Room-by-Room Guide to Decluttering Before a Home Refresh:

Do you have any major home upgrades planned over the summer months? If so, have you started to work on getting your home ready for them?

We like to think that the people we’re paying to work on our home (unless we’re talking DIY home projects) are the ones doing all the heavy lifting. But if you’re contemplating your first home refresh, take a word of advice from me: the more things you can clear out of the way ahead of time, the faster and easier the project will be to execute, no matter who’s doing the work.

With the end of the school year approaching in the United States, at least, I know our home has accumulated a lot of debris over the course of the year that we haven’t quite gotten around to dealing with yet. And with summer break comes an opportunity to clear out even more of that school-year clutter, from no-longer-needed school papers to outgrown or out-of-season equipment.

So whether you ARE planning a home makeover in the coming months, or (like us!) just need to clear away the past several months’ worth of accumulated detritis, read on for your house decluttering plan. These step-by-step, room-by-room tips will help you replace the overwhelm with some fast decluttering before the contractors and workers arrive.

This is a collaboration post. However, please know I stand behind everything written here, and only include links to products/services/resources I’m willing to recommend personally.

Why Is It a Good Idea To Declutter Your Home Before a  Renovation?

Decluttering before a renovation isn’t just a good idea, it’s essential. For starters, the workers you hire (even if it’s just yourself and/or your kids doing the work!) will need clear access to whatever they’re going to be working on, whether a fresh coat of paint or new windows. Clearing the clutter upfront will save you time and money, versus having to pay your workers extra to do it for you (or risk delaying your project’s timeline because the company doesn’t offer that service).

But more importantly, it’s a lot easier to revision a space and decide what you want to do with it once you’ve cleared out the clutter. By putting away things that are out of place, and getting rid of stuff you no longer use, you’ll be able to work with a clean slate and make better choices about making your space suit your current family life.

And finally, decluttering your home before a renovation or makeover starts sets the tone for everything that follows. When doing it, if you end up with bulky waste or items you can’t keep, using a professional cleanout service like the one at this link is one way to help you stay on track. Other choices include contacting local charities, local thrift stores, or a place such as your local Habitat ReStore to arrange a donation pickup.

Declutter Your Home Checklist

When it comes to decluttering, the hardest part about it is often getting started. Especially if you have a big house, as it might feel overwhelming. That’s why these simple get-started steps will help you get over that inertia: 

1. Set Clear Goals

Before you do anything, think about how you want each room you plan to update to look and feel post-renovation. Maybe you’d likea more open living area. Or perhaps you want a calmer bedroom. Whatever it is you want, having a clear vision will make it easier to decide what to keep and what to let go.

2. Use the Keep, Donate, Discard Method

As you go through the decluttering process, you’ll need to evaluate each item you own. With the goal of getting rid of anything you don’t want, it is a good idea to divide your possessions into three groups:

• Keep: These are the items you use often, or things that otherwise add value to your life.
• Donate or sell: This pile is for things that are in good condition, which you can either donate to charity or sell on platforms like Facebook Marketplace.
• Discard: Create a pile where you put anything that is broken or no longer useful.

Sorting things into three piles like this will make it much easier to purge your possessions and create more space.

3. Create a Room-by-Room Decluttering Checklist

Instead of tackling the whole house at once, it’s always a good idea to approach the declutter on a room-by-room basis.

One way to make this even easier is to make a checklist of each zone in each room that needs help. (For example, a master bedroom zone-by-zone checklist might include dressertops, bedside tables, the half-unpacked suitcase from that last trip, the half-worn laundry heap, and the pile of things without homes. Not that I speak from experience here.)

It might take you a little time to determine what needs to be done in each room, and breaking each room down into smaller steps can produce a HUGE list. However, having each room divided into a series of smaller tasks will help you stay focused, gain momentum as you cross off each completed mini-project, and make the job feel much more manageable because even with only 15 spare minutes, you’ll always be able to do SOMETHING to move forward on your goals.

Your Room by Room Decluttering Checklist:

Entryway Decluttering Tips

The entryway of any home is like a magnet for all sorts of clutter. Packages, mail, schoolwork, sports equipment, coats, and shoes can pile up here faster than you can blink.

If you don’t already have good storage or dealing-with systems for many of these routine items, now’s a good time to make one while you declutter.

• If everyone’s shoes pile up just inside your home, consider a tray or shoe rack for people to deposit them on.
• Likewise, a few hooks on the wall can make it easier for everyone to park their keys or go-to jacket as soon as they come in the door, and easily be able to grab them again on their way out.
• See if you can get into the habit of promptly going through each day’s mail and immediately recycling whatever isn’t important, then dealing with things that ARE important (like bills) right away; if you can’t deal with them right away, park them in a designated space (like a bill-paying zone) and commit to going through that zone at least once a week.

Living Room Decluttering Tips

The living room is one place where family clutter builds up quickly. For this room, a good place to start is with the visible items, such as your coffee tables, shelves, and entertainment units.

Be ruthless enough to remove anything that doesn’t serve a purpose or fit your style. This might include old magazines, unused décor, broken furniture, or tangled cables. Also, think about how you use the space. Just by rearranging furniture, you can help to create a better flow and make the room feel larger.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to get your kids in on the act! If you’ve got children living at home (no matter what their age), chances are that they’re responsible for at least some of the clutter in your living room. See if you can figure out their patterns and come up with new systems to help them better manage their own clutter:

• When Kimmie was notorious for leaving shoes all over the house, I made going through the house and putting EVERYONE’s stray shoes away one of the jobs on her weekly chore list.
• When the kids started to leave more dishes and food wrappers lying around, we reminded them as often as needed to put their dishes in the dishwasher, put an extra trash can next to where they usually sit, and made emptying that trashcan weekly one of Essie’s chores (since she was the main culprit here).

