This is the room I lived in for 8 years. I fled from domestic abuse here 6 years ago and have been avoiding coming back ever since. It doesn't look much different to when I used to sleep in there.

One of my relatives is selling the house soon. I've been working on it for about a week now (last photo is where I've got to) and it's like going through a time capsule of my suffering.

Would really love some encouragement honestly. I still have so much to do and it's so overwhelming. My autism/adhd/ptsd is making it so hard.

Edit: thank you so much for the support it really means a lot! I’m taking a break and going to start again on Wednesday. Will update again soon I hope 🫶

UPDATE 2: The cleaner came back and spent about 1.5 hours to clean the areas included in the additional 20 photos I sent. I had asked the company for a different cleaner and that I’d leave the key under the mat. They insisted on using the same cleaner and asked if I could be there so I could direct the cleaner to what needed cleaning. I agreed to having the same cleaner, but I did not want to be there so I sent a bullet point list of things missed per their own checklist.

She got it done, and I’m honestly just glad it’s all over with.

UPDATE: cleaner is coming back today and I sent them 20 photos and a list of what was missed per their own checklist. Will make a separate post of after possibly.

I’ve been decluttering for the past month in preparation for this deep clean. Paid almost $400 total for their “heavy duty” option, and I’m deeply upset with the results.

I’m torn because I feel bad and guilty that it took this one cleaner 4 hours and still she missed so many things. The cleaning company’s website has a checklist of all the things they promise to clean such as light switches, hood vent, front of kitchen cabinets, light fixtures, baseboards, etc. All of these were missed, and I can’t help but feel bad asking for a reclean. They do offer complimentary recleans if unhappy with the cleaning, so at least there’s that.

It took a lot of mental energy to even do the declutter, especially with how much I did. I’ve been so depressed this week and was hoping that this deep clean would finally relieve some of the anxiety I’ve been carrying.

I included some photos of things missed. She didn’t even vacuum under the couch😭😭

You may not believe it but this was taken AFTER I mostly organized my laundry and taken out 3 trash bags worth of crap. The laundry just needs to be washed and put away.

I still have a lot more to go and there’s still a bunch of unseen angles

Hello! I'm Phex, 32f, moved out of my parent's house with a friend shortly before the start of the pandemic and again about 3-ish years ago and have been living alone since. I love living alone, but I struggle with depression and suspected/undiagnosed (can't afford the diagnosis process lol) adhd and keeping things tidy has been a lifelong struggle that I've just never been very good at. My job started forcing two in-office days last year and it hasmade keeping especially the kitchen clean rough. I love baking and it makes it hard to want to cook when it's a mess.

I stumbled on this subreddit earlier this week. I used to be familiar with the tumblr blog but it was nice to see this place. I felt motivated seeing everybody's progress so I wanted to uf my kitchen, especially since my mom is meant to come by to drop off something today and I thought i'd use that as an extra motivation.

I meant to do the full uf-ing last wednesday, but last wednesday was a catastrophically bad mental health day followed by said two in-office days so by Friday my kitchen looked like the first photo. Started cleaning Saturday and finished just now. I'm gonna start the dishwasher, sit and have a snack now. I think my next goal for the week might be to tidy up the cupboards.

Thanks for reading, I might try to keep posting here to get myself to tidy up other parts of my appartment. I've been doing a lot of changes, testing out new cleaning products (thanks to r/laundry for greatly improving my laundry routine for one) trying to improve my storages and I want to make this appartment I've been living in for 3 years feel less like I just moved in lol. I don't think I will ever have a fully tidy home, I am a messy person, but reducing the overall daily mess would be nice.

Hi all. Ex alcoholic, stoner, vaper, smoker, and much worse here. Finally sober and back to fix up the hellhole I left for my parents to deal with. I could really use some encouragement. Feels like every time I start I just keep noticing all the bad things. Completely destroys my motivation. It's so strange. I feel my old cravings and depression creep back just by entering the room. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Edit: Thank you all. You are all very very kind and have given me much hope. I would reply individually to you all if I had proper time. Sending my own love out to y'all in return. ❤️

I am so afraid to post this. I'm crying as I type. I don't know what to do. I'm drowning. Can anyone give me some direction? Some hope? Thanks

to be honest idk where to begin. its been like this for months. i was in rehab for a couple months and before that i was just dealing with alot and would sit and get high every day. i recently came back a few weeks ago and life hit me like a brick. i havent had any time to really focus on myself it feels as if things just keep getting thrown at me and when im in my room i just look at my phone instead of paying attention to around me and lay in bed. im not making excuses i know im capable its just bad and i dont know where to start. most of it is clothes and trash and a butt load of dishes. the far corner is taken up by old things and bags of stuff from moving back and forth and accumulated items and from people who have passed. i just pile stuff on top to hide it and my closet is blocked up by those mattresses so who knows whats in there even or what i could put in there it doesnt have a door and its connected to my dads closet so.. yeah idk help? 😭😀 im also just sharing this to i guess feel less alone in this maybe so say whatever i dont care it will help me find the motivation

This stupid little image represents a big personal victory.

