Why decluttering when you’re overwhelmed feels so hard
Decluttering when you’re overwhelmed can feel impossible, especially if you have ADHD.
You walk into a room with every intention of sorting through the clutter, but then your brain starts short-circuiting, your chest feels tight, and all you can think is, “Where do I even start?”
There are about two dozen reasons for that, but here are a few key ones.
Decision fatigue
Part of what makes it so overwhelming is the decision fatigue.
On a regular day, you make about 35,000 decisions, and every single item you declutter adds to that load.
You’re asking your brain to make dozens of choices: Keep or toss? Donate or sell? Where do I put this for now?
All those micro decisions add up quickly and can sap your energy and motivation.
Analysis paralysis
Sometimes ADHD brains go into freeze mode whenever there’s too much going on.
Clutter is basically visual cacophony. Your brain looks around at the mess, gets overstimulated, and quietly opts out of functioning for awhile.
The fallout from this can look different from person to person, but these are common side effects:
- Overanalyzing every little thing
- Time blindness (you think you’ve been sitting there for a few minutes, but it’s really been an hour)
- Mood swings
- Brain fog
It’s almost impossible to make any decluttering progress when you’re in this state.
Emotional weight
The decision fatigue and analysis paralysis are hard enough. On top of that, you have to deal with guilt (for letting it get this bad), shame (for not being able to keep up), and fear (of making the wrong choice).
It makes an already complicated task seem like an impossible feat.
The key to overcoming this and decluttering when you’re overwhelmed is to find an easy way in. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do next.
How to declutter when overwhelmed
These tips will help you start small, stay on track, and work up to larger projects. You can mix and match them to find what works best for you.
Once you’ve broken through the overwhelm, you can move on to my full ADHD Declutter Method, which is designed to minimize distractions so you can make progress faster.
1. Declutter obvious stuff only
One of the biggest challenges with decluttering is having to evaluate every item to see if it’s worthy of staying in your home. That’s too much when you’re already overwhelmed.
Instead, take a trash bag, walk through your house, and throw away obvious trash and undonateable things you know you don’t want. You’re not opening boxes or looking in closets right now. Just tackle the stuff that’s visible.
If you don’t immediately think “trash” or “don’t want” when you look at an item, skip it and keep going. If you don’t want something but aren’t sure if you can donate it, skip it.
This takes almost no mental effort, so it’s the perfect way to break out of your decluttering overwhelm and make progress.
2. Take your clutter on a field trip
ADHD brains are motivated by novelty, and you can use this to your advantage to help you declutter even if you feel overwhelmed.
One of my favorite ADHD hacks that I use for work is to do it in a different space. You can adapt this for decluttering by choosing a clutter target that you can take somewhere else, like a box of Who Knows What or a DOOM pile you can toss in a basket.
Instead of decluttering it wherever it was, bring it to your couch and sort through it while you watch a movie. Take it outside and enjoy the breeze and the birds while you declutter. Whatever appeals to you.
Sometimes a simple location change is all you need for your brain to get on board.
3. Turn it into a game
Another way to wrangle your brain into doing what you need it to is to turn decluttering into a game or a challenge.
I made a free Decluttering Bingo game just for this purpose. It has easy categories like “threw away something broken” and common experiences like “found a mystery item” or asking “Why do I even have this?” (I recommend using this over multiple sessions. You don’t have to get a bingo in one go.)
You can also try setting a timer for 5 minutes and racing against the clock to declutter as much as you can before it goes off. Or set yourself a challenge, like “declutter 5 blue things” or “get rid of 3 expired items and 3 things I never use.”
These might seem silly, but that’s why they work. The novelty of the challenge helps conquer ADHD overwhelm so you can actually get started.
4. Create personal rules to make decisions simple
One of the reasons decluttering is overwhelming is that there are a million possible ways to evaluate an item.
How recently did you use it? How likely are the “just in case” scenarios? Does it spark joy? And on and on.
That’s too much, so you’re going to make some rules ahead of time.
Not only does this narrow down the possibilities so it’s easier to start, it also cuts decision time by nearly half. Those are huge wins for decluttering when your brain is overloaded.
Here’s how to do it
- Pick a category to declutter, like t-shirts or dishes
- Think about your likes and dislikes for that type of thing
- Write 1-3 rules to help curate your ideal version of the category
I know that’s a bit abstract, so here’s a real-life example.
- I want to declutter my dishes
- I like colorful glass dishes and things that I don’t have to hand wash
- My rules: If it’s plastic, it goes. If it’s not fun to look at, it goes. If I can’t put it in the dishwasher, it goes.
When it’s time to declutter, you’ll know right away if an item passes the “keep” criteria or not.
5. Use a body double
Body doubling is a great ADHD tool for overwhelmed decluttering. It adds motivation, helps you stay focused, and boosts your mood.
If you have someone who can hang out with you in person while you declutter, that’s fantastic. But body doubling also works well even if the person isn’t in the room. You just need someone in your metaphorical corner.
Try calling a friend to chat while you sort, use Focusmate to find a double (up to 3 session/wk is always free), or find a “clean with me” video on YouTube to work alongside.
What to do when you still can’t start
You’ve read the tips, nodded along, maybe even made a plan, and yet the pile is still sitting there untouched.
When you’ve been overwhelmed for a long time, even simple tasks can feel like a threat to your nervous system. So if actual decluttering just isn’t in the cards right now, here’s what you can do instead.
Prep for future you
Pick a couple of little tasks like the ones below to help prep yourself and your space for decluttering when the time comes.
- Download the Decluttering Checklist for ADHD Brains and read through it
- Make a list of future clutter targets you’d like to tackle
- Gather up and label four containers to sort into (keep, toss, donate, review)
Whether you do one or all of these, you’re making it a little easier to start.
Name exactly what’s hard
Sometimes the resistance isn’t even about the hassle of sorting through stuff. It’s a specific emotion or fear that’s holding you back.
Are you afraid you’ll regret getting rid of something? Do you feel ashamed of how much clutter you’ve accumulated? Are you worried about the environmental toll of throwing stuff away?
Naming the feeling can soften its grip.
One of my issues was that getting rid of stuff made me feel like I’d wasted my money. When I realized the actual problem, I was able to think it through logically instead of emotionally.
It became obvious to me that the money was already wasted because I wasn’t getting any use from the items, and on top of that, I was paying for it again with my time and stress. Getting started and letting go was a lot easier after that.
Visualize decluttering
Visualization is a powerful tool for motivation and follow through.
Try visualizing the steps you’ll take to declutter, see your space improving, and explore how it might feel afterward to have a home that doesn’t make your brain cry.
You can also externalize this by making a vision board on Pinterest or journaling about why you want to declutter your space. A strong “why” can give you the clarity you need to get started.
Take one small step today
It’s annoyingly ironic that when clutter overwhelms you, it makes it hard to get rid of clutter. The best way to beat the brain freeze and make progress is to start very small.
Today, that might just be visualizing what you want you space to look like. Tomorrow, maybe you get rid of the obvious clutter.
Slow progress isn’t exciting, but it is sustainable and it will get you where you want to be.
