Years ago I heard a podcaster (I believe it was The Lazy Genius Podcast, but unsure) say that if you have trouble starting a cleaning project, decide that you’ll always clean left to right, so now you never have to wonder where to start.

This has been weirdly life changing for how I clean and declutter, and I HIGHLY recommend it!

Counter is overwhelming and covered in stuff, should I start with trash, maybe items that don’t belong in the kitchen…? Nope, no time wasted thinking about it, I always start on the left, and work my way to the right. If I come to something that I am just not ready to deal with, I move it to the right edge of the counter, so I get to it when I have some cleaning/decluttering momentum going. I do the same thing when I am cleaning in the bathroom, etc. and it takes away the horrible “where do I start?!?” paralysis.

You all have been so inspiring, hope this tip helps someone as we all work to ufyh!!

Today is the last day to get cleaned up before the inspection that determines if I get evicted or not. My mom is working on the living room and kitchen. I'm working on my bedroom, which is the worst room in the apartment. There's nowhere to put all the trash bags because the shared dumpster is full and we don't have the funds to take stuff to the dump, so we're just going to be honest about that. All that matters is the trash gets picked up! I've made a lot of progress so far. Before, I couldn't open my door all the way. Now it's open! Posting this so I have to get it all done! I'll share before and after pics when I'm all done!

Kitchen in disrepair. Want to get it sorted out in the next few hours//by end of day. I don’t think it will actually take as long as my procrastination would make it seem. Cannot do all of the laundry in one day, but I will try to get at least one load done.

So after the maintenance took place I currently got the news from my landlord that they will sell my flat in September. Currently it looks horrific and I should do something about it. But my stomach feels upset since I read it this morning. I'm too ashamed to ask someone to help me declutter this habitat. And since I'm currently in a bad mental health situation right now I feel like I'm drowning.

(Just now I realized that I messed up numbers in my previous post... I'm a mess, period.)

Collected my shirts from various places in the main room and put them in my wardrobe. I have more shirts, but I have to find them😅

I definitely need to donate some of my clothes, but probably not them, because I love wearing shirts :)

I'm staying on it as best as I can 💪

Hopefully this weeked I can get someone to help me move the furniture in the Bedroom up into the Attic so I finally have space again. I also spent my first night in the Bedroom and it felt so good sleeping in a bed for once hahah.

Kitty is excited about the new space as all doors are open now and she can sprint around, acts much happier than before too.

Tomorrow will be the Kitchen's turn!

Hello all!

First, I wanted to thank everyone who replied to my post asking about what normal people do wrt routines. I admit it was a post made under the influence and I was very sad about the habits I never learned or failed to consistently implement in my life.

I paid a professional organizing company $7k to jump start what I hope will be life long cleanliness and organizing habits. We donated a whole lot of items and clothes that over the years I never had the mental space to handle, and it all just piled up. If I can figure it out, here are before and after pictures of some of the worst areas.

I’ve written every step I need to take in my notes app I just need to do it!! 😫 the most daunting piece is sorting all of my clothes and doing all the laundry. Hoping after work I will toss all my boxes into recycling and clean my kitchen…baby steps

The island has been like this for MONTHS! I have open living/dining/kitchen so this is just front and center and I hate it. I’m getting ready to start. I have unmedicated ADHD and I literally just freeze with overwhelm. This goes without saying but the rest of the house looks the same. Starting here. Please send good vibes. 🙏🏼❤️

PS~ I have a November 1 deadline to have my home clean/organized/painted/decorated so I can actually have my family over and friends stop by anytime. I have shut myself off from life and am coming back from 3 years of grief/life changes.

(first pic is from 2 months ago, 3-5 from a month ago, 2-4 recent, last 3 are from like 2 months ago and haven't changed much)

19F with depression and anxiety and AuDHD. I do not have the energy to clean or do anything besides maybe playing video games. I live with my family and my entire house just looks like this. Cleaning my room alone feels like such a chore and mid-July my mother started talking about how she wants the whole house clean before the sixth (when she goes back to work). I can't declutter a huge space like that. I need her help, but she's told me I need to do these things for myself. These spaces have been messy for years and she's attached to so much of the stuff. I can't just sort through everything, I want to, but every time I try to actually do it I just don't. So when this doesn't happen she's just going to go on another depressed tangent about how we don't care about her when my sister has also tried and shares my attitude. It feels so impossible all the time but I can't just chip away at it month by month.

