Clutter is anything that you keep around your home that doesn’t add value to your life. Getting rid of junk that you don’t need will free up space and give you peace of mind. With less clutter, there will be more space for you and your family to live and breathe.

Decluttering your home is not tough. The best way to deal with it is to focus on one space, room, or even a zone within a room. No fancy tools are needed to start the process. All that you need are bins or baskets or cardboard boxes to put away, recycle, mend, trash, and donate things.

Declutter each room before you move on to the next. Finish the process completely. Take the boxes or cardboard out to donate, recycle, or trash immediately. Keep things that you want to fix separately.

Living room

The living room is hardest to clean and keep neat on a daily basis, as it is used a lot. Start with the console, book shelves and side tables. Assess each item and then return it to its proper storage space. If you have kids, you may have to tackle the toys. Store or recycle each toy.

Bedrooms

Look around and start with the bed. Remove everything that doesn’t belong on the bed and put it away in a bin. This can include books, mail, newspaper, pens or even broken eye glasses. Make the bed after you remove all these things. Throw away things that you can no longer use or that do not work.

The next step is to look at the bureaus, chests and dressers. Go through each drawer and take everything out. Arrange everything and resist the temptation to put everything back. If you come across clothing that you no longer wear, donate it.

Closet

Closets are often messy, and it takes a lot of time and effort to tackle them. Start with each type of clothing. Keep denim, dresses, jackets, shoes, and other items you have in the closet separately.

Go through each individual item to check whether it fits you. If anything is torn or damaged beyond repair, discard it immediately. Arrange everything back in a systematic manner.

Bathrooms

Discard outdated skincare, makeup, and medication from the medicine cabinet. Next, move to the drawers and look at each item carefully. Do a quick evaluation of things you need and things you don’t need. Put everything back carefully.

Kitchen

Keeping the kitchen free from clutter can be a challenge. As most people spend a lot of time in the kitchen, they have different types of things stored there. Focus on one type of item at a time. Assess everything, then put everything back in the cabinet. Remove things that you don’t need in the kitchen so that you can free up space.

The 80/20 rule

Most of us tend to use only 20% of the things we own. The other 80% are rarely used. The declutter mission is to get rid of things that you don’t use or never intend to use. Know what to keep and what to get rid of.

If you haven’t used a particular item for the past two years, it is unlikely that you will use it in the future. Identify such things and either donate or recycle them. Don’t feel guilty about throwing away things that are broken and cannot be fixed.

Getting rid of things is often difficult, and this can be the hardest part of decluttering. Most of us tend to associate sentiment with specific items. This can make it challenging to part with them. Accept the fact that you don’t need most items with which your memories are connected. Mentally preparing yourself can help declutter your home in an effective manner.