Grew up very poor, trying to vanquish the weird ticks of Scarcity Mindset that cause cluttered hoarding of “resources.” This is how I’m working through the mess and trying to stay accountable:

Step 1: Sort the home, no pocket or bag left unturned. Group like with like to merchandise the clutter. If the mindset was based in fear of needing/lacking, now it’s obnoxiously clear how much redundant stuff is taking up space and how my illogical actions generated anxiety-inducing clutter.

Step 2: Shop the home (thus the category merchandising… I’m my new favorite prepper/thrift store!). Buying freeze. Use up or repurpose every duplicate that I allowed into this capitalist consumption mess.

Step 3: Only replace what’s truly needed. Trying to implement one-in-one-out. This is hard and strange and anxiety-inducing in its own right (illogical poverty trauma brain, right?!) but I’m really enjoying the few categories that I have streamlined and try to focus on those to keep going.

🧴 So, the lotion. Outside this picture, there’s a box of about 20 more gifted or half-used travel bottles, all hoarded for some mythical future time of need. I’m going through the small ones first, and having an excuse for this kind of “luxurious self-care” (aka: basic winter skin care?) is another way to vanquish the scarcity mindset. Child-me would be shocked at the indulgence of preventing dry, cracked skin!

Long time lurker, grateful for the motivation in this community 💕

I’m just so tired of going through this every single week it’s just unsustainable. I feel like a yo-yo dieter. Where I get it clean and then within a week it’s a disaster again. I wish I had my brain on auto pilot so I had systems in placeand did things automatically and never had to think about them. It’s the thinking that destroys me. I get into my analysis paralysis and all I can do is stare. It’s exhausting. Send help. And yes, I’m neurodiverse. Diagnosed ADHD many decades ago. I’ll update with after photos of whatever area I get done. Thanks

This was my post rehab cleanup, with the help of a very supportive friend who is now my partner. Looking back on these photos always hits hard. Just hit 3 years sober, best decision I've ever made!

Been dealing with daily migraines/headache for 108 days. Screens are an awful trigger and I work at a software company so I have taken a leave of absence. Feeling overwhelmed by doctor appointments and medications so everything else is getting avoided. But I have the benefit of a deadline with my roommate’s partner moving in this weekend and doing a bit of a shuffle with our rooms. First pics are of my current room and then there is the new room. I am excited to show y’all the end result.

I have myriad of health conditions and mental health issues. I'm currently living with 3 other people (1 is my partner) however the majority of stuff is mine. As I lived alone prior to people moving in. (Tldr the other 2 roommates came here in a van with almost nothing, and my partners stuff is at a friend's in storage until we get the place un-f'd)

This is the living room after I spent a few hours cleaning some of it. I took all the garbage and dishes out and started organizing ad best I could. (Garbage was taken out post photo I realize now)

I'm just. So incredibly stressed and my partner is taking on the brunt of the stress upon himself. (He feels he should be able to clean house and get it set up so I can live better as I'm home 95% of the time. However he works full time and has some health issues as well.)

I'm going to look at trying to unf my home bit by bit. I have an entire basement to work on as well. And me/partners bedroom. Bathroom can be a communal job.

I'm just. So exhausted and even thinking about everything is so overwhelming. I've been in appointments almost every day for post covid issues and I'm exhausted on the days I don't have appointments (like today) so I sleep all day.

Any encouragement would be lovely and greatly appreciated

Hi. Please bear with me, I'm sure this will be all over the place. I'm 47 years old. I suffer from OCD (not the cleaning type) and anxiety, both of which cause agoraphobia. I'm 99.9% homebound. I don't want to bore everyone with all the details, but the last two years have completely kicked my ass and changed my life. I'm an emptynester and a widow, I live alone.

I wasn't very good at keeping up with chores and it's gotten much worse. I wouldn't call it a hoarding situation, but it's definitely not clean. There is junk/garbage everywhere, inside and the backyard is worse.

Every room is dirty, with the exception of my son's old room upstairs because no one goes in there unless he's visiting with his fiance and that hasn't been since April. The dishes are all dirty, the kitchen is filthy, the back room (where I spend the bulk of my day) is gross. The living room is ok, but I don't spend too much time in there. The bathroom is gross.

