Clutter affects your mental health, productivity, and even sleep. This room-by-room guide will help you declutter your entire home — and keep it that way.
Before You Start
- Set aside a full weekend (or spread it over 2 weeks)
- Get 4 boxes/bags: Keep, Donate, Trash, Relocate
- Put on music or a podcast — decluttering is more fun with entertainment
- Don’t try to do everything at once — one room at a time
Kitchen
- Expired food and spices (check dates!)
- Duplicate utensils (you don’t need 4 spatulas)
- Appliances you haven’t used in 6+ months
- Chipped or stained dishes and mugs
- Plastic containers without matching lids
- Old sponges and cleaning supplies
Bedroom
- Clothes that don’t fit or you haven’t worn in 1 year
- Worn-out shoes and accessories
- Old magazines and books you’ll never re-read
- Excess pillows and blankets
- Expired medications from the nightstand
Bathroom
- Expired makeup and skincare products
- Half-empty bottles of products you didn’t like
- Old towels (keep 2 per person, donate the rest)
- Expired medications
- Hotel toiletry collections
Living Room
- Old magazines, newspapers, and catalogs
- DVDs/CDs (digitize or donate)
- Excess throw pillows and blankets
- Decorations that don’t bring joy
- Tangled cables and old electronics
Home Office
- Dried-out pens and markers
- Old paperwork (scan and shred)
- Duplicate office supplies
- Old tech (cables, chargers, outdated devices)
- Books you’ve already read and won’t re-read
Maintaining a Decluttered Home
- One in, one out: For every new item, remove one
- Daily 10-minute tidy: Set a timer and speed-clean every evening
- Don’t put it down, put it away: A 5-second habit that prevents clutter buildup
- Monthly review: Spend 30 minutes each month removing items you no longer need