How to begin organizing when your home is an overwhelming mess

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Last Updated on December 29, 2020 by karissa ancell

My major goal with organizing and actually with most areas of my life. Is to figure out how to make it simple. The fact is that we like to do things that are easy and we don’t like to do things that are hard. So making the organization and decluttering process as easy and simple as possible makes it more likely that you and I will actually do it. I’ve been asked the question before of how to begin organizing when your home is an overwhelming mess. I think if we are honest with ourselves we have all felt overwhelmed by the mess in our home. When it gets that way though we have to figure out how to begin organizing when your home is an overwhelming mess. 

Which is the goal right?

To get it done? So let’s make it simple.

The best ways I have found to organizing when your home is an overwhelming mess. Is by trying to set a routine and doing a little at a time. For me personally, I’m not a huge fan of routines so I have to be creative about how I sneak a routine into my life.

Maybe you love routines and thrive in that kind of structure. I’m jealous of that because I think it makes things simpler. You just know what needs to get done, have a routine for it and then do it. I wish I was that way. The problem is I hear a routine and I want to break it. I just do.

So I don’t call it a routine and I’m not strict about it, that way it feels more like a choice and I’m more likely to do it.  The process I do is that when I come downstairs at night to take the dogs out.  If the dishes aren’t done then it just makes sense to spend 15 minutes doing them and wiping the counters.

I also like to wash and put away one load of laundry a day. Laundry is my enemy. I hate doing it and it tends to build up and then it’s a huge project to deal with. So one load a day keeps it from becoming overwhelming. Though I probably manage my one load a day goal 60% of the time. Which isn’t great.

Some weeks I’m good and the laundry is under control and some weeks I’m not but then I make the commitment to just do one load and then the next day one more and then it gets done.

That method for laundry is also part of my just doing a little bit at a time plan to getting things organized. When things are a big mess in your home it can become very overwhelming and you may be like me and just want to avoid it which only leads to your home becoming messier.

Instead just do a little bit. Not always but many times just doing a little can make you feel good so you will do a little more and then a little more. Before you know it your home looks so much better and you are surprised at how much you got done.

Just set a timer for 30 minutes and concentrate on one area. You will be surprised by how much you can get accomplished in a short amount of time. Go through and do a quick declutter. Pick up trash, take dishes to the sink. Pick up clothes and shoes that can be put away or taken to the laundry. 

Do a load of laundry while you are picking up.  Or do the dishes and run the dishwasher while you clean up the counters. 

There is so much that you can do to begin organizing when your home is an overwhelming mess. If you just break down what needs to be done into little tasks. It’s when you look at it as a whole that it becomes too much. 

Related Post: What to organize when you are short on time

I am working to make routine work for me better because I can definitely see the benefit of doing them. I’m currently in the process of taking Crystal Paine from Money Saving Mom’s course on Making over your Evenings. Then I hope to take her Makeover your Mornings course I started with the evening because I tend to be more productive in the evenings. So I  thought I would be more likely to stick with a new nighttime plan than a moring one.