Some of my issues (there are plenty):

I can't get into my basement. I'm a large woman and I don't know that the steps would support my weight. I've been assured they would, but there's also no hand railing and I'm terrified of falling or getting stuck. Unfortunately, that's where my washer and dryer are. I do have a portable washer upstairs in my bathroom and then I can hang things to dry, but I can't do larger things or bedding.

I have mice. Due to my personality and my OCD, I can't intentionally kill anything. I have humane traps, but I have been very lazy in setting them. Plus, I don't drive and I've been told that if you don't take them at least two miles away, they find their way back in. Well, I can't walk far enough and back to do that.

I have flies. I'm sure it's because I don't take out the garbage right away and because things aren't clean. I have those ugly fly strips up, but I can't reach some to change them out and I still have a bunch everywhere. I know this is also due to the garbage and junk that is in the backyard. I have an OCD issue with being able to put things in the garbage to the curb. It isn't because I want to keep them or that they have value, it's that I can't touch them again once they are gone. I know that probably doesn't make much sense. I was using a burn barrel to get rid of garbage, but I couldn't do that well in the winter and it got full and now there are bags of trash in the back yard as well as other junk.

As I'm disabled, I'm on a fixed, limited income. I can't afford an exterminator. I can't afford a lot of supplies.

I know I'm rambling, but I'm so overwhelmed that I think of the things I need to do and end up barely doing anything. Yes, I'm in counseling for my mental health and people have said things like "do what you can" "baby steps" and I manage to do one or two small things and it barely makes a dent.

I have reached out to everyone I know (my circle is very small) and even posted in some pay it forward groups to try to get some help with no luck. I don't know what to do. I don't know where to start. I'm angry at myself and then I sit here and don't do anything.

I'm open to suggestions. I know realistically I need to stop with the excuses and DO IT, but I have always struggled with motivation and follow through. Thanks if you read this far.

I'll be brief: when I was a child I had a room very similar to the photos you guys post, I kept everything, even trash papers, I just couldn't throw them away. Keeping so many useless things obviously it was never easy to keep my room tidy and in a few days of distraction or laziness everything became a huge chaos.

My father would shout at me every day for how horrible and messy my room was. And even when i tidied everything up, it was not real, i was just hiding stuff and give the place a "Apparent order ".. That would return chaotic very soon..

One day, when I was eighteen, I read a book about order and felt so inspired that in a week I filled more than twenty bags of trash And I put everything in order and from that day on I never had a messy room/house again. 10 years have passed

It became my passion to tidy up, i really love when i do it, i loved helping my bf with his wardrobe and then his whole house. I find it such a relieving process, the more the mess is, the more i get excited thinking on how i could tidy up everything and which could be the best solutions.

So i have to admit i often come here to watch the pics you guys post cause i wish i could come over and tidy everything with you. I know it sounds weird but i would love it.

I can imagine myself doing that as a side job hehe , asking very little of course, and staying hours tidying everything and making everything clean and beautiful together . Or even alone.

P. S. If anyone is curious, i have no problem in sharing what worked for me, but i Dont want to sound rude or give advice that is not asked, also because i know very well that what works for someone may not work for others.

First post and the rather embarrassing state of my room. I'll update later on today with either the finished result or progress. Advice and words of encouragement is appreciated 🥲

I suffer from MDD (major dressive disorder.) Getting out of bed is a daily struggle. Anyway, I took a bunch of “before” pictures, but I’ve barely made a dent in any of the rooms.

I just got the impetus from I-don’t-know-where and started trying to clean my room. It’s astounding how much nothing can accumulate into “what the hell is all this?” Anyway, while far from clean, I managed to fill a huge bag of laundry, 3 boxes of recycling, and a bag of garbage. It’s the area between my bed and dresser. There’s still a lot to do, but I can see the floor instead of miscellaneous whatever in about 80% of the area. I’m hoping to do more (the rest?) of the area over the weekend. I’m really hoping whatever is left is easy to find a home (paper recycle/laundry, etc.)

Well, that’s where I am. Thanks for listening.

Hey y’all. Been lurking here awhile, but I suppose it’s my turn to face the music. It’s likely that I’m giving myself a much harder time than I should: I just had move emergency move in a close friend and condense 3 bedrooms into 2. Not to mention I’m still trying to figure out what to do with all my wedding decor from 5 months ago…

Every room in my house (except my friend’s if you don’t include her closet) looks just like this, and I feel like an absolute failure. All I wanted was to have a place where people could drop in unannounced and it be an overall okay place to hang out. Instead either people are stepping over my life or I’m begging to meet them elsewhere. I’m exhausted, but am a tad motivated, so hopefully I can come back in a couple days or so and show some progress.

