How to Declutter Your Home Room by Room

A messy living room with a woman sitting on the couch.

If you live in any home for a long period of time, you're bound to accumulate some unnecessary items. A cluttered house presents a lot of problems around the home. Not only does clutter make things hard to find, but it can also lead to a lot of stress. While decluttering your house is a big project, you can remove the mess and get things back on track in no time. Here is a quick guide on how to declutter your home room by room.

1. Living Room

Living rooms are spaces that tend to accumulate a lot of clutter. Start by trashing outdated newspapers or magazines that you have already read. Then take a look at your DVD collection and purge the movies you do not like or rarely watch. The same goes for CDs, video games, and board games. Consider also getting rid of decorative items that are taking up space and do not fit in with the rest of the room.

2. Kitchen

The kitchen is pretty straightforward when it comes to decluttering. Start in the pantry and discard anything — canned items, spices, food — that is outdated. Then take a look at all of the appliances and get rid of the things you rarely, if ever, use. For example, ditch the blender if you only use it once or twice annually. Next, examine the cabinets for items that are collecting dust. This includes dishes, storage containers, and extra utensils. This might require a bit of organizing. Finally, get rid of cleaning supplies that are old and throw away things that no longer work.

3. Bathrooms

The three areas you should focus on in the bathroom are medicine, makeup, and toiletries. Check the dates on all the medicine in the bathroom and throw away anything that is outdated. You should also get rid of things you have multiples of, like band-aids. Organize what’s left and try to fit everything in the same location. When it comes to toiletries, only keep things you use on a daily basis and get rid of the excess. For example, you can consolidate half-empty bottles of shampoo and only keep a few bars of soap on hand at a given time. Follow the same advice when sorting through your makeup and get rid of things that are outdated or unused.

4. Bedrooms

A red box with the words "donation" and clothing inside.

Extra clothes are the biggest item to purge in the bedroom. Although it can be difficult to part with your favorite T-shirt from college, if it’s worn out and rarely worn, then toss it out. You can always donate your used clothing to a local charity if that helps ease the pain. Then sort through your shoes, ties, purses, scarves, and jewelry and remove things you do not use. As a rule of thumb, you should toss everything that is not related to dressing or sleeping out of the bedroom.

5. Garage

The garage is easily one of the messiest places of the home because it usually doubles as a storage space. Start by organizing the garage and placing like items in groups. Then go through each group and get rid of excess things, like that fifth pair of pliers you rarely use. Look through any paints or chemicals you have stored and throw away things that are outdated. Just remember to be careful about throwing away chemicals and discard any hazardous waste properly. Get rid of or sell things that you no longer use, such as exercise equipment or bicycles.

6. Attic and Basement

A basket with clothes in it.

The attic and the basement might be the hardest to declutter. Most people store their family items in these places and are very reluctant to get rid of them. Still, go through those boxes and get rid of things that do not mean anything to you or your family. You can also use this as an opportunity to organize your storage space and tidy things up nice and neat.