Kitchen Decluttering Tips

The kitchen is one of the busiest areas in any home. So, it’s worth spending a bit of time here.

Probably the best place to begin is with the countertops. These can be a catch-all for everything from mail, school forms, and other paperwork, to random items and ingredients that await being put in their proper homes. Tidy away those things to where they belong, find better homes for the keepers that need homes, and toss the debris you no longer need; then give all your countertops a good wipe-down.

Next, two of the most important places to declutter are your pantry and fridge. Toss expired food; for unopened things you won’t use, either give them away to friends and family or donate them to a local charity. If you have excess buildup in that pantry or pantry cupboard (think equipment from three sports ago, or accessories and shoes your kids have long since outgrown), now’s a good time to get rid of those things as well.

Finally, streamline your drawers, cupboards, and shelves. In particular, if you have appliances, utensils, or cookbooks you haven’t used in months, it may be time to let them go.

Bedroom Decluttering Tips

Your bedroom should be a sanctuary that feels relaxing and clutter-free. It certainly won’t feel that way if it’s bursting at the seams with clutter.

For some quick wins here, I always like to start with surfaces (dresser top, bedside table, and dressing table), since these can quickly get out of control; ditto for my side of the bathroom counter, since we have an ensuite master bath. You don’t have to do all of these at once, if telling yourself you’ll just tackle one in the next 15 minutes is what helps you get started.

After these easy starter wins, I like to move on to any heaps and piles lying around, whether it’s that stash of things you wore for just an hour before changing outfits, or those last few things you never packed for your last trip and then forgot to put away when you got home. In our case, baskets of clean laundry awaiting folding are another frequent source of excess clutter. Deal with as many of these as you have stamina or time for; again, chipping away at it little by little is far better than never starting because you don’t have a full day to devote to the task.

And finally, once you’ve built some momentum with these small wins, it’s worth setting aside a half-day to go through your wardrobe. Ideally, you should do this at least once a year anyway, if not twice a year with the change of seasons. We all have things in our closets and drawers that we no longer wear, that no longer fit, or that no longer match our tastes or current lifestyle. If they’re in bad shape, toss them. If they’re in decent shape, give them to a friend or family member, donate them to a thrift store, or sell them.

Bathroom Decluttering Tips

Most of us are guilty of collecting too many products in our bathrooms. This is especially true if your bathroom has a lot of storage space, whether in the form of cupboards and drawers or a linen closet; the more space you have, in my experience, the more clutter you’ll tend to accumulate.

Again, I like to start with the quick wins that can come from cleaning those surfaces where things tend to pile up. Especially after I’ve emptied my pockets from consignment sale week (rubber bands and safety pins, oh my! – not to mention hand sanitizer, pens, lip gloss, tissues, etc.) or am just getting over a cold, my countertop tends to be covered with the consignment detritus or cold medications that are just waiting for me to put them away. It doesn’t take long, but is a HUGE psychological boost that can get the ball rolling and give me momentum for the next steps.

And given how prone we all are to over-accumulating toiletries and beauty products, it’s a good idea to go through your cabinets and drawers periodically. Check the expiration dates on your skincare products, makeup, and medications. Keep only what you use on a daily or weekly basis, along with any essential medicines you might need for emergencies. If necessary, purchase a storage container like a clear box or a basket, so everything has a home that keeps it near at hand when needed, but out of the way the rest of the time.

Home Office and Study Decluttering Tips

It’s super-hard to focus (let alone be productive) if your workspace is cluttered. But if your home is like mine, Mama’s home office workspace ends up being the dumping ground for all the random crap the family accumulates, and/or Mama is trying to keep out of their sight (unwrapped future presents, toys it’s time to move on to their next home, etc.)

That’s why cleaning out your home office or study is both one of the most important tasks you can do, but also one of the hardest. (Heck, my kids are now both in high school, and my home office still has cached piles of preschool artwork lying around in it!)

Therefore, as with any other room, try to break what seems like an impossible task into smaller sub-steps. These might include purging that pile of things you meant to get rid of anyway, sorting through and either filing or tossing the paperwork piles, putting away the things that never made it back to their homes, and finding homes for the miscellaneous homeless things that have piled up there.

Once you’ve cleared away these major clutter headaches, you’ll be in a better position to figure out if you have bulky furniture in your home office that just doesn’t work anymore. This is a good time to replace it with something that fits the room, or your current use for the room, better.

Basement and Storage Area Decluttering Tips

Basements are truly the final storage (dumping) ground for All The Stuff your family no longer uses, whether because they’re out of season or because they’re outgrown. It’s one thing to store seasonal decorations, out-of-season sports gear and clothing, and other “temporarily not in use” items in our basements. But when that “temporarily” not-in-use shifts into no-longer-needed, basements can fill up fast with things our families no longer need.

That’s why it’s a good idea to try to go through this area at least once or twice a year, to see what just needs putting away and what needs moving on to its next home. I tend to do this anyway each spring and fall, since the basement is where I store and prep the kids’ outgrown stuff that I sell at pop-up children’s resale events. But if you aren’t in the habit of doing this already, try to set aside some time in the upcoming months (bonus: if your home is like ours, your basement is underground so stays cooler in the summer heat!) to sort through some of the accumulated heaps and piles, and let go of whatever your family no longer needs or uses.

Conclusion:

Decluttering before a major home project may seem like summiting a mountain, but taking it one small step at a time will help you build momentum and get the job done. Set aside at least a weekend for the task, but don’t ignore those spare 15 minutes here and there that you can squirrel away throughout each day. With this multi-pronged approach, you’ll be ready to get your home project done on schedule, and be able to reap the rewards of a fresh, updated, and decluttered space afterward!

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