I like to break it down room by room too. When I am working on "clutter" I get 3 boxes labeled: keep, donate, and throw away. After I have it broken down into the 3 categories - I find the keep box much more manageable than "everything".

I have also found a good way to minimize my storage items...things that I am not sure if I should keep or not that I know will wind up in the never-ending storage pile...(like cords, cables, all the things that my boys have accumulated but haven't made it to their "save" boxes) I clearly label the box and put an expiration date on it. So like cables that I'm not sure what they belong to I will label computer/video game cables and date it 6 months from the current date....anything still in the box after the "expiration" date gets thrown away.

There is a really good show on HGTV (I only have antenna TV, so only catch the reruns) called "NEAT" and I learned A LOT about downsizing and minimizing.

Cleaning really can be cathartic....and there is nothing like a clean house to feel like I've accomplished something....too bad it's a somewhat rare occurrence at my house

BTW - I do understand...completely! I find it hard to get motivated and always think - oh I will get to that....