How to Declutter Your Home Room by Room
As we come to the end of this series on decluttering and getting organised in support of National Get Organised month. It’s time to put in to practice everything that we have learnt so far, as you start to declutter your home. As you go about decluttering it’s important to remember that different types of rooms require different decluttering approaches.
As you start to declutter your home, you can refer to the post on preparing to declutter for room-specific items you can buy that help make your job easier. The post entitled How to Decide If to Keep an Item When Decluttering will also be beneficial to revist.
As you start to declutter your home, remember that different types of rooms require different decluttering approaches
Declutter Your Home Room by Room
Consider the following tips when you are trying to declutter your …
Kitchen
- Start with floor level cupboards and then move on to the upper cupboards.
- Next declutter your kitchen drawers, starting with those that you use the most.
- Now clear the worktops, utilizing the space you created when you decluttered your cabinets.
- Put thimng in places that support the way that you work when in the kitchen.
Family Room/Living Room
- Consider a digital movie membership over physical DVDs.
- Buy a small wicker basket to hold all of your remote controls.
- Use tie wraps to de-clutter cables and cords on your entertainment system.
- Go through the toys, DVDs, video games, books, magazines and knickknacks in your living room. Do you really need them? Can someone else use them? Purge as many as possible.
- Perform an honest furniture appraisal. Is there any furniture you can get rid of without limiting the functionality of your family room?
- Consider buying furniture that has built-in storage space.
Office
- Create dedicated areas for storage, paperwork, research and computer work.
- Only keep things on your desk that you use on a regular basis, either daily or at least once a week. Keep everything else in drawers or cupboards.
- Try to limit your use of Post-it notes. Have a system to capture your notes and messages.
- Sit in your office chair and extend your arms. Everything that is within arm’s reach should only be those things you use on a daily basis.
- Use drawer organizers to keep drawers tidy.
- Use tie wraps to de-clutter computer cables and cords.
Garage
- Purchase pegboard and shelving.
- Pull everything out of your garage, and this means everything. Go through these items, forming groups that you will donate, throw away and keep.
- Now that your garage is empty, clean it top to bottom. Install pegboard and shelving, nails and hooks, getting your possessions, tools, sporting equipment and everything else up off of the floor.
- Consider a fold-down table which attaches to your wall instead of a temporary table.
Visit this article for great tips on decluttering your home room by room
Bedroom
- Get into the habit of making your bed every morning. Psychologists refer to this type of action as a keystone habit — one that triggers you to perform other positive habits throughout the day.
- Walk through your room, clearing basic clutter first.
- Dust and clean your bedroom thoroughly.
- Use plastic bins with lids for under the bed storage.
- Add a clothes bin and take dirty clothes to the laundry room daily.
- Do you keep books and old magazines on the bedside table. Do they belong there or somewhere else?
- Keep your bedside table clutter-free.
- Remember, less is more. The National Sleep Foundation has found that your sleep, sex life and overall mental health improve the more things you take out of your bedroom.
Laundry Room
- Catch up on your laundry on a regular basis.
- Remove anything sitting on top of your washing machine or dryer.
- Start at the top of any shelving units in your laundry room and work down. De-clutter and organize.
- Take out anything that doesn’t belong in the laundry. If you are storing your bicycle in your laundry room, take it to the garage and hang it from ceiling hooks.
- Plastic bins or baskets should be used to store similar items. For example, bleach, fabric softer and laundry detergent should all be stored in the same bin. If you have young children consider a lackable cupboard.
- Do you keep your cat’s litter box in your laundry room? If so, purchase a litter box system with a shield or cover. This reduces spillage onto your floor.
Bathroom
- Remove dirty clothes and towels.
- Perform a quick and basic decluttering of countertops, shelves and furniture.
- Purchase hanging racks for your shower and use them to organize your shampoos, conditioners, soaps, etc.
- Organize your linen closet, and the cabinets below your sink.
- Attack your medicine cabinet next, throwing out everything that is expired.
- Ladies remember these tips — powder-based beauty products are good for 18 to 24 months. Lipstick and lip gloss should not be kept more than a year. Mascara and liquid eyeliner should be replaced every 3 to 6 months. Liquid foundation can last for up to a year.
Do you have any tips to add to those above that you’ve used to declutter your home? Let us know in the comments section below
Tomorrow I’ll be giving you some tips to ensure that after all your hard work, you remain clutter free.
Till Next Time
Mike Gardner is The Time Doctor
