So many times I see folks who get these two terms confused. They’ll be “cleaning the living room” and spend all their time sorting through papers on the dining table or talk about organizing the fridge when it really just needs a scrubbing.

We know that it’s easier to clean when things are organized because there’s less to move around to get to the dirt. But it can feel like a waste to organize that stack of Tupperware when there’s a pile of dirty dishes.

How do you split your time when there’s both cleaning and organizing to be done? Here’s how I prioritize.

The first order of business is to deal with trash. Trash can’t be organized and has the tendency to spillover and make everything else trash too. Start with cleaning up any visible trash, empty trash cans, get the gunk from the sink, and move all trash out.

Reline the trash cans and then move onto the next.

I recommend doing this room by room because it’s difficult to get everything up off the floors to vacuum or mop. For the rest of this example I’ll use an office.

Walk out of the office and come back in with fresh eyes and look around. What bothers you the most? It might be a stack of papers or a really dusty computer monitor.

After you remove all obvious trash, gather up everything that doesn’t belong in the room and take it to the general space where it belongs. So those old coffee cups go to the kitchen, sweater from the other day goes to the laundry basket, slippers you kicked off go back to your closet.

Gather similar things together, such as all the mail and papers in one spot, office supplies in another. Keep your cleaning supplies all in one spot in case you need them again.

If you need to clean the overhead light or ceiling fan, start there first and work down (see this post for more).

If you need to dust, start with everything on the walls, shelves, and then furniture.

When it comes to organizing, make sure you have some space to work which might mean doing a bit of cleaning first.

Personally I would clear off the desk and clean the surface, then dust all the computers and put them back in place. With a clean surface I could then organize a single drawer at a time.

It’s not really realistic to clean ALL THE THINGS before doing any organization and it’s frustrating to organize when you don’t know where everything is and there’s a bunch of mess around. It’s fine to go back and forth as you work on a space.