How To Declutter Your Home In One Week

Are you looking to declutter your home in one week? Yes, it can happen that quickly. I don’t know about you, but the more time I spend in my house, the more frustrated I am with how much “stuff” I have everywhere. This stuff seems to follow me no matter which room I’m in. There’s too much stuff in my kitchen, too much stuff on my nightstand, and too much stuff on the desk in my home office. It’s annoying. It’s overwhelming. With so much stuff, it’s easy to fall into the trap of wondering how you’ll ever get rid of all the clutter. But I know it can be done, because I’ve tackled clutter before. And I want to help you get rid of the clutter-bug too. So, first I’m going to talk about the benefits of being clutter-free. Then I’m going to share 5 quick tips to declutter. And then I’ll dive right into how you can declutter your home in 7 days. All to help you feel better about the space you call home. Last but not least, join my free Take Back My Space Decluttering Challenge to make sure you get it all done. Now, let’s get started.

The Benefits Of Decluttering Your House In One Week

I don’t know about you, but when I find myself sitting in a room full of clutter, I feel overwhelmed. I try not to leave stuff sitting everywhere, but it happens because…life. Right? I’m frequently going place to place or taking the kids somewhere. Clutter happens when my schedule is packed, and I haven’t had time to sit down and take a breather. Or when I feel rushed. So instead of taking my time and putting things up where they belong, I toss them in really odd places. Stuff just ends up all over my desk, on my bathroom counter or a pile on the floor. Can you feel me?

And this leads to a never-ending cycle. I’m stressed out because I’m busy, I can’t find anything, and stuff is everywhere. So, then I leave more stuff everywhere, and being at home with stuff everywhere stresses me out. It’s time to stop the madness.

First Reason To Declutter: clutter causes stress

One of the top benefits of decluttering include being a better mood. Once your space is clear, you can think better. You feel less drained. You feel more organized and less overwhelmed. I know I tend to feel like I have more control over my life. There’s less swirling around in your head, less thinking about all the undone tasks that are still on your to do list. You feel more at peace and less stressed out. And let’s just face it, you smile more.

Second Reason To Declutter: clutter leads to more clutter

Have you ever noticed this trend? I talked about it earlier, but yes, having clutter just leads to more clutter. And once you have a neat home, you’re more inclined to keep it that way. Which leads me to the positive side of the clutter cycle. Once your home is decluttered, it’s easier to keep it that way.

Third Reason To Declutter: clutter costs money & decluttering is a money saver!

Yes, clutter is actually costing you money! Here’s one example. When I cleaned out the fridge last summer, I noticed that we had 3 jars of relish. Seeing that we only eat relish when we have hot dogs, which is hardly ever, the fact that we had 3 jars meant that we have 3 years’ worth! But we kept buying relish because we thought we were out of it. And we couldn’t see because the fridge was completely cluttered and disorganized. So, if you’re looking for a money saving tip, here it goes. If you have unopened jars of food that you won’t use, take it back to the store and get a refund.

5 Helpful Decluttering Tips To Help You Prepare To Declutter Your Entire Home In A Week

Pick a method and take action – First, there are a million and one ways to declutter your home. Literally, if you search Google, there are over 28.3 million articles on decluttering. So, ultimately there are a lot of ways for you to clear the clutter. You need to find the method that works for you and then just do it.
Start with the right room – I like the method of going room by room to declutter. You’ll want to work in this room until the job is done. Try not to get distracted by going room to room. Start with the room that you use frequently but you feel like you can tackle. The goal is to start small and work your way up. You want a quick win to convince yourself that you can get this done. Because you can. If you start with the room that needs the most work, it might be too much. You might get so overwhelmed and exhausted that you don’t have the energy or desire to tackle anything else.
Create labels – you’ll have trash pile, a move to another room pile and a donate pile, among others. Everything else will go to the area of the room where it will live. Make sure you label your groups. I’ll talk about this a little more later.
Get your supplies ready – sticky notes, a pen, trash bags and bins are your friend. And as I mentioned before, labels are really helpful. These will help you stay organized as you declutter your home. And don’t forget to create an upbeat playlist of your favorite music!
Find time in your schedule – Set your timer for 15 minutes and get your work done. Set aside 1 hour per day to declutter but break the time up into 15-minute time buckets. It’s easier to fit decluttering into your busy schedule this way. It’s much easier to find 15-minute chunks of time four times a day than it is to find a full hour.

