The very idea of decluttering may leave you feeling overwhelmed. The hardest part of getting that clutter organized, usually, is where to start. The mess has reached an impossible magnitude or the task feels SO big that you just don’t know how to begin.

Here are some decluttering tips from the experts! With these tips you can move forward with a plan and feel accomplished every step of the way.

 

10 Actionable Steps To Declutter Your Home When Completely Overwhelmed

1. First, know your clutter weakness

I do have an easy, doable, step-by-step solution that will solve your immediate clutter and cleaning problems called The Cleaning & Decluttering Master Guide (I’ll talk more about this soon). However, in order to have any longterm decluttering and cleaning maintenance success, you first must understand your clutter weakness(es). 

Understanding the reason why your home gets to be so cluttered is foundational in moving forward. Knowing your clutter weakness helps you recognize the very root of the problem and therefore shows the light at the end of that messy tunnel.

Once you understand why there are zero dishes to eat off of or no underwear left, you can actively work on taking captive those thoughts and actions which inevitably lead slowly to a paralyzing mess.

First, understand your individual tendencies. Which of these sound like you?

• I’m overwhelmed. My life just feels so overwhelming. Most of the time, even the thought of doing the dishes seems like too much. Now, I wouldn’t know where to begin. And even if I did, I just don’t have the desire to fight that battle.
  • What you can work on: Start with you. Seriously take out a blank piece of paper and write down everything that’s worrying you. Are any of these actionable items with timeframes? Does everything need to be done at once? Could you give yourself a break and do them a little later? What’s the worst possible thing that could happen with each of your worries? If those things happened, what would you do? Could you accept that in order to fight another day?
    Once you take on your overwhelm, you can begin to overcome it. Then, you can take steps to create a decluttering schedule and keep your space from being overwhelming. I highly recommend Dale Carnegie’s “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.” It will change your life.
• I’m just too busy. I can’t find that awesome Tupperware I bought off of Amazon, so I stocked up on a whole bunch on a whim at the store. It was on sale anyway. I’m just too busy to try to find what I need. The very idea of organizing all my stuff sounds ridiculous. There’s just too much. I’m too busy!
  • What you can work on: Begin by understanding that having no organization system in your home leads to not being able to find anything which leads to MORE busyness. You are literally giving yourself less and less time as each “convenient” purchase is made. Only by accepting this truth will you be able to get some of your time back. The next step is prioritizing and scheduling in time to declutter, clean and set up an organization system in your home.
• I’m just worried that I might need this. What if I host a holiday party? That creamer set would just be perfect. Or the serving set from my grandmother. It might be useful someday.
  • What you can work on: Thoughts like this lead to the most clutter of all the weaknesses. A rule of thumb: if you don’t use it in twelve months, throw it out! Sometimes it can be a hard pill to swallow, but this alone is your key to an organized home. If you can do this, you will free yourself of the overwhelm and clutter.

2. Before you begin, set decluttering ground rules

Now, let’s set some rules before you begin. Understand any hoarder tendencies you might have. While decluttering, watch out for these red-flag phrases:

• “But, I really think I need that!”
• “I thought someone could use that.”
• “I need to go through those eventually”

Do you really want space, freedom from the mess and peace of mind? Then you need to toss these excuses out the window. Ask yourself these questions:

1. Do I absolutely love this?
2. Do I really NEED this?
3. Do I want this more than peace of mind?

Set some ground rules:

1. Start small. The thought of tackling a whole house is completely overwhelming but cleaning out a coat closet is doable. Divide your space up into sections that fit into YOUR schedule and give you a feeling of accomplishment. We’ll go over this later but The Cleaning & Decluttering Master Guide lays out your space in a completely manageable way, so you have an action plan.
2. Track your progress. Check off a list and/or take before and after pictures to show yourself that progress is being made. Feel good about the work you are doing!
3. Throw away anything that is broken. This includes items that are stained or missing parts.
4. Donate anything you haven’t used in 12 months. You can do it! Not using an item for an entire year means you probably DO NOT need it. Unless it’s something like baby clothes you are saving for your next child or maternity jeans, get rid of it.

3. Prep your sorting boxes

Set up five different boxes (or bags) and label them:

1. Trash
2. Donate
3. Don’t Belong (things that actually go in another room)
4. Give (if something you run across would be perfect for a friend or family member)
5. Keep or Give? (or Not Sure)

What are “Keep or Give?” items?

