How to Declutter Your Home Room-By-Room

Entryway/Mudroom

Often our entries and/or mudrooms become a dumping ground for everything as we come and go. I know our entryway does!

To declutter your entry or mudroom:

• start by tossing anything that is clearly garbage or recycling
• then sort through coats and shoes to see who’s still actually wearing what
• donate any items that are in good shape and toss anything that’s irreparable
• assign hooks or a portion of the closet to each person
• place a tray on a table for mail if you find that mail is collecting in your entry or mudroom.
• put up hooks or put out a bowl for keys or other small items. 

Bedrooms

Bedrooms have a way of getting cluttered quickly because we tend to be in and out of them when we’re in a rush. I personally leave my room after showering and dressing in the morning in the dark while our dog is still sleeping (he’s a bit of a diva and sleeps later than most of us) and don’t come back up to it until bed time at night.

To declutter your bedroom, empty out each drawer of your nightstands and dressers, one at a time, and ask yourself:

• Is this item still in good shape? 
• Does it fit?
• Have I worn it lately?
• Does it make me feel good?

If the answer is no to one or more questions, get rid of it. Put everything else away in an organized fashion. Sort through your clothes, shoes, and jewelry the same way. 

Then clear off surface areas, like dresser tops, nightstands, and chairs by asking yourself if each item belongs there. Put it away if it does not.

It’s okay to leave a few things out, like a lamp, a candle, or a vase of flowers and the book you’re currently reading. But try not to let your surfaces be covered with things like clean or dirty clothes! 

Closets

There is a special kind of relief that comes with cleaning out your closets. I adore having a well-organized closet and love the organizers we installed a few years ago.

Declutter your closet by going through each item and asking yourself the same questions you did of the things in your dresser: 

• Is this item still in good shape? 
• Does it fit?
• Have I worn it lately?
• Does it make me feel good?

If you answer no to any questions, get rid of said item. Then put the keepers back in the closet in an orderly fashion. 

Use closed bins or totes to store out-of-season clothes if that helps you stay more organized. 

Living Room/Family Room

Living rooms and family rooms are often cluttered because they see so much traffic and things don’t get put where they belong. Which can make it hard to unwind in the space.

I’m having a harder time with this at our house now that the kids are older and everyone has vastly different schedules (one of our kids is still on a “normal” daytime schedule, but one of the kids works nights in sports broadcasting and another is a college student who works late evening and early morning shifts at Starbucks). Dean and I clean up each evening before bed, but then the kids are in the living room and kitchen often when we’re asleep and don’t quite have the same tidiness standards that we do. Go figure. lol.

To declutter the living room, go through everything that’s out of place on surfaces or in piles and put it away where it belongs or discard it.

Then take a good look at what you use your living room or family room for.

• Is it reading?
• Watching tv?
• Playing board games?
• Playing with toys?

Whatever you use the room for, make sure you create adequate storage for the things you need for those activities: shelving, storage ottomans, baskets, whatever. Then put things away in their homes each time you’re finished with them and encourage your family to do the same (they’ll get it 99% of the time). 

You can also reduce the visual clutter in living rooms and family rooms even further by hiding cables and cords behind things or by tying them out of the way. 

Home Office

Whether their own room or combined with another space in your home, home offices are not going away any time soon. And they can be a sore spot when it comes to clutter. 

My kitchen office used to drive me nuts because it was viewable from the living room all the time. When I moved it down to the basement though, it was much easier to live with because I didn’t have to see it all the time and there was more room for storing things.

Sort through your papers in your office first. Recycle or shred any that you don’t need anymore. File the ones that you need to keep in paper files or scan them and store them electronically. 

Clear your desktop surface and organize your desk drawers (if you have them). You really only need a few things out like a lamp, your computer and necessary daily-used items. This is especially true if your home office is in your kitchen, living room, or dining room. Store like with like in the drawers and eliminate excess. 

Corral cords with zip ties or even just twist ties or bread clips. Run them down a leg of your desk or along the corner of the wall to keep them from looking cluttered. 

Kitchen

In the kitchen, start by decluttering the kitchen counter. Remove all the unnecessary stuff and sort through it. Toss the garbage and put the rest of the items away where they belong. 

Then tackle the rest of the kitchen in zones: 

• Baking supplies and pans can go in a higher cabinet unless you bake daily.
• Cans and boxes should be stored in the pantry in a way that makes sense for you and your family. Toss any items that are past their expiration date. 
• Saran wrap, foil, and Ziploc baggies should have their own space, as should Tupperware and Rubbermaid containers. Throw away or recycle any containers or lids that don’t have their match. 
• Sort through your small appliances and donate any that you don’t use regularly. Then put them all in the same cupboard. 
• Go through your pots and pans and keep only the ones you use regularly. Store any that you must keep for special occasions (like a turkey roaster) in the basement or pantry if you don’t have room in the pots and pans cupboard. The utensils, cookware, and even your most-used spices should be kept near the stove.
• Purge the refrigerator of all expired items and old leftovers. Wipe down each shelf and drawer. Then put food items back in in a way that makes sense for you. 

Bathrooms

Bathrooms are actually a great place to start decluttering because there are rarely things in there that hold any emotional or sentimental value. So you can get some big wins pretty quickly.

Pull out everything and toss the excess. Combine things that have only a little bit left like the shampoo you always use. Clear off the surfaces like the counters and shelves. 

Go through the toiletries and medicine cabinet. Then sort like with like – soaps with soaps, shampoos with shampoos, razors with razors, etc. Toss anything you’re not using anymore.

Laundry Room

Each laundry room is different and people often choose to store different things in their laundry room. For example, before we built and organized our basement pantry, we kept extra food that wouldn’t fit in the kitchen in our laundry room because they are in close proximity to each other. Now we just keep the cleaning supplies and extra paper goods like toilet paper and paper towels there. 

To declutter your laundry room, first, decide what does and doesn’t belong in YOUR laundry room. Next, put away anything that doesn’t belong. Then toss anything old, yucky, or expired.

Basement/Attic

Basements and attics are often the dumping ground for all things. Family “treasures,” old decor, and all the “I’ll get to it later” type stuff. When you’re decluttering these spaces you may need to set aside a good deal of time to wade through everything. 

To tackle the basement or attic storage space, divide the room into zones and then go through each zone, one at a time. 

Toss the unneeded, broken items in a box or bag just for trashing. Then sort into “keep” and “donate/sell” boxes or totes.  Remove the donate/sell containers (make sure to get rid of their contents asap) and then put the keepers away in containers. Use Rubbermaid totes with lids if water or critters may pose a problem. 

Garage

The garage is another one of those spaces that can be tough to keep a handle on. Much like pantries when so much is in and out all the time and there are many categories of contents, garages need good systems in place to keep the clutter at bay. This is especially true if you live in a place with four distinct seasons and you have to manage to store summer things in winter and vice versa.

To declutter your garage, you need to empty everything out. You can work in zones if that makes it easier. Toss any trash or obviously useless items. 

Then sort the remaining items into categories, like sports equipment, lawn care, car care, etc.