Whimsy is…

Should you find yourself with a big mess on your hands, here’s my first course of action.

1. Clear one corner. Just push everything out of it and vacuum or mop it. This is now the “keep” corner.

2. Get trash bags. I like the “force flex” kind.

3. Get clothes baskets. If you don’t have enough, clear another corner.

4. Start sorting. Fast, no brainer sorting. Don’t take time to think or it will bog you down.
*clothes - put them in the clothes baskets or corner. Throw away anything that is odviously trash, but don’t put a lot of thought into it.
*trash - this should be odvious. Just put it in the bag. If you’re not sure, put it in the keep corner. We will resort it later.
*dishes/food - take to the kitchen and drop them off. We will deal with the kitchen later.
*keep stuff - this is everything else. Just put it in the pile. Don’t think about it much at this point, just throw it in. You may want to separate out breakable things, but I don’t really have anything like that. Refrain from putting things away. It will slow you down and you really need to be able to see a large clear area quickly.

5. Now you can vacuum or mop. I also like to do a little carpet cleaning here. It would be just fine to put that off until later, but I am usually compelled to do it once I can actually see the carpet. I kinda enjoy it.

Take the trash out as you get bags full. I don’t like to let them wait. It’s too overwhelming to see a big pile of trash bags you have to take outside. It also leads to a lot of negative self talk about how I let myself get into such a mess in the first place.
I try to avoid the negative talk at all costs. All it does is trap me in the cycle.

If you have another room to do and still have energy, go to it. If you’re too tired. That’s OK. You’ve made a huge dent in it. I like to wait until I’ve cleared most of the rooms before I start dealing with the keep corners. Otherwise I’m putting stuff in rooms that will have to be resorted.

Of course, my real problem is poor habits. I have to change them to break this viscious cycle.