Those are the things that you’re not quite sure what to do with at the moment.

Professional organizers will have you put those “not sure” items all in one box then write the date 12 months from the day it was boxed.If you don’t need and/or look for anything in that box by the time that date comes around, you don’t need that stuff. Get rid of it!

4. What you’ve been waiting for: create the ultimate declutter & cleaning plan

With an overwhelming, paralyzing mess around you, it can seem impossible to understand where to start. The hardest part is knowing where to begin! Because this is the most difficult step, I felt compelled to create a step-by-step, easily digestible and DOABLE action plan, tailor-fitted to your schedule.

I used to be a project manager as well as a director and creating systems for companies was my game. My husband also used to work as a professional cleaner! Together, we’ve created a simple, effective guide customized to really truly help you create a clutter-free, peaceful and clean space.

Check out the beautiful, simple and effective Cleaning & Decluttering Master Guide.

This guide will help walk you through taking that overwhelming mess around you and transforming it into a peaceful, clutter-free and relaxing space. I created a very simple three-step system with a plan in place, customized for you. The first step is to tackle the craziness, one easy digestible baby-step at a time. Check off each decluttered space and you’ll begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The next step is to create an upkeep plan using the preformatted schedules. Once you’ve followed the outlined schedule, step three helps you customize a cleaning and decluttering upkeep routine that will work FOR YOU. This guide will help you customize a routine that fits into your schedule and won’t take up your day.

Check out the guide here: The Cleaning & Decluttering Master Guide

5. Commit to a cleaning routine from here on out

Once you’ve tackled the disaster zone and conquered, take steps to learn how the mess got that out of hand (if it felt overwhelming). If you truly want a clutter-free peaceful space, with practice you can keep it that way from here on out! This means creating a daily upkeep routine that feels doable and easy but does not take up your day.

“But that sounds like too much work!”

I felt the same way. Then the mess came back after ALL that hard decluttering and organizing work. We’ve found the BEST way to TRULY have control over the space around you (and keep it feeling peaceful) is to have an easy daily/weekly routine.

If you don’t know where to start and haven’t checked out The Cleaning & Decluttering Master Guide, hop on over to see it here.

6. Leave room for revision

Maybe you thought taking on three rooms would be doable and then came down with the worst splitting headache imaginable. You took on too much AND something got in the way. Don’t worry about it! 

Learning to keep up your living space is all about revision. The bottom line: you will have days where you just don’t accomplish what you want to. Understand now that this WILL happen and that means just plowing forward in obtainable goal-oriented ways.

Take a break and come back to your plan if you need to. Just don’t take so long of a break that your space gets more overwhelming than when you started! Remember to always come back to your goal. Do you truly want a clutter-free, peaceful space where you can relax and enjoy life? You can make that happen, one step at a time.

Creating a consistently tranquil space is all about a simple, easy to do, daily upkeep routine. In addition, the only way to succeed in this goal is to be persistent even if you miss days or your space gets crazy again. Work towards consistency, remember your goal, keep at it every day and if you skip, start over again the next day.

 

7. Consider taking a class that will help you tremendously

I’m a HUGE fan of Hilary Erickson’s classes. She has a big family and is a PRO at organizing the chaos. A few years ago their family downsized and she scoured the internet for help on how to declutter their lives. All she found were Pinterest worthy, beautiful spaces with perfect labels and everything out in the open, organized in an unrealistically picture-perfect way. She knew this would NOT work for her family of five who uses LOTS of stuff all the time.

Hilary wanted a fun, stress-free environment that would be easy to clean up and manage.

So she put together an awesome course based on her real-life, amazing organization skills. Her mission is for you to be able to cook dinner knowing where everything is and not end up with a mess, get dressed quickly with a pre-organized closet, clean up your kid’s disaster rooms in a flash and have systems in place to give you peace of mind.

The whole course right now is $49 or you can pay a month at a time for $15. It comes with eight sections, a whole slew of videos and worksheets as well as an awesome Facebook group where you can get real one-on-one advice on keeping your life free of the mess. One of the things I also really love: Hilary writes you the most fantastic, down-to-earth and helpful emails to guide you along.

Check out her Organized Home course here and see if it will work for you!

8. Read up on project 333 to help tame your clothing clutter

Courtney Carver wrote about dressing with less and Project 333 beginning in 2010. The idea took off. People from around the world were captivated by her idea, documented their own project 333’s and thousands took on the challenge.

