A decluttering checklist can help you quickly organize every room in your home
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The decluttering process can be intimidating, especially if you only purge your home once or twice a year. With this decluttering checklist, you can efficiently declutter your home and learn how to keep organized moving forward. From the floors to the closets, learn how to organize your home in five easy steps.
One of the quickest, most impactful ways to declutter a space is to open up that precious floor space. Take a look at each room and declutter the floor.
Are the floors covered in toys that your kids love to dump out every morning?
Did the dog pull out all of her chew toys and leave them for you to step on later?
Are there shoes or dirty clothes in random spots throughout the home?
Pick up these items and put them where they belong, whether that be a designated basket, shoe rack, laundry hamper, or pet supply organizer. If you’re picking up items that don’t have a designated spot, take a moment to set something up with any extra boxes or baskets you have on hand.
If you are decluttering before guests come over, steps one and two should be top priorities. Clearing floors and surfaces will visually make a huge difference in helping your home look organized and clutter-free.
Your decluttering checklist should include the following tasks:
Pick up the pile of mail on the dining table
Shred papers you don’t need
Organize other papers or mail in a mail holder or file folder
Pick up house keys and return them to the key holder
Clear off the coffee table, leaving only decorative items
Put away any lingering skincare or beauty items on bathroom counters, again leaving space for essentials like hand soap
Once you’ve done the surface-level purge, it’s time to go deeper. A deeper decluttering will help banish clutter once and for all, at least when paired with an organizational system.
Before you start dumping out drawers, set up four baskets or boxes, and label them as “keep,” “toss,” “donate,” and “misplaced”
As you go through each room, place items in one of these four bins
Donate items that are in good condition
Put misplaced items back where they belong
Throw out broken or stained items
When it comes to deciding what to toss or recycle versus what to donate, keep in mind you should donate things that can truly be used again and are in good condition. Otherwise, items that are broken, stained, or generally not in good shape should be thrown out or recycled.
Now that you have a system ready to go, you can start emptying out drawers, cabinets, and closets in each room. Remove everything you can, then organize what you find into your four bins. Once each drawer or cabinet is emptied, you can start returning the items in the “keep” box.
The surfaces are cleared, the drawers have been dumped, and you have four giant boxes in the middle of the room. The “keep” box should be handled at the end of step four.
You might be tired at this point, and it can be tempting to push these bins to the side or move the donate box to the trunk of your car and leave it there for months. Push through this last stretch.
Finish off your decluttering checklist with the following tasks:
Start with the “trash” box, and throw out or recycle everything in there
Work with the “misplaced” box, and return those items to where they belong
Schedule a time within the next couple of days to donate unwanted items
Bathrooms are the smallest rooms in the house, so they’re often cluttered with miscellaneous products and appliances. These items are more likely to be an excess than a necessity:
Duplicate products like combs, razors, and makeup brushes
Empty containers for toiletries and cosmetics
Dirty, worn-out towels
Non-functional decor like plants and wall art
Cleaning supplies that can be stored elsewhere
Expired medication, from prescriptions to over-the-counter cough syrup
Getting a peaceful night’s sleep in a cluttered bedroom is tough. Whether you’re looking to clean up or clear things out, here are the main culprits:
Clothes and shoes
Children’s toys
Sheets that could go in a linen closet
Old reading materials like books and magazines
Excess throw pillows and blankets
Jewelry, wallets, and other accessories on the nightstand
Kitchens get dirty enough from cooking, so a little clutter makes the room feel like a total mess. Follow this checklist to turn the kitchen from sloppy to spotless:
Dirty dishes
Expired food and ingredients
Duplicate kitchen tools like spatulas, colanders, and more
Excess coffee mugs, cutlery, and dinnerware
Unused cookbooks
Tupperware or takeout containers without a matching lid
Anything on the countertop that isn’t used weekly
Stay organized at work by decluttering these parts of your home office:
Throw out any papers you don’t need
Organize the papers you need in folders, binders, and drawers
Organize cables with fasteners and multi-outlet power strips
Find containers for small supplies like pens, paper clips, and push pins
The clutter from other parts of the house often gets tossed into the closet. It’s out of sight and out of mind—until you open the closet door.
Donate clothes you haven’t worn in over a year
Toss clothes that are ripped or permanently stained
Move out-of-season clothes to long-term storage
Utilize bins, shelf organizers, and over-the-door racks
Get rid of unused hangers
Use separate spaces for clothes and linens
Decluttering is only half the battle. Now, you need tips for how to get and stay organized. New things are coming into our homes almost daily, whether it be mail, children’s school projects, or groceries.
After decluttering each room, review the space. What would make sense to add to the room to keep things organized?
Mail: Add a mail holder in the dining room or kitchen to keep tables and counters clutter-free
Shoes: Place a rack or bin beside the front door
Toys: Put a couple of decorative bins or baskets in the living room to store and hide small toys
Drawer dividers: Add drawer dividers to keep everything from makeup to socks looking tidy
Baskets: Use baskets to designate an efficient and organized “home” for various items, from medicine in the bathroom closet to games in the hall closet
If you don’t have the time or patience to set up an efficient organizational system, consider hiring a local professional organizer to help you. Following a decluttering session with mindful organizational tactics will make future decluttering sessions faster and easier.
Hiring a professional organizer costs between $55 and $140 per hour. The overall cost depends on the number of rooms, the level of organization required, and your location. The average professional organizing visit costs $525, but budget at least $1,500 if hiring someone to organize the entire house. Most professional organizers offer free consultations, even if it’s just a preliminary phone call to discuss goals and expectations.
Hiring a professional organizer offers several benefits. They not only help homeowners declutter their living space but utterly revamp it with fresh ideas on interior design. They also create a strategy and budget to facilitate organizational goals. Ideally, it’s a collaborative process where homeowners can be involved as much or as little as they want. For those who don’t mind paying for professional insight, hiring an organizer is a reliable way to transform your home and daily habits. That said, decluttering and reorganizing are easy DIY projects that any homeowner can handle on their own if they have the time and patience.
