How to Declutter...step by step. It works.

If you're like me, you watch those shows on TV where some professional organizer comes in, clears out a room and miraculously turns it into a perfect room in 30 minutes.

Ha! Don't you wish! While I don't promise results in 30 minutes, I can promise that if you do these steps and put forth some effort to change your ways...you will see results.

Your stuff becomes clutter when it is homeless. You don't have your silverware causing clutter. Why? Because it has a home. Clutter is simply stuff looking for a home. You must decide where its home is and put it there! Sometimes that home is in someone else's house or in the landfill.

How long this process takes depends on how much clutter you have and the amount of time you have to dedicate to the project.

Before you begin:
Gather about 8-10 boxes, laundry baskets, etc. Anything will work as long as it is about the size of a laundry basket.

DO NOT go buy bins, baskets, etc. for organizing. This will only add to the clutter. You buy those on a NEEDS only basis and you only know what your needs are AFTER you declutter.

Label each laundry basket or box with a room name for each room you are decluttering.

Label one basket/box for DONATE. If you plan on selling anything at a garage sale or resale shop then label one SELL.

Get one large trash bag. It doesn't need a label, it's trash!

Now you are ready to begin. But which room? That is really up to you, but I would start with the room that bothers you the most. If it is overwhelming, call a friend to come help.

Decluttering Steps:
1. Line up baskets/boxes in the room you are decluttering.

2. Start at the entrance and work clockwise around the room.

3. Pick up something. A book, a shoe, a toy, a movie, whatever.

4. Make a decision:
-Does that item belong in that room? (Does a Barbie belong in your bathroom? Does a
package of wall anchors belong in the living room?
-Does that item belong in another room? (Barbie goes in the basket labeled with daughter's
name. Wall anchors go in the basket labeled "garage".)
-Does the item work? If no, throw it away!
-Does the item serve a purpose? Does it fit? Do you like it? Do you use it? If no, donate it!
-Do you really need 25 pairs of jeans? Do you really need 42 plates? Does your son really need
123 Hot Wheels cars? Choose your favorites and donate the rest.

If the item DOES belong in that room, leave it there. Try to put it where it belongs in that
room if it has a home or just gather like items to be organized later. You are decluttering, not
redecorating today. Make a decision for every item in that room including furniture.

WHATEVER you decide, you MUST make a decision. The item goes somewhere!

5. Keep moving through the room picking up items and putting them in the baskets
corresponding to the rooms they belong in.
This may sound obvious, but many people try to WALK the misplaced item back to its
rightful room. Not only will you walks miles and miles around your house doing this, you will
waste your whole day and get nothing done.

6. When you finish with your first room, you have a choice. If you are not sick of being in that
room, you may want to go ahead and organize what you have left. When you see what you
have left, you can make a trip to the store to get your organizers if you want. BUT, make a
list and keep your receipt. Make sure that what you buy is actually going to help and that you
are going to use it. Otherwise, it just becomes clutter.
Example:
You decluttered your home office. You now have a pile of books, a stack of stuff
that needs to be filed, a bag of pens, a pile of CDs and a few other little things.
Organize the books on the shelf. Buy some file folders and a file box for the papers. Buy a
drawer organizer for the pens and little things. And buy a CD box for the CDs.

7. Start room #2. Take ALL the baskets full of stuff with you to that room. Hopefully the
baskets aren't overflowing at this point. If they are, empty the basket in its room.

-------REPEAT STEPS 1-5--------

Also go through the basket that belongs in that room.


8. Continue through these steps. Carrying baskets with you to each room and gathering stuff
that doesn't belong in that room.

***You will find yourself backtracking. When you are working in the kitchen and have
finished the office and the living room, you will find stuff in the kitchen that belongs in the
office and living room.
Here is what you do-
You take those things to their room. IF you've already organized the room (step 6), then
it should be easy to find a home for them. IF you skipped step 6 and are coming back to
organize that room later, then simply empty the basket. Try to still group like things together
when possible.

9. Continue on until you have worked in every room and emptied every basket.
Once you find a home for everything, it will be easier to clean your house.


My husband joked with me one time that if I bought a shirt, I had to get rid of a shirt. I laughed at him at the time, but this system might work for somethings. If you buy a new pair of black boots, why hang onto the old ones?

You have to decide, is it more important to have this stuff or more important to have a peaceful home?

I wish you luck on your decluttering adventure. Let me know how it turns out for you.


****If you have kids, you are sure to have artwork. Don't make a big plastic container of papers or try to save every craft they make. You'd need an 8000 sq. ft. house by the time they are 10.
Take a picture of it. Then go to Shutterfly and make a photo book.