After sharing the before and after pictures of my office closet recently, I received a flood of emails from readers with their own overwhelming projects. Like me, they had been putting off big projects even though the current situation is adding stress to their home.
Here’s one of the specific questions that I think many of us can relate to:
“We moved into a new house about 8 months ago and we still have “several” totes in our third bay garage that need to be sorted through and emptied, recycled, goodwill, etc. I look at the totes every day and turnaround – going back into the house overwhelmed and getting nothing accomplished. Any suggestions on conquering that project?” – Linda G .
As you’ll see throughout the examples and tips below, we’ve created our share of big messes. The great news is that conquering my own spaces has taught me some strategies that I can share with you!
How to Tackle Overwhelming Projects
1) Create an External Deadline
With fall around the corner, it’s a perfect time for a garage/yard sale.
Schedule one 4-6 weeks from now and then figure out how much progress you need to make each week to be ready. You can also schedule a donation pickup in the future if you don’t want to mess with a sale.
We never would have finished our master closet or our garage if there hadn’t been external deadlines attached. We played along with a weekly challenge in which we had 5 weeks to fully transform a space. I had to post updates each week, which kept us moving.
This is part of the mess we started with in the garage…
And here’s the closet mess…
Five weeks after the before photo, the garage looked like this.
And five weeks after the closet before photo (a different 5 week period), I had my dream, organized space.
There is NO way we would have pushed ourselves to get these big projects done without the external deadline.
It’s the same concept that helps you suddenly tackle things you’ve put off for years when you decide to sell a house. But we shouldn’t wait until we’re moving to make our home the best it can be!
2) Create a Reward
Is there somewhere around town you rarely go, but love to visit?
Whether it be a spa trip, museum, or special restaurant, figure out a treat. You can probably even sell enough of the items you no longer need to pay for your reward.
Or, you reward could be free – plan a quiet picnic lunch for yourself and a book at a park. Or if you love entertaining, plan a dinner or game night to show off your newly de-cluttered space.
3) Recruit Help
It’s amazing how much more you can focus and push through wanting to quit when there is someone by your side. Especially if you’re either paying them OR they’re one of those friends you KNOW will stay on track.
When it came to going through 20 years of files in my office, I had someone help me. It took us 5 hours (and we actually tackled a couple other little things too). I 100% know I would have quit that day IF someone wasn’t being paid to be there.
PLUS, I booked her in advance, creating a deadline to have the rest of the office done before she arrived. Win-win.
4) Visualize
Pause right now to think about how you feel when you see the area you need to work on.
Now think about how you’ll feel when you know it’s no longer hanging over your head! Better, right?
Life’s too short to put off handling something that will make you feel less stressed every day when you’re done. And I say that as someone who constantly has to tell myself the same thing!
5) Start
Starting your big project will usually be the hardest part. To help take that first step, I HIGHLY recommend playing your favorite music and grabbing a favorite beverage right before digging in. Take a deep breath and then go, go, go!
Once you have the satisfaction of seeing progress, it’s much easier to keep going.
However, you may still get overwhelmed and want to quit right in the middle.
It’s tempting, I know. I’ve been there too. To keep going, set some mini-goals along the way.
If you feel that pull to quit, find a natural pausing point that just a bit further along that you are. So, in Linda’s case, I’d say do just ONE more tub and then take a break. Or if your project isn’t clearly dividable, set a time goal. If you want to quit at 3:18, keep going until 3:30.
Going a bit past the point you’d stop in the past will help exercise your mind to know that you CAN get this done and tackle other hard things as well.
Before you start your break, you also need to commit to a time to resume the clean-up. Whether it be 15 minutes later, the next morning, or next Saturday, decide on the next work time BEFORE leaving the room.
The final little trick I have to keep myself going is asking how I would feel next month if:
A) I keep going and take care of everything?
OR
B) Walk in to still see the same mess?
I’ve never once regretted tackling a project that overwhelmed me, but I certainly have regretted not tackling things sooner!
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Now that you’ve got the mental game conquered, head here to read the 7 Things I Learned About Organizing Our Home Effectively.
Ellen from Ask Away says
Great tips! Visualizing is key for me when it comes to organizing certain areas of my home.
Nickesha says
Hi Melissa,
These are great tips. I especially like setting a deadline and asking for help. I had to overcome the perfectionist mentality (still a process lol) and ask for help when necessary. I definitely suffer from overwhelm and one thing I started doing in any given space was to start super small, with a drawer or corner of the room and gradually work my way through the space.
There are so many rooms in your home I absolutely love! I think your closet makeover and master bedroom, in particular, are still my favourite spaces.
