My House Is So Cluttered, I Don’t Know Where To Start! {+ Free 30 Day Decluttering Challenge Printable}

Is this you? Swimming in a sea of clutter? Not knowing where to start? Feeling helpless and defeated? When you walk into your home, all you see is stuff piled everywhere, and it is working on your sanity.

Today, The Decluttering Chronicles features a story from a mom (we’ll call Stacey) offering a raw, personal look into how she took control of clutter. She has lived the overwhelm of a disorganized disaster zone house with humor and honesty. Interspersing her decluttering journey with realistic emotion allows moms and dads to connect with her authentic advice on transforming chaotic spaces. We are thrilled to have Stacy contribute as our organization expert guest!

Take it away Stacey!

The Life-Changing Magic of Decluttering: How I Tackled Clutter and Finally Created My Ideal Home

As I walk through my small two bedroom house, my eye catches that pile of unopened mail teetering on the edge of the credenza. I sigh and walk to the kitchen for lunch, sidestepping towers of Tupperware without lids and shelves crammed with more microwave-safe bowls than any human could ever need. I plop down on the sofa, sweeping crumpled receipts and a smattering of legos onto the floor to make room. Surveying the chaos around me, I wonder—how did it get this bad?

Like many people, I have a clutter problem. It wasn’t always like this. When my husband and I first bought our cozy house three years ago, everything had a place. Mail was opened promptly and dealt with. Food was stored efficiently in a reasonable number of containers. Toys lived in bins when not in use.

Somewhere along the line with two kids, two jobs, and the chaos of everyday life, organization fell by the wayside. Before I knew it, clutter was multiplying in every corner of our home. Every space became a dumping ground – papers piled on the desk, coats flung on the guest room bed, mismatched socks stuffed between couch cushions.

The chaos finally reached a breaking point last month when I couldn’t find my keys to leave for work. After angrily digging through the junk drawer crammed full of takeout menus, old batteries, and rubber bands for the third day in a row, I realized something had to change. I could not go on living like this! The clutter was overwhelming me mentally and physically. I knew that before organizing anything, I had to get a handle on the sheer volume of stuff invading my house. Thus began my epic decluttering journey…

Committing Completely – It Starts with Mindset

That frustrating morning when I was once again late for work, I made a pledge to myself: I am going to declutter this house and get our possessions down to just the items we truly need and love. I know myself well enough to admit I probably wouldn’t have the attention span for a massive floor-to-ceiling overhaul. My plan was to start piece by piece, area by area, steadily chipping away at the clutter little by little over time. But before touching anything, I had to get into the right declutter mindset.

I took that morning before work to do some reflection about what was important to me and my family. I envisioned my ideal household – full of functional yet aesthetic belongings we loved, everything neatly arranged with space to move around and breathe. I thought about how the constant visual distraction of stuff piled on every open surface stressed me out and weighed on my mind. I was willing to put in consistent effort over time to build better habits and live clutter-free for our sanity! Getting emotionally invested in the Why behind decluttering gave me the push I needed to fully commit to this new lifestyle.

Quick Surface Sweep – Grabbing the Low-Hanging Fruit

Several days after my mini vision quest to lock down the right decluttering mindset, I was ready to dive in. But where to even start with so many overflowing spaces? I decided to begin with a speedy sweep of all the common living areas. I gave myself just 20 minutes and brought along a big empty laundry basket.

My goal for this first sweep wasn’t to sort out cabinets or decipher keep vs. toss piles. I simply did a visual inspection of spaces like the kitchen, living room, dining room, checking for unwanted things sitting out that I could quickly grab. Any decor items I no longer liked, expired food products, instruction manuals for gadgets we no longer owned, went straight into the basket. Obvious trash like cupcake liners leftover from my son’s birthday party last month and empty shampoo bottles on the shower ledge got scooped up too.

In just that short burst, my basket brimmed with discardable clutter easily removed. Walking that first round to the trash and recycle bins, I felt lighter and more hopeful that I could tackle this decluttering quest. I realized so much visible clutter takes no time eliminate at all – it simply requires making the choice to remove it from sight.

Ranking Clutter Hot Spots – The Top 10 Offenders

Now that I had some fast initial decluttering success under my belt, it was time to create an action plan. I took out a notebook and challenged myself to list the top 10 most disastrously cluttered areas of my home. This was harder than expected! As I moved through each room mentally, so many overflowing spaces begged for help. After really thinking through which areas drove me most crazy, I came up with:

Storage room chaos
Kitchen junk drawer explosion
Hall coat closet avalanche
Paperwork desktop doom pile
Kid’s toy bin disaster
My nightstand drawer distorted by hair ties and chapstick
Our medicine cabinet clutter
My husband’s toolbox graveyard garage mess
Our overflowing sock/underwear drawer
Our guest bed – more a laundry pile receptacle

Phew, putting the top ten worst offenders in writing was therapeutic yet daunting! But I reminded myself not to get overwhelmed by therestill being more left to tackle later. This list was my starting point full of clutter spots making me cringe daily.

The Crucial First Win – Slay the Paper Dragon

Staring at my tragic list, I decided to start with #4 – the ever-growing pile of mail, receipts, and random paper scraps colonizing the right half my desk. An erupting Mt. Document more like. This spot tormented me daily, causing headaches as I constantly pushed aside piles to make room for my laptop only to have them topple over. The time had come to tame this paper dragon once and for all!

Since I knew this monster mess would take more than my initial 20 minute sweep, I planned a two hour decluttering block that Saturday morning while my kids were at swim lessons. I armed myself with the weapons of organization – recycling bin, shredder, folder boxes, tray sorters, and my label maker. I brewed a strong pot of coffee for courage.

