Life as an adult can be hard because it's so easy to get lost in the day-to-day, and even easier to get quickly overwhelmed as everything starts to pile up around you in the background. A lot of adults live with tons of stress with no idea how to cope with any of it.
If you're feeling severely overwhelmed with your everyday life I encourage you to seek help from a professional, whether it be your family dr, a therapist, counselor, or psychiatrist. You shouldn't have so much stress that it's drowning you every day.
But, if you're just feeling a little overwhelmed lately and just don't know where to start, I've got you.
Using cleaning to de-stress
When I first started seeing my therapist again our first priority was helping me de-stress, so I could focus on all the other things I was learning with her without being frustrated before I even started. I'm a mother, so we figured something I could do with my kids would be a great solution because then we can all de-stress together. We started with colouring together which worked well, but after some trial and error, we discovered organizing calmed me down way faster and was still something fun I could do with them.
I found that having a general guide of where to start, and what to do made it even easier.
Where to start
Personally, I like to do something small to get started, then work my way up to bigger things. This makes me feel like I'm accomplishing more. I also like doing things that can do themselves in the background first, so they can finish by themselves while I'm doing other things. The more I can get done, and the easier it feels while doing it, the better it makes me feel when I'm finished.
The master list
I made a printable to make it easy for you to keep track as you go along. I laminated mine and check things off with a whiteboard marker, then I can erase and reuse it when I'm done for daily cleaning/de-stressing. Don't forget you have to sign up to be a member to have access to the printables page! (but don't worry, it's free and I'll never spam you)
Laundry
If you sort your laundry by colour, start with that. I personally don't so what I'll do is gather all of the laundry from the house and start a load, then switch a load before doing my next task. Then at the end of the day, I put all of it away, and there's no laundry clutter for the next day!
Declutter
I like to do one room at a time, then, when that room is finished I move onto the next one. Within each room, do one thing at a time. Declutter one shelf, put away one basket of laundry, and just go step by step.
I made a blog on 100 things to declutter that can help you if you don't know where to start!
Dishes
Even if it doesn't look like a lot, just get them done girl! I find filling my sink with hot soapy water in the morning so it's easier to do my dishes as I go along throughout the day. Wiping down one plate as soon as you're finished with it is a lot less intimidating than tackling a mountain of dishes at the end of the day!
Organize entryway
The entryway is the first thing you see when you walk into your home, and first impressions have a huge effect on both you and your guests. If your entryway is cluttered you're going to feel overwhelmed the second you walk into the house, and it's all downhill from there. So make sure you take some time to tidy it up. Put jackets you don't use daily back into the closet, match up mittens and hats and put them into baskets, hang purses up instead of leaving them sitting on a table. Clear the area of anything that isn't used daily or your decor. It will look so much better, and give your home a better feel when you walk into it.
Pockets and Purses
This is such an easy quick thing that makes a HUGE difference. I'm similar to an old lady the way I keep balled up tissues in my pockets like they're a precious commodity that must be used to shreds LOL plus I'll stuff wrappers and other garbage in my purse and my pockets when there's no trash can around; my friends literally call it my "garbage bag" because I'm so notorious for filling it with trash and just carrying it all around for no reason. Go through your jacket pockets, your purse, anything with somewhere you can tuck things and untuck them!
Enjoy your new space
Try not to overdo it too much. Clean what you feel comfortable with until you can relax, but don't stress yourself out even more thinking you HAVE to get the whole list done. If you're cleaning all day long without stopping, you never get the time to enjoy your newly clean space which is the whole idea behind cleaning to de-stress!