If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the amount of stuff in your home, you’re not alone. In fact, one study found that the average American home contains 300,000 items! That’s a lot of clutter to deal with. But don’t worry – in this blog post, we will discuss 14 easy steps that will help you declutter your entire home in no time!
The benefits of a clutter-free home
For starters, less stuff helps reduce stress and anxiety levels. Less stuff means less cleaning and organizing, therefore, you can spend more time focusing on the people and activities in your home that make you joyful.
Additionally, it can make your home more organized and functional. You’ll appreciate what you have more and make better use of it.
And last but not least, decluttering can save you money in the long run. You will spend less on repairs and maintenance and be less likely to make impulse purchases.
So now that we’ve discussed the benefits of decluttering, let’s get started!
Step 1: Set Your Purpose & Goal
What is the purpose of your decluttering project? Some of the most common purposes people list out include:
- To spend less time cleaning and organizing
- To spend less money on home maintenance
- Go on vacation without having to worry about too many things at home
- To save money and get out of debts, etc.
After you have determined your purpose, the next step is to set a goal. Do you want to get rid of a certain number of items? Do you want to declutter a specific room or area of your home? Once you have a goal in mind, you’ll be more motivated to declutter and stay on track.
Step 2: Things to prepare before decluttering
4 bags or boxes with labels:
- one for donations
- one for trash
- one for items that need to be relocated to another room
- finally, one for items that you are not sure about.
With this final box of unsure items, your job is to put that box away for a period of time (1-3 months). If you don’t end up using any of those items in the box during that time frame, then donate or trash them.
Once you have your bags or boxes ready, it’s time to make a plan!
Step 3: Make a Plan
The second step is to make a plan. This will help you determine what room needs to be decluttered, how you’re going to declutter it, and when you’re going to do it.
- List out all the rooms/areas in your house that need to be tackled (including outdoor areas such as your porch, garage, work station, and shed).
- Assign a specific day and a family member who is going to do it on that day.
If you live with your spouse and kids, it’s important to bring them along on this decluttering journey as a lot of the stuff in the house is theirs, and no one is happy when their stuff gets relocated or thrown away without permission. Even your kids, teach them respect by respecting their things.
Step 4: Declutter one room or area at a time
Don’t try to declutter your entire home all at once – it’s simply too overwhelming.
Instead, focus on one room at a time. This will help you stay focused and avoid getting overwhelmed. Take a before picture of the space before decluttering it. Generally,
- Start with easy items like books or magazines that you can donate.
- Then move on to clothes that you no longer wear.
- Finally, tackle the tougher items like sentimental items or those that need to be repaired.
Step 5: Make a pile of everything and sort through it systematically
Make a pile of everything. Once you have them all in one place, start sorting through it systematically. Assign each of your items to one of the 4 boxes that you’ve prepared.
Ask yourself if you really need each item and whether or not you have space for it (relocate or leave it where it is). If the answer is no to both questions, get rid of it! If not sure, toss it into the unsure box.
Get rid of anything that’s broken, damaged, or expired – it’s taking up valuable space in your home.
Repeat this process until you have decluttered every room (living room, bedroom, kitchen, etc.) in your house. Your home will feel lighter and more spacious immediately, and you’ll be able to find things more easily.
Step 6: Clear the Floor and Surfaces
After going through your pile, clear everything on the floor then check specific areas, starting with open, flat spaces such as tabletops, countertops, bookcases, shelves, and so on. See if there are any decoration items, vases, candles, photo frames, art objects that you still need to clear out.
Step 7: Clear the Storage Areas
Next are storage areas – cabinets, drawers, mudrooms, and closets. These areas can get cluttered quickly with old decorations, toys, cards, old electronics, magazines, and throw blankets. Some of them may not be used for years.
Go through each of these areas and put anything that you no longer need into one of the 4 boxes. Be sure to put the rest back in its rightful place so that you can easily find it later.
Step 8: Reduce the number of bed linens
Sort through all your sheets and blankets. Dispose of anything that is old, torn, or no longer needed. You don’t really need more than two sets of bedding, one in use and one backup set.
I suggest keeping only the high-quality bed linens or the ones that are made from cotton or silk, these materials are usually better for your sleeping.
Step 9: Tackle display items or sentimental items
Usually, these items are difficult to part with because they hold sentimental value or they’re just pretty to look at. Here are a few tips to help you easily decide whether to keep or get rid of it:
- Ask yourself what the item communicates/means? Do your decorations tell a story? Is it the most important to you?
- If it’s something that you can’t part with but don’t have space for, take a picture of it and keep the picture instead.
- Repurpose items into something that you will actually use.
- If you have multiple items that serve the same purpose, choose one and get rid of the rest.
- Finally, if you still can’t decide whether to keep or get rid of something, put it in the unsure box and store it away. If you haven’t missed the item after six months, get rid of it.
Step 10: Curate your clothes closets
Now it’s time for the dreaded task of decluttering your clothes closet. This is usually one of the most difficult areas to declutter because we tend to hold on to clothes that we don’t wear anymore “just in case.”
There are 2 ways you can go about this. A quick way and a slow but will bring lasting effect way.
The first method: The quick way
The quick and popular way that most people would tell you to do is to divide your clothes into 3 piles:
- the clothes you love and wear often
- the clothes you never wear (because they don’t fit anymore, they are uncomfortable to wear or they are out of style, etc.)
- the clothes you wear occasionally
It’s easy to get rid of clothes you never wear. It’s much harder to decide if you’re gonna keep those you wear occasionally or the “just in case” clothes.
