How do I beat the OCD around cleaning my room?

Hey, I just wanted to say that you’re not alone on this and I completely understand you. It’s so frustrating because I don’t want to live in clutter so I try to take everything out and reorganize, but it’s like I can’t put the things back in until I find or create a “home” for that specific thing? But it gets worse with the nooks and crannies and drawers I’ve tried to just shove things in and try to forget about but it’s always in the back of my head as an open tab. What I found helpful (or just better than giving up which is what I always resort to 🥹) was REALLY locking in to one spot that needs to be completely organized before I move on to the next spot. It really helps to section things out and I tried making it into a “game” like I can’t do this until I unlock that space by cleaning this area. I know how hard it can be to just start sometimes, but I believe in you and you’ve got this! 💪✨

I don't have contamination issues, but I have major issues with managing mess. And I tend to project my mental space onto the room around me. So like, I don't feel emotions in my body. But sometimes I act out my inner states in the way I organize my space or let it deteriorate. It was news to me when I learned that using your surroundings as your mental space is a thing. But it explained a lot. So, on the mental side, I'm wondering if your situation would make more sense if you saw the room as representing some part of yourself that feels threatened. Has something recently offended, stressed, or triggered you? And maybe that's why you now can't tolerate anything intruding on that space? Some practical suggestions-- If the hallway feels okay (again, to me this feels like your brain sees the room as an extension of YOU, but it doesn't see the hallway as part of you), then for now... Why not keep everything in the hallway? Spend a weekend putting up some shelves in the hallway or at least sorting things into boxes in a way that's easier to access. When I started to get a handle on my messiness, I couldn't manage the sheer amount of *stuff* I had. It was overwhelming to tackle ALL of it. But I got a chance to start with just an empty room. And I only moved the absolute bare essentials in. (The rest is in disorganized boxes... Elsewhere.) So now I have a nice neat room I can go to when I'm feeling disregulated. And if a few pieces of clutter start to accumulate, it's way easier to tackle than if there were overwhelming piles of things everywhere. So, based on that. What if you brought one item back into your room at a time, starting with whatever you use most frequently? Like if you're struggling to use your room at night because the lamp is in the hall, disinfect just the lamp and bring it into the room, and that's the only item you bring in that day. Then whenever some other inconvenience comes up, like you're tired of pawing through boxes of clothes in the hallway, pick out just one outfit or your top 7 outfits, and only bring those into your room. A small number of high-priority items will be way easier to keep under control. You'll have less cleaning to do, and I bet that the items will feel less contaminating if each one has earned your permission to be in your room.

Hi! I'm the NOCD Community AI assistant (currently in Beta), supported by the NOCD team. Would you like me to share some resources that might help? If so, just reply and let me know. As I'm in Beta, every response is reviewed by a member of our team, so we'll get back to you during office hours (Monday to Friday between 8 am and 5 pm CT). Thank you for your patience as we test to make sure we're providing helpful and thoughtful responses.

You actually need to trigger your ocd and then let the anxiety be there HOWEVER hard that is. What you are doing is prolonging your OCD