How to Declutter a House in 30 Days

It is entirely possible to declutter your home in 30 days or less. The benefits of getting rid of unwanted clutter in under a month are tremendous. You will find that you have more space, more time, and it’s easier to find things. But to get rid of clutter from your home in 30 days may feel like too much of a challenge. Is it possible to reduce the number of unnecessary items in such a short space of time?

Declutter our HomeThe good news is that anyone can do this challenge. Of course, you may not be able to spend 30 consecutive days decluttering your home. With proper planning, you can see quick results from your efforts.

How to declutter your home in 30 days:

The basics to declutter your home fast include setting goals, working systematically through your home, and rewarding yourself for small achievements. You should focus on one room at a time and have a system to decide what to keep, what to store, and what to get rid of.

The Benefits of Decluttering Your Home

Before we look at what you should do each day to get rid of clutter, it’s worthwhile realizing the benefits of a home “detox”.

According to doctors at the world-renowned Mayoclinic, decluttering has many health benefits. Doctors have found that clutter adds to stress and causes distractions. For example, women who lived in cluttered homes showed more signs of stress than those who enjoyed a more minimalistic environment. One interesting experiment found that toddlers who had just four items to play with, played with them twice as long as those who had 16 different toys.

What was the solution? The clinic recommended spending up to 15 minutes every day to put items away—yes, this is a form of daily decluttering.

The Ultimate Guide: How to Declutter Your House in 30 Days

If you feel that your home requires a 30-day clutter detox, read on to find out what you can do. And don’t worry if you miss a day. You can always reschedule it for another time. After all, decluttering is supposed to reduce your anxiety not send your stress levels up.

Day 1: Declutter Paperwork

The first day of your declutter month is one of the most challenging jobs—the paperwork. It’s essential to get rid of any bills, receipts, and documents you don’t need but keep all the ones you do. If you don’t have a filing system for keeping tax returns, bank statements, and important documents, now is the time organize this. To learn more about organizing your home office and reducing excess paper you may be interested in reading our article How to Declutter a Home Office.

Shred or recycle anything that you don’t need and file everything else.

Day 2: Purse or Wallet

On the second day, empty the contents of your purse and bin all old receipts and any expired loyalty cards. If makeup items are loose, get a separate makeup pouch so you can quickly transfer items from purse to purse.

Top tip: find out if stores have a mobile app for their loyalty cards. Replacing a card with an app on your phone can save a lot of purse or wallet space.

Day 3: Kids Toys

declutter kids toysDay 3 can be a great bonding day with your kids as you go through all their toys and decide what to keep and what to donate to charity. You may even have fun playing with them for one last time. For more information about reducing your children’s possessions we have written an article, How to Declutter a Kids Room. 

Day 4: Fridge and Freezer

Completely empty your fridge and freezer and check for food that is expired or gone off. Remember that food in a freezer doesn’t keep indefinitely. If you notice that some items are close to expiring, use them for your next meal.

Day 5: Cleaning Supplies

Find all the cleaning supplies that you have in your home. Check for duplicates or bottles that are nearly empty. If possible, replace some supplies with multipurpose cleaners and decide on one or two storage places in your home. Any products that you no longer use should be discarded safely.

Day 6: Kitchen Cabinets and Drawers

Now you’ve got your cleaning supplies sorted, tackle your pantry and kitchen cabinets. Here you will have to get rid of any food that is past its use-by-date. If you come across any food items that you no longer use, dump them. It is also an excellent time to take stock of any cookbooks that you no longer use. Before returning food to their place, clean the cabinets to remove any bits of food that could attract vermin.

Day 7: Toiletries

Now you’re in your stride, tackle all the items in your bathroom the same as your kitchen. Bin out-of-date items and toiletries you never use. If you have duplicates of shampoo or conditioner bottles, make a resolution to use them up and only buy when you need to.

Day 8: Bedroom Closet

Declutter My ClosetAs a general rule, get rid of clothes that you haven’t worn for over a year. An exception could be items that are for special occasions or holidays. Either take old clothes to recycle or donate them to charity.

Day 9: Bedroom Drawers

Make sure your bedroom drawers haven’t become a hiding place for odd socks and underwear with holes. Toss any worn items or pieces of underwear and clothing that you no longer wear. For more information on decluttering your bedroom we have written an article: Tips on Decluttering Your Bedroom.

Day 10: Dining Area

Your dining area is often used as a multipurpose area—eating dinners, doing kids’ projects, or as a temporary office—so, you need to declutter it from anything that doesn’t belong there. Give away any tableware that you never use.

