How to Declutter Your Home (Everything You Need to Know)

Clutter can quickly accumulate in any home, creating a sense of chaos and disorganization. A cluttered space can lead to stress, decreased productivity, and difficulty finding the things you need. Decluttering is the key whether you’re preparing for a fresh start, downsizing, or just looking for a more organized living environment. This guide will provide practical decluttering tips to make the process enjoyable and beneficial for your overall well-being.

In this guide, we’ll break down the decluttering process room by room, share tips to prepare yourself, discuss where to dispose of unwanted items, and highlight the benefits of living in a clutter-free home.

If you’re looking for spiral bound decluttering and organizing books to help you start tidying up your home and your life, we’ll also list 5 books in this article that will help you do just that! 

How to Declutter Your Home

The Bathroom

The bathroom is one of the easiest places to start decluttering since it often contains expired or unused items. Begin by sorting through medicine cabinets, tossing expired medications, and organizing the remaining ones in labeled containers. Check skincare and beauty products—if they’re expired or never used, it’s time to discard them. You can also take note of products that end up just being expired. Reduce duplicates by keeping only what is necessary and useful, like avoiding multiple bottles of shampoo or half-used toothpaste tubes. Consider using drawer organizers and shelves to maintain a neat and accessible space.

The Kitchen

The kitchen tends to collect overwhelming clutter, from old spices to unused appliances. Start by tackling your pantry—discard expired foods and donate non-perishable items you won’t use. Move to your fridge, checking for outdated condiments and leftovers past their prime. Organize cabinets by grouping similar items together and using storage containers to maximize space. If you haven’t used a kitchen gadget in over a year, consider donating or selling it. Having less stuff in your kitchen can lead to more effortless mobility and reduced cleaning chores. Keep countertops clear by storing frequently used items in easy-to-reach places while tucking away less-used items.

The Living Room

As a high-traffic area, the living room becomes a dumping ground for miscellaneous items. Begin by removing anything that doesn’t belong, such as mail, magazines, or kids’ toys. We tend to overlook these items as they hold sentimental value. Assess items stored on the coffee tables, shelves, and TV racks and ensure everything is returned to its proper place. Assess your furniture and décor—does it contribute to a comfortable, cohesive space? If not, consider removing excess items. Streamline entertainment areas by organizing books, DVDs, and electronic devices. Also, consider whether you are still using these massive electronic gadgets. Most subscription-based entertainment will reduce the need for bulky gadgets in the modern era. Use baskets or stylish storage solutions to keep clutter at bay while maintaining a visually appealing room.

Bedrooms

Your bedroom should be a sanctuary for rest and relaxation, not a storage hub. Start by clearing out nightstands and dressers—remove any non-essential items and find designated storage for necessary ones. Check under the bed for forgotten clutter. If your bedroom feels overcrowded, consider removing excessive furniture or decorations and keep what truly matters to create a meaningful and comfortable space. Make the bed daily as a simple way to maintain a tidy space and reinforce your decluttering efforts.

Closets

Closets often harbor the most clutter, making it essential to have a strategy when dealing with all your stuff to avoid inefficiency and disorganization. Closets are also a bottleneck for sentimental items in our lives. Start by removing all clothing and assessing each item. If you haven’t worn it in the last year, it doesn’t fit, or you don’t love it, donate or sell it. Use storage solutions like hanging organizers, bins, and shelf dividers to keep items in order. Rotate seasonal clothing to make your closet more functional year-round. The goal is to create a closet where every item is visible, accessible and serves a purpose. Have a shoe that you like but don’t really fit you? Maybe it’s time to donate them. You may also consider vacuum-storing big bulky items you only use in winter.

Decluttering Tips to Prepare Yourself Before Starting

Decluttering can be overwhelming, but setting yourself up for success makes the process easier. Here are some preparation tips:

1. Set Clear Goals – Define what you want to achieve in each space. Whether it’s creating more storage, reducing stress, or making room for new items, having a goal keeps you focused. Make a quantitative list of items. It can be as detailed as you want it to be. For example:

   a. “I want to reduce the number of my shirts by 50%.”

   b. “Throw away all expired food.”

   c. “Filled 3 boxes with items I don’t use anymore.”

