Disaster zone is a good description here too!

I'm with you, a load of washing on straight away is a great way to start as the sound of the machine feels good, and it means I'm doing two things at once!!

I always take it in little steps so that I feel I can tackle it, I start in One room, and in One corner. I have a few baskets or buckets (one for each other room in the house) with me and start putting things back into their place, tossing things from other rooms into their dedicated bucket. Then at least one area is clear and I can move the bucket to its room and start there.

It saves me running around the house - too much energy wasted plus I tend to get distracted when I do that and feel as if I am not getting anything done. This way, even if the buckets stay un-emptied in their rooms, at least I can close the door on that and have the room I started with looking better!