30 Day Declutter

Wallet/Purse/Bag

Day 1

You carry your wallet or purse with you everywhere. There is no reason to be carrying extra stuff around that is just weighing you down. You’re usually in a rush when you use your bag, so it often becomes cluttered. When you get home you just don’t think about decluttering it. Now is the perfect time to clear all that extra stuff out of your wallet, purse or bag.

Entryway/Coat Closet

Day 2

You’re usually in a rush in the morning and at night you’re usually exhausted and still rushing. That combination leads to clutter which leads to stress.

The key to reduce the stress is to remove the excess. For most of us, our coat closet or entryway is simply not big enough to hold everything we try to cram in there. You have to prioritize what you keep in that area.

Cords & Chargers

Day 3

Gather all the cords and cables from all around your house and put them in one spot.

Next, remove all the cords that you know what they belong to. Use washi tape or masking tape to identify each cord with who or what it belongs to. If the plug portion detaches from the cable portion, identify both parts.

Kitchen Drawers

Day 4

Remove all items from the drawer.

Sort them so that similar items are together.

Be ruthless in decluttering excess items.

• If it’s broken, torn or stained (with excessive stains), it should go.
• If you don’t use it, you don’t need it. Donate it to someone who will love it and use it all the time.
• If you have more than one or two of a type of item, you need to seriously consider how many you need. Only keep what you truly need.

Place items back where you will use them. 

• Check out my own organized kitchen on Instagram.
• Organizing Kitchen Drawers for Free

Kitchen Counters

Day 5

Your goal is to have open counter space that you can easily use and to have open space to give you mental and physical breathing room in your kitchen.

My best kitchen counter decluttering and organizing tips:

• I’ve shared my 5 favorite tips to declutter your kitchen counters.
• Organization tips for kitchen utensils stored on counters.
  • Spoiler alert – use the vertical space on walls, cabinet walls and cabinet doors for extremely small kitchens.

Pantry

Day 6

Start by removing all expired food or products no one likes. 

Sort all similar items together. This makes it easier to put items back in an organized system that makes sense.

My best pantry tips:

• Pantry Organization
• 6 Tips for an Organized Pantry and Food Cabinet
• How to Create a Healthy, Organized Pantry
• 10 Tips for an Organized Pantry (in my new kitchen)

Kitchen Cabinets

Day 7

Start by decluttering the easy to get rid of items:

• Take out containers
• Free plastic cups
• Coffee mugs you don’t like
• Plastic containers with out lids or vice versa
• Broken or cracked items
• Things you never use (you know that gadget)

Be critical in deciding what to keep. You have limited storage space, so only fill it with items you use and love. The tips on how to have a clutter-free kitchen will help you make those decisions.

Fridge & Freezer

Day 8

Remove all items and dispose of the expired items or products no one likes.

Wipe the shelves and entire area down well. 

Sort all similar items together. Put items back in designated spaces that make sense for how you use your refrigerator.

• 5 Free Tips for an Organized Refrigerator
• My recommended kitchen organizing products on Amazon

Storage Containers

Day 9

Take every single container and lid out. Match every single lid to a container. 

Repurpose, donate or dispose of containers that don’t work for you.

Store containers in so that they’re easy to access. You can find more tips in my 30 Day Declutter Challenge Email Newsletter.

Small Appliances

Day 10

Look through all your cabinets, drawers and closets for any appliance or gadget you use in the kitchen or for food preparation.

Place similar items together. Find the appliances and gadgets that you use every day and put those away.

It’s time to be realistic. Would you rather have the appliance or more space in your kitchen? Only keep the ones that are worth giving up space for.

Master Bedroom Dresser Drawers

Day 11

Clear a big spot on your bed or on the floor. Empty every dresser drawer. If you have limited space, empty one drawer at a time.

Place all similar items together in categories. Gather any items that belong in your categories from around the house, even from the dirty clothes hamper.