I heard about the idea, I believe, in a Netflix documentary and decided to give it a try. The concept is to minimize your closet to 33 items or less for three months. I loved the idea because my closet was an absolute disaster zone. There were clothes in there from high school (that was like ten years ago). I probably already wore less than 33 things anyway. The challenge was amazing and I still take time to go through the closet and do it to this day.

Project 33 is a great introduction on minimalism and it will help lighten your cleaning load as well as declutter your home load in a tremendous way. Check out Project 333 and how to begin here.

9. Use effective, safe cleaning supplies that will last

While you are getting into a cleaning groove and decluttering, you will need supplies that are EFFECTIVE and super cost-effective. I wanted to share my favorite cleaning brand because they come concentrated, you add water to a small amount and they last FOREVER. The cost is much cheaper than what you’d find at the store and most importantly, these cleaners are eco-friendly and non-toxic. 

You can find the Legacy of Clean Multipurpose Cleaner as an “Amazon Choice” item with five solid gold stars (because it’s awesome) but you can get it for HALF the price through this link here. Also, when it comes to laundry detergent, the famous green product SA8 from Legacy of Clean also has a five-star rating on Amazon and is usually sold out. You can snatch it up here for $14.00. The quality and effectiveness of those two products have surprised me over and over, plus the price is just a crazy deal.

10. Remember you can do this

Even though the clutter and craziness all around your home is completely overwhelming at this very moment, the key is to believe you can do this. You can create a space that is peaceful, clutter-free and clean. In addition, you also can upkeep your transformed space on a daily basis in order to maintain the peace and freedom. It’s worth it. Try to keep reminding yourself of that fact. It won’t be easy at first but once you have created the habit, it will be smooth sailing from there. Believe in yourself. 

Recap

1. First, know your clutter weakness. Know your clutter weakness and learn to identify those excuses that are preventing you from having a clean space. If, the root of your overwhelm is stress and worry in your life, seriously check out “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.” It will change your life.
2. Before you begin, set the ground rules. Do you have any hoarder tendencies? Toss the excuses and focus on the goal of a space free from mess. Set some ground rules:
   1. Start small.
   2. Track your progress.
   3. Throw away anything that is broken.
   4. Donate anything you haven’t used in 12 months.
   5. Pack a box/boxes up of “not sure” items.
3. Prep your sorting boxes.
   1. Trash
   2. Donate
   3. Don’t Belong
   4. Give
   5. Keep or Give?
4. Create a plan, one room at a time (declutter + clean). With an overwhelming, paralyzing mess around you, it can seem impossible to understand where to start. Seriously consider downloading The Cleaning & Decluttering Master Guide.
5.  Commit to a cleaning routine from here on out. Create a daily upkeep routine that feels doable and easy but does not take up your day. The Cleaning & Decluttering Master Guide has a schedule already planned out for you.
6. Leave room for revision. Don’t beat yourself up if you miss cleaning tasks or skip whole days. The path to a peaceful, clean home is to keep moving forward. Don’t give up!
7. Consider taking a class that will help you tremendously. Check out Hilary Erickson’s Organized Home class which includes 8 sections, a variety of videos and a private Facebook group for support.
8. Read up on project 333 to help tame your clothing clutter. Project 33 will help lighten your cleaning load as well as declutter your home load in a tremendous way. Check it out here.
9. Use effective, safe cleaning supplies that will last. Take a look at: Legacy of Clean’s Multi-Purpose Solution, Legacy of Clean SA8 Laundry Detergent and Legacy of Clean’s Dishwashing Detergent.
10. Remember you can do this. Believe in yourself. Everyday follow your plan and create the habit of daily upkeep. It’s worth it. You can do it!

Right now, your space may feel overwhelming. Decluttering and cleaning your home isn’t a cake walk but having a peaceful and clutter-free space is absolutely doable. Once you focus on your end goal, understand how you ended up with so much mess, and develop a doable routine that fits into your schedule, the overbearing weight of all that clutter will be lifted. Most importantly, with this hard work, you will have created a stress-free environment where you can live in peace. You’ve got this.

 

The Cleaning & Decluttering Master Guide takes you one small step at a time to achieve the absolutely obtainable goal of creating peace and freedom in your space. Download The Cleaning & Decluttering Master Guide and in three doable steps, transform your space into a clutter-free, peaceful and relaxing space.

$24.99 $14.99
(Limited time low price)

Check Out The Cleaning & Decluttering Master Guide Here