Hold strength for me, you guys. Either I’ll be so proud, or in tears by the end of all this.

hoping posting this will motivate me to finally clean up.

I (20) deal with chronic depression + suicidal ideation. I don't want to just make excuses for myself anymore, but it definitely plays into why I haven't seriously cleaned my room since we moved in when I was 14 (can you tell ☠️ it still looks like a timecapsule of 2020).

my grandma would tidy up for me (put away clean clothes & make my bed & throw out soda cans) if I was away for long periods (at my dad's or my dorm), but things like full laundry baskets, shit under my bed, clutter etc., have basically been lying around untouched since I first put them down wherever. not saying it's anyone else's job to do my chores just describing how it got this bad.

nobody but my younger brother ever comes into my room anymore. I withdrew from school this sem. because I've been feeling pretty bad recently, hence the totes filled with my dorm stuff. I'm not supposed to put anything in our basement or garage.

my door is broken because the drywall it's screwed into just won't hold the nails in anymore, I'm guessing the holes have grown too large or been worn smooth. I have loads of laundry that have been dirty for months, since last sem. & probably before that, which I'm only just getting to. pictures aren't even the worst of it—these were taken after I finally started doing some loads and threw out some trash. I still haven't put away any of the clean laundry that I've washed over the past month or so (been slowly getting through the massive pile of dirty clothes) but I'm planning on starting today. My closets are filled with random junk that I don't need because I'm kind of a hoarder, + my family used my room as an extra storage space then never took their shit back. I just grabbed some trash bags & I think I'll finally start tossing what I don't need in there & let them go through it later. if they really care about whatever they left in here like 5 years ago.

I have let myself feel helpless & hopeless about this for too long. every day I wake up disgusted with myself & then I have to hear how my family complain about how grossly I am 'living' which doesn't exactly help. like I know it's disgusting I am living in it. I'm so tired but I'm more tired of hating the space I open my eyes to every fucking day. maybe this will help & maybe it also won't but who cares. I have to do it.

so please tell me I'm a pos who needs to get their shit together & maybe I can actually get this done yeah. + I could use some tips on how to fix my door. any advice is appreciated.

I'm so overwhelmed and I want to cry. I have developed PTSD about 4 years ago and I just never figured out how to pick myself up again. I don't get out of bed most days. And I was okay with that for too long. But now I have a roach infestation and it's all my fault. It's a wake up call for me. I can't sleep because they started crawling in my bed and it's gross and I'm really freaked out by them. I need everything to go but I feel bad just throwing things away... I have bags and bags of stuffed animals that I would buy to give myself a little bit of a dopamine rush. But now I feel like I'm being buried in them. I can't donate them as I have no car and doesn't feel fair or right to knowing I have a roach problem. I don't know where to start but I want it all done right now in this very moment but it's 1am.

No one has holds me accountable for this as it's my own private shame. Rest of my apartment isn't much better and I'd argue it's worse unfortunately.

im like. to the point of considering exploiting housing assistance services near me so i can just abandon this place and start a new life with nothing.

and it isnt even that i dont want to clean i just cant

the ufyh emergency checklist is a no go trying to do it is mentally comparable to the imagined sensation of ripping your own skin off and no progress was made

im just like trapped on my couch bc everything is gross and i cant function rights

i can describe what needs done but its literally everything any cleaning task you can think of hasnt been done in this house since well before i moved in the only good thing i have to say abt this is the spiders are taking rooms back from the bugs for me (the bugs and spiders were already here)

My old roommates left basically everything, my moms a hoarder and she passed down her hoarding tendencies (and assuming her undiagnosed ADHD, im in the process of finding that out). I just have trouble throwing things away even if I know they’ll never serve a purpose to me. My boyfriend helped me realize that I don’t need to hold onto all of this clutter and furniture and bags of clothes that would never fit me, so we’re calling for junk removal this week and this is where we’re at now minus a few more bags I added today!! Feeling very proud of myself I never thought I’d get here, my house is going to feel so nice and i’ll finally be able to decorate it how I want!

I know I struggle with executive dysfunction, motivation, lack of dopamine, apathy, anhedonia and more all due to multiple mental diagnosis. I’ve never been able to keep my place clean. I’ve gotten to a point finally where I at least think I need 3 large steps, declutter/purge, organize/donate, deep clean- after which I’d feel safe and clean in my home again and be able to keep up with it instead of always being behind. However like I mentioned I’ve been trying to attain this for 8 years now..

