Sometimes life really gets us in a pickle. When that happens, often our homes communicate how distracted we’ve been by other areas of life. Clutter can sometimes be a visual representation of the overwhelm you are living with in your head.

As a mother of three and a professional cleaner, I get it. Don’t worry, we can make easy changes that make a long-term impact, and make your home a blissful place to be. Here are four tips for what to do when you don’t know what to do!

Tip #1 Eat the Frog

To get started on righting the ship, I recommend the same process for everyone, which starts with picking one room to start. This is whichever room is the most stressful for you. You may know this as the “Eat the Frog” technique – where you start with the task that is most overwhelming for you, so that all of the tasks that follow are easier. This means you use your energy upfront on the thing that will take the most energy. Sometimes people struggle starting in THAT room, but it is going to have the most impact and other successes can flow from there. This will go smoothly if you accept that it is a slow process, and take it one step at a time.

Tip #2 – Phone-a-Friend (or a cleaner!)

Let’s be real – certain rooms can take 40 hours or more. Just the thought of tackling that room may feel overwhelming, and lead to avoidance and procrastination. People who have overly filled houses are typically already overwhelmed in their work or relationship or with their health. When this happens, it can be helpful to call in a friend or a professional so that the task doesn’t feel so monumental.

You may also be worried that you’ll have to face painful or sad memories at the same time you are facing a task you’ve been avoiding. If so, it’s nice to have someone with you, if that is the case. In ADHD circles, this is called body doubling – having someone with you while you perform a task, and it’s a technique that is helpful for the rest of us too. Your friend should be super kind about what you are facing, but also should encourage you to keep moving as you decide the fate of each item. So, they should be kind but not too kind.

Tip #3 – An object in motion stays in motion

In the book The Winner Effect, author Ian Robertson lays out how Mike Tyson’s coach, Don King used this method to help him win back his world title. Wins, even easy ones, change how you feel, changing how you act. This works in the fight against clutter too.
You may find that you’re not willing to let go of certain things at first. I recommend you have a ‘Maybe’ pile, which you go through again about three weeks later, once you’ve had time to process the emotional attachment. Once you have the initial success of getting rid of your “No” pile, you will have the confidence and momentum to take on your “Maybes”.

In my business, I offer to take the items you are willing to let go of to the donation center, and I take out the trash also. That means, when I leave, my client is left with an organized, clean area and a ‘Maybe’ pile. That’s it. That’s why you need someone gentle and kind, who genuinely wants to help. There’s no reason to make a hard thing harder.

Tip #4 – Go in with a strategy

Sometimes it helps us best to see ourselves in someone else’s story, so let me paint you a picture. Better yet, let me show you one:
In my most challenging decluttering effort, my client had an overwhelming situation in her life that manifested in her living space. Here was our strategy:

Clear some elbow room

The dishes were the first thing I needed to tackle, because they were taking up both floor and counter space. This meant there wasn’t a lot of room to move around, much less get organized. It took me and a fellow cleaner nearly two hours (out of a total of eight hours) to clean the dishes, which provided a tiny bit of clear counter and floor space.

Move top to bottom

Next, we started from the top, like I usually do. We wiped down the cupboards. A ceiling fan or high shelf or even a lightbulb will sprinkle dust on everything below. Don’t double the work! When you start from the top and work your way down, you reduce how much time and energy you spend recleaning items that you’ve already cleaned.

Make it make sense

Once the room was more manageable, I rearranged the flow. This meant moving stuff from standalone shelves to the pantry. We also moved the shelving unit, so it was less visible from the door, and created a cute visual centerpiece to be the focal point when you first enter the room. This made the room more welcoming. I want people to love their spaces, so it often includes some interior design touches.

Put like with like

Along the way, we organized like objects together: cans, snacks, plastics, etc. This creates a standardized appearance. In a situation like this, we also invariably throw away expired food and trash. If it is unclear where to put items, we try to think about where we would look for that item the next time it was needed.

The results are in!

Not only did this project result in a clean and usable kitchen, my client was able to maintain this area for several months. This kind of effort can have a lasting impact on the client’s peace of mind.
We hope you fall in love with your space!

The goal here isn’t just to declutter, it’s to create a blissful space that works for you. If you might need some helping hands, I would love to talk to you about it to see whether my business, Blissful Home Creator, would be a good fit! You can book a free consultation here.