How to Quickly and Easily Declutter Living Spaces in 6 Simple Steps

Learn how to quickly and easily declutter living spaces with this simple step-by-step guide. Grab a black trash bag, and let’s dive in!

The living room is the one room where your entire family can come together to relax, have family devotions, enjoy a family movie night, read a book, and play board games. It’s no wonder that these rooms can quickly become overrun with clutter. Today I am sharing the process I followed to declutter living spaces. With a few simple tools your room can go from chaos to calm.

Why Declutter Living Spaces?

Studies have shown that a cluttered home can significantly impact our stress levels and mental well-being. Research from UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives and Families revealed that women who perceived their homes as cluttered experienced higher cortisol levels, the stress hormone, throughout the day. Cluttered environments can also lead to cognitive overload, making it harder for the brain to focus and increasing feelings of anxiety. Additionally, organized spaces have been linked to feelings of calm and overall well-being, while clutter is often associated with tension and irritability. By choosing to declutter living spaces, you’re not just creating a visually cleaner home—you’re also fostering a more peaceful and stress-free environment for yourself and your family.

How to Declutter Living Spaces

Gather your supplies.

You’ll need a black trash bag (or two), a donation box (unless you have small children in the house. Then you’ll likely want to use a black trash bag so they can’t see the donation contents.), and a laundry basekt or large basket. I know it may be tempting to skip this step, but you’ll be much more productive if you have what you need before you even get started. There’s nothing worse than making piles of “get rid of stuff” or “trash” piles in the floor only to have your children pilfering through them while you work. Have your bags or boxes handy!

Step One. Take a laundry basket and gather everything that doesn’t belong in the living room.

It’s amazing what ends up in our living room. Kitchen utensils the toddler dragged off, one sock, dirty glasses, sweatshirts, you name it. Grab a laundry basket and round up everything that doesn’t belong in the living room. While you’re at it, call your kids to grab their things and put them away. If they’re small, go ahead and take the time to put their items away now. I know you’re chomping at the bit to get into the nitty gritty but taking the time NOW to put these items away will help save you time later.

Step Two. Get your trash bags ready, and tackle the magazines, books, and dvds.

This was the most overwhelming and rewarding part of our living room declutter. We had SO. MANY. MAGAZINES. I know most people don’t get magazines anymore, but we have spotty internet and no cell phone service here. My husband and I both enjoy print magazines. We kept the very few that we love and donated the rest. (Unless they were obviously damaged, then we tossed them into the recycling.) Go through books, and dvds doing the same thing. Weed out the ones you don’t use for donating, trash the ones that are in disrepair, and make a place for the ones you plan to keep.

Much like magazines, we love books. Because of this, we had many of them. Instead of setting a number to keep, I decided to let a container be the bad guy and tell me which had to go. Find a basket or a shelf and let that be your guide. Make a rule to only keep the books that fit comfortably in that container. I use this method throughout our home. When the container is full, I know I need to sort through the contents and get rid of the things I haven’t recently used.

Step Three. Clear off the flat surfaces.

This can be your end tables, your coffee tables, bookshelves, or your tv stand. Clear off any clutter on them and sort through, decided whether to keep, donate, or discard. If you have paper clutter on your surfaces sort through and separate into three piles: important, not right now (read about my not right now basket here: The Power of A “Not Right Now” Basket to Banish Paper Clutter), and trash. Obviously put the important papers in a safe place where you’ll be sure to see them.

Step Four. Take a look at your walls, and other decor.

If your walls are cluttered with photos or wall art try taking half down. If you want to really try to minimize, take it ALL down. (Which is what I did) Let the walls breath. Give it a week or so before you put anything back up. I think you’ll find you enjoy the peaceful feeling the room has with a few bare spots on the walls.

After you’ve cleared the walls it’s a great time to take a look at extra decor, throw pillows, and blankets. If they’re ratty give them the boot. If you don’t love it, don’t keep it. I recently (like yesterday after I snapped the pictures of my living room) decided that having too many pillows on the couch was frustrating. The pillows were always on the floor, so I decided to only keep two.

I took down the curtains too. After several years, and lots of washing, they started to look thin and worn. Instead of leaving something that looks less than great, I took them down and said goodbye. ( I kept the blinds for privacy, of course!) Don’t be afraid of bare walls, sofas, and windows.

Step Five. Tackle Storage Furniture

Whether it be a tv cabinet, an ottoman, or end table with a door or drawer you’ll follow the same process for each piece of furniture.

• Look around inside the piece and get a good feel for what’s inside. Make a mental note of the obvious categories like crafts, pillows, toys, movies, blankets, paperwork, etc.
• Discard the obvious trash and donations. Items that are broken, outdated, or not being used can go.
• Organize the items that are left.
• Repeat with the rest of the drawers or cabinets.

Step Six. Get rid of the extra furniture.

After you’ve successfully tackled your books, magazines, dvds, flat surfaces, and storage furniture, you’ll be amazed at how much more spacious your room feels. Now image that same space with the empty bookshelf gone, or the broken-down recliner removed. If permanently getting rid of the furniture seems extreme remove it from the room for a week or so. You’ll get to see how much space it gives, and how the room functions without it. I can tell you from experience you won’t miss it. I was able to get rid of about half of the furniture in our once stuffed to the gills living room.

A few tips.To Declutter Living Spaces

• Most likely while you’re decluttering, you’ll come across various electronic chords and accessories. If you’re not a techy person, designate a space in your home where all of the misc. chords and attachments go.
• Don’t do it all at once. I know it’s tempting to pull out all of the things, but don’t. You’ll end up overwhelming yourself and have a bigger mess than you have time to clean up. Ask me how I know this…haha
• As you are sorting items from shelves or storage pieces, group like things together. If there are duplicates you know you can get rid of one. Keeping like things together will help you keep the whole house organized.
• Don’t keep things just because you paid a lot for them. I know how tempting it is. I heard Dawn Madsen say something like keeping an expensive item that you don’t use won’t put the money back in your bank. That is the absolute truth. Instead of thinking about what it cost you ask yourself if the item gives value to your life. If the answer is no, get rid of it!
• If there’s an item you’re on the fence about ask yourself when you last used it. If it hasn’t been used (or seen) in the last six months, it’s likely safe to get rid of it.

I hope that these simple tips and strategies are helpful to you. I’d love to hear how your decluttering is going! Let me know below.

Here’s an image to pin for later…