Top Home Organization Tips for Defeating Clutter

Clutter begets clutter, and once you remove it, it becomes so much easier to keep your home from getting cluttered again. The initial decluttering is a crucial point in the organizing process, and many people get stuck here.

Do not worry though: you will be fine as long as you work in a way that suits you. There are various approaches to the initial decluttering, and your choice should depend on your evaluation of how cluttered your house is currently.

I have split the clutter levels into four levels, including mildly cluttered, moderately cluttered, severely cluttered, and critically cluttered. So how do you know which one is yours?

If you can find things because they are in their general designated area, your space is mildly cluttered.

If you can find things after looking in a few logical places, your space is moderately cluttered.

If you can find things after digging through a few undesignated piles, your space is severely cluttered.

If you cannot find most things and are not even sure what you have, your space is critically cluttered.

Try to be objective and do not worry, no matter which level you have. The more honest you are about the level of clutter you have, the easier it will be to decide on which approach works best for you, and that way you can finally be successful at decluttering your home this time, and finally set up organized systems that work for you.

After you determine what clutter level you have in each of your spaces, you can choose a decluttering approach that works best for you.

Mildly cluttered

One of the four approaches to decluttering your home is the one space at a time method, which is perfect for the mildly cluttered homes.

Your house is generally organized, even if cluttered, and stuff is not scattered all around. You probably have clear areas to easily sort your items: your clothes may all be in your closet, and your toiletries may all be in your bathroom, but disorganized within.

That is why you should organize one space at a time. On one day, you will organize your closet, on another day you will organize your bathroom cabinet. This will allow you to sort your items for the next steps of organizing.

Moderately cluttered

If your home is moderately cluttered, go with the one category at a time method. This is a two-part approach where you can either decide on the space first or the category of items first.

This decision depends on the logical use of your spaces and the quantity of items you need to store. You may need to gather all of your category items first so that you can clearly see what you have, and then decide what spaces would be best utilized to store those items.

Otherwise, you may decide that you want all your category items to fit in a designated space and you do not want to go beyond that space any longer.

Severely cluttered

The one room at a time method is the approach that works best for the severely cluttered spaces. Since you may not have spaces clearly designated for most of your items, clearing out a room is the best approach for you.

You may be thinking that your space is very disorganized, why would you want to go so big and do a whole room instead of just a category or a space?

You can use those approaches, too, but you may find that as you clear out the room you will begin to realize what you have in there, including items that belong in several different rooms.

At this point, sorting by category might be too tedious. An initial general sorting of your items will be very helpful before moving on to refining further the organization of your spaces.

Critically cluttered

For the critically cluttered spaces, it is best to choose the one section at a time method. Since you may not have much space to clear out your items from one area to another, it will likely work best for you to work in sections of each room, one room at a time.

You can also clear out a whole room at a time like in the previous level of clutter. However, if you begin to feel overwhelmed in the process, it is okay to revert to one section at a time.

You will need to sort your items as you clear them out of your space and begin to discover what you have. Just stay focused on one section at a time or one room at a time so that you can completely finish a room and enjoy that peace. Once you experience that feeling, you will be motivated to continue and do the rest of your rooms.

Home organization tips

Now you know how to begin decluttering your home and how to do it efficiently, depending on your current situation.

Please try this and let me know how it goes! Other than that, what are your favorite home organization tips & techniques? Let me know in the comment section below!