Decluttering 101: How To Declutter Your Home Start To Finish

Overwhelmed? Start here! These easy tips will show you how to declutter your home completely so you can have an organized house without the stress!

If you’re just getting started with decluttering, check out our helpful KonMari decluttering checklist first. If you’re here during a seasonal cleaning time, check out our winter or spring checklist to organize and revitalize your home.

Clutter isn’t just awful to look at, but it can seriously affect your mental health too! When you can’t find a clean space to put your coffee cup in the morning, your self-esteem goes down, your energy goes down, you just don’t feel like doing anything.

Thankfully, purging all that clutter is amazingly cathartic! You’ll feel like a weight is lifted off your shoulders! Imagine walking into the kitchen and seeing clean countertops. Or looking at your desk and having a clear desk you can see.

We all want this! That is why I put together this guide on how to declutter your home. I will take you from start to finish through your entire house. It’s easier than you think.

By the end of it, you’ll have a home you’ll be proud to show off! It will bring you peace and joy instead of exhaustion and stress. Are you ready to get started? Let’s go!

Meaning of Decluttering

What does decluttering even mean? Since we are going to be using this word a lot in this post, I think it’s best to define it a bit.

To declutter means to get rid of items that are taking up space and causing a mess. The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “to remove things you do not need from a place, in order to make it more pleasant and more useful.”

Some people say unclutter, but the most common way to say it is declutter.

No matter what word you use, the point is that removing stuff you don’t need is good for your mind and even better for your house.

Quick Decluttering Tips

Before I share the exact steps, I wanted to give you some tips that will make it a lot easier. These decluttering tips will motivate you to keep going and will help you be more efficient too.

• Do a little bit at a time. It’s really easy to get overwhelmed. To prevent this, only do small bursts of decluttering at a time. Set up small milestones and celebrate each one.
• Set up storage (make sure everything has a home). Know where you are going to put the things you want to keep. If you don’t have a home for it, and it’s not important enough to create space for, then donate it.
• Selling your cluter? Set a time limit for getting rid of it. I have a printable online sales tracker where you can keep track of what you are selling so you make money from your clutter. Only keep things for a specific time limit. Once that time expires and the item didn’t sell, donate it. It will feel GREAT once you get it out of your home.
• Do not just move things from one place to another. It’s so tempting to just turn a closet or extra bedroom into a clutter-hider. Don’t give into that temptation. Either store your things correctly or get rid of them entirely. Everything should have a ‘home’… if it doesn’t have a ‘home’, do you really need it?
• Use it or lose it. One of the worst causes of clutter is the thought, “I could use this someday.” If you haven’t used it in the past month, you probably won’t this month either. It’s probably time to let it go.
• Only use positive self-talk. Become your biggest cheerleader! Celebrate when you clean off a countertop or empty a closet. Don’t let thoughts of “you’ll never get all of this done” deter you. I know you can do this! Believe in yourself and you’ll be surprised how much you can do.

How to Declutter Your Home

Start Small

Begin with the smallest, easiest categories of clutter first. The best place to begin is that junk drawer in the kitchen or your desk in your home office. Throw away all the trash and store everything neatly in its own space.

Once you see this small space clean and organized, you’ll have the endorphin rush to keep going.

Work through the easiest categories before tackling harder ones.

This ‘grows’ your decluttering muscle. Starting with the hard stuff (like photos and sentimental items) can be emotional. Start with easy categories such as the following, then move on to more difficult groups of items:

• bathrooms (makeup, personal care)
• under the kitchen sink
• shoes
• kitchen utensils
• catalogs and magazines

For example, start by tackling your bathroom’s medicine cabinet or your personal care supplies. Hold each item and ask yourself ‘Is it expired?’ If so, toss it. Do you NEED it and LOVE it? If the answer is yes, then keep it… if not, toss it. Grow your ‘decluttering muscle’ this way and watch it become easier and easier.

Want to see all the categories in one place in the recommended order? Get our free KonMari Decluttering checklist sent right to your inbox.

Sort Your Stuff

Decluttering is basically a process of sorting what you own into piles. As you work your way through each category in your home, you’ll want to focus on the 3 golden questions. Ask yourself these questions about EACH item:

• do I need it?
• do I love it?
• do I use it?

If the answer is YES to any or all of those questions, then it’s worth keeping. If the answer is no, then it is clutter and you can get rid of it. As you work your way through each and every item, sort them as follows:

• Throw away or recycle anything that is broken or unusable.
• Donate things that are still usable but don’t fall into the need/ love/ use category.
• Organize the things you are keeping and that you use daily or weekly in a place that is easy to reach.

Do this for every room and area of your house.