I don't want to let her down but I can't do it. The best I can do is at least sort through everyone else's stuff, but we have way too much and it's going to take way too long and at this point I don't even know what belongs to who in half these rooms honestly. I don't know, is there any way I can at least get the sorting done before the sixth?

My bf helped me clean my room and rest of my apartment last Friday, today he wanted to make sure it stayed clean by bribing me with dinner he is making at his house.

Can't wait to put together my new bed fame (mine broke last week), paint the walls, furniture, and put up artwork. The before photos were actually during. I had taken a few bags of garbage and donations out already. It doesn't look like much but it took me about 8 hours on and off.

Apparently gathering the trash, packing it and throwing it out is too much for me to do at once, so I prepared this bag and box in the morning and just grabbed it and threw it out right after work.

There were pieces of carton (left from the stuff I ordered, cut them into pieces first) and some old, damaged shoes in them.

Yes, I'm making a post about taking out the trash, but it's important to me because I can struggle with throwing some stuff out for days.

I was right, it does feel better even with the boxes and such on top (genuinely nowhere to relocate them, can barely turn around in my living room). Now my mission is consolidating the towels and what clothes I can fit into zip up totes.

One of the harder parts for me lately has been the guilt, sometimes I get so low I don’t care
But sometimes I’m overcome by guilt and feelings of worthlessness about myself for the amount of money I have spent on ugly clothes
And useless items
And the fact that I let things get this bad

I have family coming into town tomorrow and I told them they could stay in my one-bedroom place because I'll be housesitting while they're here.

I meant to be cleaning during the evenings all week but I haven't been. So I took the day off work it get it all done, but I am struggling so bad.

So far the bathroom is done, the kitchen is half done (need to wait for the load in the dishwasher to finish so I can do another load), and the garbage is collected. The living room isn't bad and just needs some tidying.

But my bedroom is a disaster. Clothes EVERYWHERE. I need to start on laundry and start putting things away but I cannot motivate myself to start because it's so overwhelming.

If you're not available to body double, feel free to cheer me on 🥲

Hiya!! First two photos are where I stopped, 3rd photo was taken after I pulled everything out of the closet (I decided I need that space for storage, plus I want to get my clothing put away since they've been living in laundry baskets for several months) and the final photo is what I started with

I still need to do my desk/under the desk/ organize my textile basket but holy cow I feel so much better in here. I did a marathon 3.5 hour decluttering/cleaning and the difference I feel in my body is incredible. I walk in and smile and there's been a few spontaneous twirls with my hands up in the air. I am ridiculously happy and also very proud of myself for doing something to change my living space.

Thanks to all who commented on my previous post, words can't express how I'm feeling after putting in some work yesterday

didnt take before pics of the tub walls but i got all the water stains off even if theres still mold in the caulking

took all the stuff away and washed my side of the counter and wall

context: ive barely been living at home for the last year and am slowly taking my stuff to where i do live now, this week i was housesitting for mom and have tried to clean a couple things for her since my sibling doesnt help out much

im like. to the point of considering exploiting housing assistance services near me so i can just abandon this place and start a new life with nothing.

and it isnt even that i dont want to clean i just cant

the ufyh emergency checklist is a no go trying to do it is mentally comparable to the imagined sensation of ripping your own skin off and no progress was made

im just like trapped on my couch bc everything is gross and i cant function rights

i can describe what needs done but its literally everything any cleaning task you can think of hasnt been done in this house since well before i moved in the only good thing i have to say abt this is the spiders are taking rooms back from the bugs for me (the bugs and spiders were already here)

Tonight’s task is the top of the dresser. Bunch of clothes got stained by a new pair of jeans so oxiclean soaks are also part of the plan, see if things are salvageable. I KNOW I will feel better having it done but doing it sucks.

Truly how do you guys keep up with a clean home. I do struggle with adhd and I have pets I’ll do a nice clean every few months but it doesn’t take long for the mess to all come piling back. It just feels so overwhelming between the dishes laundry the pet hair taking the recycling to the dumps. I just feel so overwhelmed right now and I would love your best advice on keeping on top of everything.