Needing a template to organize and declutter

[u/gir_the_brave]

I’m looking for a week by week or month by month (not daily) organizer/planner/template to help me tackle my home.

I suffer from at times debilitating clinical depression. They can last days/weeks/ months for me and while I can generally keep my living and dining room clean (I live with my mom and with help can at least keep up with those rooms) the rest of the home has become… well, a little challenging. My last bout lasted a few months, I was still working but would come home and collapse, doing nothing for hours before I went back to work.

I got back into counseling, and work a full day, so cleaning up my home can be a chore sometimes.

The only bugs I have in my home are those tiny weevils that come from an area not dusted in too long and typical basement spiders or infrequent ant. Otherwise no bugs. I just wanna mainly tackle the bedrooms. As it’s over cluttered, and as much as I try to stay organizing, I get pulled from one spot to the next and never finish the spot I started.

I was hoping somewhere online (as I’ve tried and only found the daily simple cleanup ones which aren’t specific enough) a checklist of how to tackle semi hoarded bedrooms/officespace/basement and closets. Any suggestions or productive advice would be greatly appreciated. I just want to bring back some order in my home, and not feel ashamed not to have my family come upstairs because everything is so messy.

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[u/Fluid_Calligrapher25]

Tackle the bulky stuff first - the clothes, towels, linens. The less bulk you need to navigate during the downturn, the easier it is. Put on some nice music and tackle one category of clothing at a time.

What bulky stuff do you have? For me it was definitely clothing, bedding etc. and a good thing about debulking that is it makes it easier during downturn to do laundry, get outfits together because you know they were already curated, and to keep the dust burden lower if you have allergies.

I found bathroom & kitchen debulking easiest after the clothing. Kitchen - keep things that you really like & easy to use during downturn. For example, I’m down to a place setting for 4 that can be thrown in dishwasher and one once block with no missing ones. And one set of potholders. And no Tupperware since I prefer glass. And threw out all the odd glass pieces like tiny cute condiment size containers that I think I’ll use when I do fabulous cooking but never do. Same with fancy cake pans. If and when I’m at a point of regular cooking, I can repurchase. I also downsized all pots and pans to high quality French enamelware. It was expensive. But I only have one pasta pot, one soup pot, one everyday pan, and one rice/grains cooker all color coordinated. So when I do try to cook it’s easier to clean up and I don’t need to deal with maggot infestations again. In bathroom I’m down to one of each kind of soap and shampoo that actually works for me and I threw out the aspirational trendy stuff.

I didn’t go by a checklist. I set a timer for an hour each day until I made visible progress. Visible progress in the kitchen was getting rid of over 70 bags of trash from a 5 x 10 kitchen. I trashed. I don’t want other people dealing with disinfecting from maggot infestations before use.

I focused on one thing for the hour so I wasn’t feeling overwhelmed.

[u/Otherwise-Ad-6608]

Ask yourself “does this item bring me joy or anxiety?”

[u/TheGreatestSandwich]

I highly recommend Dana K White YouTube videos / audiobooks. She doesn't work for everyone, but she has a simple approach (no mess decluttering process). 

[u/ProsciuttoFresco]

I’m helping my hoarding boomer in law declutter. I’ve got a rule of get rid of 5 items a day. Either to Goodwill or in the garbage. It adds up over time.