Home Decluttering Ideas: How and Where to Start
If you aren’t careful, clutter can take over your home. And when clutter takes over your home, it takes over your life.
Studies have shown that those with cluttered homes are less satisfied with their lives, struggle to focus, and deal with memory issues. All solid reasons for decluttering your home.
Looking around at the clutter may seem like an overwhelming and impossible task – and it can be difficult to know how and where to start.
Don’t give up before you even get started. These tips will relieve the pressure and show you how to easily and effortlessly declutter.
How to Get Started Decluttering Your Home
One of the reasons people fail before they start is because they think of it like deep cleaning.
That’s not the purpose.
Marie Kondo says, “To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose.”
Decluttering is all about getting rid of things in your home that no longer serve a purpose. Your goal is to say goodbye to items in your home that don’t add function to your life or bring you joy.
If you mistakenly think decluttering is deep cleaning, you may fall into the storage trap. This is when you buy more storage and organization items to store all the stuff you have.
Marie Kondo also addresses this issue: “It’s human nature to take the easy route and leap at storage methods that promise quick and convenient ways to remove visible clutter. Putting things away creates the illusion that the clutter problem has been solved. But sooner or later, all the storage units are full, and the room once again overflows with things.”
To Successfully Declutter, Understand the Purpose of All Your Stuff
The first step in knowing how to declutter is knowing what purpose it serves you.
If you know what you want to get rid of (those things that do not add function to your life or bring you joy), you can begin clearing out the house.
When you come across these things, ask yourself if you should donate them, throw them away, or sell them.
- If it no longer serves you, will it serve someone else? If so, donate it. Put these items immediately in a laundry basket, box, or garbage bag for quick and easy transport to a local thrift store or a Goodwill.
- Is it worth money? Do you have a means of selling it? If yes, ensure you have a space designated for items you plan to sell. When you do sell your items, save the money for something that sparks joy in your life.
- Or does it need to be thrown away? Confidently toss it out and never question your decision.
You are making progress as long as things are going out the door.
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Where to Start with Decluttering Hacks
If you walk around saying, “I need to declutter my entire house,” you’ll give up before you declutter anything.
Instead, start where clutter inconveniences you the most. Decluttering even the smallest, easiest areas make a big difference.
Here are some great starting points.
Decluttering Bathroom Ideas
It’s amazing how quickly clutter piles up in bathrooms. We are constantly buying new soaps and never throw away the half-empty bottles we don’t use. Before you know it, your vanity is overrun, and your drawers are overcrowded. Because of this, you struggle to find what product you need when you need it.
That’s why bathrooms are easy places to declutter. You can tell what is trash. And the difference will be seen and felt as soon as you reach for your toothpaste.
- Shower: Take any used-up, old, or unused products out of your shower. Use a shower caddy to organize your shampoo, conditioner, soap, and other items.
- The Vanity: Get rid of anything that is not in regular rotation. The vanity also tends to be an area where items that don’t belong in the bathroom tend to end up. Put these items back where they belong.
- Under the Sink: Go through your cabinet areas and get rid of all the items that have slowly made their way to the back, such as half-used bottles of bathroom cleaner or body wash.
- Make your space a calming one with these 8 Tips to Maintain a Tidy Home (More Organization Hacks to Declutter Fast).
Decluttering Ideas for Clothes
Clothes don’t last forever. They get old and show wear. We outgrow the fashion or the fit. We often have clothing that we simply don’t like or feel comfortable in cluttering our closets and drawers.
Start with your closet. Take out all of the items you don’t regularly wear. Then sort through those clothes. Ask yourself:
- When was the last time I wore it?
- Will I wear it again?
Closets are cluttered because they are filled with clothes we “might” wear again. These clothes are hard to get rid of because we don’t want to waste money if we have to buy them again.
To counteract this urge to keep unworn clothes, remind yourself that the clothes are not being thrown away. They are being donated (or consigned if you want to make a little extra cash). Someone will get good use out of those clothes.
If you haven’t worn it in years, and you don’t know for sure if you will wear it again, consider donating it. If you have to buy something again, so be it. It is worth not dealing with the daily frustration of a cluttered closet.
Decluttering Ideas: Kitchen Countertops and Counter Surfaces
If you want your home to look clutter-free, tackle your kitchen countertops and counter surfaces. Our counters tend to become spaces that slowly collect anything and everything. Papers, miscellaneous items, and stuff without a clear “home” wind up on counters.
Take one counter at a time. Look it over. Note what belongs on the counter, such as kitchen appliances. Note what doesn’t belong.
- Get rid of the paper piles and random trash.
- Put stuff where it belongs.
- If random kitchen items are piling on the counter, such as spices or cooking utensils, see if you can use countertop shelving to rearrange and make space.
- Toss items that don’t serve a function.
- A kitchen “junk” drawer can be useful if it is full of random useful things.
- While you are cutting out the clutter, go ahead and Drastically Cut Your Household Expenses.
Organizing Hacks for Pantry
Just like they do in your bathroom cabinets, things tend to linger in pantries longer than necessary. Items get pushed to the back, food items get shoved in the wrong places, and clutter happens.
Take just a bit of time today to declutter your pantry.
- Get rid of old food.
- Remove food that you don’t like.
- Organize the food you keep, such as grouping foods into types (i.e., baking, snacks, canned foods, liquids, etc.).
- Utilize clear storage containers to keep nuts, seeds, and other dry goods fresh.
- Donate any food that is still good (but you will not eat) to your local food pantry.
It Is Possible and Easy to Declutter Your Home
You can do it! Take it one space at a time, one day at a time. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day. As long as you have more going out than coming in, you are decluttering!
As you begin to see the changes from space to space as you declutter, you will feel excited to keep going.
Plus, you’ll show more restraint when shopping, knowing how quickly clutter takes over.
- Understand the purpose of decluttering.
- Identify what items serve a function in your life and/or bring you joy.
- Have trash bags and boxes for transporting clutter to designated drop spaces.
- Start small.
- Focus on the clutter that is inconvenient and easy to get rid of.
Need motivation to organize your bedroom? Check out these declutter tips here!
Check out these declutter tips to organize your closet quick!
More Ways to Get Organized
More Ways to Declutter Your Home
Resources In The Image Above:
1 – Best Home Organizing Tips From Marie Kondo
2 – Simple Hacks to Declutter Your Entire Home
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About the author Michelle Salater
Michelle Salater is a freelance finance writer with a passion for personal finance education. When she’s not in front of her computer, she’s reading biographies and exploring remote areas of the world. She also freelances for Wooster Media Group LLC.
