Best Ways to Declutter & Organize a Home

Inquiring minds want to know

One may question, “What are the best ways to declutter and organize a home?” The two main components for creating an orderly home include decluttering, getting rid of excess unwanted, unneeded, and impractical items that are not used, and organizing. The latter involves effectively storing things and giving everything a home or place to go.

Do the two-step

Decluttering and organizing are the working steps to help achieve an organized home. Though likely the hardest, together, these two actions produce results. While decluttering and organizing are technically separate tasks, they must be done in sequence to effect change. Before taking these steps, we encourage you to also read our sister article entitled The first step in home organization for starter tips. The article also touches upon why it’s important to decrease clutter in the home. Read on to learn the best ways to declutter & organize a home.

The ABC’s of organizing 

The easiest way to declutter is to begin small. It is rarely a good idea to start a big project. Rather, start with one small drawer or shelf. There are several benefits to starting in small spaces.

1. a) One is less likely to feel overwhelmed.
2. b) One can discover the organizing method that works best.
3. c) One can establish a comfortable speed and time limit for organizing.

Organizing the junk drawer is a great place to begin because it is a manageable-sized project that can be completed in under one hour. Note that it’s important to maintain a positive outlook and a vision for projects. Visit the Pinterest app (link) for ideas on organizing a junk drawer.

Start in one small space

Be prepared. Set up trash and recycling nearby. Also have several empty boxes handy: One for donations and/or items you want to sell, one for items that need to be moved to another space, and one for undecided items if you have difficulty making decisions.

Example: Organizing a junk drawer

Here’s how to quickly declutter and organize this catch-all drawer in ten easy steps.

1. Open the junk drawer and remove the contents.
2. Clean/disinfect the empty drawer.
3. Line drawers or add cutlery holders or dividers to help organize contents. (Quick tip: measure length, height, and width of drawer prior to buying new organizing products.)
4. Sort through the contents. Quickly decide which items will stay or go. (Quick tip: don’t waste time. If you are undecided, put the item aside and go back to it later.)
5. Place what you’re not keeping into the appropriate boxes (described above) or trash/recycling bin.
6. Consider donating unwanted duplicates and excess items that are in good working order. (For example: if you have three working staplers, keep one and put two in the donate box.)
7. Group and contain like-items that you are keeping together, such as rubber bands, matches, coins, etc.
8. Reintroduce items you are keeping back into the drawer in an orderly fashion.
9. When done, move items that don’t belong in the junk drawer to their proper space.
10. Rather than store donations, take them to a center near you so that they may benefit someone else.

Recap:

The best ways to declutter and organize a home include removal of excess unwanted, unneeded, and or impractical items that go unused. Decluttering is a vital part of the organizing quotient as it is impossible to organize clutter. When decluttering is done in conjunction with organizing, amazing results are guaranteed. For more expert tips, we highly recommend another article in our organizing series, Four genius ideas to improve household organization.