My Top Tips for Decluttering Your House

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In December 2022, a group of moms and I started “Declutter December” together. While at a MOPs (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting at our local church, a guest speaker discussed organizing and decluttering our home. One of the moms in my group decided to create a Facebook group for us to share the ways we are organizing our home. It was also a space for encouraging and supporting each other during the process of decluttering and getting rid of the excess in our homes.

This MOPs meeting and the Facebook group motivated me to start tackling the clutter in our home. The clutter and excess things in our home were bothering me. I got to a point where I couldn’t take it anymore.

If you are looking for tips on how to easily declutter your home without spending hours, you are in the right place. In this blog post, I am going to share my tips for how I decluttered my home. 

Why declutter my home?

The reason I started on this journey of decluttering our home is because I don’t want to use my house as a storage unit for stuff. I also don’t want to spend my valuable time constantly organizing and managing all of the stuff. There were random piles on our surfaces because either where the items belonged was full or I just didn’t know what to do with the items.

We welcomed our third child at this time (August 2022) and that made me feel like we had stuff everywhere. The third child also helped me to realize what we actually need and don’t need. It helped me realize what we actually use and don’t use, too!

Matthew 6:19-21 says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

I want my home to be a place where our family builds memories, enjoys spending time together and welcomes friends and family. This is what is most important, not all the stuff being stored up in bins, boxes, closets and shelves. When there’s too much stuff, it causes me to feel overwhelmed and stressed. And I know my children feel the same! I want to spend more time playing with my children and less time managing the stuff in our home.  

What is the declutter process?

Decluttering Clothes

My husband and I started the decluttering process with our clothes. We both had an excess amount of clothes. Many of them we were not even wearing anymore. Our master bedroom contains one walk in closet and we each have a dresser. Our closet and dressers got to the point where we needed more places to store our clothes. We wanted to better use the space we had without adding more furniture. We also didn’t want our dresser drawers and closet so full that there was no room to breathe. In order to do this, we needed to get rid of clothes!

We took every clothing item out of our closet and dresser drawers and put it on our bed. Boy did it look like a lot once it was all out of the space!! But, once everything was out of the closet, we took the opportunity to clean it really well. We gave it a good vacuum because it really needed it, especially in the corners and along the baseboards! 

We went through each clothing item one by one and either put it in a garbage bag to donate, another one to throw away or in a pile on the floor to keep. It was hard getting rid of some clothing, but I realized it was silly to keep things we rarely or never wore.

Starting is always the hardest part, but once we started, it got easier. If we weren’t sure about a clothing item, we made a pile of items to go through a second time once we finished going through everything.

Once we finished going through all of our clothes, we organized it by type of clothing and folded it into our dressers or hung it back in the closet. Folding our clothing using the Marie Kondo method of thirds and filing into our drawers maximized the space. I highly recommend this method. It helps you to see each item, keeps clothes neat and prevents the mess created by digging to the bottom of a pile.

Decluttering our clothes was a huge undertaking, but it felt so good when it was completed. My husband is so good at seeing a project through. I’m sure if I was doing this by myself, I would have quit during the process due to being overwhelmed. But, doing this together made it much more manageable. We also were able to help each other make a decision about some clothing items.   

Decluttering Books

After we decluttered our clothes, we focused on books. We both had a shelf of books in our office plus a shelf of children’s books. There were definitely some books we would never read again! Our goal for decluttering books was to be able to fit our books plus our children’s on one shelving unit, creating a library in our activity room.

As with our clothes, we pulled all the books off the shelves and made piles: to sell, to keep, to donate.

Our local library was accepting donations for their upcoming book sale so most of the books went to the book sale.

A few of the books I took to our local children’s consignment store to sell. These were mostly children’s/young adult books in great condition.

Some went to teachers who were requesting them for their new classrooms. One of my friends also accepts book donations for “Birthday Bags” they put together at her school. Each bag includes a book for the child to keep.

Once we finished making decisions about each book, we organized the books onto the shelves. We grouped them together by author, type of book (ex: cookbooks) or series (ex: Harry Potter). Now each of our children has a bookshelf in their bedroom. Most of the books about cars, trucks, trains and characters like Paw Patrol went into our son’s room. All of our Disney Princess books went in our daughter’s room. We also kept books that were given to each of them as gifts with personal messages written inside in their bedrooms. The books that everyone enjoys reading together stayed in our activity room.

Decluttering Home Decor Items

We had an excess of home decor items (candles, picture frames, silk flowers, vases, etc.). I love to decorate our home, but have learned simpler ways to decorate for each season since having kids.

