How to declutter your home one room at a time
Decluttering stalls when you try to do it all at once. Small, finished spaces are how it actually gets done.
Why decluttering stalls
Most decluttering attempts fail the same way: everything comes out of the closets at once, the house looks worse than when you started, and the energy runs out halfway. The fix is to make the job smaller. One finished drawer is worth more than a half-emptied garage.
Where to start
Pick a space that is small and that you use every day, like the kitchen junk drawer, the bathroom cabinet or the entryway. Quick wins in spaces you see constantly build momentum. Save the hard ones, like sentimental items, photos and the garage, for later, when the habit is in place.
The four-pile method
Take everything out of the space you are working on and sort it into four piles:
- Keep: you use it, or you love it.
- Donate or sell: it is in good condition, but you don't use it.
- Toss or recycle: broken, expired or past its use.
- Belongs elsewhere: it is a keeper, but it lives in another room.
Then deal with every pile the same day. Bag the donations and put them in the car. Take out the trash. Walk the "belongs elsewhere" items to their rooms. A donation bag that sits in the hallway for three weeks tends to get unpacked again.
Questions that make decisions easier
- Have I used this in the last year?
- If I lost it, would I buy it again?
- Do I have more of these than I need?
- Am I keeping it because I want it, or because I feel I should?
Give everything a home
Clutter comes back when things don't have a place to go. Once a space is sorted, give each kept item a home, ideally close to where it is used. Then tidying up is just putting things back where they live. For the kitchen, our pantry and cupboard guide walks through it.
A room-by-room order that works
- Entryway and the kitchen junk drawer.
- Bathroom cabinets and drawers.
- Kitchen cupboards and pantry.
- Bedroom closets.
- Living areas.
- Spare room, garage and storage.
You don't have to do it alone
Sometimes it is not the dirt, it is the piles. Tracy's Tidy Homes offers decluttering and organizing, on its own or alongside a clean. Point out the closets, cupboards or rooms that feel out of hand and Tracy will work through them with you. She prices organizing after seeing the rooms, so send a message about what you would like sorted.