Thanks, RTS, for the tidbits of advice that have helped you tackle the task. I am certainly going to try to apply some of those techniques!

I have freecycled a ton of stuff already and donated a bunch of bags of stuff as well. The impulsive part of me who wants this stuff OUT has been tempted to just donate the rest. Yet the near-broke part of me wants to see if I can at least get a few bucks out of it. I wonder which side will win.

I started making some progress in one part of one room so far - and took out 3 bags of trash. Woo hoo. It didn't make a dent AT ALL, but ya gotta start somewhere.

Since each room is a disaster, I am deciding to focus on the rooms that will be used by the guests that will be coming over and working hard on keeping my progress steady - as opposed to backsliding each and every time. I can always close bedroom doors. And if I can't get the downstairs done in time, I can always keep the guests upstairs. (We never really use our downstairs anyway...even though it's a livable space with a pool table, couch, fireplace, etc. - it's been used basically as a storage room.)

I love your idea of picking one "thing" - whether it's clothes or crafts, etc. Thank you!

I made a little bit of progress so far to one corner of one room.