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Last updated on April 8th, 2022 at 11:51 pm
I totally get how hard it can be to get started on something. There are some projects I’ll keep delaying because I’m so overwhelmed at the amount of stuff that has to be done. I can’t figure out where to start, or even get up the energy to get started. But then I think of the clients I help to start decluttering their homes, where the spaces feel overwhelming, and I realize my situation is no different.
Decluttering an overcrowded closet or a drawer stuffed so tightly that it can barely close doesn’t phase me. But I know how it feels to just walk away from something that’s bothering me, telling myself, “I’ll do it some other time.”
Use these 3 steps to start decluttering an overwhelming space.
Step 01: Visualize
One client I had was completely overwhelmed with her garage. It became a catch-all for everything she didn’t know what to do with or that she didn’t want her kids to have access to.
The first thing we did was identify her goal for the space.
In this case, the goal was to throw away all the trash that accumulated, donate items that weren’t being used, and be able to park the car in the garage. Visualizing the end goal is key to figuring out the steps to getting there.
Step 02. Make a smaller, attainable goal
Next, we broke the space into smaller pieces.
Instead of looking at the whole picture, we looked at each area of the garage as smaller, attainable goals. To begin, we worked on the top of the workbench. Next, underneath the workbench. Then, the area right in front of the bench.
The goal was to clear each area before moving on or thinking about the next.
Step 03. One small step at a time
Then, we sorted one pile at a time.
Starting with the workbench, we sorted one small pile at a time. We sorted into three piles: keep, discard, donate. After sorting one pile, we moved to the next.
I could see the client’s energy and confidence increasing as we started to see the top of the workbench. Decision-making became easier the longer we worked.
After a while, she said, “I guess this isn’t really that hard. It’s just making the time to do it.”
As a friend once told me, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Once you understand the process and break the project into smaller pieces, decluttering an overwhelming space is an attainable project.
Do you need a step-by-step guide to help you break down your overwhelming space into a doable project? Download the free Where To Start Decluttering Guide.
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