Want to make this the year you get your home organised once and for all? Then the best place to start is by decluttering.

With a fresh new year ahead, now is the perfect time to set out on your journey to an organised home! At Homefulness, we understand that the prospect of decluttering your possessions can quickly become overwhelming.

How to overcome decluttering challenges?

Nowadays, we are all short on time and it’s often easy to put off decluttering to another day because it feels like a big task. That’s why we’ve devised some simple 15 minute home decluttering tasks that will help you achieve an uncluttered home in no time at all.

As opposed to thinking about every area of your home that needs decluttering, these challenges get you to focus on just a few small areas, many that tend to attract clutter.

It doesn’t matter how messy your home is right now, because these 15 minute decluttering tasks and challenges are the perfect way to get started making a difference with just a small amount of time. Why not set a timer - you’ll be surprised at the speed in which you will see results!

Simple 15 minute home decluttering tasks

Living room

Each of us use our spaces a little differently, and this is especially true of the living room. If you have young children, it’s common to have a little extra clutter here than in other parts of the home (toys, games, activities etc.), meaning that this area may require a little extra time. However if not, this is a great space to include in your 15 minute declutter task list.

Start by returning items such as clothing, shoes, electronics etc. that don’t belong in the living room to their correct location within the home. Then dispose of anything that is broken and add anything that you no longer want to a donation box. Dust off furniture and tidy up cushions, throws and other soft furnishings.

Finally take a look around the room and be selective about the decorative items you have on display. If you don’t love them in this room, consider utilising them in another area of the home or if not, add them to the donation pile too.

If you’re struggling to decide, remember that extra decorative items make your cleaning tasks more time consuming, so it’s always best to love the items you choose to incorporate into your home.

A pantry shelf

The pantry is an area of the home that will benefit hugely from regular 15 minute decluttering and organising sessions. Tackling and organising a whole pantry in one go can be a big job, which is why picking just one shelf to tackle at a time is the best way to feel accomplished in decluttering this area of the home.

First, remove all items from the shelf and then go through checking for expiry dates and empty items; discard or recycle these.

Next, categorise items, storing like with like e.g. pasta and grains together, condiments together, nuts and seeds together etc.

Before returning items to the pantry, clean and wipe down the shelf. As you place items back, check for short-dated items and place these towards the front of the shelf so you are more likely to use them first.

Alternatively, create a dedicated space on the shelf for items that need using up soon, so you can plan your meals around using up these ingredients before they expire.

Kitchen countertops

Kitchen countertops are one of the worst hotspots in the home for clutter to build up and therefore constitute one of the bigger decluttering challenges.

Cluttered kitchen surfaces make it difficult to find things, inconvenient to prepare food and, as the kitchen is an area of the home in which many of us spend a lot of time, a constant visual reminder of mess and disorganisation.

Use your 15 minute declutter to first discard any rubbish and recycle any unused papers and other recyclables. Then spend some time returning any items that don’t belong on the kitchen countertops to their proper places. Finally wipe down your surfaces and enjoy your newly decluttered kitchen countertops.

The entrance hall

As the first space you see when you walk into your home, the state of the entrance hall can have a huge impact on how you feel within your home. Not only this, it is also a first impression for guests. It is not pleasurable to come home after a long day and walk through the front door only to trip over bags, shoes and other items of clutter.

In just 15 minutes you can turn this area into a calm and relaxing space that you will look forward to seeing when you open the front door.

You should limit the number of bags, coats and shoes that get stored in the entryway and make sure you only store what there is space for. Depending on your space this might be just one coat, bag and pair of shoes per family member. Other items should be stored in their respective wardrobes or inside a hallway cupboard.

Utilise organisational solutions that will work for all the family e.g high coat pegs for adults, low coat pegs for children and try where you can to keep clutter off the floor.

A drawer of clothes

To many, the idea of decluttering the wardrobe as a whole is overwhelming and many find it difficult to know where to start. Why not break the wardrobe down into manageable tasks, by decluttering this area 15 minutes at a time, starting with one drawer of clothes.

Begin with a drawer of clothes that will be fairly easy to make decisions on. Remove all items from the drawer and place like with like.

As you do this, say goodbye to anything you don’t wear, that doesn’t fit or is damaged or has simply seen better days. Now fold the items you are keeping and place them neatly inside the drawer in their categories.

Having organised one drawer successfully, we’re sure you’ll have no hesitation when it comes to the next one!

The fridge

Whilst not the most fun decluttering task, this is an important one! A neat and organised fridge can inspire healthy eating and make meal planning and meal prep a breeze!

Use your 15 minutes to remove and discard any mouldy and expired food from each section of your fridge.

Once this is done, give each section a clean and then arrange food items inside the fridge by category e.g dairy, meat, fish,vegetables, so you know exactly where to look for and to place each item.

Not only will this help with preventing food from expiring, it will also help you to maintain order in the fridge going forward.

Paperwork

Paperwork is one of the most disliked decluttering challenges we come across, and is usually left until desk drawers and files are overflowing and piles of paperwork have started to topple.

To declutter paperwork in just 15 minutes, start by gathering all of your paperwork together in one place. Then set up multiple piles for the different categories of paperwork you possess. If you have a very large quantity of paperwork, you may require 15 minutes for each pile.

Some examples of categories you may have include:

• Junk mail, catalogues & flyers - discard or recycle

• Important documents - file away for safekeeping

• School letters & information - file away important items and discard or recycle the rest

• Bills - Pay outstanding bills and file for record-keeping purposes

If you come across any paperwork containing personal details that you do not need to hold on to for record-keeping purposes, be sure to shred and dispose of securely.

Bathroom surfaces

If you want to see a big transformation in a short space of time, the bathroom is a great space to utilise 15 minutes for decluttering.

As bathrooms are an area of the home used multiple times per day, they often attract many items that don’t actually belong there.

Begin by removing anything that doesn’t belong from all visible bathroom surfaces. Aim to have all surfaces clear, with the exception of soap and toothbrushes by the sink, perhaps a candle and a few shower products.

Discard any empty bottles, old sponges, used up candles and other unnecessary rubbish. Where possible contain any toiletries inside drawers and cupboards to avoid visual clutter.

Finally remove any accessories and clothing that don’t belong and place them in their correct location and add dirty towels and laundry to the laundry bin.

How will you overcome decluttering challenges and get organised?

Whilst the challenge of decluttering can seem overwhelming, don’t forget that you don’t need to tackle your whole home in one go. We hope that these 15 minute tasks will provide some motivation to get you started!

For some extra inspiration our ultimate decluttering guide, goes into greater depth about the benefits of decluttering, whilst our simple 3 step decluttering method can be used in every area of the home.

It’s also worth considering that sometimes it isn’t so much the clutter that’s the issue, but the lack of an organisation system in place. If this is the case, hiring a professional organiser such as Homefulness might be the right solution for you!

Contact us today to begin your home transformation.