Keep inspiring,
Nickesha
Melissa George says
Thanks so much Nickesha! Starting with a super small spot is another excellent tip!
RW says
Carving out just one corner helps. Setting a timer helps, working for 10 minutes. Most of the time if I can get started… also, I have decided I’m a “social worker.” So Number 3 works for me. I either hire a friend to help, or swap off with a friend, working a session at their house, then a session at mine. Hiring a friend on a regular basis some years ago pulled me out of the worst chaos. Seems I can face the fear with someone alongside. I’ve found other friends are the same. (But a few of them want everyone gone so they can think and work and puzzle it out on their own. My hat’s sure off to them!)
Having help also taught me the rhythm of the work and how much we could accomplish in a session on average. ( In a 2 hour session, with a helper, a small laundry room or closet, or one corner of a large room. Bigger projects can be broken into smaller; if not, schedule more time. It took 6 hrs to rearrange my den and come up with a plan that worked! ) We pick just one project focus. And always leave enough time to restore order. “Don’t pull out more than you can put back.” So stop early and find homes for everything, bag up the giveaway and get it to the trunk, take the trash away, tidy. )
I also learned which type person is a good helper for me. I need someone who can help me brainstorm and find my way thru the options to what really works for ME, and I try to do the same for friends — try to adapt to other people’s vision, not mine. Sometimes I can get that brainstorming help long distance by consulting friends online. Seems I need to talk things out!
Melissa George says
Yes! I’m so glad you’ve figured out the right personality friend for your style and also realized how important it is to help friends implement their vision vs yours.
RW says
I am daunted by the huge paperwork sort I’ve planned for this year. I am making very slow progress with little corners of it, particular categories.
My office desktop is actually staying pretty sorted and USEABLE now. My small business files are all organized, in great shape, and even decluttered; I’ve never let it get bad from the beginning. But I have decades of stash and dash from paperwork in the house.
A friend came and we rearranged the furniture in my office and I feel it will work for me. (We went vertical which helped! ) I’m working on a project to turn a sentimental piece of furniture into a useful object in the room — to hold my totes and baskets of certain categories and provide a staging area. I’ve even picked out and bought a filing organization method/system (Freedom Filer) and think it would work for me for the actual files, both mine and the family’s. I certainly don’t lack file cabinets!
But I’ve always been overwhelmed by the closed boxes, afraid of sorting and making decisions. Logically I think, “Silly! What’s the worst that can happen?!” Well, that I’ll get into the paperwork and get confused and faced with decisions I don’t have criteria for making, or just end up with huge piles of stuff out and, afraid of tossing them, they won’t fit back in, lol. I do have the skills — and if it were someone else’s boxes, I’d have absolutely no problem tackling this huge job. So a dispassionate attitude is the key! It’s only STUFF!
Melissa George says
You nailed it! We have to separate emotionally from stuff and see it as it is!
Kirsten says
Hey there! Thanks! This post has given me courage to attack each room in my home. We are moving in 6 weeks so, of course that’s my deadline. I have a bedroom, kitchen, craft/dining room, computer area, and now 5 left out of 12 file boxes of old paperwork, a storage closet, a huge record collection, laundry room closet, hall closet, and my clothes closet to clear out and pack… we are downsizing to kitchen, small pantry, living room, bedroom, no laundry room, no storage closet, no hall closet… craft stuff, records, bedroom stuff are all going into my new bedroom… tall order. But with your hints it is possible. Maybe a designated donate area…hmm. Need coffee!!! I am NOT moving unused stuff again! It’s outta here!!!
Melissa George says
YES! Refuse to move as much as you can so you don’t end up like the rest of us. I think we STILL have a couple boxes in the attic we moved…6 years ago.
Cindy says
Great tips! I had a few boxes that made it through 2 moves and 6 years without being opened so I threw them away … still unopened. That was more than 10 years ago now and I still haven’t missed what was in them! Now to really tackle my private sewing/decor/storage nightmare 😉
Patricia says
Three and 1/2 years ago we sold our two story full basement house with four bedrooms and moved into 1100 sq ft two bedroom condo. I’d slowly been sorting and purging the house … had the goal of going thru every drawer and closet on the second floor in three months and was well on target when my husband surprised me by getting very sick and needing to move ASAP. I made it.
I changed my priority from what I needed to get rid of to only selecting what we’d need for our future home and everything else not on that list had to go. It’s a different mind set. We moved just what we needed and the rest went to family, the estate sale, off to auction (the antiques) or charity. My husband had to sort his office … and all the paperwork, I did the rest.