Before kids I used to display all of the things. But since having kids, I found myself with zero desire to burn candles and display the silk flowers and vases. Also, we were limited on places to display picture frames and chose to keep neutral frames and just switch out the pictures. A few of our picture frames had cracks in them, as well. Those went into the trash!

I decorate my home for each holiday/season. When a holiday/season is over, I go through the items as I pack them away. I ask myself the following questions:

• Did I display this item?
• Do I have a place to display this item?
• Is this item important to me?
• Do I want to display this item again?

We kept our favorites and either tried to sell some at our neighborhood garage sale or on Facebook Marketplace, donating whatever didn’t sell or wasn’t worth selling.  

Decluttering Toys and Children’s Clothes

Decluttering toys and children’s items is definitely an ongoing process. I could probably write an entire post on this topic alone!

We tend to go through the toys before birthdays or Christmas when we know our children will be receiving more toys. As long as the toys still work, are in good shape and not broken, we take them to our local children’s consignment store to sell. If you can, consigning toys and children’s clothes is a wonderful way to make some extra cash and get rid of things your children have outgrown. I love taking the items to our local consignment store because they take care of pricing and tagging each item. I just drop off! They also have a Facebook page where they will post pictures of items received to increase sales.

Facebook Marketplace is a great place to sell items, too!

When making decisions about toys, we think about what our kids play with the most and what they are most interested in. Also, if we have toys that are similar in nature, we keep one and donate/sell the other.

As for my children’s outgrown clothes, I pass along to friends who have children younger than mine. We were blessed with many clothes from friends so I am happy to pay it forward by giving to other moms. 

These are the main areas we’ve spent decluttering over the past year. Our house is a work in progress and we still have more areas to work on, but this gave us a great start.

Where do I donate items I no longer need?

Since I started the process of getting rid of the excess items in our home, about a little over a year, I’ve donated over 60 bags/boxes full of items to the Military Order of the Purple Heart via GreenDrop. In addition, I have donated several items through a local Buy Nothing group on Facebook. There is another Facebook Group with the purpose of giving away/requesting items to teachers, churches, daycares and other organizations that would need large quantities of things. As a former elementary school teacher, I had excess learning activities/games, books and materials I was no longer using. This group gave me the opportunity to share with local teachers, especially ones who posted they were new teachers and looking for items for their classroom. It felt so good to give these items away to new teachers because I know firsthand how hard it is in the beginning.    

How do I keep my house decluttered?

In order to stay on this path of keeping the excess out of our home, I’ve started using boxes emptied from diapers or packages received to go on a decluttering walk around our house. I fill the box with items from a specific drawer or shelf I go through, tape shut and place in our garage. When I have filled at least 4 boxes, I go online and schedule a free GreenDrop pickup. On the morning of the pickup, I just place all the labeled boxes in my driveway and they come pick everything up for free. 

Keep an empty box or a few in the back of your closet or in the garage. When you come across something that your family doesn’t need or use anymore, put it in this box. Keep this box as an ongoing donation box. Once the box is full, drop it off at a donation center or schedule a free Green Drop pickup. 

When decluttering, the first step is to take everything out of the space. Then clean that space. Wipe down shelves, dust, etc. Next, go through each item and decide to keep, donate, sell or throw away. After that, sort the remaining (keep pile) into categories. Contain the categories using baskets, bins, or bags. Label these containers! 

Ask yourself the following questions when making decisions about which items to keep:

• Do I need it?
• Will I use it?
• Is there someone who would use this item more?

When you are shopping and see something you want, stop and ask yourself if you really need it. If you don’t, do not buy it. Since I began this journey of decluttering my home, I made a vow to bring less stuff into it. Also, when I do buy something, I follow the one in-one out rule. For example, if I purchase a new clothing item, I choose a clothing item I no longer like/wear to donate.

Everything should have a place. Use containers and baskets to organize items. Your goal is to only keep what fits within the size of the container and basket. Instead of putting items down on a surface to put away later, put them away immediately. Clutter attracts clutter. A pile of items attracts more items. Before you know it, you will have a bigger mess to clean up. So just put away right then and right there.

Spend 15-20 minutes a day going through one small area (one cabinet or drawer in the kitchen), one basket of toys in the playroom, one shelf or basket of books, one drawer of clothes, etc. Keep it small and simple! Every small step of decluttering will move you closer to a home that feels cleaner, more organized and less cluttered.  

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