possible off the floor and vacuum or op the floor.
Starting with cleaning is especially good if you have dust allergies. It will get rid of the worst of the dust and clear the decks for going through things properly.
7. Start Decluttering by Room
Any of the strategies above can be applied just to one room. The whole house might simply be too much to tackle. It may be easier to work through one room at a time.
Start with an easy room which won’t involve too much strenuous decision making.
A bathroom could be an easy place to start. The entrance hall could give you a quick win and set a pleasant tone for when you enter the house.
8. Start With What You Can Easily Get Rid Of
For some people, a declutter challenge is a great way to get started. You can do this as a 30 day challenge. So on day one you get rid of one thing, one day 2, two things, on day 3, three things. And so on. Keep going and see if you can take it all the way to 30 in a day at the end of the month.
Or you could simply pick spaces in your home and start looking for things that you can donate, sell or pass on. Keep moving on to the next space daily until you’ve been through your entire house.
9. Start Decluttering by Focussing on What You Want to Keep
Some people struggle with letting go. If this is you, focussing on what serves you rather than looking for things to let go of may be the better strategy.
This works like a house move. You could call it a packing party. Simply, you will pack up all of your belongings except what you are certain you will use in a given week (or month, the timeframe is up to you). See how long you can go with this smaller number of possessions.
You are likely to find yourself managing just fine with this smaller number. So you can either let go of all the rest or slowly bring things back in just a little at a time, focussing on having only what really adds value to your life.
Now packing up your entire house in one go is not going to be practical for most people. So perhaps try this one by room or by category. You could for example choose your clothes, make-up and accessories as if you were going on a two week holiday in your own home. And pack all the rest of your bedroom stuff into suitcases or boxes.
This will give you a taste of living with a curated collection of your favourite things, without actually having to let go. And then you can choose what to let go of once you’ve been managing without it for a while.
10. Start Decluttering Your Own Things
Your kids, husband partner or parents are the messy ones. The house is full of their clutter and your are feeling overwhelmed. No matter what you say, they refuse to clean up.
In this case start with what you can control, and that is your own things. You can declutter, clean and organise your own belongings. Create a calm oasis for yourself.
You won’t have solved the problem of the other messies in the house, but you will have set an example. They may even be inspired to follow your lead when they see how much nicer your space is.
11. Just Start
Where you choose to start doesn’t really matter. And which strategy you pick doesn’t matter either.
What matters more is that you do start.
By starting you start to build momentum. You’ll get small wins and then bigger wins.
And the more you do, the easier the decluttering process gets.
12. Start with Help
Decluttering and organising is not easy, particularly when you are feeling overwhelmed. The job becomes far easier when you have a helping hand.
You can enlist a trusted friend to help out and hold you accountable.
But sometimes it may feel too embarrassing to involve a friend. That’s when the support of a professional is invaluable.
You can get support in starting, working out the right strategy for yourself and the accountability to help you on the journey with my declutter coaching. And if you haven’t already, make sure you are subscribed to my newsletter to get weekly tips and declutter challenges delivered to your inbox.
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