June 27, 2025 • 10 mins
Where Do I Even Begin When I Feel Overwhelmed By Clutter?
Ever stood in the middle of a cluttered room feeling completely paralyzed, unsure where to even begin? You're not alone. In this enlightening conversation, professional organizer Tami Gale breaks down exactly how to overcome that feeling of being overwhelmed by too much stuff.
Tami shatters the common misconception that buying storage containers will solve your organization problems. "Please don't confuse decluttering with organization," she cautions, explaining that bins and baskets won't alleviate the anxiety caused by simply having too much. Instead, she reveals her strategic approach that transforms insurmountable chaos into manageable projects.
The episode introduces Tami's proven S.O.R.T method (Save, Off-load, Relocate, Trash), a systematic approach that works for everything from closets to paperwork. She explains why taking everything out of a space and categorizing similar items together is crucial for making clear decisions about what truly deserves space in your home. Particularly illuminating is her advice on storing items where you actually use them—a simple concept with profound implications for daily functionality.
Perhaps most valuable is Tami's guidance on maintaining your newly organized spaces through intentional habits like the "one-in, one-out" rule. By tackling clutter in small, timed sessions and addressing the psychological aspects of our relationship with our possessions, Tami provides a roadmap to not just a tidier home, but a more peaceful mind.
To learn more about Gale Force Organizers visit:
https://www.GaleForceOrganizers.com
Gale Force Organizers
719-653-5610
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Gale Force Organizers Podcast, where
clutter gets conquered and chaosmeets its match.
Hosted by organizing pro TammyGale, helping Colorado Springs
families and small businessesbring order and function to
their spaces.
Organize your space to simplifyyour life.
Let's get started.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
When clutter feels out of control, getting started
can be the hardest part If youdon't know where to begin, don't
worry, tammy will walk youthrough the first steps to
reclaim your space and bringorder back to your life.
Welcome back everyone.
I'm Millie M, co-host andproducer, back in the studio
with owner of Gale ForceOrganizers, the Tammy Gale.
How's it going?
Great Thanks for having metoday.
(00:51):
Absolutely, tammy.
I think every one of us hasfelt the weight of clutter at
some point.
I can't wait to hear how youtackle it.
Where do I even begin when Ifeel overwhelmed by clutter?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I think first and foremost, you have to realize
you're not alone.
Lots of us feel this at anypoint in our lives.
I always say that clutteringyour home can significantly
improve the quality of your life.
But a lot of people don'treally know where to start, and
I really think that thedefinition of clutter is
anything that gets out ofcontrol in your home, so it
(01:23):
isn't just necessarily an objector a piece of paper or too much
stuff.
It's out of control Absolutely.
And so we encourage you to bestrategic, but also really take
things in a systematic way thatdoesn't overwhelm you, and so,
really, we say you tackle onespace at a time, you sort and
(01:45):
categorize items, and thenyou're strategic about what goes
back, and so we can talk abouteach of those things in more
detail.
But I always say the firstthing to know is please don't
confuse decluttering withorganization.
If you are convinced that ifyou just bought a bin or a
basket and came home and put thestuff in it, it would all go
away I'm unfortunately here totell you that's really not the
(02:10):
case.
You're still going to feelanxious because you have too
much of what you have that'sovertaking your life, and so
instead, we encourage you tofirst really look at everything
you have, make sure it's whatyou need and what you want, and
then make space for what matters, and so we really like you to
encourage you to think aboutdecluttering as multiple
projects.
(02:30):
Don't just think ofdecluttering as just your home.
Instead, we want you to takeevery single space in your house
and think of it as anindividual project, make it much
more manageable by cutting itdown to size.
We want you to choose a room, acloset, a space, a drawer, and
tackle one thing at a time and Iwill tell you really quite
(02:52):
quickly.
You can find that you aremaking huge progress and that's
a huge motivator.
When you actually see itworking, you're willing to keep
going, and so people askyourself well, okay, where do I
start?
Everything is out of controland really, organizers typically
suggest two methods.
One will work for you.
One school of thought says thatyou should tackle something
(03:14):
small, so that maybe it's adrawer, maybe it's a closet, so
that you can immediately seequick results.
It gives you some fastmotivation and convinces you
you're capable of it, absolutelya possibility.
The other school of thoughtsuggests that you should take a
space that is really annoyingyou the most and tackle
something that you see every day, because once you've conquered,
(03:38):
you can see the results and ittotally changes how you use the
space and how you feel when youenter that space.
