As a new year begins, it’s natural to crave some kind of makeover or fresh start. One of the most satisfying resets is kicking clutter to the curb so that you and everyone who lives with you can enjoy your home as the peaceful haven it was meant to be.
A major advantage of making decluttering your mission for 2025 is that, unlike snagging the perfect job or finding your soul mate, you won’t need to search far and wide or wait for fate to favor you. It’s all in your hands.
The project starts with determining your clutter-clearing philosophy. You’ll find many to choose from since having more stuff than one can happily live with — and eliminating the excess — seems to be a universal issue.
Before you review some possible approaches, though, stroll through your home room by room, note all the annoying things that are invading your precious space, then decide how you’d like to deal with them and in what order. You can be gentle with yourself and tackle the clutter in your spare time over several weeks, or you can go gung-ho and attack the jumble with a warrior’s zeal, a tight schedule, and military precision. If you choose a process that you’re comfortable with, you’ll be more likely to stick with it until it reaches a rewarding conclusion.
Decluttering by the Numbers
A variety of experts offer these tips that many people have found helpful:
The 90/90 Rule from The Minimalists (New York Times best-selling authors Joshua Fields Millburn, Ryan Nicodemus, and T.K. Coleman) advises that when considering whether to keep something, ask yourself if you've used it in the last 90 days and if you expect to use it in the next 90 days. If the answer to both questions is no, then you don’t need it, so let it go.
The 20/20 Rule, also from The Minimalists, applies to items you’re inclined to keep just in case you might need them. They’ve found that if they ever do need any of those things, they can replace it for less than $20 in fewer than 20 minutes. After lots of real-life testing, they say, “This theory likely works 99% of the time for 99% of all items and 99% of all people.”
The One In, One Out Rule: For every new thing you bring in, whether it’s clothing, a piece of furniture, or a kitchen gadget, at least one old thing must go.
The Better Half Rule: Professional organizers sometimes motivate hoarders with a little tough love, saying things like, “You have 100 books; choose 50 to keep,” or “You have 20 coffee mugs; you may keep 10.” In cases of out-of-control clutter, this process can be repeated as many times as necessary to bring the belongings in question down to a reasonable number.
The 80/20 Rule: This is the toughest love, ideal for people who are fiercely determined to live clutter-free. When you translate the Pareto Principle from economics to household management, you’ll realize that you use 20% of what you own 80% of the time, explains Sara Bereika, founder of Sara Jane Organizing. So, she says, the remainder is clutter and ripe for removal.
Preparing for Clutter Combat
Once you choose your strategy, gather hidden trash from every room and dispose of it. That way, you won’t find empty shoeboxes and shopping bags, caches of crumpled tissue paper and gift wrap, or broken gizmos getting in your way as you proceed with the actual decluttering.
If you anticipate a small to moderate number of castoffs, you might need to set out only a few big boxes: one for things to give to people you know who can use them, one for donations to charity, one for storage, and (if absolutely necessary), one for “just in case” items you’re not sure about. If you do create a “just in case” category, give yourself a deadline for making your final decision.
If you’re going full-on minimalist and dispensing with the majority of your belongings, you’ll need a plan for stuff that’s broken, obsolete, or no longer seems to serve any useful purpose. Check with a few junk removal services to see what they will take and what it will cost to haul it away. If the prices strike you as ridiculous, you might decide there’s a way to use some of that stuff after all — firewood or pet toys, maybe?
Now you’re ready for the main event.
Decluttering Room by Room
Each area of your house has its own sneaky ways of attracting clutter and holding onto it. Start wherever you like, and keep these things in mind as you go along.
Living and dining rooms: These are the places where you love to entertain, and you have a right to be proud of the beautiful items you use to serve your guests. But decide how much silverware, china, glassware, and table linen you really need, and chuck the rest. If you never entertain more than 4 people at a time, all you need is 6 of each breakable category (allowing for spares) and 4 of each unbreakable one. Keep an everyday set plus a special-occasion set if you entertain formally, but if you don’t, there’s no reason to hang onto things that look pretty but just sit idle. If you ever need to entertain a crowd, you can do it with sturdy paper plates and cups or call a caterer.
Use a similar strategy to deal with furniture. If you love it because it’s gorgeous, it’s supremely comfortable, it serves an essential purpose, or you’re sure you could never find another one like it, it’s a keeper. Show everything else the door. Be sparing with artwork and knickknacks, displaying just enough conversation pieces to express your personality. Discard the rest or store some items to show off in rotation.
Kitchen: Gather all the items from each cabinet and drawer, and divide them into those you use daily, weekly, monthly, or less frequently. You can move the “less frequently” things to storage, leaving room to make the others easier to organize now and find later. During this process, it’s likely you’ll uncover a few gadgets that make you ask, “What on earth is this?” or “Where the heck did that come from?” These are probably unwanted gifts or impulse buys from long ago, and it’s time to toss them.
Next, inspect the counter. Is everything on it used at least weekly and neatly grouped by function, leaving you plenty of workspace? Or are gifts from friends and hand-me-downs from relatives on display to please the givers even though you don’t need them? If you’re not going to make bread with that bread maker, dough-nate it.
Bedrooms: Know why your kids think monsters lurk under the bed? Because they looked there once and saw a terrifying amount of clutter. Just kidding, but unless you have sleek, modern beds that leave no space for anything to hide beneath, it will. Drag it all out, put the good stuff in official under-bed containers, and let the rest go. If your beds have dust ruffles, discard them. Now there’s no place for clutter monsters or dust bunnies to hide.
Bathrooms: Those beautiful spa-like environments you see in magazines are a far cry from the average bathroom where people keep a chaotic mix of medicine, makeup, personal care items, cleaning supplies, towels, and dirty laundry. If ever a place cried out for organizing, this is it. Group like items in clear containers to keep them separate and easy to reach. Find or create a place to hide the laundry, and add racks and shelves as needed to keep things tidy and pleasing to the eye.
Home Office: This room is where 20-year-old tax returns and business records, last year’s greeting cards and calendars, spare wires and cables, and obsolete electronics go to die. Clear all that junk out, and you’ll be amazed at how organized your work life suddenly feels. Then treat your desk or filing cabinet to a shiny new set of folders. And if this is where you keep your books, be ruthless in culling the collection of any that you know you’ll never open again.
Final Thoughts
As admirable as the minimalist lifestyle may seem, it’s not for everyone. Be true to yourself, and don’t feel guilty if you don’t think Martha Stewart or Marie Kondo would approve of your cozy, overfurnished nest. Streamlining your living space is all about balance, and one person’s clutter is another person’s cherished keepsake. So, before you sign off on your decluttering project, take a quick look at these things many people regret throwing out:
Important documents, such as passports, birth certificates, and Social Security cards – You wouldn’t toss these intentionally, but make sure they aren’t hiding in a stack of paper clutter that’s on its way to the shredder.
Sentimental items that tug at your heartstrings, even if they seem silly to others – These might include a sweater your grandma knitted for you when you were a toddler, the toy that was your first childhood best friend (or your child’s), a love letter from your high school crush, art by your kids or by you when you were a kid, goofy photos of you with your pals, or souvenirs from your favorite trips.
Vintage clothing and accessories – Some of these items from decades ago may be coming back into fashion sooner than you think. If they’re well-made and still look good on you, enjoy them and the compliments you receive when you wear them.
Antiques or collectibles of unknown value – You may be able to live without them, but what if they’re worth thousands? If they’re in the way, store them securely, but don’t let them go without having them appraised.
Now that you’ve cleared the clutter from your home, you’ll be ahead of the game when it’s time to think about spring cleaning!
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