    

    

2. Start Small – Begin with a single drawer, shelf, or section of a room to build momentum. Small wins keep you motivated. This can be connected to the precise goals you want to achieve.

3. Use the Three-Box Method – Label three boxes: Keep, Donate, and Trash. This method helps streamline decision-making and prevent unnecessary second-guessing. You may also create clear guidelines for what belongs in the 'Keep,' 'Donate,' and 'Trash' boxes, which will enable you to make decisions more wisely and quickly."

4. Set a Timer – Work in short bursts, such as 20-30 minutes, to prevent burnout. This makes decluttering more manageable. You can also read about the Pomodoro Technique or the 25/5 rule.

5. Adopt the One-Year Rule – If you haven’t used or worn something in a year, chances are you don’t need it.

6. Get the Whole Family Involved – If you share your space, encourage all family members to declutter their own belongings. This prevents clutter from creeping back in. This is also a good exercise and tradition for the family to adapt. Learning to avoid hoarding is good practice.

Gather Supplies and Tools

Before diving into the decluttering process, gathering all the necessary supplies and tools is crucial to streamline your efforts. Here’s a handy list to get you started:

• Trash Bag: Essential for disposing of unwanted items that are no longer useful. Consider color-coding the bags to differentiate where they will be taken after.

• Donation Box or Bag: Perfect for collecting items that can be donated to charity. They can also be easily labeled, very efficient, and effective.

• Storage Container: Useful for storing items you want to keep but don’t have immediate space. These can also be a temporary solution for over-cluttered spaces.

• Label Maker: Helps in labeling storage containers and shelves for easy identification. If you don't have a fancy label maker, sharpie pens and notepads work just as well.

• Cleaning Cloth: Handy for dusting and wiping down surfaces as you declutter. Washable ones are highly encouraged.

• Decluttering Checklist: Keeps you organized and focused on your tasks. Focus on the goal!

These supplies will make the decluttering process smoother and more efficient, ensuring you stay organized and motivated throughout.

Set a Decluttering Timeline

Decluttering is time-consuming, but setting a clear timeline can help you stay focused and motivated. Here are some tips for creating an effective and efficient decluttering timeline:

• Set Specific Goals: Define what you want to achieve, whether decluttering a particular room or area of your home. To not overwhelm yourself, you can start by clearing smaller spaces and working your way out.

• Break Down Tasks: Divide the decluttering process into smaller, manageable chunks, such as focusing on one area, room, or section at a time.

• Allocate Time: Set specific time frames for each task, like dedicating 30 minutes a day or 2 hours a week to decluttering. You can increase or decrease this according to the time that is available to you.

• Create a Schedule: Develop and stick to a schedule, but remain flexible and adjust as needed. Consistency is key!

• Set Deadlines: Establish deadlines for each task to help you stay on track and maintain momentum. But do not stress if you need to adjust your timeline. The important thing to consider is to be productive toward your specific goal.

Setting a timeline can make the decluttering process more manageable and ensure steady progress toward a clutter-free home.

Create a Decluttering Checklist

A decluttering checklist can be an invaluable tool to keep you organized and focused. Here’s how to create one:

• List Areas to Declutter: Identify all areas in your home that require attention. Having learned decluttering techniques for each room, determine which parts of your home need it most.

• Break Down Tasks: Divide each area into smaller tasks, such as sorting through clothes or cleaning out a closet. If you're starting in kitchens or bathrooms, removing expired items can be one small task that helps you progress.

• Specify Actions: Detail specific actions for each task, like donating unwanted items or storing items you want to keep. You can even get more specific with labels, such as 'to put in albums,' 'to donate to the orphanage,' 'to send to the library,' or 'to put in the basement.' Great way to be more creative!

• Prioritize Tasks: Rank tasks based on their importance and urgency. Others have to start on urgent tasks, while others are more comfortable starting with the hardest tasks first.

• Track Progress: Use the checklist to monitor your progress and stay organized. It can be a physical checklist or a spreadsheet.

A well-structured checklist will make the decluttering process more efficient and help you stay on top of your goals.

Decluttering Challenges You May Face

Decluttering can be challenging, especially when dealing with items you have kept for so long. A lot of our storage holds a lot of memories, and it is important to assess these carefully. Here are some tips to help you navigate these emotional hurdles:

Sentimental Items

Sentimental items often hold deep emotional value, making them difficult to part with. If you genuinely do not wish to discard these items, there are alternative methods to organize them and reduce the appearance of clutter. Here are some strategies to help you declutter these items:

• Categorize: Sort sentimental items into groups, such as photos, mementos, and heirlooms.