Be ruthless in deciding which items to keep. Only keep what fits, is in good condition, you love and you can wear as part of an outfit.

Find my clothes folding tutorials:

• How to Fold Clothes ebook for 22 items of clothing
• How to Fold Clothes – all the tutorials on the blog

Half of Bedroom Closet

Day 12

Pull all the clothes out and lay them on your bed. You can pull out clothing by categories, if you prefer.

Try each piece of clothing. Only keep what you love to wear, what is in good condition and what you have a coordinating item to wear with it.

Other Half of Closet

Day 13

Do the same process with the other half of your closet or your coat closet.

Day 14

Rest & Catch Up – Remember, it’s important to pace yourself. This is a great time to set your long-term goals for a clutter-free home. Take 20-30 minutes today and think about your long-term goals for organizing your space and time. You may find this free 2-page SMART goals worksheet helpful in setting realistic, achievable goals.

Shoes

Day 15

Gather all your shoes together in one place and separate shoes by type or purpose.

Try on each pair and be ruthless in deciding what to keep.

• Shoe Storage Ideas
• Free shoe storage
• Free boot storage hack

Bathroom Cabinets

Day 16

Pull everything out of the cabinets, the drawers and on the counter. As you take items out, group them with like items together and throw away anything expired.

Try to keep your counters clear and look for other storage options.

• My favorite Wayfair bathroom organizing products.
• My favorite Amazon bathroom organizing products.
• Small Bathroom Organizing Ideas
• Recycled Ideas for Bathroom Organization
• Free Bathroom Organization Ideas

Medicine Cabinet

Day 17

Gather all medicine, first aid supplies and vitamins and bring them all to one spot.

Sort items in categories that work for how you use them. Throw away any expired items.

Put items away so they’re easy to access and are out of reach of children.

Linens

Day 18

Gather all sheets, blankets, towels and pillows. Sort them into categories.

Critically examine each one and keep only the ones in good condition that you use. Two sets of sheets per bed and two sets of towels per family member is a good guide.

• How to Fold Bed Sheets
• 3 Steps to an Organized Linen Closet is from my first year of blogging. The principles are still sound, even if the photos will take you back to the early days of blogging.

Paperwork

Day 19

Go through all piles of paper.

• Throw obvious junk mail into the recycling bin right away.
• Remove letters, invitations and statements from the envelopes they come and immediately recycle the envelope and any additional papers included you do not use. 
• Place all bills and papers that require action in one established location.
• Place important documents in a safe location.
• Dispose of old receipts you don’t need for insurance purposes.

Commit to 5 – 30 minutes a day of decluttering and organizing until you get through all your paperwork.

• How Long to Keep Documents tips and free checklist
• 10 Tips to Declutter Your Office
• Tickler File System for managing actionable paperwork
• Home office organization products

Office Supplies

Day 20

Go through all desk drawers, the junk drawer, cabinets and closets to gather all the office supplies.

Group all like items together. Look at each group of items and decide how many you need of that item. Think about schools or charities that could readily put the office supplies to use if you donate them versus how many you need for your own use.

• Tips to Organize Office Supplies
• Home Office Organization Ideas
• Favorite Office Organizing Products from Wayfair
• Favorite Amazon Home Office Organizing Products

Magazine, Newspapers and Brochures

Day 21

Keep only the past two editions of old magazines or newspapers. If you haven’t read them by the time the third one comes, the best thing it to let it go and keep up with the newest ones.

Most of this information is available online and has been updated. Declutter virtually all of these items and start with a clean slate that is current and up-to-date.

Books

Day 22

Be ruthless in deciding the books you need to keep. 

• Are you really going to read it or refer to it again?
• Is the information available online?
• Is the information in the book up-to-date?
• Do you have the space to keep it?

Consider how much space you have and the work it takes to clean and maintain the books. Make each book you keep earn it’s place in your home.

Living Room

Day 23

Stand in your living room and ask yourself:

• What would you like the space to look like? 
• What purpose would you like the room to serve for you? 
• What can you relocate and declutter to make that a reality? 