So, regardless of which methodyou choose, just pick one and
start.
And so once you've picked aproject, we encourage you to set
a timer.
Really, only plan to do thisfor 30 or 45 minutes at the most
(03:59):
.
Don't overwhelm yourself.
Don't decide you're taking yourentire weekend and decluttering
your home.
Instead, let's take this inmanageable chunks of time.
We want you to feel progress,but we don't want you to feel
like all you're doing isdecluttering your life.
So set the timer and if you'renot finished with the project at
the end, you just pick it backup on the next.
(04:21):
And so once you've got that nowyou're ready to start.
So we say it's a daunting task.
We tell you to take everythingout of the space, because the
only way you know what's in itis if you really see all the
nooks and crannies.
And once you do that, we tellyou to sort and categorize.
Put like things together.
(04:41):
It's a lot easier to sort astack of books when they're all
together versus scattered in adifferent space.
So tackle that by using whatgale force uses is our.
We are a navy and army family.
We have an acronym foreverything, and our acronym for
decluttering is sort s-o-r-t.
(05:04):
Sort stands for save thosethings you're keeping.
That's the s, though, is offthose things that you were
giving away, donating, selling.
They are leaving your home.
R stands for relocate You'vediscovered things that don't
belong where you found them, andwe're going to put them back in
(05:25):
the place they should go.
Finally, t is for trench thosethings that you really just need
to let go and discard, so allof your items should fit into
one of those four categories.
So once you've done that, onceyou've relocated all the things
that no longer belong, onceyou've separated the things that
(05:46):
are going to go away or floatedsomewhere, you're left with the
things you're saving.
That's what goes back into thespace.
That should give you adequatespace for what you have found
that you want to keep and thatserves you.
If you discover you still havetoo much of something, I
encourage you to go back and askyourself this question when was
(06:08):
the last time I used it?
Why do I have it?
Why am I keeping it?
Does it still serve me and thelife that I currently live?
So when you do that, you end upwith space, and space creates
freedom in your brain and inyour physical space, so that you
(06:28):
can see what you need and youcan easily access it.
We often tell people the bestway is to store things where you
use them.
Don't put your crock pot in thecall closet.
Unless you only use your crockpot three times a year.
If you're making meals once aweek in a crock pot, it needs to
find a hole in your kitchen,and so, truly, we want you to
(06:50):
just make sure that your homefunctions for how you're living.
So keep things where you usethem and then sit back once
you've accomplished this andbask a little bit in your
success, because you'veconquered your clutter and now,
hopefully, it has motivated youto tackle another space, another
(07:10):
room, and it will be shorttimes later that you will
discover your house is much moreorganized and when you walk in
the door you have a sense ofcalm and anxiety.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Anything we can do to lessen that anxiety.
I have two quick questions foryou.
The sort method this is whatyou use for no matter what the
type of thing you're organized,because how you organize paper
might be a little bit differentthan how you organize clothing.
So do you use the sort methodfor everything?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
We really do.
We choose that because we sortand categorize like items
together first.
So by taking your closet andorganizing it and pulling all of
your blouses and I'm taking allthe short sleeved white blouses
and putting them all together,when you see like items together
, it's much easier for you tomake decisions about them.
You can say, oh, I didn'trealize I had six of those.
(08:03):
I guess I could get rid of afew of those.
And that way, once you've donethat piece, when you come back
to the S-O-R-T you can say, yep,I can save two, I can donate
four onto the next task.
And so, really, it's aboutmaking everything manageable in
your brain and physically.
(08:23):
If you can see that you havesix of something and you only
use one of them, it's a loteasier to send the others on
their way.
Most of us end up havingmultiple copies and duplicate
things in our home because wecan't find what we're looking
for when we need them.
And so if you can eliminatethat process by tearing down
(08:46):
those excesses, those duplicatesthat aren't used, you'll find
that you have more space for thethings that you do need and
that you do want.
At the end of the day, createsome one-in-one-out rules One
comes in and one goes out sothat you always have the space
to manage future purchases.
We tell people we don't want tostop you from buying something
(09:06):
new or refreshing your wardrobe,but we want you to do it
strategically.
We want you to really thinkabout what you're doing and
bringing it in, so that youdon't become overwhelmed by what
you own.
Instead, you take control ofyour space.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I love how you answered instinctively my next
question, because I was like whyweren't I clothing?
Now that you have all this newspace, what's to keep people
from going out and buying more?
