Why Can't I Clean My House? Feeling Overwhelmed and Upset

Don't try to clean your house. Take it one room at a time & even if that's too much in that one room do little parts of each room. Just one thing every day step by step.

That’s what I call the One Impossible Thing™️. It changes for me, but cleaning the house is a big one. What I’ve found helps is to break it down into smaller chunks. Cleaning the whole house is WAY too big of a goal, but cleaning up the coffee table is doable. Once that’s done, I can move on to vacuuming the living room, or straightening up the kitchen counters or something else. Another trick I use is what my friend and I call “body doubling”. She will come over with the only intent being to sit with me while I clean. Just having someone there holding me accountable helps.

Pauline, I have the same problem. First it was the bedroom and then it spread into the living-dining room. And then I put things in boxes and carried more things into my bedroom. Now I don’t know where to start. And I get nauseated as soon as I start to move my head around.

Because you're overwhelmed. Take a step back and do one thing a day. Not a whole room, but consider moving your laundry into a basket one day, trying to shove in one load to the wash another, the next day clean off a dresser, and just keep doing small little bits so you don't overwhelm yourself :)

Depression interferes with this. I used to have a spotless house but once Depression set in three years ago, I can't even get out of my bed to clean anything.