trouble with maintaining a clean space

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I've always had trouble keeping my room clean, to the point that as a teen it would only get fully clean when I had someone else helping, both of us working nonstop for three days or so until it was finally organized and spotless. My room is not as messy as that right now, but as I'm renting a room in a boarding house where stuff isn't safe in common areas, I have over half of an apartment's worth of stuff in one room plus a cat who has some unpleasant habits. Depression is a factor, plus stuff keeps coming up in my life to distract me away from taking care of it, but I only have a week and a half before the new semester and there is no way I can undertake this project while taking 14 credit hours.

So I guess my question is... does anybody have any advice on how to stay motivated and productive? I tried Googling, but all the autism resources are for parents, and the depression cleaning tips are only half helpful. I have resorted to drugs in the past, when I had to pack and move an entire apartment by myself when my SO of the time was locked up for not having papers, but I really don't want to this time, as I feel like I really need to develop cleaning habits instead of relying on a hard-to-get and unpleasant-feeling crutch that was really only appropriate because it was an emergency. But I just don't have the energy or easy attitude that my neurotypical sister has when she can clean her almost-as-wrecked room in just a few hours (or at least did when we were kids). Anybody who has overcome or partially overcome this problem please give me tips so I can improve! I don't want to feel like a failure at self-care anymore.

I have this same issue with myself and would like to know about any tips or tricks.

One thing I noted about myself is that I will randomly every few months, have a day where I just need to clean, and I'll do so in whatever time I have. This will improve my living conditions a bit, but not by much, and then for the next short while I don't care how messy I get. Also I do find that I can clean real easy with the help of others, but who wants to help me clean. No one. So I never do.

Here's (below) a WP thread about trying to keep one's place organized/neat, FWIW.
The topic is discussed generally, but some pages have posts
about how one might approach the issue (thoughts/behaviors).
Don't know if it might be of help, perhaps ?
WP thread link

I have this problem a lot. It really affects my self-esteem or whatever as well because I'm not someone who's usually all that comfortable with messiness, dirtiness, etc. (although it's not an obsession or anything). It seems like my problems with keeping things clean and orderly have two main causes.

One cause is just being so f***ing TIRED a lot of the time. I've struggled with depression, which is sometimes quite bad, for a lot of my life. Also, the last year was particularly difficult with regard to energy, etc., because of some antidepressants I was taking. I usually try to avoid any kind of medication as much as I can, but a couple of years ago depression and anxiety were getting so bad that I had to do something. So I took a small dose of antidepressants for a couple of years (had to be small because of problems with side effects). It did help somewhat with anxiety but the cost was apathy and less energy. Those issues got so bad that I had to stop taking the pills a couple of months ago. I seem to have a bit more energy now than when I was on medication, but now I'm struggling with the second issue I have with regard to cleaning and getting things done in general: distraction.

It's just so easy for me to get sucked into some kind of activity to the exclusion of everything else, and it's usually various things online. These things just seem so IMPORTANT when I'm immersed in them. I make plans for when I'll get other things done, but it never seems to happen. Things are really at a point in my life where there are some important things I have to get done, but it seems like I'm still battling the twin demons of fatigue and distraction.

(OP: I guess you were probably looking more for advice from someone who's actually overcome these problems. I'm sorry about not being able to really provide that. I just related so much to this thread that I had to say something.)

Belfast: Thanks for the link! I'll look through to see if any of it might be useful for me.

Aperture: ME TOO! When I was a kid I would stop cleaning my room because I picked up a book and got curious about it, and I really had trouble putting books down at that age. Still do to a certain extent, but I no longer read them if I have to do something afterwards. Nowadays I make a list of what I need to get done and then I go do something else. It's a little disheartening too when I don't get out of bed until well past noon, not long before the housemates get home from work and are ready to be social. It's good to know I'm not alone in this as it's contributed to the ending of two relationships.

I am kind of the opposite, because clutter sets up something like mental noise to me and makes me very uncomfortable. So keeping things clean organized was always a regular activity. But my wife and daughter (hereafter reffered to as The Clutter Queens), and two small dogs who frequently soil inside has made it impossible to keep up in recent years (an injury factored in a lot) and so I have to adjust my attitude quite a bit. Improved physical condition has set the stage for making inroads however, which I have named longterm projects X, Y and Z. I am in the middle of Y. (X=Garage, Y=Living Areas, Z=Basement)

I do experiment with approaches, and so far the only really partially successful one is to do only basic chores daily and then plan special cleaning projects. That is choose an area and figure out how you want it to look finished. Then plan when you want to do it, or wait for a motivated period. Try to pick an area that you can complete within one week. I don't mean 8 hours a day, but instead a planned extended work period. Like from 9-11 each morning or 1-3 in the afternoon. Short enough to manage energy-wise, but long enough to make progress over a few days. Completing the project is very important, as it gives you the needed incentive to move on to the next area. Motivation seems to be the key ingredient, so if there is some way to bait/encourage yourself as part of the project, do it. Like if you clean up your music, video, computer area you will reward yourself with something for the area. It might be a TV series you buy, or just a nice thing to store your DVDs in, etc.

One important thing to note is a living space is like a body. It can't just take things in. It also has to eliminate. One small trick (mini project) I use is when something new comes in is to get rid of twice the ammount of space the new thing has. That way you make small gains over time.

I developed an aversion to tidying up as a child because we were always being interrupted to go to another lesson. I usually have a lot of cluttter from several lingering projects, but I just discovered that it feels easy and natural to put away the tools and mess from a job while I'm still enjoying having finished one of them.
As for motivation to finish, one expert trick is to "procrastinate" by imagining the job completed as vividly as possible. Soon, it becomes automatic to get going. I am usually still disappointed, because I start off seeing a rather platonic image, and wind up holding an object that consists of mistakes reduced to an acceptable level, with a better design in my head. I enjoy the initial drawing the most, and am un-learning the habit of rushing into a project based on available hardware, as it usually requires more re-work to get the proportions right when they are revealed.

Found and bookmarked!
Thanks

Fly lady for the more energetic days then!