• Select a Few: Keep only a few items with the most sentimental value and let go of the rest. Letting go of unimportant items or items that no longer give you “joy” is a good way to measure this.

• Photograph Items: Take photos of sentimental items before letting them go to preserve the memory without keeping the physical item.

• Create a Memory Box: Store sentimental items in a dedicated memory box or album rather than scattering them throughout your home. This method will help you minimize the cluttered look. Have designated and labeled boxes or photo albums/scrapbooks to organize items with sentimental value.

• Focus on Memories: Remember that the memories and emotions attached to sentimental items are truly important, not the physical items themselves.

Following these tips, you can overcome the challenges of decluttering sentimental items and create a more organized and clutter-free home.

Where to Dispose of Unwanted Items

Once you’ve sorted your belongings, the next step is to decide where to take the unwanted items. Here are some options:

• Donate – Many charities accept gently used clothing, furniture, and household items. Organizations like Goodwill, Salvation Army, and local shelters can put your items to good use. Items that may be useless to you may be very helpful to others.

• Sell – Consider selling valuable items through online marketplaces like Facebook Marketplace, eBay, or local consignment shops. Hosting a garage sale is another great option for clearing out unnecessary clutter. Joining other white elephant organizations selling used items is another way to go.

• Recycle – Electronics, paper, and plastics can often be recycled instead of thrown away. Check your local recycling center for guidelines. Be careful when disposing of electronic waste; it is better to contact designated organizations to collect this to avoid health issues.

• Trash – Some items may be beyond repair or use and must be disposed of properly. For large items, contact your local waste management for bulk pickup options.

Benefits of a Clutter-Free Home

Why do we even need to declutter? A decluttered home offers more than just a tidy appearance. Here are some benefits:

• Reduced Stress – A clean, organized space promotes mental clarity and reduces anxiety. A physically stressful place manifests a physically stressed mind.

• Increased Productivity – Focusing on daily tasks and working efficiently is easier without clutter. Ergonomic placement of items also reduces the time required for certain tasks.

• More Space – Removing unnecessary items frees up space for things that truly matter. Effectively utilizing storage space is crucial to maintaining a clutter-free home. Think about a walkway packed with things versus a room where you can easily move around. Which would you rather be in?

• Easier Cleaning – Fewer items mean less dust and fewer surfaces to clean, making maintenance a breeze. Ventilation is also much better in a decluttered space.

• Financial Savings – You’ll be less likely to buy duplicate items or spend money on unnecessary storage solutions. Being mindful of your belongings will also help you reduce the waste of repair work. 

• Improved Well-Being – A decluttered home fosters a sense of control, relaxation, and overall happiness.

 

5 Books to Help You Declutter and Organize Your Home (And Your Life!)

1. Decluttering 55+ - Wisdoms to create a legacy, not a mess

Decluttering 55+: Wisdoms to create a legacy, not a mess by Michelle Passoff is a beautifully illustrated spiral book that aims to motivate Baby Boomers and those who love them to address ‘next level’ clutter – areas of life that are baffling or confronting and that many tend to sweep under the carpet and put off another day – or forever.

It sits like a tent on a tabletop or desk. Flip the page for a prompt to reset your health and fitness eating regimen, tame digital clutter, produce a memoir, tend to relationship matters, decide where to live and what to do next, get your financial or legal house in order, and even pre-plan final arrangements. This is a beautiful gift to give oneself or a circle of friends.

2. Cluttered Mess to Organized Success Workbook: Declutter and Organize your Home and Life with over 100 Checklists and Worksheets

Declutter Your Life with the Host of HGTV’s HOT MESS HOUSE

# 1 Best Seller in Home Improvements Reference, Guided Journals, Small Homes & Cottages, Small Spaces, Decorating & Furnishings, and Remodeling & Renovation

Declutter Your Home and Declutter Your Life

Organize your life. Do you dream of getting organized but have no idea where to start? Cluttered Mess to Organized Success: Declutter and Organize your Home and Life with over 100 Checklists and Worksheets offers you everything you need to organize your home, family, and time. This book provides helpful tips and advice and is jam-packed with over 100 worksheets, forms, labels, schedules, and everything else you need to organize your life.

