The Very First Thing To Start Organizing, According To Bobby Berk

Organizing is an essential task to help you feel better and to keep your items where they belong. Unfortunately, it's also a daunting chore that often gets pushed off because it can feel overwhelming. Even when you do finally muster up the energy to begin, you may find yourself left with more of a mess than when you started. According to Bobby Berk, interior designer and star of "Queer Eye," this may be because you are going about it all wrong.

"We will often say we're organizing the garage and it's too much: you get through one shelf and you're overwhelmed and you give up. And it kind of takes the wind out of your sail, and you don't sometimes go back to finish it," Berk said when speaking with HGTV. His solution is to pick a smaller task. "Start out with your junk drawer." He advises that after you finish this area, you can slowly move your way up, such as to a bookshelf or a closet. 

It's a lot less overwhelming to start out small, and completing a simple task is a great way to build momentum before tackling more challenging areas. Focusing on one area at a time instead of a room as a whole is the tip you need to clean and declutter, even when you're overwhelmed by a mess. 

Starting out with a small space also gives you the chance to try out various organization methods and see what works for you before attempting to tackle a large area. For example, the ODT declutter method can help take the stress out of organizing your home, especially if you are just getting started. When you manage to get a space done, even a small area like a junk drawer, it can give you more confidence. 

Even as you develop your organizational skills, trying to do a whole room at once can be a recipe for failure and burnout. Instead, consider the trending method that could transform your home: micro-decluttering. This involves taking 10 to 15 minutes at a time to clean up part of a space rather than working on the entire room for hours on end.

Another benefit to starting small is that you can create a habit of organizing a little every day. By spending a few minutes on this task routinely, it no longer feels like a daunting chore that will take up your whole weekend, but something you can do when you have spare time. The knowledge that you only need to spend a few minutes working on organizing a space and some visible progress that's already been made in your junk drawer can make decluttering feel significantly less overwhelming.