AIBU to ask where to start when cleaning an extremely cluttered room?

[galaxychoc]

So New Years Resolution was to become one of these people who are naturally tidy and seem to do it so effortlessly.
I have a bedroom/spare room which is extremely cluttered and I don't even know where to start. I have gone in a couple of times and once I see the extent of the clearing out to be done, I just walk back out again. Counter productive obviously.
But if anyone had any basic tips/ideas or steps to follow to start this and actually finish it I would be grateful?

I did this very chore on Monday. I did similar to what was suggested - donate, bin, recycle or store in the appropriate place. The appropriate place in this case was on a clean shelf in the cupboard which I also had to clear as it was filled with bulky chemistry tomes. They went to a friend's daughter who is going to do a chemistry degree.

My wardrobes are next, not looking forward to that one.

Totally second a timer it is amazing how productive you can be in a short space of time. How you use that time depends on what type of stuff is in there and what you want to do with it all.
I do a keep, bin, donate idea when I clear out a room or a cupboard out set a timer for 15 minutes and make a start. I find a section by section approach works to stop me feeling overwhelmed so I pick a bit and work in that area and do it in 15 minute segments until that bit is totally cleared it helps me see a progress rather than thinking I’m making it worse before it gets better.

Fly lady is not helpful.it confused the hell out of me...plus it sent me hundreds of emails that added to the confusion

Shine your sink,shine your sink..I've got to bloody get to it first

Take a photo. Set a timer
Work for 15 minutes. YY re bags for rubbish/ recycling/ stuff to go to other part of house etc.

Take a break. Next time you go to room look at the picture, and you'll see how different it is. Take a 2 Nd picture before you start. And repeat.

I find the photo at the start and end of every 15 minute chunk of work really motivating.

I've spent a few chunks of days sorting books into shelf & book height order-it looks great & makes the next rubbish tidying bits in the room seem less overwhelming. So books, if yo have them.

In my spare room tomorrow, I'm going to lift all the underbed boxes out & will have to make some difficult decisions about shoes/boots & toys & can maybe move some stuff into less accessible storage areas 😁

I'm decluttering at the moment. I pick a section e.g. books / clothes and go through it, putting things to donate into a bag for charity. Often I'll do this again later in case I've missed anything, or in case I was giving myself a few weeks to see if I wore something I was unsure about or read that book I've had for ages etc.... I also really think it's been useful to visualise what I'm aiming for - I know how I want each room to look (spacious, relaxing, not too much visual clutter distracting attention) and the positive benefits (know where to find things, less time tidying up) and that is much more effective for me than just thinking of it as a task that I need to do.

Is there one big thing that never gets used and is cluttering the room? Do whatever you need to to get that out of there as a matter of priority. It will make an immediate psychological difference and give you more space to sort through what's left.

After that, what the stuff is and what my goal is for the room would affect how I tackled it. Do you figure you need to have a massive clearout or do you mainly want to get organised and find homes for everything? Do you want the room to be a bedroom? an office? Is it full of clothing? books? paperwork? everything?

If I wanted to use the room for something like crafting or an office I'd start by clearing a table and then piling the relevant tools/supplies/stuff in and around that space. Organise that space so it is usable and you have a positive reason for going in that room instead of just feeling negative about it.

A lot of people seem to approach it by diving in to getting rid but that can be extremely stressful if you possibly have anxiety around getting rid of things. Start by sorting. Seeing a teapot in isolation you might make one decision but when you sort into piles and realise you have twenty teapots you might make a different decision.

I could go on. I love organising so much I wish I could get paid to do it

Work on making a tidy corner. Sort out one tiny patch of the room: a foot square, it doesn't have to be much. Everything in that tiny patch gets put away, or thrown away, or put in a bag for jumble. Then you clean that little patch. Then you tidy another corner, or area of the room.

If you break it down into little bits it doesn't feel too much, and you can feel like you've achieved something after each tiny area is sorted.

The hard part is keeping it tidy once you're done!

Sorry that should say start by sorting into like groups, so all books together, all paperwork together, all clothing together. And wherever there is a more logical home for a pile, take it there. Like your clothes go to your bedroom. If you have bookshelves somewhere take the books there even if there isn't space for them yet. Put your teapots in the kitchen.