How To Start Tidying Your Space
Maybe you know you have a messy space, or you know you have clutter around your home; maybe someone told you. Or, maybe you don’t have a lot of clutter, but you have a difficult time finding the motivation to clean when you have to. I have encountered all of these situations at different times in my life. (Such is life, and we are all human; it’s bound to happen to all of us at some point).
I wanted to write on this topic, because today, I watched this “viral” tik-tok video about how this woman is complaining to her husband about wanting to do this one chore, but then she gets sidetracked because she has to do something else before she can do that first thing, and so forth. It continues until she lists ten different tasks that need to be done, and she’s so overwhelmed with it all and frustrated that she doesn't do any of it. Haven’t we all been this woman before? Yes. Does it matter if we have ADHD, or not? Nope. I can tell you we’ve still been there and still felt like that.
This video irks me a little bit actually. Even though I feel like that all the time, I never speak it aloud. All those thoughts are so fleeting, they pass in my head and back out. I just do the things. My motivation? I can’t stand looking at the mess. It bugs me when someone places something on a flat surface in my home, and that’s not where it belongs. When I go about doing the things, I turn into this crazy speed demon - literally racing around until it’s all done. I use that time to challenge myself to see how much I can increase my heartbeat so that it turns into exercise. Trust me, I’m not leisurely listening to my music or an audio book while these things are being done. It’s a race against time for me so I can spend the least amount of time doing stuff I hate and doing more of the stuff I love.
You want to be more like that? Well, it takes discipline and training. You have to force yourself to get off the couch, put down the book or turn off the tv, and start. You need to turn it into a habit, and I swear, the more you do it, the easier it becomes (as does any habit). Before you know it, you won’t know how to live life any differently, and you will become a more productive person.
Unfortunately, that’s not how it is for most of us. It takes a lot more effort to get yourself into that type of cleaning or organizing mode. This is what I recommend:
One day, when you’re bored, and you’re not doing anything else, pick up one item from around your home that doesn’t belong there. Touch it, feel it, breathe in it’s essence. How do you feel about it? If it’s something necessary for you to keep, put it away in the right place. If you don’t really care about it one way or the other, or you have no idea why it’s even there and you don’t need it, throw it away or put in a donate box. Now, the next day, do it again with something else. Or, if this has you intrigued, do a couple items at a time. Do this every day for a week (or month, however long you want to commit). Take the donate box to Good Will. Once it’s gone, you won’t think about it. Don’t rethink about keeping those items. Your first thought is usually the right one. If you do one item at a time, it becomes much easier as you go along. You don’t need to commit to anything big at the beginning - make it easy for yourself.
The same thing goes for chores. Let’s say, like me, you detest cleaning the bathrooms. I rotate between my two bathrooms each week, so week one, I’ll do the one upstairs and then the week after, I do the downstairs bathroom. If you can’t stand to do the bathroom all at the same time, just clean the counter. Take off all the items, and wash it thoroughly. Then come back later, or the next day and do the mirror or the tub. Break it down into easier bits until maybe one day, you’ll say, you know what? If I do the bathroom all at once, I won’t have to do it again for a whole week, and it saves time.
The ten minute tidy is the same concept. Every evening, I set a timer on my phone for ten minutes. I clean my high-use living spaces for ten minutes, but again, I push myself to move like a speed-demon. I do as much as I can in those measly ten minutes, and when the timer goes off, our main floor is usually clean.
In the case of bigger, organizing projects (like my recent desk space refresh I did in January of 2024), I literally make a project plan in my planner. I write it all down - the areas to be cleaned, how long it should take and when I’m going to do it. I actually schedule the tasks into my planner on specific days. If this isn’t you, and couldn’t be bothered, don’t even break your organizing or minimizing projects into areas. Just keep picking up individual items from around your home, no matter their “home”. Decide whether you want to keep it or throw it away/donate it and then put it where it belongs. Keep doing this and pretty soon, everything in your home will be organized and have a spot to go. Depending on how much you’ve decided to get rid of, maybe you’ve decluttered and you’re home has become more peaceful. (objects don’t always bring joy, sometimes they are peace stealers).
Now sometimes, this process doesn’t always work. Sometime you might need to do a little pre-work in order to put something away properly. (Maybe you want to dust and clean your bookshelves before you start re-organizing them). Don’t let these projects take too long, because if you already have a problem with building up motivation, you might get bored with longer projects and find that you’re not following through with them.
Thank you for reading and we’ll see you next time!
Happy cleaning and organizing!
💜 Sandra
