For the P&P household, Spring Break is coming a little late, and it’s time to clean up! Today, follow along as I share our plan for how to declutter your home no matter how much time you have.
We have some time because we won’t be traveling, and not just because of the state of the world right now. Through the fall and winter months, our budget was trashed because of illnesses, house problems, and moving. So, we’re keeping things simple and taking time to rest, recover, and get our lives back in order.
This post is (finally!) part three of my three part series about clutter. If you haven’t checked the others out yet, be sure to do so. They’re packed with helpful information that might motivate you to manage the mess!
Problems and Projects is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This post may contain affiliate links through Amazon or other affiliate programs. If you make a purchase through an affiliate link, I make a small commission at no additional cost to you. All opinions are my own and I only recommend products that I believe in. Read my full disclosure here. Thank you for your support!
There Are So Many Ways To Declutter
We all know that clutter is a problem. As a result, there are about a million different plans, methods, and strategies for how to declutter your home. What works for me might not work for you, and that’s okay! Find what does. Try a few things out.
Maybe you want to have an attitude of gratitude and tidy up the Marie Kondo way by keeping only what sparks joy and releasing the rest with thanks.
Moving toward minimalism? Then consider the 30 Day Minimalism Game, and eliminate over 400 unneeded items from your life.
You might also consider the box method, where you categorize all your stuff into groups, and then decide how to manage it.
Perhaps you’re up for a challenge, and you want to try out a packing party which will eventually eliminate everything you don’t use over time.
If your wardrobe is your problem, consider this coat hanger trick or look into Project 333 to help you manage your closet clutter.
While I certainly COULD do a very long and thorough review of all the decluttering methods out there, that’s a subject for a different day. I’ve left some links here to help you do some research.I do, however, want to share my method for how to declutter because I borrow a fair bit from many of these methods. Take what you like, and leave the rest!
My way isn't the only way! Just like personal finance, there's more than one right way to control your clutter!
How To Declutter: My Strategies
I may have mentioned a few times that I have way too much junk. Minimalism is such a beautiful idea, but I’m just not at that point in my life. That doesn’t mean I have to keep a ton of junk lying around, either.
We completed a major junk purge a few years ago, and it did wonders for our home. We even created a ton of space in our 1,200 sq. ft. townhome. Sadly, we never got to that point in The Pit, what with having to pack everything up every six months to fix some new problem. When we moved, the amount of junk that came with us makes me a little bit ashamed.
So now, in the new house, we’re starting fresh. Not just because we have to deep clean everything we own to get all the rat germs off… But because clutter has started making things difficult again. So, we’re going back to the strategies that worked so well for us in the much smaller townhouse. Here’s how we plan to do it!
1. Make A List Of All Your Rooms And Regions
Our upcoming junk purge won’t happen by accident, and your’s probably won’t either. Without a plan, I tend to spin in circles and accomplish very little.
To prevent this, first start by creating a check list for every room and region in your home. Ours will be broken down as follows, but yours will differ depending on your home.
- Living room
- Office area
- Kitchen
- Laundry room
- Dining room
- Coat closet
- Master bath
- Closet
- Master bedroom
- Second bathroom
- Guest room and closet
- Baby’s room and closet
- Craft room and closet
- Garage
- Front yard/patio
- Back yard/patio
2.Prioritize Your Space And Choose A Strategy
First, you should consider how much time you have. If you’re doing the whole house, you’ll probably need days or weeks.
However, if time is short, you might do a big declutter on the major spaces. Then, you can come back and finish later.
Next, you need to decide if you’ll go through your house in order of use, priority, ease, or difficulty.
In order of usage, you’d start with the highest traffic rooms and work down to the lowest.
With priority sorting, you’d start with the rooms you want to finish first. If you sort by ease, you start with the simplest rooms and work your way up to the hardest ones.
On the other hand, if you sort by difficulty, you will begin with the most challenging spaces and save the quickest jobs for last.
We like to start with the easy jobs first to build motivation, and then save the toughest jobs for last. One exception is the garage and outdoor spaces. We simply decide to knock those out on a nice weather day. If we wait till last, we might be cleaning the garage in 100 degree heat, or, you know, just not doing it at all.
Here's Our Decluttering Priority List
Complete as weather allows
- Garage
- Front yard/patio
- Backyard/patio
Easiest rooms
- Master bath
- Second bathroom
- Baby’s room and closet
- Guest room and closet
- Master bedroom
- Craft room and closet
- Office
- Laundry room
- Coat closet
- Master closet
Hardest rooms
- Living room
- Dining room
- Kitchen
3. Make A Checklist To Stay On Track
I’m just naturally a checklist person, but even if you’re not, checklists can be really helpful when you’re completing a difficult task.
Checklists give you focus, prevent decision making fatigue, and ensure nothing is forgotten.
Now that you’ve chosen an order, think about every task you hope to complete in each room. As you make your list, don’t forget these helpful hints.
- List your rooms by priority
- In each room, list all storage furniture and areas
- List common clutter zones and problem areas
- Add jobs you hope to finish
- Include the tasks of donating, selling, and trashing
- Don’t forget about cleaning.
4. Start Decluttering!
Alright, you’ve done your planning. You know what rooms to start with and what you want to accomplish. Time to take action!
Here’s where I like to borrow strategies from multiple decluttering methods.
Gather Your Containers
First, get yourself a few large boxes, tubs, totes, or bags, as well as a trash bag. These will help you stay organized. You’ll want containers for trash and for items to sell, donate, give to family, and move to another room. As you work through your house, you’re not putting anything back in an organized room it doesn’t belong.
