How to Declutter Your Home AND Your Mind
So. You’ve set aside the time to start cleaning, only to find that you need to fix that button on your sweater, replace two lightbulbs, pay that bill, and order that thing on Amazon. Suddenly you look down at the clock and hours have passed. You actually haven’t done much cleaning.
This is alllll too common when cleaning one’s own space. I see you. And you are not alone on this.
The pros: you get to uncover old tasks that have become layered in dust.
The challenge: time management.
For mental notes: Keep a notepad and paper handy as you clean (pro tip: stay off the notes in your phone - the phone is another distraction). Write down any and all tasks that come to mind while you work. Return to these tasks later.
For physical objects: Use a basket or create an area for any items you’ll return to later, relating to these tasks.
When you try to do everything, you end up not doing much of anything. Work to focus your energy on one or two projects. Work those to completion or to a stopping point.
Here’s why this is important: imagine you've found one or two items that you’d like to donate in the process of cleaning. You wouldn’t stop halfway through, run to Goodwill, finish the cleaning, only to return the next day with two more items. I know this sounds like an extreme case of home cleaning attention deficit, but in my experience, I have found this to be a common challenge with more people than you might think. It can be easy to feel like a human pinball machine at home. All the balls eventually drop and it’s no longer motivating or fun to keep your clean & tidy home goals going strong.
The goal in cleaning is to make it an enjoyable and easy experience. The more you find yourself in flow, the better you’ll get at building routines and sticking to them. Getting the job done and feeling like you’re moving the dial forward on your goals is going to help keep the momentum going.
To recap how to practice the brain dump method at home and stay focused on cleaning:
