Realizing you’ve got a mess on your hands at home can become quite overwhelming. Depending on the size of the clutter, it may be frustrating trying to determine where you should begin. De-cluttering your home doesn’t have to cause a migraine, however, as there are some mistakes you can avoid making to help the process go smoothly. Here are some things to avoid when cleaning out your home.

1. Buying storage items before sorting through the mess. Don’t head out to your local store and buy a bunch of storage containers without going through the mess first. How will you know if they will fit? Much less, how will you know how much space you will be working with? De-clutter first, and then you can determine the type of storage you’ll need for what’s left.
2. Handling too much at one time. Try not to devote an entire day to de-cluttering. This is draining and will most likely cause you to want to give up before the day is over. Take it one space at a time, spending at least two to three hours organizing and cleaning. Seeing progress a little bit at a time will motivate you to continue the project the next day or whenever you have set aside time to continue.
3. Finish what you start. If you have a pile of things you wish to dump in the trash or donate/give away, don’t let them sit in bags to be taken care of later. Take the trash out and place any items you’re donating or giving away into your car. A pile of bags sitting around will only create more clutter.
4. Don’t adopt the “one and done” attitude. After you have de-cluttered your space, don’t expect to never have to do this again. It’s easy for a mess to form again, so you will want to set up a system that works best for you.