Questions To Ask To Help You Declutter Your Home In A Week

As you start to declutter your home, you might find yourself stuck deciding what to let go of. That’s totally normal. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself. To help you know when to let go of things or what to keep, ask yourself:

When is the last time you used it?
How often do you use it?
Is this a duplicate?
Is it broken, damaged or have missing parts?
Do you have something else with the same function?
Do you really need it?
Do you really want it?

How To Declutter Your Home Step By Step

Now that you understand the reasons for decluttering and you’ve prepped, let’s talk about the step by step to actually declutter your home.

Remove everything from the area you’re decluttering. (out of the closet, drawer or cabinet that you’re going to work on)
Ask yourself the above 5 decluttering questions, decide how you’ll label each item:

- Donate – these items will go to charity
- Give – these are the items you plan to give to friends or family
- Sell – these are the items you plan to sell online or in person at a yard sale
- Relocate – these are the items you plan to move to another room in the house
- Trash – items that can go in the trash or recycle bin
- Store – items that can be put in storage or placed in a cabinet or drawer
- Repurpose or fix – items that you’ll set aside to fix or repurpose for another sue

3. For items that you’re keeping, decide where they’ll go and put them away neatly.

Where To Start Decluttering The 7-Day Plan

Now that you know how to declutter, it’s time to actually start. I believe the best way to get this done is to break it up room by room.

Day 1: Kitchen – clean your countertops, junk drawer or under your kitchen sink. Also spend time clearing out your drawers and cabinets.
Day 2: Pantry or Fridge – yes, these are part of the kitchen, but they tend to get so cluttered that they get their own day. Spend half of your time working on the fridge and half of your time working on the pantry
Day 3: Bedrooms – focus on getting rid of the clutter on your nightstand, dresser and any “hot spots” in your room. Hot spots are where you tend to keep clutter. They could be piles of clutter on the floor, in a chair or on your desk
Day 4: Bathrooms and Linen Closet – use this time to declutter your bathroom countertops, drawers and cabinets. You’ll also spend some time getting rid of clutter in your linen closet.
Day 5: Choose your own adventure – playroom, bonus room or office. Remember the books from your childhood where you could “choose your own adventure”? I loved those! You get to actually decide which path the character will take, and you’ll get alternate endings to the book. Similar thing here. Pick which room or space you most want to work on. Maybe you want a quick win, so you’ll choose the room with the least amount of work. Or maybe you want to focus on the room with the most amount of clutter because you’re tired of looking on it. Either way, today is your day to spend as much time as needed on either the playroom, bonus room, or office. Or you can choose to catch up on any space you didn’t finish decluttering earlier this week.
Day 6: Living or family room – you’ll focus on decluttering the end tables and coffee table in your family room. You can also take some time removing things that don’t belong from your TV stand, bookcase or magazine rack.
Day 7: choose your own adventure – closet, laundry or mudroom, garage or storage area. Here’s another choose your adventure day. Feel free to choose one of the rooms listed or catch up on another area of your home.

How To Declutter Your Entire Home In A Week

Whew! We covered a lot here today. I shared why it’s so important to declutter your home. Then I gave you my tips to help you successfully prep to get rid of the all the mess. I also shared the questions you should ask yourself when you declutter and listed, step by step, of how to actually declutter your home. We wrapped up with the 7-day plan to decluttering your home. It’s a lot, I know. And to help you stay on track, join the free Take Back My Space Decluttering Challenge now. This is a great way to get daily tips to help you declutter your home in just 7 days.

If you have questions or want to share your success decluttering, leave a reply in the comments section below.