Where to Begin Cleaning When You're Overwhelmed by Clutter and Mess (2024)

When you’re overwhelmed by clutter and mess all over your house, it’s hard to know where to begin cleaning it up. These simple steps will help you take back control of your home today!

I know the feeling. I honestly do.

I know how it feels to look around at your messy house, and even your life, and say the word “impossible.” I know what it’s like to think there is too much to do and not enough time…or energy…or arms. I know the discouragement of waking up full of ambition for finally tackling the out-of-control toys and the stacks of dishes, only to have your plans derailed by a fussy baby or a disobedient child.

I know. I’ve been there. Many days, I’m still there in some shape or form.

Sure, if you were to stop by my house this afternoon, you might think it’s lovely and clean, but I can see the piles all over the desk that seem to grow faster than a four-year-old. And I can’t forget the mess that hides behind a certain bedroom door where there’s barely a path to get from the bed to the closet.

I know the shelves I promised myself I’d straighten up months ago, last season’s clothes I never put away, the sticky spot that’s been on the kitchen floor for at least a week.

Sometimes it seems like everyone in the world must have their lives put together.

And color coded.

And stacked in cute little bins.

Everyone except for you and me, that is. No, we feel just plain overwhelmed by homemaking.

We really want our houses clean and our stacks of mail sorted and filed away, but it’s just out of our grasp. We have every good intention of getting things done, but then we’re so weary and overwhelmed by clutter and mess that we make the choice to eat chocolate today and attack the work tomorrow instead.

And we spend one more day feeling like a homemaking failure. See? I told you I know.

At some point we have to decide that enough is enough. We must stop making excuses and then guilting ourselves into inaction. We have to quit the dramatic swings between comparing ourselves to others one moment and being satisfied with our own laziness the next. We don’t have to live like this. We really, truly don’t.

How to Clean Up Your Messy House

Your homes didn’t fall apart in a day, and it won’t be glued back together in one, either. That’s alright. Every step you take toward dealing with your overwhelming homemaking issues – big or small – will be one step better than things were when you started.

One of the best “first steps” you can take is to challenge yourself to turn off the phone, the computer, the iPad, and the television for one hour each day. Thisone hour challengewill sting a little, kind of like ripping off a band-aid, but it’s amazing what can be accomplished when you aren’t checking Facebook or replying to email. I double-dog dare you to give it a try.

Also, you need to keep in mind that what someone else’s home looks like doesnotmatter. Your husband will not be more or less blessed because of how clean Suzy Homemaker’s kitchen counters look in those pics on her blog. And your children will not feel neglected because their toys aren’t organized just like that magazine article described.

Everyone lives with different situations, limitations, and starting points. Don’t let all thoseperfect imagesbully you into thinking it’s hopeless. That’s just a lie.

Still, even with the best attitude and resolve, the mountain of work in front of you can be daunting. Catching up is always harder than keeping up. This means the path to getting your homes into the proper condition won’t be easy, but maintaining that level of clean will be much, much easier. Trust me on this one!

Where to Begin When You’re Overwhelmed by Clutter and Mess:

1. Take care of time-sensitive issues.

• Check for any appointments or activities you may have forgotten.
• Look for bills that need paid.
• Think about other things with a time associated, such as library books needing returned, dry cleaning waiting for pick-up, or the permission slip begging to be signed.

2. Focus on food and clothes first.

• Figure out what you’ll feed everyone today, and thenmake a meal plan for the rest of the week.
• Decide what day you’ll gogrocery shopping and start jotting down a list.
• Gather the laundry and work at it until you see the end in sight.
• Don’t worry about anything else until you can feed everyone and have enough of the laundry washed, dried, and folded so there will only be one or two loads each day from here on out.

3. Make a simple morning routine.

• Follow the steps formaking a simple morning checklistlistthat works for you.
• You can also grab these Simple Everyday To-Do Lists right here if you’d like to follow my Morning To Do List.
• Start small and don’t worry if the list takes most of the day instead of just the morning. It will get easier with time!

4. Make a simple afternoon and evening routine.

• Make a list that includes only what must be done to keep things running smoothly (such as finishing the laundry, making dinner, washing dishes, etc.)
• Get comfortable with your basic routines before adding additional tasks. Even a few chores in the morning and afternoon will be a huge improvement!
• Don’t get discouraged if it takes a couple of weeks for your morning and afternoon routines to become habit. Keep working and you’ll become more and more efficient at completing the tasks.

5. Choose one special task to do each day.

• Pick oneweekly cleaning taskto do each day, such as running the vacuum or dusting.
• Or,set a timerand work on one area of your home that needs cleaned or decluttered.
• Don’t worry about perfection, just dosomething!

The company my husband works for has this motto: “Better today than we were yesterday; better tomorrow than we are today.”You don’t have to feel continually overwhelmed by the clutter and mess in your home. Keep working to make it just a little better today than it was yesterday and better tomorrow than it is today. You can do it!