Regular readers know I’ve been decluttering on and off for several years. Through two rounds of the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge, I’ve purged thousands of items, yet there’s always more to do. Today’s post is a roundup of my top 10 decluttering and organizing tips.

This post was originally published in June 2022 and republished in June 2025.

52-Week Decluttering Challenge

If you missed the challenge, here are some links to help you get started.

• 52-Week Decluttering Challenge – Free printable
• Week 1 – Easy decluttering checklist
• Looking back on a year of decluttering
• And, if you just want to jump in and declutter a specific area, you can find links to all the weekly tips and posts on the main Decluttering page.

Top 10 decluttering and organizing tips

I’ve learned a lot on my decluttering journey. Here are my top 10 decluttering and organizing tips. I hope you’ll find them helpful.

You don’t have to do it all at once

I’ve never agreed with Marie Kondo‘s theory that successful decluttering is a big, multi-day event that you do once and never revisit. That may work for some people, but most of us will never have the luxury—or even the desire—of dedicating an entire weekend to decluttering.

For me, decluttering is best tackled in smaller chunks. Start by making a list of areas of your home you want to declutter (or save some time by downloading my checklist). Then, set aside time every week to get it done. Some tasks take 15 minutes; others might take a couple of hours. Before long, you’ll start to notice the difference in your home.

When the mood strikes, embrace it

If you’re like me, you need to be in the mood for decluttering. The first time I did the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge, I stuck to my checklist. Since then, I’m more flexible when picking areas to declutter.

When you’re walking through an area of your home that needs decluttering and you’re in the mood, go for it!

Be thoughtful about it

Decluttering doesn’t mean filling dozens of garbage bags destined for landfill. As an eco-friendly living enthusiast, just the thought of that makes me cringe. In a full year of decluttering, I sent only two bags of decluttering garbage to the landfill. Everything else, I gave away, donated or recycled.

Make a plan from the outset for how you want to get rid of the things you no longer want. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out 6 ways to turn your junk into treasure. 

Declutter first, then organize

Let me be clear, you can’t organize clutter! One of the big mistakes people make when they start decluttering is wasting money on storage baskets and organizing units.

If you declutter first, you’ll have less to organize. You may find you don’t need those fancy baskets and organizing solutions, no matter how “life changing” the advertisers and influencers claim they are.

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Repurpose existing items as storage solutions

While we’re on the subject of organizing solutions, you can save money by using containers you already have. If they’re tucked away in a drawer, who will see them?

Here are some ideas of things I’ve reused to keep drawers and cupboards organized:

• Margarine and yogurt containers
• Small plastic fruit baskets
• The box your smartphone or tablet came in
• Bread tags to organize cords and cables (thanks to Krista and Alison at A Sustainably Simple Life for this tip).

Organize with task-specific totes

If you have regular tasks where you use the same items, why not put all those things together in a single basket or tote?

When decluttering my kitchen counters, I put together a “breakfast box” with the things I use every morning: tea, tea balls and filters, reusable straws for my smoothies, and the cleaning brush for the straws. I pull out the basket in the morning, and then keep it out of sight in the cupboard for the rest of the day.

You can do the same thing for craft supplies, sewing supplies, writing paraphernalia, and any other frequent tasks.

Develop the quick glance habit

When you enter a room, get into the habit of having a quick look around. Take one minute to tidy up by clearing off surfaces, gathering up things that don’t belong, and putting them away.

Avoid the just-in-case trap

Are you hanging on to things “just in case”? I had an interesting chat about this with my sister-in-law when we were experiencing supply chain concerns in the post-pandemic world. She said we need to be careful what we get rid of because we may never be able to get some of these things again.

The supply chain issues have mostly worked themselves out, but it was a good reminder not to fall into the just-in-case trap. If you’ve been managing fine without using an item, or had forgotten you owned it, you really don’t need it. In several years of decluttering thousands of items, I only recall one or two situations where I wished I’d kept something I’d gotten rid of.

Avoid replacing old stuff with more stuff

Decluttering is a mindset. When you start your journey, make a conscious decision to be mindful about what you buy. There’s no point decluttering if you’re just going to bring in new stuff as fast, or faster, than you got rid of the old.

Adopting a one-in-one-out rule is a good way to stay on top of the clutter. Even better, consider a one-in-two-out approach.

When you think you’re done, start over

When you get to the end of your decluttering list, it’s tempting to sit back and say, “I’m done!”

It’s okay to celebrate your accomplishment by taking a break for a while. When you’re ready, go back to the top of the list and start again. I’ve done that a couple of times now. I’m definitely not getting rid of as many items as I did the first time around, but I still find things I overlooked or just wasn’t ready to say good-bye to. 

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Once you build good decluttering habits, you’ll find yourself doing some of these things automatically. Be kind to yourself. It took you a lifetime to accumulate this clutter, so you can’t expect to get rid of it all overnight.

What are your best decluttering and organizing tips? Feel free to drop them in the comments below.