Clear the Clutter with 5 Quick Wins

The new year is here and you’re ready for a fresh start. What better way to reset than to clear the clutter from your home?

Out with the old and in with the newly organized living spaces!

The prospect of decluttering your entire home might seem a bit overwhelming, especially if it’s been a while since you last attempted such a feat. So, start off small by focusing on a few key areas that tend to accumulate unnecessary stuff. After you tackle these challenging spaces, organizing the remainder of your abode will likely seem less daunting. 

Feeling motivated to clear, sort, purge, rearrange and redistribute as needed? Begin with these often-neglected areas of your home and ride the momentum until you’ve achieved the clean, clutter-free environment you’ve always envisioned!

1. The hall closet
   Because of its convenient location, this space can be a catchall for everything from random tools and craft supplies to bulky luggage and sports equipment. Surely, there’s a better place to store all your drill bits and tennis racquets! If your hall closet is busting at the seams, remove all its contents and sort them to determine what actually belongs in the space. If the closet is still packed, it’s probably time for a reorg: move off-season coats to another closet, house gloves and mittens in a bedroom drawer and store your shoe overflow on a rack in the bedroom closet, laundry room or garage.
2. The junk drawer
   This is one of the toughest places to tackle, but you can do it! Start by taking everything out and sorting the contents into groups of like items (are you starting to see a theme here?!). Don’t be afraid to discard anything that is damaged, broken or doesn’t get used—there’s no need to collect old cell phone components and ketchup packets! Before you return belongings from your “keep” pile to the drawer, consider adding an organizer with dividers so there’s a designated space for everything.
3. Coffee (or tea) station
   Whether you’re Team Coffee or Team Tea, it’s easy for beverage supplies to get out of hand. Sift through your coffee, tea and/or hot cocoa stash and get rid of any varieties that you won’t drink or serve to guests in the near future (rule of thumb: toss anything you haven’t enjoyed in the past six months). You may also consider pausing or canceling subscription services if the beverages have been piling up at a faster rate than you can consume them. If you have the space, store extra gadgets (e.g., coffee bean grinder, loose leaf tea infuser) out of sight. However, if space is at a premium, free up room in your cabinets and drawers by housing your most frequently used items, such as single-serve coffee cartridges or tea packets, in a countertop caddy.
4. Media closet
   Whether they’re in an actual closet, a cupboard or a drawer in your home, old CDs, DVDs and other media can take up a lot of desirable real estate. Chances are, streaming services are your go-to form of entertainment, so it may be time to reassess your need to hang on to bulky, outdated types of media. Even if you don’t want to part with some of your favorites, you can probably pare down your collection and donate to your local library to create more usable space in your home.
5. Under the bathroom sink
   Suspect that you have too many products, many of which you’ll never use? Now is a great time to determine which beauty and hair care items you can’t live without—and which you can cut out of your routine. Look at product expiration dates and get rid of anything that hasn’t been used in the past six months. Same with the hair tools—is it really necessary to have three blow dryers? Once you’ve whittled down your self-care collection, group like items and place them in drawer organizers or containers for maximum efficiency.

Check out these home organizing articles for additional tips and tricks:

• 9 Kitchen Organization Tips
• Organizing Ideas for Kids’ Rooms
• How To Organize Your Closet In One Saturday