Make 3 piles as you go - one to throw away, one to give away and one to keep. Start with just the floor and put what's on the floor in the piles. Then do just one drawer the same way, then the second drawer, and so on. Take it one spot at a time so you don't just stand there overwhelmed. Don't freak out when you're halfway done because you sort of have to make a mess to eventually get it clean. Once you are finished making the 3 piles, throw away, give away and place the "keep" pile stuff where it belongs.

This is what I do when my place is a disaster, and I'm so overwhelmed I don't know where to even start.

1. Eat a healthy meal, and have a drink (whether water, Gatorade, sofa, iced coffee, etc.) all poured for whenever you get thirsty,

2. Turn on the radio (if you are old fashioned like me) or plug in your ipod to some fun, upbeat music that makes you feel energetic and happy.

3. Get 2 boxes, trash bags, rubber maid totes, etc. and 1 giant trash bag. Start in one corner of the room, and be very quick. Pick up the very first thing see, and decide quickly- Trash? Keep? (ask yourself, have you used this in 6 months? Do you actually need this? Would you even notice if it was gone?) or Donate? (can someone else use this?)

4. Do that for the rest of the room. Try to put stuff in it's proper place (such as dirty clothes in a laundry basket, hang up clean clothes, put shoes on a shoe rack, dishes in the kitchen, books on a bookshelf etc.), unless it's something that you aren't sure where to put it (such as school supplies, figurines or toys, board games, etc. ), put that in the box or bag of keep stuff. (Go through everything, every box, drawer, pile, etc.)

5.Once you have cleaned half the room, reward yourself with a 30 min break, Set a timer for 30 min exactly, and watch a tv show, part of a movie, etc. and eat a snack,

6. Complete the rest of the room.

7. Once everything is picked up, take your trash bag out, and your donate bag out of the room. Make your bed. Then, grab one thing out of the keep bag/box, and find a home for it. Continue doing this til the bag/box is empty.

8. Vacuum your carpet, or sweep if you have hard wood floors.

9. Feel proud of yourself, and relax in your clean room.

You could start anywhere that you like. I guess you could clean everything out and throw away the stuff that you don't want or need. After that, vacuum and organize the remaining stuff. Then, you could paint your room!

I need to clean my room, but I don't know where to start. I need to clean out the dressers, my closet (including throwing away old clothes), the corners of my room, under my bed, the window sills, my desk, etc. It's really cluttered and there is lots I need to throw out. I also want to paint my room, but I guess that's a different story. Where do I start, please help? Thanks in advance!