Do you ever wonder how you can declutter your entire home? Having clutter can be harmful to your mental and physical health. Above all, decluttering your house is actually beneficial to your health! If you want to get on the road to better health and wellness, you need to have a clutter-free home.
This is something that won’t happen overnight, but is more of a lifestyle change. It will be an ongoing process, but once you start doing it, I guarantee you will enjoy the benefits of it and continue to do so. To declutter your home is much easier than you think if you take it room-by-room and step-by-step.
So what are you waiting for? Stop the excuses of I don’t have any time, I’m not sure what to get rid of or I may need this item at some point in my life. The simple truth is these excuses are the root of the problem to your clutter. Let go of the excuses and you’ll let go of the clutter. That is to say it’s as simple as that.
Below is a room-by-room guide on how to declutter your home. So let’s dive in (no pun intended)!
DECLUTTER YOUR BEDROOM- How to Declutter Your Home
CLOSET
Donation or Selling Pile
- Clothes that don’t fit you or you haven’t worn in over 1 year.
- Shoes that are no longer in style or additionally ones you haven’t worn in over 1 year.
- Handbags that you no longer use that are still in good shape.
Discard Pile
- Shoes with holes or are damaged.
- Clothing with holes or are worn out.
- Hangers that are broken and furthermore don’t match the others in your closet.
DRAWERS
Donation or Selling Pile
- T-shirts that are meaningless to you and furthermore you don’t wear.
- Accessories you no longer use including hats, scarves and belts.
Discard Pile
- Socks that have holes or are missing their other pair. (Above all, where do missing socks even go???)
- Underwear with holes or similarly have worn out elastic.
- Bras that don’t fit you or have stretched out straps, elastic or underwire sticking out of them! (Yeah that’s never comfortable!)
- Unflattering bathing suits or one that no longer fit (It may just be time to finally say goodbye to that bikini!)
MISCELLANEOUS AREAS
Donation or Selling Pile
- Jewelry that is out of style or that is just plain ugly.
- Coins lying around (gather them and cash them in)!
Discard Pile
- Tarnished or broken jewelry or ones for example that are missing their pair.
- Receipts, ticket stubs or papers you don’t need and as a result are collecting on your dressers.
- Perfume that is old or is an almost empty bottle.
DECLUTTER YOUR BATHROOMS- How to Declutter Your Home
discard pile
- Unused medicines should be disposed of properly.
- Medicines that are old or expired.
- Beauty products that are expired or you no longer use.
- Old or unused hair products, hair brushes, stretched out hair elastics, hair accessories and hair styling tools! Does anyone else have 20 different curling irons like I do?
- Nail polishes that are old or ones for example that have turned a strange color.
- Sunscreens that have expired because yes, they do expire!
DECLUTTER YOUR LINEN CLOSET- How to Declutter Your Home
Donation or sell pile
- Bath and beach towels that have holes or are worn out for example can be donated to a local animal shelter.
- Sheets that are older, have holes or you have no idea where they came from. Similarly ones you have no idea which bed size they fit!
- Blankets that you don’t use or have holes.
- Unused toiletries you have collected from hotels you’ve visited can be donated to organizations that collect them.
DECLUTTER YOUR KIDS ROOMS- How to Declutter Your Home
Similarly, the list to declutter your bedroom should remain the same in your kid’s rooms. Some additional items may be:
donation or sell pile
- Sort through their collection of books and donate or sell ones that are too young for them.
- Play clothes and costumes that no longer fit and as a result they don’t use.
- Memorabilia or saved souvenirs that is excessive and cannot fit into a reasonably sized memory box.
- Figurines/crafts that take up too much space or similarly are just collecting dust.
DECLUTTER YOUR KITCHEN
PANTRY
Donation Pile
- Non-perishable food items you don’t use can additionally be donated to a local food bank near you.
- Small appliances you don’t use or for examples ones that are broken.
discard pile
- Old or expired spices (most last about 3 years).
- Non-perishable items that have expired.
CABINETS
discard pile
- Plates, bowls and cups that are chipped or broken.
- Tupperware containers that are missing their matching lids you still have never found! They are probably in a black hole along with lost socks and missing pacifiers!
- Random mugs and similarly ones that are meaningless to you.
- Water/Sports bottles that have been washed too many times or that are worn out.
- Additionally, paper party supplies you have held onto for way too long. (Rather hold onto just a few and put them in your kid’s lunchboxes for a fun surprise each day!)