In my experience, most people don’t want to part with these clothes so let’s do the same thing, pack them into your unsure box, put them away for a few months, and if you haven’t touched them, get rid of them.
If you want to be ruthless and deep-declutter your closet, take everything out of your closet, sort them into the same three piles, and then only put back the clothes you truly love and wear often.
The advantages of this method are that it is less time-consuming and that results are visible right away. The drawbacks, on the other hand, are that it does not address the root of the issue, which is your clothing buying habit.
As you continue to buy clothes in the same way, you’ll likely end up with a similarly cluttered closet and yet nothing to wear. To solve this problem, you might want to invest a bit of time to follow the second method.
The second method: The slow but effective way
If the majority of your clothes belong to the “wear occasionally” or “just in case” category, chances are you haven’t really figured out exactly your personal styles or preferences.
That’s why you keep buying pieces that either don’t match each other or you don’t have any occasion to wear them. This method could be a long article in itself but I’m just going to give you the basics.
You don’t have to build a capsule wardrobe as everybody tells you. But what you do need is to figure out your styles and your life’s demands.
Your Styles
Take out your pen and paper, now answer these questions:
- What color do you wear often? Don’t write the colors you like, look at your clothes, write down the colors you wear often.
- What are your most often-wear types of clothes? Do you often wear jeans, T-shirts, midi skirts, etc.? List out the types of clothes you wear the most and the reasons why.
- What fabric do you like to wear? Cotton, silk, wool, polyester, etc. Fabrics that are made out of natural fibers are often much more comfortable than synthetic ones.
After answering these questions, you should have a clearer idea of what your personal styles are. If not, that’s perfectly fine too, just keep exploring until you find something that works for you.
And after you know the exact colors, clothing types, styles, and fabrics that you often wear, keep this list with your all the time and never buy anything that doesn’t match these criteria.
Your Life’s Demands
Now let’s take a look at your life and see what kinds of clothes you NEED.
- Do you often travel for work? If so, invest in some wrinkle-free clothes and comfortable nightwear.
- Do you have a lot of outdoor activities? If so, breathable and quick-dry fabrics are your friends.
- Do you have to dress up for work? If so, figure out what the dress code is and buy clothes accordingly.
- Do you have to attend a lot of formal events? If so, have a few dresses or suits and nice shoes in your closet.
- Do you have to run errands often? If so, buy clothes that are easy to move in but still look decent and put together.
You don’t want to go out in your pajamas but wearing a too-tight dress or a pair of high heels to the grocery store is not ideal either.
By taking a close look at your life, you’ll know exactly what kinds of clothes you need and don’t need. With this knowledge, now you can start planning your outfits.
For each category above (travel for work, outdoor activities, work, …) pick out a few pieces of clothing that you already own, start pairing them to create looks that are suitable for the occasion.
For example, your outdoor activities category will only require one look that includes a quick-dry T-shirt, a pair of shorts, and your sneakers (or your gym bras and a pair of leggings for women). I recommend having no more than 2 looks for this category.
Your work category, however, may require more looks depending on your office’s dress code. If you have to wear a uniform to work, that’s great, this category requires no more planning. If not, a safe bet for a workplace will always be a blazer, a dress shirt, and a pair of pants or a skirt for women, for men, it could be a suit.
If your office is more casual, you can ditch the blazer but make sure your shirt is still presentable, no ripped jeans or T-shirts with offensive words. And don’t wear sneakers to your office in these cases.
Now, you might be thinking “I don’t have any clothes that match what I need”. That’s perfectly fine, this is where you’ll go shopping but with a purpose. Only buy clothes that:
- are within your personal style, meaning they meet the criteria in your personal style list
- fits your life’s demands, meaning you know the exact category this piece of clothing is gonna belong to
An extra helpful tip when shopping for new clothes is to think about what pieces you already own that this new piece of clothing can be paired with.
You might be thinking that this method is too much work but I promise you, it’s worth it.
By taking the time to figure out your personal styles and your life’s demands, you’ll be able to save so much time (and money) in the long run. Not to mention, your closet will be so much more organized, it’s easier to make purchase decisions, and you’ll always have something to wear.
Finally, pack and store away seasonal clothes that you know you won’t be needing in the next few months.
Step 11: Get rid of old beauty products and accessories
We all have that drawer or cabinet filled with old makeup, beauty products, and accessories that you rarely wear.
Go through your beauty products and accessories and get rid of anything that is expired, damaged, or you just don’t use anymore. Organize what’s left by type and put them where you can easily see and reach them.
Step 12: Donate or sell any unused furniture
After you have removed the smaller items from the room, it’s time for bigger things such as chairs, tables, sets of pillows, etc.
Furniture takes up a lot of space, so if you have any pieces that you don’t use or need, it’s time to get rid of them. You can sell them online or donate them to a local charity.
You’ll also need to consider how you’re going to get rid of it, such as whether or not a truck will come and collect a piece of furniture for donation.
Step 13: Create designated spaces for everything in your home
including storage areas and countertop. Label every container and shelf so you can easily find what you’re looking for.
Step 14: Deep clean your entire home to get rid of dust and dirt accumulation
Now that you have finished decluttering your entire home, it is time to do a deep clean. This will help get rid of all the dust and dirt that has accumulated over time. You can either hire a professional cleaning service or do it yourself.
Finally, take before-and-after photos or videos of your home or the room/area you just cleaned and share them with your family and friends on social media. You’ll feel rewarded looking at those photos, and you might inspire some of your friends to start their own decluttering journey.
By following these easy steps, you can declutter your entire home in no time! Just remember to start small and work your way up.
