How To Effortlessly Declutter Your Home (#4 Will Surprise You)

close up of arm of yellow couch with blue pillow

A tidy, well-organized home has been shown to make your life simpler and happier. You’ll be able to find the items you need and having open, clear surfaces allows you to work with more confidence (plus, you’ll breathe more deeply too!).

Declutter your home by following these simple rules:

Rule #1: Stun Your Guests the Moment They Walk Through the Door

First impressions are important. The entryway of your home should be peaceful and inviting.

You can often achieve a tidy entrance by having a designated area for shoes and coats. Avoid having people step over shoes or brush past jackets as they go in and out.

Rule #2: Say Bye-Bye To Your Duplicates

Sometimes it’s good to have a backup item, such as a spare pair of glasses or an extra set of door keys. Other times, you should be putting duplicate items in boxes marked for donation pickup!

Every time you realize that you have more than one of something, think about whether you could live without it. Choose the best one and put the others out for donation.

Rule #3: Your Stocked Pantry

Pantries are great when everything you need is at your fingertips.

Solve potential clutter problems by grouping foods together in ways that make sense to you. Have a soup section, a spice section, an exotic foods section, and so on.

Performing a regular pantry check (once a month) is a good way to get rid of expired items.

countertop with tomatoes and oil bottles

Rule #4: The Shocking Secret to Battery Management

9-volt batteries – the kind used in smoke detectors and two-way radios – can start fires if not stored properly. If the terminals of two of these batteries are near enough to each other, they can spark and start a flame. Metal objects touching a 9-volt battery can also cause a fire.

Other types of batteries touching each other can lose their charge.

Store your batteries safely by leaving them sealed in their original packaging or using a battery organizer, which is like a toolbox that keeps batteries separated.

Dispose of lithium and lithium-ion batteries properly by getting them to a battery-recycling center.

home office computer on desktop with orange display and deer head graphic

Rule #5: Keep Your Home Office Optimized

Think about how you use your home office. Write down all the items you need in there to perform.

If you have anything in your office that is not on this list, take those things out for donation.

Rule #6: Closets For The Win

Be sure everything in your closet has a place. Always put things back where they belong.

We actually go into much greater detail on organizing just your closet in another post, which you can find here.

Rule #7: Bedroom
You should primarily use your bedroom for sleeping, relaxing, and storing your clothing. Remove anything that does not match one of these three categories and put them in boxes marked: ‘relocate’, ‘donate’, and ‘trash’.

steaming mug of coffee next to out of focus bed with white fluffy comforter

Rule #8: Garage

A garage is a good place for storing holiday items, tools, garden equipment and the like. To stay organized, you need proper shelving and storage spaces. Try decluttering shelves by storing tools on pegboards.

Keep your space usable by putting things back where they came from and by knowing why you need each object.

Rule #9: Drawers

Drawers, like closets, can become disorganized and too full to manage. Try keeping one “junk” drawer in each room, but keep the other drawers organized.

Periodically clean out the junk drawer.