9 Decluttering Projects You Can Finish in 30 Minutes or Less

A cluttered home can actually overwhelm residents. In fact, research indicates that:

1. People living in extremely cluttered homes are 77% more likely to be overweight.
2. For people who have hoarding tendencies, discarding items can cause actual pain in regions of the brain associated with physical pain as per a Yale University study.
3. A cluttered home environment negatively influences the perception of our homes, and by extension, our satisfaction with life.

Clearly, engaging in decluttering projects from time to time is good for your mental, physical, and emotional health. Let’s look at some of the most easy-to-execute decluttering projects you can undertake, without having a breakdown!

Project 1: Start with the Kitchen Counter

When it comes to decluttering projects, you can start small. Take your kitchen counter for example. Chances are that nine times out of ten, things will be out of place. It might even be a tiny bit untidy. So, stop treating your kitchen as the dumping ground for all-things miscellaneous and ensure that you sort the counter every day, preferably at the end of the day so that you can start the next day on a fresh note.

Project 2: Clear Out Unnecessary Items from Your Bedside Table

Come night time we all want to crash out on our bed. But if you could spend just an extra five minutes clearing out all the bedside clutter that people end up putting. One arm extension while you’re sleeping can cause you to push a glass down or an annoying coaster, waking you up in the middle of the night.

So, before going to sleep, clear out any bedside clutter. Only store essentials such as a water bottle, your medicines, your phone, and maybe your alarm. Trust us when we say that you’ll wake up with less stress in the morning with a neat and tidy bedside table.

Project 3: Clean One Bookshelf at a Time

If you have a home library at multiple spots in your home, this one’s a keeper. Instead of cleaning all the bookshelves with the hundreds of books you own, tackle it one bookshelf at a time. You won’t get overwhelmed and you will be able to sort the books properly.

Project 4: Tackle Your Wardrobe, One Drawer at a Time

As it goes with bookshelves, follow the same rule with your wardrobe. If you are short on time, just clean and edit one shelf at a time. Take a look at the image above. It is the perfect example of a before and after wardrobe cleaning session. Cleaning is a time-intensive job. You need to edit and remove items you no longer need. That requires a fair bit of thinking and reminiscing. So, make sure to tackle your wardrobe cleaning, one shelf at a time.

Project 5: Organise Your Kitchen Supplies and Pantry Items

The next area that should demand your attention is the kitchen pantry. You can start by organising and labelling the food items within your kitchen. Create dedicated zones for herbs, spices, and different kitchen items. While organising the pantry, do not forget to clean the under sink kitchen essentials. This area often goes unnoticed. Categorise the items into three segments: cleaning products, plastic bags, and jumbled tools, and take it forward from there.

Project 6: Clean Your Child’s Closet

If you have children, you understand the importance of regular cleaning and upkeep. Since smaller children outgrow their clothes at the speed of light, it is absolutely essential to keep their closets sorted. Remove clothes they have outgrown and you can keep them in a box marked “donation.” You can also recycle the clothes. As a best practice, embrace a minimal approach and keep only the necessary items within arm’s length.

Project 7: Clean Your Work Desk

Considering the stark rise in the number of work-from-home employees, it is critical to arrange your home’s work desk from time to time. If you don’t want your productivity levels to plummet, make sure to put all the important papers in a file, shred and recycle unnecessary documents, re-test the pens in your stationery cup, and clean the drawers from any kind of unnecessary junk you might be harbouring.

Project 8: Clean Your Child’s Toy Chest

One of the most dreaded rooms for a cleanout session is your children’s playroom. We get it. It’s constantly messy and unorganised. To ensure that you don’t lose your mind over this messy setup, clean out the toy room when your child is at school. It will be faster and more efficient if your children are not around.

Project 9: Dig Into Your Linen Closet

Everyone loves investing in linens. Plus, every season demands a different kind of bedding setup. This is why you need to tidy up your linen closet every now and then. Make sure to neatly fold the bed sheets and place them in black metal baskets as shown above. This kind of Nordic style of storage design works well within any kind of home decor.

A clutter-free space is a strong predictor of mental, physical, and emotional health. So make time to engage in shorter decluttering projects and breathe new life into your home. For more ideas and hacks on decluttering projects that can turn out to be a life saviour, head over to the HomeLane blog.