11 Essential Decluttering Tips for Homeowners

If you’re dealing with a cluttered house, it’s important to note that you’re not alone. 25% of Americans have an issue getting rid of clutter. Clutter tends to build up into a massive heap before you know it.

Still, learning how to get rid of clutter isn’t a challenge if you finally decided you’ve had enough. In this article, we’ll share 11 decluttering tips to help you empty out your cluttered house.

Let’s dive in!

1. Remember That Your Home Is Not a Storage Unit

Most people have an impulse to buy things they have no space for. This may seem innocent until you find that your home is full of clutter. You’ll need to set and maintain a new standard for what you consider to be decluttered.

When it comes down to decluttering, your collector’s mindset will be the first thing that needs an upgrade. You may own many things, but you’ll have to decide if you’ll have a use for all of them? Chances are, the answer is no.

Your home isn’t a storage unit. The sooner you realize, the sooner you can start donating or throwing things away.

2. Limit How Much Storage You Have Access To

Tightly packed storage units are the top cause of lost decluttering time. If your decluttered house has limited storage, you’ll be able to declutter quickly and without fuss.

Of course, decluttering won’t completely solve this problem. You’ll still need to limit how much storage space you have access to. Even if you do declutter, it’s likely that some items will still stack up until they’re overflowing from whatever container they’re in.

This is why maintaining a decluttered home is easier than decluttering in general. In fact, minimalist living can prevent clutter from building up in the first place.

3. Consider Renting a Dumpster

If decluttering is a long and drawn-out process, you may want to consider renting a dumpster. It will make decluttering much easier on your wallet as well as decluttered time from your schedule.

We recommend calling local rental companies like Plummers Disposal around your area for the best price on a dumpster rental.

4. Get Rid of Old Furniture

The decluttering process is often best handled by tackling one room at a time. This makes decluttering easy to chunk out into an actionable list of steps.

Once you complete decluttering, you’ll want to make sure that the items you’ve decluttered are gone. Don’t let your “hidden declutter” turn into a passive declutterer.

Start with getting rid of old furniture first. If you have anything made from particleboard or pressed wood, it will be cheaper to replace than repair. If the old furniture no longer serves a purpose, donate it or throw it away.

5. Clear Your Home’s Flat Surface First

Home decluttering is often about decluttering flat surfaces. Homeowners are fond of stacking stuff on the coffee table, end tables, dressers, and nightstands.

The problem with this is that you’ll have to declutter these items for decluttering to be effective. Start with decluttering flat surfaces in each area of your house. Then move on to decluttering drawers and cabinets before tackling larger furniture items or heavy appliances.

6. Declutter in One Direction Only

Decluttering in one direction every time will help declutter your home more quickly. This prevents decluttering from taking twice as long as it should.

We recommend decluttering horizontally and decluttering vertically. It’s important to declutter by section, but decluttering everything at once makes this difficult.

7. Use the Konmari Method for Decluttering Books

While decluttering books, you’ll want to declutter each book by asking yourself if you’ll ever read it again. If the answer is no, then declutter it.

The Konmari Method is decluttering by category, not by room. Start with decluttering one category at a time. This can be easy if you categorize your books based on what they’re about. Just don’t try decluttering every book in the house in just one sitting.

8. Treat Decluttering Like an Ongoing Process

If decluttering gives you the itch to rearrange your home, then go right ahead. Just remember that decluttering doesn’t have to be a one-off activity. You can declutter and then declutter again every six months without much effort.

In other words, decluttering should be an ongoing process rather than a single event. This makes it easier for decluttered items to build up over time until you’ll need a dumpster rental again.

9. Create a Place for the Clutter to Go

Decluttering is a simple enough process, but decluttered items always have a home to go to.

Before decluttering, make sure you plan where decluttered items will go after decluttering. This way, your home will look much cleaner during the process.

10. Declutter in Small Chunks

A decluttered home may be the end goal of decluttering, but decluttering in small chunks is more likely to declutter your life.

For example, you can declutter one room at a time instead of decluttering the whole house in one day. This makes decluttering simpler and easier on your schedule.

11. Create a Checklist to Simplify the Process

When it comes to clutter removal, it can be difficult to know where to start. This is where creating a checklist comes into play. A decluttering checklist will help decluttered items pile up faster with each decluttering session. This makes decluttering easier and less of an emotional drain over time.

You can even make small modifications to your list based on what works for your home and lifestyle (e.g., how many pieces of clothing you want to keep in every category, how many times per week you want to declutter).

There are many apps you can download to segment your decluttering tasks into a checklist. This makes it easier to get your decluttering tasks done at your own pace.

Learn More Decluttering Tips

As you can see, it’s not difficult to learn how to get rid of clutter. These decluttering tips should put you on the right path toward maximizing your home’s space.

Do you want to learn more home improvement tips? If so, check out our blog for more helpful articles.