Organize your space with these ideas for storage for small spaces and space saving products.

Dining Room

Day 24

If your dining room is a dumping ground, start the declutter process with items that don’t belong in the space.

Then consider the items you are keeping;

• Do you use them?
• Do you love them?
• Are you keeping them for sentimental reasons or because they were a gift?
  • Could you keep one or two pieces and let the rest of the set go?
  • Could you start using the items more often rather than just keeping them for special occasions?

Make every piece earn the right to remain. Weigh keeping it against the value of having more space in your home.

Children’s Toys & Books

Day 25

Unless your child is under three, declutter with your child. This is an opportunity to teach them important life skills and decision making. It also respects their wishes and reduces their instinct to hold onto things out of fear that they may just disappear in the future.

• Use the tips on how to teach your child to declutter.
• You’ll also find helpful ideas on encouraging your kids to keep their room neat.

When you’re ready to organize, there are 100 useful ideas and products in playroom storage ideas.

Children’s Clothes

Day 26

Use the same steps you used to decluttering your own clothing.

Be sure to ask children whether they like each item that still fits. There’s no reason to keep clothes that they won’t wear or that you’ll end up arguing over.

These tips about organizing kids’ clothing and how to organize clothes for back-to-school will make your children more independent getting dressed in the mornings.

Laundry Room

Day 27

The laundry room often becomes a dumping ground. Start by removing items that don’t belong there.

Group cleaning and laundry supplies in categories of like items. Ruthlessly declutter by removing old supplies and ones that just don’t work well. Do the same with gadgets and small appliances.

When you have decluttered and only have items you like and actually use, then use these tips for laundry room organization.

Craft Supplies

Day 28

Most of use have too many craft supplies and if you’re a crafter, I know you do. When we have too many supplies it actually prevents us from being creative. The decluttering effort you invest will allow you to do more of the creating that you love.

Start with these tips and free checklist to declutter your craft stash.

Because I’m a crafter, I’ve shared many craft organization ideas:

• Craft room storage ideas to make it easy to craft
• 150 Ideas for storing scrapbook paper
• 80 ideas for storing crayons and colored pencils
• For my sewing friends, ideas on how to organize and store fabric

Cell Phone

Day 29

Go through and evaluate all the apps, documents and photos you have on your phone. Remove anything you don’t want or need to keep.

• Apps
• Documents/Downloads
• Contacts
• Photos

Find tips on how to organize your home screen to make it work best for you in my list of 10 5-minute tasks you can do while waiting.

Day 30

Extra Bins & Organizers

I’ve never been in a client’s house that didn’t have unused plastic bins, storage bins, baskets and other organizing gadgets.

If after 30 days of decluttering and organizing, you still have these items that are not being put to use, then they’re clutter. If you don’t have a definite plan to put them to use in the next month, then let them go.

This includes the plastic bag of plastic bags, the pile of cloth bags that are never used and any other similar item.

Organized Home Challenge – Create an organized home in 5 weeks. Led by a professional organizer, tackle five rooms in your home with tips & free checklists & worksheets.

31 Days of 10-Minute Decluttering Tasks – You can get organized in just 10 minutes a day with these purging tips. Let’s get stared purging and get ready for 31 days of 10-minute purging. 

Disorganized? 5 Steps to Start Making Space – Do you have a disorganized space? Wondering how to get organized? Use my simple 5 steps to Make Space and you’ll be able to declutter and organize any space.

6 Easy Steps to Start Getting Organized Now – Are you read to get organized but just don’t know where to start? Use these 6 easy steps to start getting organized.

Simple Decluttering Checklists – Created by a professional organizer to help you work through the decluttering and organizing process on your own with the guidance and support you need. These checklists and tips work for any area in your home.

This downloadable 21-page checklist resource is the next best thing to having a professional organizer help you declutter and organize your space. You can print out your checklists and supporting worksheets now and get started immediately.