Day 11: Kids’ Clothes

Children can quickly grow out of clothes, so you find out what no longer fits. If you are saving some clothes to pass down to smaller children, put them into storage rather than in the closet. Other than that, bin worn clothes and donate good-quality items to charity.

Day 12: Jewellery Box

Using the same principle as for your clothes, get rid of any fashion jewellery you haven’t used in over a year. If you have more expensive jewellery pieces that you don’t want, consider selling them to raise some cash. Take any broken jewellery items to get repaired.

Day 13: Makeup

Makeup doesn’t last forever and expires, so bin anything that is no longer useful. If you’ve got a lot of different lipsticks, shades of eye shadow, and other items, think about simplifying your makeup collection to a more manageable size.

Day 14: Medicine Cabinet

Check medications for expired items or ones that you don’t need. Take them to the pharmacy for proper disposal and replace any essential first-aid items that you had to throw out.

Day 15: Catch-up day

How to Declutter Home officeYou are now half-way through your 30-day home declutter, and you can use this time to take stock of what you’ve done. If you need to catch up on a few things that you’ve missed, use today for it. If you’ve stuck to the schedule, take some time out and relax knowing that half of your home is decluttered.

Day 16: Magazines and Books

To get back into decluttering mode, day 16 of the 30-day challenge is an easy one—get rid of books and magazines that are gathering dust. You can donate old books to charity. Cut out pages from magazines that you want to keep and have a binder to store them.

Day 17: Front Entry and Coat Closet

Use the same principle as day 8—get rid of any coats, shoes, or accessories that you no longer use. Don’t keep seasonal items here, but put them into storage for when you need them.

Day 18: Junk Drawer

Every home needs a junk drawer, but remember that it’s not for needless or useless junk. Empty the drawer and sort items into things you need and things you don’t. Now might be an excellent time to consider some plastic containers to keep your junk drawer properly organized.

Day 19: Nightstand

Make sure that your nightstand hasn’t become a secondary junk drawer. Clear out anything you no longer use and only have the essentials for when you go to bed.

Day 20: Laundry Room

Check your laundry area for odd socks and other miscellaneous items that could be lying around. Make sure that you’ve not got duplicates of detergent or other laundry items.

Day 21: Basement / Attic

It may not be possible to declutter an attic or basement in a single day. But to get your house decluttered in less than a month, spend only one day and get as much junk out of these storage areas as possible.

Day 22: Garage: Declutter Part One

Your garage is another magnet for clutter, so this area is split into two days. Spend the first day going through everything you have stored in your garage. Sort items into piles of what you use and what you don’t. Toss, donate or sell tools or things you no longer need. For example, did you find a booster seat for kids, but your kids are now grown up?

Day 23: Garage: Declutter Part Two

On the second garage declutter day, you can sort out the final things in your garage and come up with a system for storing everything. Give the garage a thorough clean.

Day 24: Car

Check under car seats and the boot or trunk for anything you no longer need. Remember that a basic set of tools, a first aid kit, and a car fire extinguisher can be useful if you breakdown or are in an accident. So, check that these items are complete and usable.

Day 25: Outdoor Area or Garden

With a few days left to go on your 30-day house declutter, it’s time to head into the garden. Get rid of any trash, debris, or kids’ toys lying around.

Day 26: Craft Space

A craft space can quickly become overrun with unnecessary supplies and equipment. So, be merciless when deciding what to throw out and what to keep. If you have many items you no longer need, charities or schools might be glad to receive them

Day 27: Entertainment Area

Go through all your DVDs and CDs to make sure that everything is in their proper cases, and nothing is missing. Get rid of empty cases. You should also evaluate if you could store everything digitally or use a free or paid-for streaming service. If you want to keep your CDs and DVDs, consider storing them or selling them.

Day 28: Office and Desk Area

Declutter and Clean my HouseHopefully, you won’t have much to do at your office area if you did step one correctly. However, in the past 30 days, you may have come across papers, documents, and other items that belong in your office area. So, get all your documents sorted out and check your supplies. Dump any old planners or equipment that you no longer use.

Day 29: Additional Rooms

If you have any places not mentioned on this declutter list, you can use this day to get rid of junk. Day 29 can also be a catch-up day for anything you have missed in the previous days.

If you are at a loss as to what to do, why not declutter your phone and get rid of any apps you don’t use?

Day 30: Finalize and Celebrate

You have now come to the end of your 30-day challenge. By now, your home should be clutter-free and a joy to live in. Do one last check around your house—check drawers, closets, and cabinets—to make sure that you have got rid of all the clutter.

At this point, get into the habit of storing items in their proper place and only buy what you need. You will find that the next time you need to declutter your house, it will be less of a challenge.