Establish Storage Systems

Now that you are motivated and ready to declutter, let’s do it! These steps will take you from start to finish. By the end of it, you’ll have a completely decluttered and organized home. Give yourself as much time as you need. This is not a race – and all of your hard work will pay off!

You don’t have to spend a lot of money on storage bins or tubs either. Repurpose things from around your house. Need some ideas? These are my favorite storage products that you can buy on Amazon. You can use them in every room of your house.

You need to know exactly how much space you have and then don’t exceed this space. If you still have too much for the space after decluttering, give it another round of weeding.

Get Help

If you live with family members, encourage them to join you as you declutter your home. If not, rally friends together and cheer each other on.

It is so much more rewarding when you do things with people you love and trust. Plus, when you help each other, you will motivate each other and get even more done than you thought possible!

How can I get my kids to declutter?

Believe it or not, getting kids to declutter is not as challenging as you might think. Make a game out of it: set a timer for short bursts of time and give them a bin to fill with items from their own toys and clothing.

It’s also important to make it easy. Place a bin for outgrown clothing in their closet so when they put on clothes and they don’t fit, they can toss them in the bin. Then, a few times a year empty the bin and donate or store those clothes by size for hand-me-downs.

Of course, make sure you give it a once-over when they are done!

How can I get my partner to help declutter?

If you are lucky, your partner will be just as enthusiastic as you are to banish the clutter forever.

However, that isn’t always the case. Sometimes your spouse is unwilling or too overwhelmed to pitch in.

In this case, it’s best to start with your own things and leave theirs alone for now. Eventually, they may be inspired by your hard work and see just how much of a difference it makes to let go of items!

Make It Pretty

As you declutter your house, clean it up and decorate it too! Take pride in your home. This is the best way to prevent the clutter from coming back.

For example, matching containers make everything look cohesive. Roll towels so your bathroom feels like a spa. Add plants to bring life into your space. Store like items together so they looks gathered, not random (like the cutting boards below.)

These natural cleaning wipes make dusting and wiping down surfaces a breeze. Plus, they smell amazing too. Make some DIY toilet fizzing tablets to make your bathroom smell fresh (and keep your toilet nice and white).

No matter which room you are cleaning, these 27 cleaning hacks will take all the work out of it. Cleaning becomes so easy that you’ll be done in no time at all.

Best Decluttering Checklists and Printables

I love a good checklist. It keeps you on track, helps you know what to do next, and crossing things off your list is extremely satisfying! Here on Making Lemonade, I have checklists for almost every room and task you have. Print them out and begin checking things off as you do them.

Here are some of my most popular printable cleaning and organizing checklists:

• Fall Decluttering Checklist
• Spring Decluttering Checklist
• Winter Decluttering Checklist
• Capsule Wardrobe Checklist
• Monthly Goal Reflection Worksheet
• DIY Chore Charts

Best Decluttering Supplies for Your Home

The best tools will make your work so much quicker and easier. When you are ready to declutter your home, you need a few basic supplies:

• plastic tubs
• label maker
• shelves
• trashbags

To make it easier for you to shop for what you need, I have some helpful guides. This list of pantry organization products will keep your food easier to find. I also found some amazing organization must-haves from Amazon that will work in every room of your house.

Who says organizing has to be boring? These farmhouse-inspired products keep your house tidy and beautiful at the same time.

How to Get Rid of Clutter

Once you have a pile of stuff to get rid of, where do you take it?

If you have anything that is in really nice condition, you could sell it! I have a printable sales tracker that will help you keep track of items – who bought it, which site they bought it from, and how they will get the stuff they bought.

Be careful and only keep things for a specific length of time. Piles of things that you want to sell but no one is buying can become their own pile of clutter.

You could also gather any like-new clothes or toys and take them to a consignment store.

Where to Donate Items

If you would prefer to donate items rather than sell, you have plenty of options!

First, make sure you are donating items that are in good condition. If they are dirty, broken, or gross…toss them.

Stores such as Salvation Army and Goodwill regularly accept donations and will even provide you with a tax deduction form to use.

Additionally, several charity organizations will come right to your home to pick up your donations. A quick google search will show you what’s in your area and when they can come by.

You can also look on Facebook for local “buy nothing” groups. This is a fantastic way to give your stuff to people who need it.

No matter how you do it, there is no denying that when you declutter your home, you will feel so much better! Each big trip started with one single step. You might be surprised at how much you accomplish when you just start in one small space and keep going.

Truth be told, it feels great to pack up that car trunk and drop everything off at a donation center. It instantly lightens your load and makes your home feel better with all that room to breathe.

Pin This Post For Later!