But I love that one item in,one item out rule.
This is such empoweringinformation.
It's such an empoweringconversation because I feel like
you were talking about anxiety.
Just having a decluttered,organized space can do so much
(09:43):
for your mental health.
So thank you for sharing thoseactionable steps To our
listeners.
See you next time for more waysto conquer clutter and simplify
life.
Thanks, gail.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
That's it for today's episode of Gail Force
Organizers Podcast.
Ready to bring calm to yourchaos?
Of Gale Force Organizerspodcast.
Ready to bring calm to yourchaos?
Call 719-653-5610 or visitgaleforceorganizerscom.
Organize your space to simplifyyour life.
Until next time, stay tidy andlet it go if it's gotta go.
Welcome to the Gale Force Organizers Podcast, where
clutter gets conquered and chaosmeets its match.
Hosted by organizing pro TammyGale, helping Colorado Springs
families and small businessesbring order and function to
their spaces.
Organize your space to simplifyyour life.
Let's get started.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
When clutter feels out of control, getting started
can be the hardest part If youdon't know where to begin, don't
worry, tammy will walk youthrough the first steps to
reclaim your space and bringorder back to your life.
Welcome back everyone.
I'm Millie M, co-host andproducer, back in the studio
with owner of Gale ForceOrganizers, the Tammy Gale.
How's it going?
Great Thanks for having metoday.
(00:51):
Absolutely, tammy.
I think every one of us hasfelt the weight of clutter at
some point.
I can't wait to hear how youtackle it.
Where do I even begin when Ifeel overwhelmed by clutter?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I think first and foremost, you have to realize
you're not alone.
Lots of us feel this at anypoint in our lives.
I always say that clutteringyour home can significantly
improve the quality of your life.
But a lot of people don'treally know where to start, and
I really think that thedefinition of clutter is
anything that gets out ofcontrol in your home, so it
(01:23):
isn't just necessarily an objector a piece of paper or too much
stuff.
It's out of control Absolutely.
And so we encourage you to bestrategic, but also really take
things in a systematic way thatdoesn't overwhelm you, and so,
really, we say you tackle onespace at a time, you sort and
(01:45):
categorize items, and thenyou're strategic about what goes
back, and so we can talk abouteach of those things in more
detail.
But I always say the firstthing to know is please don't
confuse decluttering withorganization.
If you are convinced that ifyou just bought a bin or a
basket and came home and put thestuff in it, it would all go
away I'm unfortunately here totell you that's really not the
(02:10):
case.
You're still going to feelanxious because you have too
much of what you have that'sovertaking your life, and so
instead, we encourage you tofirst really look at everything
you have, make sure it's whatyou need and what you want, and
then make space for what matters, and so we really like you to
encourage you to think aboutdecluttering as multiple
projects.
(02:30):
Don't just think ofdecluttering as just your home.
Instead, we want you to takeevery single space in your house
and think of it as anindividual project, make it much
more manageable by cutting itdown to size.
We want you to choose a room, acloset, a space, a drawer, and
tackle one thing at a time and Iwill tell you really quite
(02:52):
quickly.
You can find that you aremaking huge progress and that's
a huge motivator.
When you actually see itworking, you're willing to keep
going, and so people askyourself well, okay, where do I
start?
Everything is out of controland really, organizers typically
suggest two methods.
One will work for you.
One school of thought says thatyou should tackle something
(03:14):
small, so that maybe it's adrawer, maybe it's a closet, so
that you can immediately seequick results.
It gives you some fastmotivation and convinces you
you're capable of it, absolutelya possibility.
The other school of thoughtsuggests that you should take a
space that is really annoyingyou the most and tackle
something that you see every day, because once you've conquered,
(03:38):
you can see the results and ittotally changes how you use the
space and how you feel when youenter that space.
So, regardless of which methodyou choose, just pick one and
start.
And so once you've picked aproject, we encourage you to set
a timer.
Really, only plan to do thisfor 30 or 45 minutes at the most
(03:59):
.
Don't overwhelm yourself.
Don't decide you're taking yourentire weekend and decluttering
your home.
Instead, let's take this inmanageable chunks of time.
We want you to feel progress,but we don't want you to feel
like all you're doing isdecluttering your life.
So set the timer and if you'renot finished with the project at
the end, you just pick it backup on the next.
(04:21):
And so once you've got that nowyou're ready to start.
So we say it's a daunting task.
We tell you to take everythingout of the space, because the
only way you know what's in itis if you really see all the
nooks and crannies.
