Clutter rarely shows up all at once. It slips in quietly—an extra basket of laundry here, an overflowing pantry shelf there—and before long, the house feels heavier than it should. If you’re staring at a space that’s lost its sense of calm, you’re not alone. A few focused changes, starting with the rooms you rely on most, can make your home feel lighter almost immediately.
Laundry Room
The laundry room is a wonderful place to start. First, it is typically a smaller room, so decluttering it will require less time. Second, having a clean laundry room will help you declutter other areas of your home. You may need to use the washer/dryer to get through piles of clothing, blankets, towels, and other items that are littering the rest of your house. Here are some ways to shape up this room.
- Divide and conquer - It’s helpful to categorize bins by laundry type or color. This way, you can organize chaotic piles into orderly laundry loads that will help you speed through the process.
- Toss Seldom-Used Stuff – A laundry room is notorious for being a catch-all for items that cannot find a logical storage place elsewhere in the house. Go through shelves and cabinets to identify anything that hasn’t been used in the last 24 months. Ask for each item how likely you are to use it in the next twelve months. If the answer is “never” or even “maybe”, toss it. You’ll find that the vast majority of the “maybe” category really was “never,” and you’ll rarely miss it in the future.
Kitchen
The kitchen pantry is one of the most frequently used areas of the house and, therefore, requires the most attention. It is easy to throw groceries into the pantry or replace items after a meal without sticking to a plan to keep them organized. Instead, having well-arranged kitchen shelves will simplify the process of preparing food and help you maintain a better inventory of the items you have in stock or are running low on. Here are some tips for decluttering your kitchen.
- Categorize - Group items of the same type together. Organize each shelf by type of food to make it easy to find ingredients.
- Purchase organizing tools - There is a vast array of kitchen organizing tools. Storage baskets, racks, or canisters will not only better organize items but will also keep perishable items fresher. This can also make it easier to see how much you have left and whether you are running low. A good example is spice containers, which are often jumbled in a cabinet or drawer. Cleverly designed spice racks and organizers help turn this chaos into orderly arrangements that greatly facilitate their use during cooking.
- Expired? Dump it! - Ensure that you discard expired items. Once the pantry is in good order, identifying the expiration dates of your goods will be much easier.
Bathroom
Bathrooms can be very personal and, therefore, require customization for effective organization. You may be dealing with a lot of items for different family members. Organizing the bathroom shelves, drawers, and under-sink storage will help make your daily routine more straightforward and efficient. Here are some ways to help make it easier to keep your bathroom organized.
- Remove, sort, and replace – Bathrooms are often cluttered with items we no longer use or can no longer because habits or needs have changed, or bath and beauty products have expired. Ensure that you check all the health and beauty products and only keep the ones that you use. Discard expired items.
- Get creative – There are typically numerous small items to organize in the bathroom, so think creatively about how to organize them. For instance, a clever and low-cost way to store hair styling tools and products is to hang an inexpensive multi-pocket shoe organizer on the bathroom door.
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Bedroom
Our bedroom is the place where we retreat for peace and quiet at the end of a busy day. However, a cluttered bedroom can feel stressful and negatively impact the quality of your sleep. For example, if you have a closet that is crammed full and the overflow is scattered around the room, it will not provide a peaceful sleep environment. Use these tips to declutter your bedroom.
- Add extra shelves - Adding extra shelves will help keep items that lack a designated place out of the way.
- Stowaway by season - Keep out-of-season clothing in plastic bins. You don't need to keep those sweaters in the front of your closet all summer. Free up space by rotating seasonal clothing into bins that free up closet space throughout the year. Some low-profile bins even slide under the bed for efficient use of space.
- Try vacuum storage bags – A space-saving way to store bulky clothing is plastic bags from which the air is removed using a vacuum cleaner. Once filled with clothes and deflated, these bags often take up half the space of conventional containers.
Storage Area
Many people tend to overlook the storage area as a candidate for decluttering, whether it is an extra bedroom, basement, attic, or garage space. Why? Usually, it’s because we don’t have to maneuver around in these spaces very often (out of sight, out of mind). We also have a mindset that this is where we stash junk, so why bother decluttering? This is a short-sighted attitude because eventually these spaces reach capacity, and the need for decluttering becomes an emergency. It’s better to pay attention to these spaces before they get out of hand. The following are tips for tidying up these areas.
- Start from scratch - Remove everything in the storage room first. It will consume a significant amount of your time, but it is the best way to go. After taking them out, arrange them back in an organized manner. However, before you return an item to the storage area, ask yourself if you really need to keep it. Resist the packrat’s mantra of, “You never know…” because 9 times out of ten, if you think you may need it in the future, you probably won’t.
- Sort and label - Categorize the equipment in the storage room according to your needs. Label your tubs and bins so you know exactly where to find specific items.
When everything has a place, your home becomes lighter, your days run smoother, and stress takes a step back. Start small, stay consistent, and enjoy the comfort that comes from living in a space that finally feels under control.
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