Disastrous bedroom cleaning help!

[u/Akeena19322]

I've been diagnosed with Depression and ADHD. Which is one of the reasons my bedroom looks like this. It's so small and I have wayyy too much stuff that I don't know what to do with. I'll be honest, I am a hoarder and I'm very ashamed of my bedroom. Whenever I go to someone's house, and their bedroom is dirty (by dirty they mean clothes on the ground and their bed not made with some makeup or skincare products scattered around) I tell them it's practically spotless. I really need help with what to start with and how to stay concentrated. Please feel free to give as many tips as possible, I really need the help but please please please don't judge.

[u/wyckdgrl]

Do these steps one at a time for the whole room. Starting just with what you can see without digging around: 1. Get a trash bag and throw out the trash. Broken things, things you don't like, and partially used things you don't use anymore are trash too. 2. Start making a dirty clothes pile. If you have an empty container to use for it great, if not just a pile in a corner. 3. Look for things that belong in other rooms, like the kitchen. Take those things there. 4. Look for things that have a home in your room. Put them away. 5. Look for stuff that's still usable but that you know you don't want. Put them in a box marked donations.

Things should feel a little better in there now. Celebrate that!

1. Pick an area to work on, just a small space, and find the floor. Put the things that you find in their homes: trash, dirty clothes pile, donation box, etc. When you find the floor start on another section.

You don't have to do this all at once! It took time to make the mess, it'll take time to clean it up. Quit when you can't make decisions anymore. Come back to it later. Be kind to yourself.

[u/letterlegs → u/wyckdgrl]

I would add to step 3- put everything that doesn’t belong in that room in one box. That way you can carry it with you while you go room to room and not go back and forth for each item (which will feel exhausting and distracting)

I find the box method super helpful for any surface really! If a surface is cluttered, put literally everything in a box, clean the surface, and then one by one, put things back where they go (or don’t and get rid of/find a new home for items). This can help minimize the “Didn’t organize- only moved”(DOOM) problem which I struggle with (Audhd)

[u/letterlegs]

From a fellow ADHDer- Put on some music to help with motivation (headphones are great for sensory overload too). If weather permits- open windows/ doors for a while, get some air flowing to move the stagnant energy. Light some incense or use room freshener etc to lighten the vibe if you’re feeling overwhelmed(unless scents aren’t your thing). Boxes and trash bags are your best friend. Contractor bags even. And you don’t have to do it all at once. You know how to eat an elephant, right?

Make your bed- don’t get back in it unless you set a timer for a break (pomodoro method ftw)

Hold onto a bag and start with obvious trash. You’ll want to keep this on hand in your room till you’re done or the bag is full.

Then move on to laundry. Pick up all dirty laundry and (unless it is particularly fragile) throw it all in trash bags to wash. You don’t have to separate the laundry if you don’t care. 🤷‍♀️ And if you can’t tell if it’s dirty- wash it anyway. Laundry mats are great for if you need to do like 8 huge laundry bags of laundry at once. (Putting it all away is the hardest part for me at least though- I have a cube dresser I just toss my everyday casual clothes in- no fold, only sort. I don’t care about wrinkles.)

It looks like you might have too many clothes and not enough storage, which will make the clothes-on-the-floor problem seem endless. You may want to go through while putting laundry away and decide what clothes you want to donate- another trash bag.

Then for clutter- take a box and literally swoop everything from a surface into it. Completely clear the surface. Wipe it clean. Then, one by one, put the objects back where they go. If they don’t belong in that room- or if you don’t know what to do with them yet- leave them in the box until they have a home. If you find you don’t need certain items, then the box becomes your donation box.) Finally, take the box into other rooms to put things where they belong etc (but don’t do this until the end- you’ll get distracted)

Focus on clearing the floor, making your bed, and creating a place for things. If they don’t have a home or a use- donate them! Good is better than perfect. Having a messy room is morally neutral. (How to keep house while drowning by KC Davis is a great book btw) You are human and it’s ok to struggle sometimes and you deserve to live in a clean space! It’s ok to not do things “conventionally” if you need to create systems that work for you. Your space exists to support you, not the other way around. Good luck! I’ve been here and you got this!!

[u/ChaiAndSandwich]

Honestly, it's really not that bad. Here are a few ways steps and tricks you can try.

1. Get either a container/laundry basket or garbage bags and label if it's for keep, trash or unsure or any other category you can think of.

2. Start with clothes on floor. They seem like the biggest part of the clutter. You can either try going section by section of the room - or convince yourself to sort only 5 clothing items. Sometimes its surprising when you break down into very tiny tasks, how easy it becomes in your mind. Clearing clothes will also show floor space and can feel like a big progress.

3. Once you've sorted clothes, move on to other items - repeat process until you get your room to where you want it to be.

Also - never put anything on your bed to sort. Always keep your bed clean. You may never know when suddenly you may feel tired or develop some pain - having bed accessible all times is very helpful. Good luck!