Can anyone help me break things down so it's less overwhelming?

[TheGreenNinja]

I'm a SAHM, youngest child started school in September. We have recently moved house and every room needs decorating, plus there's still a lot of organising/rejigging that needs to happen. The house is a tip after the Christmas hols, there's a mountain of washing. To top it all off, I have an illness that leaves me exhausted and lacking in energy.
I just can't get my head around getting the house into shape, decorating etc on top of the daily tasks which are needed, it feels so overwhelming I don't know where to start!
I know I'm very fortunate to be at home to tackle this, but I can't seem to get started.

Sorry to hear that you have been ill, it does make everything so overwhelming.

Instead of focusing on the mountain of things that needs to be done, could you start at the other end, building a picture of what it will be like, room by room, when it is finished. Make a picture, a collage or a list of points, what ever works to inspire you. Pick one room, and work back to what needs to happen in order to make that as you want it.

You may find that as well as final states, you might need some interim ones, as some works like plumbing or heating would impact on the other rooms.

Start with a fun focus, daydreaming and let it solidify into a more practical plan from there. Hope it goes well for you. xx

We've had all the major work done already so it really is just decorating and getting furniture etc. But I can't figure how to do that on top of the daily stuff of tidying/cleaning/washing/cooking etc. I have limited energy! But looking at say, a bare plastered wall for months on end or boxes of toys out because there's nowhere for them to go is depressing and overwhelming in itself.

One room at a time, starting with the smallest? If you do, say, a downstairs loo or bathroom then you'll have a finished room to look at which will cheer you up! And give you a sense of satisfaction.

We've just done this. We moved and had to decorate the whole house. And get ready for Christmas, find schools, register with doctors etc. It was so hard. You'd have curtains and a pole but you can't find a drill. Then you unpack the drill but there are no curtain hooks. On and on it goes.

I think you have to be kind to yourself with it all. You can't get everything pulled together straight away. (No matter what my dh thinks!)

I found I couldn't focus on one thing as there was so much to do. So I'd start putting some wasting away and half way through I'd be stopping to put up a picture.

Are you doing the decorating? What we did is the dc helped with the taping of the skirting boards. I painted during the day as high as I could reach without the ladder. The dc did some of it. Then dh did the tops when he came home from work.

Don't buy cheap paint or you have to do two coats!

That's exactly it, savoy, I can't focus on one thing because there's too much else! So I start off sweeping the hallway say, and get distracted into sorting through -the enormous pile of- shoes, starting to put up the shelves that need to go up, redirecting post that has been hanging around etc etc. At the end of it, it's more of a mess than before!

Yes, it's got to get worse before it gets better.

Getting stuff out helps. I took a lot of stuff to the charity shop, things I didn't have room for.

I have a massive box of charity shop stuff but never get around to taking it. I'm going to make that a target for this week - get all the unwanted things to charity and the dump stuff to the dump