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In a world that constantly bombards us with information and possessions, getting your space neat and organized is like giving yourself a superpower for handling life. Learning how to declutter and organize isn’t just about having a tidy home – it’s about getting ready for anything and becoming more self-reliant. Think of it as leveling up not just your space, but also your ability to handle whatever comes your way. Here’s how.
Choose the area you want to declutter. It may be an entire room, a closet, a bedroom, or a laundry room. I’ll be using the example of the kitchen, but the plan works for just about everywhere else.
If that’s overwhelming, then go smaller. Choose a drawer or a cupboard or even one shelf of one cupboard. (Try this junk drawer challenge, too!) Choose something you can easily finish. No shame here! I want you to feel successful, because that will motivate you to continue. Personally, I use this strategy even if I’m not feeling overwhelmed, because I often find that I do more simply because of I more quickly see the impact of my work.
If you have one, I wrote a whole article about how I organized my emergency supplies closet for quick and easy access.
Pro Tip: Choose an area to declutter that you can easily finish. You’ll feel successful and that will motivate you to continue.
What will you put items you’re not keeping in? Gather boxes or boxes and label them. I also like to make sure my car is ready to receive donation boxes so I can load them up and take them away the next time I run errands.
The goal here is to prioritize items. Ask yourself what is most important and frequently used, and what is never used, is broken, dated, worn out, or otherwise useless but still taking up space. Alright, here goes.
Pick out things you use rarely but regularly, at least a couple of times a year, such as a gravy boat, or in my case, a potato masher, and store them in the hardest to reach cabinets. I have mine in a small transparent tote on the top shelf of my pantry.
They’re still accessible for the times when you really need that specialty item or, perhaps, an item with sentimental value, but it isn’t taking up space in areas that are easiest to access.
Pro Tip: Store items you use rarely but regularly–perhaps only on a seasonal basis–in the hardest to reach cabinets.
Now take the things you use most and put them in the cabinet, drawer, or shelf most convenient to where you use them. Our dishes are close to the dishwasher to make emptying it go faster. I keep pots and pans just a step or two away from my stove.
As you put each item away, evaluate whether you really need it or if you can let some go. Years, ago I got rid of my knife block; I only use chef, paring, and bread knives, plus my kitchen shears. I bought a magnetic knife rack and installed it on the wall above my food prep counter.
Now look at what’s left and evaluate them according to the following questions. Your answers will help you evaluate each item. It may be very hard to make some of these decisions, and in those cases, if you have the room, I recommend keeping the item. You can always decide what to do with it later. Put a reminder in your phone for six months in the future to revisit the item again.
If you need more help in making these choices, read more about prepping and minimalism here. While the questions in this article are geared towards minimalism, the decision-making process bears similarities.
Pro Tip: It may be very hard to make some of these decisions. In those cases, if you have the room, keep the item. You can always decide what to do with it later.
Pro Tip: It’s okay to break up a set. If you only use four wine glasses but own eight, donate the ones you don’t use.
The kitchen is a common area to accumulate gadgets and things that aren’t needed. Scan the counters. If you don’t ever use your blender, why do you keep it? A stick blender is much smaller and might be all you need. Bonus: It’s cheap. Personally, I use either a whisk or a pastry blender for almost everything most people use a mixer for, so I don’t need a big fancy mixer. Other people use theirs almost daily.
Don’t keep appliances because everyone else uses them or you might use them someday. Keep them because you use them, now.
Once you’ve looked over your appliances, move on to the pots, pans, casserole dishes, etc. If you notice you have three casserole dishes but you don’t really use them often, pick your favorite and donate the rest; Put them with the appliances you’ve already selected to give away or sell. Oh, and don’t forget to toss the owner’s manuals, if you still have them! It opens up a little more space in your home, and they’re useful for the new owner.
What about your serving dishes – the gravy bowl, platters, soup tureens, and all those other specialty items, even the electric carving knife. Do you still use them? If so, great! If not…box ’em up.
The same goes for your cups, plates, bowls, and utensils (for eating, serving, and cooking). If you don’t use them all, get rid of what you no longer need.
Finally, look for items in the hard to reach cupboards that none of us really use. Maybe yours contain personalized goblets you received as a wedding gift . Do you seriously still care about those,or the personalized plate with your wedding date that has never ever been out of that over-the-fridge cupboard? Trust me, I know it may be hard, but just let it go.
I kept the unity candle from our wedding for 15 years. Why?? ( Wait! Instead of donating it, repurpose it as emergency lighting in your power outage kit.)
We used to live in Los Angeles and at one point, our house was worth over $500 per square foot. (Nope, not a typo, and that’s not the dollar amount when we bought it.) That meant that buying a Little People toy for the kids was $30 or so for the toy, plus $750 in space in our house! That made it nearly an $800 toy, which was far more than I was willing to pay for it.
Your housing (and ours, now) is probably far less expensive, but even if it’s $100 per square foot, is that old chair you are keeping because, well, you aren’t quite sure why, really worth $400+ in home space to you? Or could you dump it and buy a chair you actually like later, if you ever actually need it?
The cold hard fact is that there is cost involved when it comes to clutter. You need a bigger and bigger house to hold it all. Sometimes it is worth it. I stand by my choice to stuff a closet with cardboard boxes of my son’s clothing to keep for my younger son, but I am ruthless about donating anything they outgrow to charity.
How much is your clutter costing YOU?
You may not have a lot of extra items, but even removing one casserole dish, three glasses from fast food restaurants, half the contents of the kitchen junk drawer, and those old kiddy plates and sippy cups your children outgrew years ago can free up a surprising amount of room, making it easier and more pleasant to put things away.
It’s great if you can get rid of some big things, but just getting rid of little bits and pieces can shake free a surprising amount of space in your home and get you started on the path of decluttering you home.
Keep what’s most important and get rid of the dozens of items that are cluttering your home and your life.
What’s you favorite strategy to declutter and organize your home?
Originally published 1/21/2015.
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