Those of us with messy, cluttered homes all have our reasons. Maybe work leaves you with no energy to deal with chores. Maybe you’re struggling with mental illness or a non-neurotypical brain that can’t even. Or maybe you just never learned the basics of tidying up and are too embarrassed to ask for help now.
Everyone’s threshold for messiness is different, too. For some folks, a small pile of junk mail and this morning’s coffee cup might feel like a mess. For others, there may be piles of dirty dishes, trash, laundry, and random stuff on every surface. It’s not a competition, and you shouldn’t feel ashamed or believe that your level of mess makes you a bad person.
The very good news is that there’s a simple, easy to follow way to deal with messes of any size. Are you ready to get started?
The Secret About Cleaning and Decluttering That No One Told You
A room that feels messy–even dirty–and cluttered might seem like an impossible challenge. There’s so much stuff that you don’t even know how to start. Marie Kondo’s method of piling every piece of clothing you own onto the bed doesn’t work so well for those of us who will leave the clothes there for days or weeks. Other popular methods encourage you to clean one square foot at a time or work for 15 minutes in a single area.
If those methods already work for you, then great! If not… well, consider trying this. It starts with a total shift in your mindset.
As you look around the room, realize that every single object belongs to one of just five categories:
- Trash
- Dishes
- Laundry
- Things that have a home
- Things that do not have a home
Once you shift your perspective, you can see that there aren’t 20 or 50 or 500 individual things to deal with in the room. By grouping them into five simple categories, you can stop overwhelm from derailing your cleaning efforts before they even get started.
This Next Tip Is Really Important
Once you’ve mentally recategorized your mess, tackle the list above in order. It’s designed to get rid of the worst, smelliest, most potentially hazardous stuff first. It also moves from the category that requires the least decision-making power–trash–to the one that requires the most.
The best part is that even if you only make it partway down the list, you’ve got a much cleaner, safer, and healthier living space.
Trash is easy. You pick it up and put it in a bag. When you’re done, you take the bag to the can.
Dishes? Simple! You carry them into the kitchen and put them beside the sink. You don’t have to wash them right now; instead, keep working your way down the list.
Laundry is easy, too. You pick up the clothes and linens from wherever they ended up, then put them in the hamper. Again, don’t throw them in the wash right now.
Okay, take a pause at this point and look around. Doesn’t the space feel better? If you need to find a stopping point, this is a good one. You might want to wash the dishes and laundry before moving onto decluttering, or you might prefer to continue with the list so that you can “finish” a room.
Decluttering Made Simple
The stuff that’s left falls into one of two categories: things that have a home and things that don’t. Quickly gather up the things that have a home and return them to it. Anything that remains will require some decision-making, so don’t try to tackle this final step until you have the time and energy to do so.
Get a box, large bag, or other container and pick up the things that don’t have a designated place. I really like the giant blue IKEA bags for this type of task. It helps to have a clear surface, such as a kitchen table, to spread things out and sort them into piles.
You can KonMari these objects by holding each one and asking if it “sparks joy.” I find her method to be somewhat limited, especially since I have a ton of craft supplies that don’t fall into any of her categories, but use whatever system makes sense for you. Just don’t leave the stuff sitting on the table indefinitely, okay? Messes become harder to clean the longer they exist.
Some of the stuff can be thrown out or donated, while others will have an obvious place that they can be kept from now on. If you find yourself with stuff that you’re just not sure about, put it in a box, label it with today’s date, and store it someplace out of the way. If you haven’t opened that box in six months, then you probably don’t need to keep anything in it.
