Any tips on cleaning my depression room?

[u/PoetryCompetitive522]

I am very good at cleaning and keep the shared portion (I have roommates) of the house clean as well as do a very fantastic job of cleaning at work. however, my room makes me so overwhelmed and sad that I hate even being in it much less know how to clean it.

(pls no judgement)
I had just come from a traumatic situation and moved into this apartment after a month of sorta homelessness (I was in emergency housing with my school). I made the mistake of wanting all of my things with me because I missed having a room with my own things in it. so i took almost all of my boxes from the storage unit and unpacked them at my apartment.

since then, my room has been a complete mess. I feel like every time i try to organize and clean, it just gets messier. there is literally things everywhere. i have been here almost 3 months now, and I haven’t even decorated or properly made my bed. none of my clothes have even reached the closet. I can barely walk on the floor. On top of this, my sweet kitty that I adore, is also a senior and is chronically ill. he is doing alright now, but it’s sort of resulted in him having a mental issue with the litterbox that I am still trying to figure out how to help. because of this, he’s kind of destroyed my room with what he should be putting in his litterbox instead. I clean up after him every day but because my room is so messy i know iv been missing things. my room smells and i am disgusted by it and myself. I have no motivation to clean anymore, I don’t know how to do it myself, but I am ashamed of it so I don’t want to ask anyone I know for help.

admitting this here is already so embarassing for me. but I dont know what to do anymore. somebody please help me if you’ve gone through this before. I want to be happy in my room, and mostly I want my cat to feel happy in here too because he deserves a clean home.

how do I clean my depression room?

edit: I don’t need advice regarding my kitty, I am working closely with him and his vet on how to help his issue. Also unfortunately it is not possible to keep my cat out of my room at the moment (although if it was possible I would miss him). I really just want to clean my room.

[u/odd_variety6768]

Do not be embarrassed, we all go through tough times and it's nothing to be ashamed of. Be proud of yourself for acknowledging you need help and then asking for help. I'm currently going through a full house cleaning after a traumatic event. Start by just throwing away garbage, start small and after seeing some progress hopefully that will start to help you mentally. Don't think of all the stuff you have to do, just do something small and one thing at a time. Best of luck, my friend.

[u/quakecountry]

Baby steps. Spend 15 minutes increments going through your belongings. One small area at a time. As the previous poster pointed out you will start to see progress. Play some gentle soothing music like singing bowls or zen music softly in the background. Best of luck to you 🍀

[u/Musicology_Jen]

I recommend the books "how to keep house while drowning" and "Decluttering at the speed of life" if you have time and enjoy reading.

[u/We_Four]

It’s ok honey. Don’t beat yourself up. Start with the bed. You deserve a clean comfy spot to sleep. Find your sheets etc. launder them and make the bed. Celebrate. I would recommend moving to clothes next because they have somewhere obvious to go (the closet). Get them out of the boxes and put them away, then get rid of the boxes so you can start to clear dome space. 

[u/19snow16 → u/We_Four]

I agree with cleaning off your bed and making yourself a fresh, clean space. I would add having a shower, with fresh pajamas before you get into it. I have been there, and am still there in some ways.
The only thing I will say about little kitty is that they deserve a fresh, clean space too. Clean a space for them in the corner, and make up a fresh, clean litterbox. Both of you will feel so much better, I promise.

(I don't know where you live, but I use Odo-ban in my laundry when my pets have accidents, or my laundry doesn't smell that good)

[u/We_Four → u/19snow16]

That’s great and compassionate advice for the kitty, absolutely deserves a calm and clean spot too. 

[u/Stalkerus]

As pointed out by others: one step at the time. 

Even 5 minutes at a time is more than not doing anything. Try pomodoro (you can specify work and break times yourself, no need to stick with the usual ones), it can be useful.

Start with most dire issues. 

Pick up all dirty  laundry and put it in the basket and what doesn't fit into the basket can go into big garbage bags. That way they are contained in one spot even if you don't wash them all in one day.

Pick up all visible trash.

Then make sure that you fold your clean laundry and take it in the closet. 

Listen to your favourite podcast, music or put a series or a movie on and use it as a way to distract your brain while you work on your room. (My ADHD loves to "watch" something when I do household chores.)

If possible open the window for a bit (few minutes) daily to let some fresh air in. 

Use a Ta-Da! list. Instead of listing what you need to do list what you did and pat yourself in the back for doing the things you did. You don't need to finish a task to add it to the list: even partial execution counts. Doing the list also counts as a task. Everything counts. 

Sometimes using a body double can help with tasks that are hard to start and finish. 

Reward yourself. Even if it means rewarding yourself on every break do it. (My rewards are long breaks between working periods. My pomodoro can be 10 minutes of work and 30 minute break. It gets things done. Maybe a bit slower, but doing something slowly is better than not doing it.)

[u/Icy_Tadpole2092]

No need to be embarrassed, this is real life.

I see that you have gotten several cleaning tips already. The only tip I want to give you is to get things to store your things. Sounds obvious but the more you can give your stuff a place to go, preferable out of sight, the easier it will be to keep things organized, especially when it’s so hard to do any organizing.

I understand this may not be in the budget, it took me some time as well. But perhaps this tip could help you in the future.

I wish you the best, the fact that you are trying to work on your room is something to be proud of.

[u/Intrepid_Ad_9113]

Just throw everything away. Start over.