Declutter your life on your way to happiness. Cassandra Aarssen is a Professional Organizer and creator of the successful blog and YouTube channel, ClutterBug. After struggling for years with chaos and clutter, Cassandra transformed her home and life through organization. Cassandra’s debut book, Real Life Organizing, has inspired families worldwide to control their clutter and fall in love with their homes all over again. 

She now shares more of her favorite organizing tips, tricks, and secrets in Cluttered Mess to Organized Success so you can declutter your way to happiness.

Inside, discover home organizing tips that:

• Can make your goals and dreams come true

• Allow you to get more done in less time

• Transform your home into a happy, clean, and clutter-free environment

3. Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff: Declutter, Downsize, and Move Forward with Your Life

Your boxes of photos, family’s china, and even the kids' height charts aren’t just stuff; they’re attached to a lifetime of memories--and letting them go can be scary. 

With empathy, expertise, and humor, Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff, written in collaboration with AARP, helps you sift through years of clutter, let go of what no longer serves you, and identify the items worth keeping so that you can focus on living in the present.

For over 20 years, Matt Paxton has helped people from all walks of life who want to live more simply, declutter, and downsize. As a featured cleaner on Hoarders and host of the Emmy-nominated Legacy List with Matt Paxton on PBS, he has identified the psychological roadblocks that most organizational experts routinely miss, preventing so many of us from lightening our material load.

Using poignant stories from the thousands of individuals and families he has worked with, Paxton brings his signature insight to a necessary task. 

Whether you’re tired of living with clutter, making space for a loved one, or moving to a smaller home or retirement community, this book is for you. Paxton’s unique, step-by-step process gives you the tools to complete the job.

4. The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing and Realizing Your House Goals

From the home organizers who made their orderly eye candy, the method everyone swears by comes Joanna and Clea’s signature approach to decluttering. 

The Home Edit walks you through paring down your belongings in every room, arranging them in a stunning and easy-to-find way, and maintaining the system so you don’t need another do-over in six months. When you’re done, you’ll not only know exactly where to find things, but you’ll also love the way it looks.

A masterclass and lookbook in one, The Home Edit is filled with bright photographs and detailed tips, from placing plastic dishware in a drawer where little hands can reach to categorizing pantry items by color (there’s nothing like a bit of ROYGBIV to soothe the soul). Above all, it’s like having your best friends at your side to help you turn the chaos into calm.

5. Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD, 3rd Edition: Tips and Tools to Help You Take Charge of Your Life and Get Organized

Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD, 3rd Edition, offers cutting-edge strategies for anyone who wants to improve their physical space, time management, and peace of mind.

This revised and updated version also includes helpful assessments of the latest digital tools for organization and new research on the ADHD brain.

Divided into two easy-to-read sections, the first covering this life-changing new method and the second showing how to implement it in each part of the home, Susan’s practical solutions address the most common organizing dilemmas among her ADHD clientele while also drawing on her personal experience as the mother of a child with ADHD.

The projects section, organized by the type of room or task, consists of practical organizing solutions for people living with ADHD:

• At work: prioritizing, time management, and organizing documents

• At home: paying bills on time, decluttering your house, scheduling and keeping appointments

• With kids: driving them to various activities, grocery shopping and meals, laundry, babysitters, organizing drawers and closets

• At leisure: organizing time for your social life, gym, and various other hobbies and activities

Color photographs are featured throughout, as well as sidebars and testimonials from adults with ADHD, providing numerous organizational tips, such as the importance of dividing time into minutes or moments, task completion, avoiding procrastination, asking for help, and minimizing unnecessary stuff.

Get your life in order with this witty and sympathetic guide to the organization.

 

Conclusion

Decluttering your home is a transformative process that brings order, peace, and functionality to your space. By tackling each area methodically, preparing yourself mentally, and responsibly disposing of unwanted items, you can create a home that feels more spacious and inviting. The benefits of decluttering extend beyond physical space—they positively impact mental clarity, productivity, and well-being. 

You can manage the decluttering process independently without hiring a professional organizer. Start small, stay consistent, and enjoy the newfound simplicity of a clutter-free home.