There is something comforting about entering a room that is clean, tidy and clutter-free, with everything kept in its proper place. According to wellness advocate, Darcey Rojas, “A clutter-free environment allows you to perform tasks of daily living more efficiently because everything you need is readily available and within reach.”
Decluttering your house can create a happy and positive space for your family contributing to their overall wellness. If you’re looking for ways to declutter your house, here’s a room-by-room guide to help you.
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1. Living Room
The living room can be one of the most difficult rooms to declutter as it’s constantly in use by every member of the family. Living rooms also have a tendency to get cluttered soon after you tidy it. One of the reasons being lack of storage space. Your book shelf and entertainment console may have a few drawers but beyond this, there’s not much space to hide the clutter.
The purpose of the living room is to allow you to relax and have some quality time with friends and family. Doing this may not be easy with stuff like blankets, toys, magazines, and mail lying around. A clean and uncluttered living room can fill the space with positive energy that allows your family to hang out together and have a good time. Here’s what you can do to declutter your living room.
- If you think you need more storage, invest in buying some furniture for your living room. Trunks and ottomans with storage are great ways to add more storage space.
- Check if your living room decor is crowding the space. Sometimes, it’s best not to hang too many frames or paintings. You could remove the paintings, add floating shelves instead and move curios from table tops.
- Check for things you hardly use or are broken but still lying in the drawers. Things like CDs, DVDs, and old books occupy space but have no place in a digital world.
- Wires can add to the clutter by making the living room look unorganized. Try to bunch them together or see if you can use a rug to hide them.
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2. Bedroom
When you have had a long day and just want to get that much needed sleep, you don’t want to enter a room with clothes piled on the chairs and bills lying on the side table. You may not mind the clutter but it only adds to your stress.
Remember how checking in into a clean hotel room that looks and smells good also makes you feel good. With a little bit of effort, your bedroom too can transform into a serene space for you to let your hair down and drift into sleep.
- Your closet is probably the biggest clutter magnet. Even though it’s behind closed doors, cleaning your closet of clutter can make sure you find what you need when you need it. So take some time to hang your clothes or neatly fold and stack them on the shelves.
- Create spaces for knickknacks like watches, earring, or books by getting trays and bowls. Keep them on counter tops or inside drawers for easy access.
- Majority of the bedroom clutter is usually just clothes that have been left around instead of being put into the bathroom hamper. Keep a laundry basket or a sleek bin in the bedroom corner to dump your laundry. That’s half the job done.
Tip: Spend 30 minutes every week to declutter your bedroom.
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3. Bathroom
You may not realize it but keeping your bathrooms free of clutter can help you get ready for work faster. Once the things in your bathroom are organized, you won’t have to go through a bunch of stuff to find your mascara or rummage your cabinet to find pills.
With many wet spaces, bathroom surfaces are a hotbed for bacterial growth. Having a clutter-free bathroom also helps in maintaining your health and hygiene. Bathroom is also a personal space where you can shut yourself off from the rest of the world. Keeping it tidy can help you unwind and relax during your weekend bubble bath.
- Clear counter tops and only keep essentials that you would use every day like soap, toothbrushes, and facewash.
- Use drawers under the sink to store things you don’t use often. Prioritize your storage by keeping things you use more frequently in the top drawers.
- If you’re always searching for things you need, you probably need better storage solutions and might want to add an extra cabinet or shelf.
- Look into your medicine or vanity cabinet and throw out all the bottles that have crossed their expiry date. When you’re low on space, it’s best not to hoard.
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4. Wardrobe
When you think of clearing clutter, the first thing that comes to mind is clothes. Let’s face it. Even the most frugal shoppers end up hoarding more clothes than they need. However, when you look through your wardrobe, it’s hard to decide what to keep and what to let go.
Decluttering your wardrobe is worth your time as it can help you save time and money in the long run. Having a lean wardrobe means you keep only things that you really need. This exercise can also help you understand your lifestyle better. Follow this easy process to eliminate everything you don’t need from your wardrobe.
- The first step is to get the really old ones out. Look for clothes with stains or ones that have begun to smell musty. This means you haven’t worn them in a while and you won’t be in future either.
- Ask yourself if you still love that cocktail dress you wore last year or that shoe you bought on an during a sale. If you don’t love something, chances of you wearing it again are slim. No point keeping them.
- Next, see if you have clothes that just don’t fit the trend anymore. People buy trendy stuff all the time but once the trend has passed, you don’t want to look out of place. Out those go too.
- You body changes with time and no matter how badly you want to cling to your favorite skinny jeans, if they don’t fit, don’ hold on to them.
- Clothes are an expression of who you are. So if you you have clothes that don’t fit the image you want to project, it’s time to let them go.
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5. Entryways, Mudrooms, And Foyer
Entryways or mudrooms are spaces that see a lot of movement as they connect to different parts of your house. This makes it important for you have these spaces organized and clutter-free at all times. After all, you don’t want to be tripping on shoes while walking in and out of your house. Having uncluttered entryways will also make them feel more roomier and open. Here’s how you can declutter your entryways.
- Take a large garbage bag and collect everything that’s cluttering your entryway. Food packages, outdoor debris, old mails — all of it goes into the bag.
- Keep a waste bin or basket in the entryway to throw trash on the way out. That way, you have it all in one place and disposing it becomes easier.
- Check your entryway storage for anything that you don’t need. Throw away things that you no longer need, like old magazines and worn out shoes.
- Use storage benches to sort and store mail and paid bills. Place bowls on the entryway table to drop keys or sunglasses and trays to keep newspapers and bills.
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6. Kitchen
Kitchen is probably one of the busiest spaces in the house because it’s one place where you cook, eat, and socialize. If you have a well equipped kitchen, you know that there are a variety of items that need to be stored in the kitchen. Groceries, utensils, appliances, cutlery, bowls, and more.
Considering the fact that the kitchen is where your food is being made, keeping the space clutter-free will ensure hygiene. Cooking can also be a huge stress-buster and a clean kitchen with no clutter will also enhance your cooking experience. These pointers can help you reduce kitchen clutter.
- Start by decluttering your counter tops first. Keep only 3-5 essential items and clear the rest of it. Look carefully at the things you cleared and decide if they can go out, if not, make space for them in your cabinets.
- If you find the task too overwhelming, take the divide and conquer approach. Divide your kitchen into zones like cooking zone, cutting zone, or eating zone. Clear clutter from one zone at a time.
- Take a hard look at all the appliances and utensils you have collected over the years. If there’s something you haven’t used in a while, consider donating it.
- Parting with kitchen items can be tough. After all, you never know when you’ll decide to throw a big dinner party again. So just pack away things you need but rarely use in boxes and store them in the garage or the attic.
Decluttering is not a one-day project, so take your time to tackle one room or zone at a time. The spaces in your house are meant to allow you to function more efficiently and live well. A good way to approach decluttering is to think about at the people who will be using a particular space and how they use the space. Then decided on what to keep and what to clear.
