31 Day Declutter Challenge in 10-Minutes a Day

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Originally published December 18, 2019 and updated December 19, 2022.

Who needs help with decluttering? This 31 day declutter challenge can help whether you’re starting a New Year’s resolution or want a 31-day challenge that takes just a little time each day and will walk you through different areas of your home. What if I told you it will take you about 10-minutes a day? I’m sharing the 31 Days of Decluttering in 10 Minutes a Day Challenge and would love to have you join us.

Life is busy and while decluttering in a marathon session has definite benefits, it doesn’t always fit into our schedules. That’s where a 10 minute a day declutter challenge comes in.

We will tackle 31 different decluttering tasks during a month and all these tasks can be done in about 10-minutes.

If you’ve tried other declutter challenges and they just didn’t work for you, you may find that the 10-minutes a day format works better for your busy life.

If you have successfully decluttered in the past, then this declutter challenge with 31 different tasks is perfect for a declutter touch up, which we all need from time to time.

How can I declutter my home fast?

• Determine your purpose – is it a quick pick up before guests come or a longer-term decluttering project.
• When guests are coming, focus only on the areas the guests will see.
  • Entry
  • Living room
  • Powder room
  • Kitchen counters
• For longer-term decluttering, start with an area that will make your day-to-day life better.
  • The bathroom
  • The coat closet
  • The kitchen counters
  • The entry
  • Top of your nightstand
  • Tops of your dresser
  • Laundry room

• Break large tasks down into manageable tasks.
• Set a completion goal for your decluttering.
• Commit to completing the decluttering tasks.
  • Have an accountability partner
  • Join a declutter challenge
  • Plan a non-clutter reward for yourself
• Hire a professional organizer to help you.

Declutter Challenge

When you participate in a declutter challenge you harness the power of the group to keep you motivated.

If you participated in the Organized Home Challenge, you will still benefit from this declutter challenge. The Organized Home Challenge addressed five specific areas of your home and the tasks were more labor and time intensive.

In this 10 Minutes a Day Declutter Challenge we will be addressing smaller tasks in all areas of your home. The two challenges are complementary to each other.

31 Days of 10-Minute Decluttering

If you just don’t have time for a large, focused decluttering session, then I know you can find 10 minutes a day to work on decluttering. It may take you longer to complete the task, but you can still declutter even in just 10 minutes a day.

Smaller tasks you can accomplish in 10 – 20 minutes

• Declutter your medicine cabinet.
• Declutter your coat closet.
• Check expiration date for items that need to be thrown away:

• Declutter the laundry room. You can even tackle one area or cabinet at a time to make a large task more manageable in a short amount of time.
• Declutter a junk drawer, whether it’s in the kitchen, garage, work area or office.
• Declutter bathroom cabinets and drawers one at a time.
• Declutter kitchen cabinets one at a time or as many as you can accomplish in the time you’ve allotted. I recommend starting with under the kitchen sink because it contains items that are easier to make decisions about and it’s an area you use frequently.

• Declutter mobile devices. Focus on photos, downloads, unused apps and emails.
• Declutter the linen closet. You can focus on one shelf at at time or one category, like all pillows, then all blankets, etc.
• Declutter the dining room. Start with decluttering all horizontal surfaces, like the tabletop and floor. Then move onto the contents of drawers and cabinets.

• Declutter your bedroom closet. Family members should always be responsible for their own items. Younger children will need guidance and encouragement, but involve them in the decluttering process.
• Declutter piles of paper, mail, magazines and newspaper in the home office or anywhere in your home. You’ll find that you don’t need most of it. You can use the free How Long to Keep Documents checklist to help you make decisions on what to keep and what to let go.

For Support with a Decluttering Challenge

For support to complete the declutter challenge, you just need to do 3 things:

1. Sign up for the 10 Minutes a Day Declutter Challenge newsletter.
   • The newsletter will keep you up-to-date on the challenge, giveaways and special events. You will receive 2-3 emails a week during January.
2. Join the Simple Organization Tips and Ideas Facebook Group.
   • Have your questions answered
   • Watch challenge videos
   • Interact with and encourage each other
3. Mark your calendar to spend 10 minutes a day every day for a month.
   • You can start the challenge at any point, so don’t worry if you missed the first few days.
   • Since each task is an individual 10-minute task, you can start the declutter challenge at any point and it’s easy to catch up on previous tasks.
4. The 31-Days of 10-minute decluttering challenge I started in 2017 has been a big hit with my readers and addresses the following areas of your home:

What to do with unwanted clutter

• Place items that are in good condition in clean garbage bags or boxes to transport to charitable thrift stores.
  • Local homeless shelter or domestic abuse shelter
  • Local Salvation Army or Goodwill
• I’ve created a 25 module course on decluttering your home with the specific focus on donating items and the best places to donate different types of items.
• I also have articles on donating specific categories:
  • Where to Donate Clothes
  • What to Donate to a Veterans Hospital
  • What to Donate to an Animal Rescue
  • What to Donate to a Food Pantry

• Offer it for free in Facebook groups.
• Decide if you want to and really will sell the items. If you won’t fall through with the process of selling items in the near future, then it just becomes a different type of clutter.
  • You can sell items at a garage sale.
  • On Facebook Marketplace.
  • Through online reselling sites.

• Create a to-do list for daily routines of decluttering.
• Diligently avoid unnecessary purchases.
• Work your way through decluttering the whole house by working different areas of your home one at a time.
• Use extra time you find each day, like waiting for a pot to boil or a child to get ready, to declutter and organize.

How to Prevent Clutter in the Future

• Recognize that every little bit you do moves you towards less clutter and a clean home.
• The best way to declutter your home is the way that works for you and your life, whether that’s tackling it as one huge project or breaking it down into shorter time periods and working through a home declutter challenge.

More Decluttering Tips

Find all my decluttering tips, printables and challenges in the table below. You can scroll though the table and look for ideas or search for specific ideas with the magnifying glass in the upper right-hand corner (on desktop). Click on the topic and then click through the specific article.