Clean It All Out
Next, pull everything out of that room or section. Every … single … thing. Start grouping them generally by category on the floor or in a room close by. This will help you discover if you have too many of something so you can store them together or get rid of some clutter.
Once everything is out, clean out all the areas you plan to store things. Wipe out drawers, cabinets, and shelves. Dust or vacuum corners. Mop parts of the floor where things will be stored. Deep clean the whole room if you have time. If not, focus on the places where stuff will go.
Don’t forget to give any spaces you skipped over and good cleaning when you’re finished. Wipe down surfaces, sweep and mop floors, run stuff through the washer, whatever needs to done.
Put Things Back
Then, start putting things back. Work through the pile you made ruthlessly. If it’s old, broken, leaking, or extremely expired, then trash it. Do you hate it? If you’ll never use it again, then get rid of it. Only put things back if they belong in this room. Remember to wipe down dirty items as you go.
If you find things that belong elsewhere, don’t worry about putting them there yet. Put them in that “move to another room” box. Stay focused!
Make sure everything you replace has a home. If it doesn’t, make a home, or let it go.
Let Go and Check Off Tasks
How much you choose to let go of is up to you. Do you hope to go minimalist? Get rid of whatever you don’t need. Want to love your space? Get rid of whatever doesn’t “spark joy”. Are you more practical minded? Only keep what fits and is useful.
5. Rinse and Repeat
Now, all you have to do is repeat this process with the next room, and the next, and … you get the picture. Work through your list until you reach your goal.
6. Maintain Your Space
This is the hardest part. Once you get the whole house decluttered and clean, you have to keep it that way.
Only now, it will be easier than before. Remember, everything in your house now has a designated space. You don’t have to stress about where things go. Just put them back!
If you find that you acquire new things, make sure you give them a home. That way, you’re not left wondering what do do with the piles around the house.
Also, and this is vital, make sure you actually rid of all the stuff you sorted into boxes. Sell it, donate it, trash it, give it away. I’m not one who believes this has do be done immediately, but make it a priority. If you’ll make good money, take the time to sell it. However, if you can’t make money back, or it’s taking forever, consider another way to remove that clutter from your space.
Let's Get Started!
Now that you know how to declutter, it’s time to make your plan, and get started. Fortunately, I’ve created a printable to get you started. It’s a nice little checklist to help you get organized. Since every room and home is different, the checklist itself is blank. However, I’ve included a whole list of possible room-by-room ideas to add to your list.
Join our newsletter below through one of the sign up forms in the post above, and receive your free printable checklist template with over 100 decluttering ideas via email!
How long will it take you? Well, our 1200 sq. ft. hoarder house took an entire week of 10 hour days. But our office the other day was finished before nap time was over. It all depends on how much clutter you have and how hard you’re willing to hustle to finish.
Want to see the process in action? Check back in later on and see how our home declutter is moving along! Sign up to our newsletter below so you don’t miss out.
Try the process out, then come back here and let us know how it went in the comments below. Do you have any awesome ideas for how to declutter your space? We’d love to hear about them in the comments below!
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Some wonderful takeaways. I have been working on decluttering lately. Your list is going to be very handy in the process. Thank you.
I hope the list helps your process. Keep me posted!
These are such great tips for decluttering. I always love the feeling you get after decluttering!
Agreed!
I love the idea of organising the spaces by difficulty! I’ll be using that tip next time I do a big clear out x
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I hope that it helps you!
This is so helpful! I’m definitely going to be referring back to this.
I’m glad it’s helpful!
Love this post! I love a declutter and like to do it regularly so it doesn’t get on top of me! Clearer space, clearer mind. In my opinion!
I absolutely agree. A wildly cluttered space really messed with my head, too.
I’ve got to start on my garage as that’s where the “junk” is, but then I’ve got a feeling that when I declutter the house it’ll all go straight into the newly de-cluttered garage! Having a plan and a checklist could be very helpful, thanks.
We’ve always been fortunate to have a place we can dedicate to putting all the stuff we don’t know that to do with. It’s the last room we declutter, and it’s awful, but we’re usually pretty motivated by that point!
I’m also at that point where I’m not a minimalist lifestyle kind of person but I have attained a balance! Your post is really helpful for someone who is trying to tidy up their life !!
Thanks! I’m glad you found it to be helpful.
Ooooh, I love. your blog! And this is a great post, it’s so important to maintain a space that is neat and tidy. It’s not just about not being a slob either, it’s so important for your mental health too. I wrote a blog post discussing that and your post will definitely help organize and tidy and stay on top of it all. I firmly believe that having a home that is restful and relaxing is key for mental health. Thank you for sharing!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! There’s definitely a huge mental element involved with clutter.
I love spending a good day decluttering! Having a list of goals and priorities is a great way to make a big task manageable. Since I recently finished up cleaning my garage, the basement is the next thing on my to-do list.
My favorite way to sort clothes, though, is to pile them all on the bed and go through the pile before putting everything I want to keep back in order. 🙂
I think that physically thing through clothing is helpful, too! Most of us have way too many. Good luck with your basement.
Decluttering is a 2020 goal for me. At the beginning of the year, it was so overwhelming that I couldn’t even get started. Then I made a checklist like the one you suggest and I tackle one item each week. It will take longer but it’s definitely more manageable.
That sounds great. It doesn’t have to get finished today, and you’ll prevent that overwhelm from creeping back in.
I declutter my space by putting my items in separate places where i can reach them.
Sounds like a good strategy!
I’ve been working on decluttering. I was about halfway through the Marie Kondo method, KonMari, when we moved to a new home. Now that we’ve been in the new house awhile, I need to finish this project. Thanks for all the tips, very inspiring!
Your welcome. Good luck!