Decluttering Tips: How To STOP Feeling Ashamed, Overwhelmed & Like a FAILURE

2 simple, yet SERIOUS, decluttering tips to STOP feeling ashamed, overwhelmed and like a failure that really helped ME.

Life happens… and our homes show the stress we’ve been under.

If you were raised like I was, a messy house was a sign of a BAD MOM.

Yes, I felt like a failure if ANYONE ever saw the mess I used to live in.

Heck, I felt like a failure anytime *I* saw it.

All that CLUTTER and MESS – How… HOW did I let it get this way?

What is WRONG with me?!?!

Here’s what I figured out and HOW I finally figured it out… and it was life-changing.

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Clutter and mess are flat out OVERWHELMING – and when real life gets in the way… we literally feel like we’re drowning.

And it certainly gets serious, doesn’t it?

I’ve talked about cleaning with depression before.

After my 2nd child, my daughter, was born, I fell into a DEEP bout of post-partum something… it was horrible.

It was a snowball type of thing too… I felt horrible and couldn’t manage to do anything – which made me FEEL even MORE horrible… and then I’d be so mean to myself about not doing anything…and I felt even MORE horrible.

I felt like a horrible failure.

Bad Mom. Bad Wife. Failure As a Human.

…and I was DROWNING in all those emotions and personal judgements of myself… and yes, DROWNING in all my CLUTTER.

I’ve also talked about decluttering after someone dies… and that’s a whole ‘nother mess of emotions that snowball and paralyze us.

And, to top it all off, I’ve also talked a bit about cleaning with ADHD (and isn’t that the cherry on top! ugh!!!)

The DOUBLE cherry on top is… I am NOT a naturally “neat” person (ie, a “neat freak”) by ANY means.

I’ll talk about that “double cherry on top” EXTRA challenge down below.

I’ve shared a LOT of extreme decluttering tips here on Decluttering Your Life, but today, I want to share 2 very simple, yet SERIOUS decluttering tips for when you just CAN NOT get it together.

If you’re there, you KNOW what I’m talking about – and it is SO hard.

No matter what your decluttering roadblock is… these 2 tips WILL help.

I promise.

Tip 1 – Read This:

How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and OrganizingRead The Preview

This is gonna sound super “hype-y”, but I’m going to say it anyway…

This book changed my life.

The author’s experiences and emotions resonated with me on a level that I’ve never experienced.

Best of all –

Her SOLUTIONS really WORKED for me.

She helped me reframe my entire thinking about my home… about cleaning… about my own internal expectations of myself.

It’s almost as if she gave me “permission” to NOT be able to do it all.

Made it ok to feel NOT ok.

And still be able to get things done.

I don’t feel like a failure anymore, instead, I’m ok being HUMAN – a real person who goes through REAL LIFE stuff… just like YOU.

I don’t care if you buy the book, get it on your Kindle, listen to the audio book, get it from the library or borrow it from a friend.

READ IT.

To get an idea of what the book is about, read the free preview here.

Tip 2 – Get This:

Cleaning Sucks: A Guided Journal for Less Mess, Less Stress, and a Home You Don’t HateRead The Preview

This is going to sound odd to some (maybe not?), BUT… I was never really taught how to clean.

I guess for naturally clean people, knowing HOW to clean is common sense?

But not for me.

My grandmother was a neat FREAK, but she HAD to do everything herself (yep, a bit of a control thing there, haha!)

My mother, on the other hand, well… I didn’t learn there either.

Learning HOW to clean is a real life skill that NEEDS to be taught.

But I truly did not know how.

And it sure as he** did NOT come natural to me!

So once I figured out how to get rid of some clutter to make SPACE to clean, I got this “guided” journal that helped me learn how to KEEP it clean even though I was NOT in a good place mentally.

When you’re in a bad place in your life, it’s common to look around your messy house and wonder…

“WHY BOTHER?”

“What does it really matter if my house is clean or not?”

“I suck at cleaning so why even bother trying??”

This book helped me teach myself WHY it DOES matter…

and best of all –

Why *I* am WORTH it.

And YOU, my friend, ARE worth it, too!

Check out the free preview here.

(side note: some readers have told me they are offended by her title and/or brand name – I’m so sorry if it offends you as well. I didn’t write it, nor did I title it… I just STRONGLY recommend it.)

Ok, that’s it… no long, drawn out post from me today.

Just 2 VERY important things I wanted to share with you because they were each SO helpful for me.

Bonus Tip

Know what else REALLY helped me?

Finding little tips and tricks that worked for ME. Below are 10 quick decluttering hacks from SaneSpaces that all work… hopefully you will find at least 2 or 3 that will work for YOU.

My favorite little tip from the picture above?

Celebrate every decluttering victory along the way no matter how small YOU think the victory is!

✅ Recommended:

(image above links to a LOT of declutter challenge printables, cleaning schedules and MUCH more!)

My House Was a MESS!
And my anxiety was through the roof!

I needed a plan to get it together - it was all pushing me over the edge.

Thing is - we LIVE here... I never had the fantasy that my home would ever look "Pinterest perfect".

I simply wanted more control, less clutter and much less anxiety.

I finally found something that worked for ME.

My house is now easier to clean - I can now clean it in minutes, instead of hours.
I can now actually FIND the things I'm looking for.
I learned some simple decluttering systems that make me much more efficient every day - and I'm more relaxed and less overwhelmed all the time (finally)
My house now looks pretty darn good almost all the time.
Best of all - I no longer stress about guests unexpectedly showing up.