And once you do that, we tellyou to sort and categorize.
Put like things together.
(04:41):
It's a lot easier to sort astack of books when they're all
together versus scattered in adifferent space.
So tackle that by using whatgale force uses is our.
We are a navy and army family.
We have an acronym foreverything, and our acronym for
decluttering is sort s-o-r-t.
(05:04):
Sort stands for save thosethings you're keeping.
That's the s, though, is offthose things that you were
giving away, donating, selling.
They are leaving your home.
R stands for relocate You'vediscovered things that don't
belong where you found them, andwe're going to put them back in
(05:25):
the place they should go.
Finally, t is for trench thosethings that you really just need
to let go and discard, so allof your items should fit into
one of those four categories.
So once you've done that, onceyou've relocated all the things
that no longer belong, onceyou've separated the things that
(05:46):
are going to go away or floatedsomewhere, you're left with the
things you're saving.
That's what goes back into thespace.
That should give you adequatespace for what you have found
that you want to keep and thatserves you.
If you discover you still havetoo much of something, I
encourage you to go back and askyourself this question when was
(06:08):
the last time I used it?
Why do I have it?
Why am I keeping it?
Does it still serve me and thelife that I currently live?
So when you do that, you end upwith space, and space creates
freedom in your brain and inyour physical space, so that you
(06:28):
can see what you need and youcan easily access it.
We often tell people the bestway is to store things where you
use them.
Don't put your crock pot in thecall closet.
Unless you only use your crockpot three times a year.
If you're making meals once aweek in a crock pot, it needs to
find a hole in your kitchen,and so, truly, we want you to
(06:50):
just make sure that your homefunctions for how you're living.
So keep things where you usethem and then sit back once
you've accomplished this andbask a little bit in your
success, because you'veconquered your clutter and now,
hopefully, it has motivated youto tackle another space, another
(07:10):
room, and it will be shorttimes later that you will
discover your house is much moreorganized and when you walk in
the door you have a sense ofcalm and anxiety.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Anything we can do to lessen that anxiety.
I have two quick questions foryou.
The sort method this is whatyou use for no matter what the
type of thing you're organized,because how you organize paper
might be a little bit differentthan how you organize clothing.
So do you use the sort methodfor everything?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
We really do.
We choose that because we sortand categorize like items
together first.
So by taking your closet andorganizing it and pulling all of
your blouses and I'm taking allthe short sleeved white blouses
and putting them all together,when you see like items together
, it's much easier for you tomake decisions about them.
You can say, oh, I didn'trealize I had six of those.
(08:03):
I guess I could get rid of afew of those.
And that way, once you've donethat piece, when you come back
to the S-O-R-T you can say, yep,I can save two, I can donate
four onto the next task.
And so, really, it's aboutmaking everything manageable in
your brain and physically.
(08:23):
If you can see that you havesix of something and you only
use one of them, it's a loteasier to send the others on
their way.
Most of us end up havingmultiple copies and duplicate
things in our home because wecan't find what we're looking
for when we need them.
And so if you can eliminatethat process by tearing down
(08:46):
those excesses, those duplicatesthat aren't used, you'll find
that you have more space for thethings that you do need and
that you do want.
At the end of the day, createsome one-in-one-out rules One
comes in and one goes out sothat you always have the space
to manage future purchases.
We tell people we don't want tostop you from buying something
(09:06):
new or refreshing your wardrobe,but we want you to do it
strategically.
We want you to really thinkabout what you're doing and
bringing it in, so that youdon't become overwhelmed by what
you own.
Instead, you take control ofyour space.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I love how you answered instinctively my next
question, because I was like whyweren't I clothing?
Now that you have all this newspace, what's to keep people
from going out and buying more?
But I love that one item in,one item out rule.
This is such empoweringinformation.
It's such an empoweringconversation because I feel like
you were talking about anxiety.
Just having a decluttered,organized space can do so much
(09:43):
for your mental health.
So thank you for sharing thoseactionable steps To our
listeners.
See you next time for more waysto conquer clutter and simplify
life.
Thanks, gail.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
That's it for today's episode of Gail Force
Organizers Podcast.
Ready to bring calm to yourchaos?
Of Gale Force Organizerspodcast.
Ready to bring calm to yourchaos?
Call 719-653-5610 or visitgaleforceorganizerscom.
Organize your space to simplifyyour life.
Until next time, stay tidy andlet it go if it's gotta go.
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