DRAWERS
donation or sell pile
- Cookbooks you don’t use (which may be all of them)! Moreover, it seems like we find all recipes online these days. Donate to a local book collection place or The Salvation Army.
- Electronics you no longer use and make sure all chords you own actually work for devices you still own.
discard pile
- Dish towels, pot holders or oven mitts that have holes in them.
- Takeout menus you don’t use, restaurants that are no longer in business or all of them all together! Similarly, you can find their menus online.
- Utensils that are bent, tarnished or stained.
- The junk drawer…use drawer sorters to organize the items in your drawer. As a result, anything that doesn’t fit in the sorter should be thrown out. Pens/pencils with no ink left or erasers, unidentifiable keys and any other random papers should also be discarded.
FRIDGE/FREEZER
discard pile
- Food, condiments and beverages that have expired.
- Items in your freezer that have been in there longer than 3 months.
- Unused ice packs that just take up space.
DECLUTTER YOUR LIVING ROOM
donation or sell pile
- Pillows or blankets that have holes or rips in them.
- Outdated electronics
- Decorative items that take up space and similarly are no longer your style.
discard pile
- Board games or puzzles that have missing pieces and consequently are no longer used.
- Random magazines or newspapers that are outdated
- Remote controls for example that no longer connect to electronics you currently are using.
DECLUTTER YOUR PLAYROOM
donation or sell pile
- Toys that are younger than your kid’s ages.
- Figurines or matchbox cars that your kids have way too many of!
discard pile
- Toys that no longer work or are missing parts to them.
- Broken or dried out art supplies for example markers, crayons and pencils.
DECLUTTER YOUR LAUNDRY ROOM/ MUDROOM
donation or sell pile
- Cleaning appliances you no longer use.
- Jackets that don’t fit or for example ones that you no longer use.
discard pile
- Cleaning products or ones that are almost empty.
- Cleaning supplies that are missing parts for example brushes, mops, brooms and vacuums.
- Shoes that are old or don’t fit.
DECLUTTER YOUR HOME OFFICE
discard pile
- File all of your receipts into a file folder to access them for returns, etc, but go through them and throw out old receipts you don’t need.
- Bank statements older than 1 year and tax returns older than 7 years.
- Appliance manuals for items you no longer own.
- Organize your children’s artwork/papers by grade in a bin and discard of items that can’t fit in the bin (take pictures of them before throwing them out)!
- Office supplies you no longer use or similarly that are broken.
DECLUTTER YOUR BASEMENT
Chances are, your basement has the most clutter, due to the fact that there are plenty of shelves and closets for items to collect in. Assess the entire basement and cleanup each area accordingly.
donation or sell pile
- Sort through all holiday items and donate or sell items you haven’t used the previous holiday. Likewise you probably won’t use it the next year that holiday rolls around!
- Exercise equipment you don’t use and probably won’t use if you haven’t until this point.
- Likewise check everything else in the basement and donate or sell baby items, furniture that hasn’t been used or any other item collecting dust. They are probably just taking up space!
discard pile
- Gift wrap that is old, wrinkled or one you may not use again.
- Luggage that have broken parts or have a musty smell to them from being in the basement.
- Christmas lights that don’t work. Don’t be like Clark Griswold checking every single bulb!
- Sort through your craft supplies and get rid of older items or items you probably won’t use.
- Go through memorabilia bins and throw out items that are meaningless at the moment.
DECLUTTER YOUR HOME GARAGE
donation or sell pile
- Bikes & helmets that are too small.
discard pile
- Tools that don’t work or are missing parts.
- Deflated balls or any other outside activity your kids no longer play with.
- Dispose of house paint properly that you no longer need or that isn’t good any longer.
WAYS TO MAINTAIN YOUR DECLUTTERED HOME
- Maintain this guide every 6-8 months or so to stay on top of the clutter.
- Once a month, do a quick sweep of each room, which should be brief if you did a thorough job during your big sweep.
- Above all, stop buying things and bringing them into the home! To maintain a more minimalist lifestyle, you have to lessen the clutter. So the less you bring in, the less there will be.
Finally, I hope you enjoyed this room-by-room guide to declutter your home and found it helpful. Need other helpful tips on how to clean or organize your house? Most certainly check out these helpful posts:
- 10 Habits of People Who Always Have a Clean House
- How to Quaran-Clean Your Entire House
- Board Games Pouch Organization
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