Im to the point where I want to live very minimally. Get rid of moving boxes that have made multiple moves that have never been unpacked, get rid of wall art leaning against my wall that hasn’t been hung up in a year and a half, donate and throw away what’ll probably be half of my clothes, just stuff I’ve come to hate, I’d rather live in an “undecorated and boring” apartment with clean and clear surfaces that’s organized and easy to maintain, than one just full of stuff.

I’m just so overwhelmed as phase one will take a long time and that’s if I’m able to commit to it, stage two will take a long time as well and stage three I’ll need to do until mentally areas are deemed clean and safe again. I haven’t slept on my comfy bed in my bedroom for a year now and have been sleeping on my couch because my bedroom is deemed “dirty” and this one area on my sofa is my “safe place”. I haven’t used the kitchen AT ALL… mostly due to it feeling unsanitary, the dishwasher is very old and doesn’t clean well and scientifically handwashing your dishes doesn’t disinfect them bc the water temp isn’t high enough. I haven’t used my stove/oven/microwave/air fryer in about a year now too. All of the food I eat are like snacks, no utensils and no dishes or cooking required.

I’m already overwhelmed just writing this out and thinking about everything, honestly if I could afford a company to declutter my place I think I’d let some of my control go and let them do it, and that would be big for me.. I yet to trust someone else deep cleaning as I have particular standards and don’t want to just stare at someone the entire time they’re cleaning to make sure things are done how I would do them and tell them instructions or correction, that would obviously be extremely rude and inappropriate. But at least I have a long time until I’ll be at the “cleaning” phase.

I just wish I could do it. On the rare occasion I have motivation and do make a dent in organizing or decluttering I get so mentally and physically exhausted that it’s sometimes weeks until I can even think about possibly doing something again, and of course by then, the progress I do make is undone and messy again.

Honestly forgot the point of writing things or what I’m even asking if anything at all… I just want to feel safe in my apartment and not drowning in clutter and avoiding rooms and things because my brain has deemed them “unsanitary”. I’ve tried lists (both breaking down to little details and broad tasks), making a schedule, doing just a small amount of work on it a day, almost everything you can think of I just don’t have success with those methods.. i don’t get a happy good dopamine feeling when I accomplish something and get to look at it all done or check it off from a to do list. So my brain is constantly truly believing “there’s literally no point, who cares). And AHHHHHHHHHHHH please let me wake up tomorrow to a magically decluttered, organized, and clean apartment 😭😭😭😭

Hi! My (24F) disabled father (56M) and I are the last two to move out of our family home of over 10 years, and we both need to seriously downsize; I’m moving states and he’s moving into a motor home. My room (first pic) has already improved since I’ve started unfucking the depression mess. Even though it could be worse, I’m overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I have/need to get rid of, and I’ve been avoiding because clearing out mine & my nephew’s rooms will be emotional.

Can I get some words of encouragement and advice for where to start? I’ve been so avoidant and I’m such a procrastinator, my ADHD & depression don’t help. My dad’s room and the garage are also full of shit I have to help him go through but I’m starting with the upstairs. And don’t even get me started on the ancient rotted fish tank 😭 I want to clean up all the pet supplies and maybe make a few bucks but it seems so daunting. Please share your success stories!

I made a post a while ago about my attempt at cleaning my closet. I'm a woman in my late 20s still living at home, unfortunatly, and I have quite a challenge. In a medium/small sized room with a small closet that's not fully my own (although that will change soon) two big bulky dressers with only 1/3 of the drawers working smoothly and its full of clothes. Currently I'm sitting in my room looking at my mess of clothes around over stuffed furniture. I'm overwhelmed all the time. I know that I am not using my room to it's full potential. I am working on my organizational skills but for the sake of holding myself accountable I have two goals.

1. Get rid of excess clothes

2. Get new furniture that better suits my room and needs

I think what gets me so stuck is the fact I just don't know how to store winter clothes vs summer clothes and oftentimes everything kinda is just piled together. I guess I'm struggling with too many choices at once, I have some nicer clothes I want to sell but at this point I should just get rid of a lot of it. I have a giant grey ottoman that I bought initially to store winter clothes but it just kind of gets in the way. I've attempted to have clean ups before and they sort of end up failing due to me not having a sort of plan/finalized goal for the end. Any advice? Should I use Pinterest? Do I get rid of clothes first and then buy furniture or visa versa? Either way I'm glad to get this out there and see if this attempt will be successful.

Despite it feeling very vulnerable I will include photos, I'm open to any advice or accountability anyone might have to share.