Do you want more time to spend with your family and less time spent on trying to keep up with your house?
Do you cringe and feel like you have to profusely apologize when company shows up uninvited?
Girl, you’re not alone.
Life gets busy and sometimes things can get out of control; like, your house.
Do any of the below sound familiar? If so, this post is written specifically for you.
- You’re in and out and only home long enough to make a mess and not get it cleaned back up.
- Clutter comes in and nothing goes out. Dishes pile up faster than you can wash them. And the laundry pile keeps growing.
- The amount of clutter and mess in your home fills your every thought and becomes a cause of anxiety.
- You feel like your spinning your hamster wheels and know that there is more to life than trying to keep up with the house.
- You feel like your house could possibly be on an episode of “Hoarders”.
Do you want to clean your messy, cluttered house, and keep it clean, but don’t know where to start?
When I say clutter and messy, I don’t mean you have a few things out of place or have a few dishes stacked on the cabinet that haven’t been put up from breakfast and it’s only 10 a.m.
I don’t mean the junk drawer that has needed cleaned out for the last 6 months. I mean “The Mess.”
When I say “The Mess,” I’m talking about the kind of clutter that’s stacked in the corners, piled on the shelves; the clutter that exhausts you to look at it or live in it and makes you ask, “How do I even start to clean my house?” Or, “Why can’t I keep everything in order the way other moms do?”
You’re drowning in stuff; stuff to put up, stuff to make room for, stuff to get rid of.
I get it.
It can be exhausting to see “The Mess” and not even know where to start, it can be so big.
As a work from home, homeschooling mom of 4 kids the upkeep of my house usually comes last.
When my home gets to the point where picking up no longer helps, it’s time to do a deep clean and purge what we don’t use and what doesn’t have a place to get my house back in order.
I want to share some tips and advice on what I do when I get overwhelmed and stressed from “The Mess” and what you can do, because there has to come a time when you say, “Enough is enough, I’m not living in this mess any longer. I’m taking back my home.”
If your house is in a constant mess all of the time you should check out the Declutter Your Home Bootcamp by Tracy of Simple Living Country Gal.
There’s no reason for your home to be messy, embarrassing, and exhausting. You deserve better than that. Your home should be a place of rest and that’s just what Tracy gives you with her course.
The easiest way to clean your house when you’re overwhelmed by the clutter and the messes
The first thing you have to remember when your house is so messy you don’t know where to start is:
Everything has a place and everything in its place. Organization is key to a clean, tidy house. Grab boxes for items to store, a trash bag (or more) for trash, and make organization systems for stuff that stays in your home.
If you don’t know how to organize (because this is just not a strong suit for some people and that’s okay) find help.
Do you have a friend that looooves to organize? Your home should be ideal for her.
The next step after that would be to accept the help. If you’re anything like me it’s hard to ask for help and then it’s even harder to utilize the help. I want to do it all myself.
Utilize your help. Start with telling where one thing goes, then another, and another. Pretty soon you’ll be on your way to a clean home with the help of your friend.
Start small
When we try to tackle our whole home that’s cluttered it can be too overwhelming and we give up before we even start.
Sometimes starting small with something such as a cluttered corner or countertop or even a shelf helps tremendously.
After you get it done, it more than likely will inspire you to do more. Be careful and don’t try to do too much. Burn out can happen quickly.
On to the trash
Trash is the easiest thing to spot and grab and feel like your winning.
Take a sack, walk through the room, and start filling it up. After that, take a step back and notice the real difference it made. This will make you hungry for more.
Tackle one room at a time and one item at a time
Tackle the room that’s the most seen by visitors. It’s more than likely the room that gives you the most anxiety.
Find an item that doesn’t belong and put it up.
Then find another item and put it up.
Repeat until there isn’t any clutter left and everything has a place; a place either in your newly organized house or a place to go OUT of your organized house (in the trash or in the giveaway pile.)
Clean from top to bottom
Start at the highest area of the room (such as shelves) and declutter, then dust, and move down. Starting at the highest point will make sure you don’t have to clean the same area twice, such as when you’re dusting.
Don’t be afraid to purge
You have to break the emotional connection you have with your junk and clutter. Don’t be afraid to throw away or give away.
Purge, purge, purge, and then purge some more. If you haven’t used it in over 6 months you’re more than likely never going to use it. Give it away to someone who needs it and will use it.
Don’t worry about the money that you spent on it and wasting that money. It’s already wasted because your not using the item and it’s just taking up peace in your life.
I like to throw all the clutter in a pile in the middle of the room and start from there. This won’t work for everyone though. Depending on your personality, this could cause you more anxiety than you began with.
Get it out of the house now!
Get it out of the house as you clean. Don’t pile it by the door and hope to remember to grab it on your way out. Take it to the car now.
In my experience, the longer a bag of anything is sitting in your house the more tempting it is for the kids, husband, or even you to go through it and make sure there wasn’t anything put in there that they might possibly want in the future.
After it’s in your car, get it out A.S.A.P. Out of sight, out of mind. Don’t let it tempt you and don’t let it go from cluttering up your house to cluttering up your car.
Every time I go to town I like to take a bag or box to the donation box. If you’re like me and most Americans you’ve always got clutter and too much stuff laying around. You could probably do this too.
Create good clutter free habits and teach it to your kids
Create good habits that prevent clutter such as-
- Taking care of mail as soon as it enters your house
- Asking yourself if you can’t live without it. If not, throw it out.
- Not buying more stuff than you need. Do you really need three of the same sweaters but different colors?
- Not putting everything in its place when you are done with it. My family is the world’s worst at this and I’m right in there with them.
Teach these things to your kids. I asked a friend of mine who ALWAYS has a clean house what her secret is with 4 kids. She said, “I’m a nazi mom.”
She makes her kids clean up their messes and not leave anything out of place. She teaches them to keep a tidy house.
Keeping your home clutter free isn’t a big job it just takes discipline and perseverance. Take these steps one baby step at a time and you’ll be on your way to a clean, tidy home.
I truly enjoyed reading this post, its really nice. I might have a couple suggestions, but Im not causing an argument Anyway, keep up the great work, and until next time! Regards, Teeninga Palmen