For some people, cleaning and organizing is liberating, relaxing, or even fun. For others, it’s overwhelming—and only gets worse when the aversion to it outweighs the motivation to do it, resulting in bigger and bigger messes that need attention. Some are geared toward people in that first category, the ones with the attention span and drive to take on a big project all at once.
For everyone else, the methods need some modification. If you struggle with feeling overwhelmed, try micro-decluttering. The term “micro-decluttering” has been for some time and while the phrase is novel, the idea is pretty well understood: Instead of cleaning all at once, choose small sections to tackle instead.
So, instead of vowing to clean the bathroom in a day, hone in on the medicine cabinet. Instead of cleaning your bedroom, go after the closet or the nightstand. Instead of cleaning the kitchen, consider the fridge or the silverware drawer.
Obviously, you’ll get around to all the “micro” spaces within those rooms, but you don’t have to do them all at once. Rather, you can really spiff up a small section, revel in the feeling of accomplishment it brings, see some immediate results, and check in with yourself on whether you have the capacity to do another section quickly. To micro-declutter, find a system that works for you.
You can dedicate one day to small sections of individual rooms, working through each room for about a week, or you can switch from room to room every time you.
