What to do when its all on top of you and you don't know where to start

I was looking at my blog last night and trying to work out what I was going to write about when my brain and house was in a huge funk. I was in a bit of a depression yesterday. I felt like I had a hangover. I didn't but exhaustion got the better of me and I was in a seriously bad mood and I couldn't bring myself to lift a finger.After a nice long sleep last night and a lie in the morning I've decided that I'm going to be more productive today and I can write about how I'm going to kick myself into shape.

What to do when you're overwhelmed?

Step 1 - Have a shower
It might sound obvious but I always feel fresher after a shower, brushing teeth and getting dressed.

Step 2 - Decide not to make anymore mess
It can seem like a vicous circle when you are trying to tidy up mess that has been hanging around for a while if you are making more mess as you go along. So this morning, I've vowed that I will put away anything I use and if I see something that needs putting away (cups that need to be brought down to the kitchen etc), if I have free hands, I'll deal with them.

Step 3 - Do what you can
If you are like me, you will get stumped by the fact that you can't start with the washing up because there is no hot water cos you had a bath and forgot to put the water back on to heat. So what? Start emptying the dishwasher and filling it back up again. Heat enough water in the kettle so you can wipe a few surfaces.

Step 4 - DON'T PANIC! Do one thing at a time
Don't be put off by the fact that there is so much to do. Decide what area you're going to start on. Either a particular area of the worksurface (this is what works for me) and bit by bit, clear the clutter. Then move onto the next bit.

This is what I've done:

1. Cleared one surface so I could put my laptop in kitchen and write as I tidied
2. Emptied dishwasher
3. Filled dishwasher back up
4. Took all stuff off sink drainer (a lot of it had been there so long it had got dirty again so put it to right of sink)
5. Emptied sink (I can't start until I have an empty and clean sink). 
6. Still not got enough hot water to do a full sink of washing up so filled a little bit with some water from the kettle and wiped down some of the crumb-ladened surfaces down, then sprayed them with cleaning spray, wiped them clean and buffed them with a dry towel (I moved any obstacles out of the way - like the toaster and kettle etc so I could clean under and behind them)
7. Washed a load of bottles (I like to do them before anything else so the water is nice and clean and hot)
8. Put them together and put them away
9. Done another load of washing up

Its not finished yet. I've still not done ALL of the washing up that needs doing. The sitting room is still a mess (even though twice I've tidied it up - not much you can do while the kids are up unless you refuse to allow them to play!). The point is that now the kitchen looks much better than it did and I feel a bit better and I feel like I'm not living in a dump! And I've also had some time to relax.

OK, I've not managed to tidy up my entire house today. Some areas are still pretty messy but I've made a start and I actually (kind of) enjoyed doing it.