Over the next two hours, fueled by caffeine and my favorite pump-up playlist, I courageously combated my paperwork nemesis. Sorting through each sheet, I made quick decisions on trash vs. file vs. shred. New color coded folders with satisfyingly crisp labels neatly contained bills, receipts warranting tax season review, user manuals for electronics, and kids’ schoolwork. Outdated coupons and embarrassing early pandemic panic grocery lists finally made their way to the recycling grace.

When the final paper scrap landed in its rightful new home, I did a happy dance right there midst my new streamlined desktop haven! With this crucial first clutter hotspot conquered, attacking the other nine spaces on my list somehow felt far less impossible. My decluttering confidence soared – I could actually do this!

Scheduled Decluttering Sessions

Building on the rush of accomplishment from winning paper battle #1, I resolved to keep up momentum in small chunks. I decided to continue steadily chipping away at my top ten decluttering spots by scheduling sessions 15-30 minutes each evening after work. Sometimes I had the energy for longer Sunday sessions tackling bigger projects like the storage room or garage. But brief, regular weekday time slots prevented decluttering from taking over my whole weekend.

I put the decluttering time blocks directly in my calendar so I would stay accountable. Having the end time set also motivated me knowing I could soon relax! Timer in hand, I would set up task materials like sorting boxes and trash bags before each session began so I could maximize time.

Tickling away at these short bursts each day, I made remarkable progress moving through my decluttering to-do list. Having the end goal to liberate a coveted space from its clutter chaos motivated me to stick to quick daily tasks. Bite-sized consistent effort does wonders over time – before I knew, more than half my list had found order at last!

Establishing an Ongoing System

As I purged excess belongings from each new room or zone, a crucial organization habit I built was having designated declutter storage bins at the ready. I relied heavily on sturdy cardboard boxes marked “Donate,” “Sell,” or “Trash.” Transporting filled boxes immediately to their next destination kept unwanted goods from lingering around my newly refresh spaces!

I housed donation items right in my car trunk ready for drop-offs after work. Local mom Facebook groups proved the perfect virtual consignment shops for toys, clothes, and shoes the kids outgrew. I became a Craigslist posting queen, scheduling porch pickups for bigger unneeded furnishings that thankfully found happy new owners instead of a landfill.

Out with the old, making room for things we loved to flow in! I soon noticed how much easier daily tidy-up became without overwhelming volumes of stuff cramming every crevice. Maintaining order started feeling like a breeze. To sustain my newfound decluttered lifestyle, I stashed easy access baskets labeled “Doesn’t Belong!” throughout main living areas. Now whenever I spot something astray like junk mail or the kids’ candy wrappers – into the bins they go for quick periodic emptying!

Staying Inspired in the Declutter Marathon

Crossing half my prioritized spaces off felt fabulous. Still, decluttering did start to feel tedious at times, I can’t lie! Staring down a whole afternoon organizing our chaotic kitchen drawers full of mystery cords, expired spices from five houses ago, and a rubber band ball the size of a small boulder…I drooped a bit. The glamorous vision of breezily sorting through my perfect Marie Kondo boxes faded fast.

When decluttering motivation wavered, focusing on the progress made so far and looking through photos of orderly spaces restored determination. My family also surprised me by cheering on my marathon mess clearing. Loading up another bag of donations, my daughter ran over for a high-five exclaiming “Yay Mommy, keep going, you can do it!” My son even started excitedly throwing his stray toys into the “Don’t Belong!” bin without nagging. Apparently a tidy home was becoming more fun than a toy-strewn one!

Before & After for the Win

Finally, three months after embarking on my decluttering quest, I joyfully scrubbed out the last grimy corner of the garage. Every last zone on my decluttering checklist now had order once more. I may have shed some tears standing proudly surrounded by neatly labeled storage bins, my tools easily accessible, car keys now even in their assigned spot. It felt absolutely incredible reflecting on how far our household had come!

Compelled to commemorate the accomplishment, I snapped “before” shots I had taken when each space was at its most nightmarishly cluttered peak. Scrolling through those horror scenes on my phone, I shook my head hardly believing I tolerated living that way! Juxtaposing messy past to tidy present showed off my success even more dramatically. The sigh of relief seeing our home become functional and peaceful again was the best reward ever.

Staying the Declutter Course

Life moves fast as a busy parent, I’ve learned! Over time as the kids grow or seasons change, new belongings come into our lives while some get phased out. Maintaining organization amidst life’s natural transitions has been an ongoing process even after completing my great decluttering conquest. But now I feel far better equipped with helpful habits for minimizing clutter!

I’ve stuck to my trusty “Doesn’t Belong” bin system – anytime I catch clutter accumulating, into the bins it goes! We do regular “culling days” where each family member purges some of their unused personal belongings to donate. I’m constantly labeling new storage solutions for our evolving needs and tweaking previous setups if they need a refresh.

While I’m confident I could rally my family back into full overhaul mode if chaos returned, it has stayed manageable. We actually discuss new belongings considered entering our home using questions like “will this item add value to our lives or just add clutter?” Times I’ve caught the kids exclaiming “we don’t need any clutter here!” while sorting toys or clothes to let go still makes this mama smile with decluttering pride.

Though not always easy, I finally created the tidy, peaceful home I envisioned through committing fully to decluttering madness. But the benefits touring clean rooms with belongings I adore still spark joy daily! I hope my journey conquering the clutter beast once and for all motivates you to fearlessly approach that mess waiting to be tamed so you too can live clutter-free and proud! Now, who wants to come over and admire my gloriously organized sock drawer? Anyone…anyone?