Feeling depressed and low on energy but still thinking about cleaning a bit. Awesome job already. Here are a few tips that might help during this tough time:

• Your goal is to just make space functional to live
• Functional ≠ neat or organized. Just need a clear place to sleep and safe places to walk around, and preferably food that is sealed in bags/containers.
• Use the 5 minute method: set a timer for 5 minutes, and do what you can within those 5 minutes:
  • Clear off anything that has accumulated on bed (i.e. plastic bottles, empty snack bags, dishes, clothing, electronics). Bonus points for changing sheets.
  • Clear a path to the rest of the house
• If after 5 minutes, you want to keep cleaning, go for it! If not, you did an annoying thing when you felt like crap. Literally tell yourself, “good job.”
• As stated in the “General Cleaning Tips” tab – it is OK to ask for help. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, but keep thinking that if you broke your leg, you would need help with these kinds of things. This is the same concept – as you work through this more “invisible fracture,” know that support from others makes your recovery easier.

If you have a bit more energy to tackle cleaning- woohooo! Here are some tips for that initial de-clutter.

• Choose something enjoyable you can do while you clean that will make it less annoying, such as listening to a podcast, a “cleaning playlist,” or calling a friend.
• Use the “5 Things Tidying Method” created by professional therapist K.C. Davis. Basically, look at a messy room as 5 groups of stuff:
  • Trash
  • Dishes
  • Clothing/laundry
  • Things without a place
  • Things with a place they need to go into
• Just try sorting through the clutter into those main categories, and make sure you stay in the room so you don’t get distracted by things in another room.
• Affordable baskets/bins from the dollar store or online (i.e. these or these), or simply trash bags can be really helpful when sorting. Chuck items from various groups outlined above in these for a quick way to de-clutter
• If you need to stop after sorting (or before), see how much better your room already looks and literally tell yourself you’ve done a great job.
• If you can keep going and start to tackle the dishes/laundry, etc., A+ for you. No matter how far you got, you tried, and that means something.