3 Spring Cleaning microtasks to actually clear your floors and surfaces
This is for you if you can’t see your floors or surfaces and you haven’t seen them for a while. As a pro organizer, I consider this to have severe clutter. And I’m not talking about crowded countertops or an entryway piled with shoes.
What is Severe Clutter exactly?
Severe clutter is layers upon layers of accumulated stuff. And not just from a few days or weeks but months and years of things piled. Severe clutter is having to start over because of the time your home was neglected.
What I no longer want to dance around is what it actually takes to get from point A to point B if this is your home. It’s going to take more grace than you’re probably used to and a strategy to get organized.
Even if you can see your floors or surfaces, having severe clutter is focusing on the basics or (re) establishing your values. Because you’re on the other side of whatever mental state that got your home to the place that it’s in, you now have the capacity to take in new information to change it. But we must take it a day at a time with small tasks. With that said, here’s your first Spring Cleaning microtask:
Spring Cleaning Microtask #1
Talk nice to yourself
Cause you’re basically talking yourself away from positive beliefs. And those are required to maintain any organizing system. Between shaming the state of your home, being distraught about where its not, and being overwhelmed by what it’s gonna take to change it, these are all discouraging thought patterns. Which are most likely on a constant loop. Instead, try affirming yourself by saying things like:
I can move and pull myself through this moment
I shouldn't have to be doing this alone and I have everything I need, the strength, the willpower to get me through this moment, this day
Spring Cleaning Microtask #2
Collect trash from each room
Spring Cleaning should look different for everyone cause we’re starting at different points. So, instead of trying to do this big deep clean when daily cleaning is already a struggle, do this instead:
Get a permanent marker and write “trash” on a scented garbage bag. Play your favorite song (this will be your 5-minute timer), then collect visible trash around walkways and surface areas from the entire home. This is a great starting point AND a way to build your new foundation.
Spring Cleaning Microtask #3
Lay down for 20 minutes
This isn’t the traditional Spring Cleaning task because no hack can bypass you being too tired to complete it. So, instead of pushing your already exhausted body to halfway spring clean your home, do this instead:
Take a few minutes to intentionally rest SO you can complete a quality task. When you get up, add junk mail to that garbage bag.
Never mind trying to clean behind the stove or clear out that hallway closet. For now, just lay down. I wouldn’t do anything else but that. After you put the day down which can be a few hours or the next day. Go around the house and collect junk mail and miscellaneous paper that’s obvious trash to you.
Establishing a new foundation
Is going to feel like you’re starting over because you are. A lot of us feel silly for trying something new and for some reason being a beginner doesn’t always feel good. We want to be masters of our lives and homes without mastering the fundamentals. I say we because I too have to remind myself that I’m not stupid for starting over or having to learn something new.
Expect to criticize your cleaning efforts and organizing progress as it comes with the territory of starting again. Acknowledge them but don’t let it stop you, just combat the discouraging voice with microtask #1.
Why Denise Huxtable?
Use Denise Huxtable as an inspiration for starting over. She was a student at Hillman College, put into a new environment that drew out the best parts of her. Having severe clutter is just as much about what your home looks like as much as its about what’s required of you to organize it. She’s my reference point for my Homebody Archetype with severe clutter because she was starting over.
The End
For your home to get from where it is to where you want it, you gotta build your capacity babe. And this is exactly what I’d tell you to do if you called me distraught and didn’t know what to do.
The real hack here is repeating these microtasks every day for the next 30 days.
affirm, pick up trash, rest 🔁
If your home has gotten to this place, this Spring focus on the basics like your daily cleaning habits, how you speak to yourself at your lowest, and who you are when you’re uncomfortable.
This is a snapshot of how my Homebody Archetype Quiz helps you (re)establish your values, so you can put a disorganized space behind you and start enjoying life again.
So, if you found these microtasks helpful, pin it and share it with your people! If this breakdown was inspiring or insightful, and you want an in-depth analysis of your home, take the quiz. You’ll learn if you have severe clutter and more things you can do about it.
Hey you, I’m Rebekah
I'm a home therapist or professional organizer lol. And I’m a proud member of your home goals support system.
I create home-organizing tools for women who want to break generational curses. I help them declutter with intention so they can create a safe home. I’m on a personal mission to help Black women and families (me and mines included) have more structure, order, and peace in our homes. Welcome to the revolution.
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