Decluttering your home is an on going process! While usually one big declutter project per year can keep your messes under control, you still need to work on those problem clutter areas of the home more often. With the holiday quickly approaching, now is the time to get your clutter under control in your home! Join us for this 14 day Declutter Challenge and get rid of the clutter before the holiday season. If you are looking for a room-by-room Declutter Challenge you will want to purchase the Ultimate Declutter Guide.
Getting Your Home Ready for the Holidays
I don’t know about you, but once I put out my fall decor, our house is decorated until the end of December. We go from pumpkins and fall colors right into Christmas trees and winter themes. By the time January rolls around, I am so ready for a simple and clean home.
But there is no reason to wait until January to declutter your home! In fact, tackling some of the clutter now will help your home feel less cluttered and messy once the holiday decorations come out!
It really helps to tackle the clutter in your home throughout the year instead of just one time in January. When you break down organization projects into smaller tasks, it is a much easier load to take on at once!
So join Keri and me in Clearing the Clutter before the holiday season!
Join the 14 Day Declutter Challenge
Would you like a clean and cluttered home for the holidays? If yes, then now is your chance to get your home holiday ready by getting rid of the clutter!
How Can I Declutter My Home in Two Weeks?
The simple answer is you can not declutter every single foot of your home in two weeks unless that is all you do for those 14 days! However, in 14 days, you can declutter some of those problem areas of your home. If you focus on the biggest areas of clutter in your home, you will see a big difference.
Use your time wisely when it comes to decluttering your home. Take a look at the 14 Day Declutter Challenge and decide how much time you will need to spend on each task. Then, take a look at your schedule and see when you will have time to work on those decluttering tasks.
DAY 1: PANTRY AND DRY GOODS
When is the last time you throuroghly cleaned out your pantry and food cabinets? Now is the time to take EVERYTHING out of those cabinets.
- Take everything out of your pantry (Yes you need to do this step!)
- Wipe down all of the shelves.
- Throw away old and expired food.
- Group similar foods together and utilize bins and baskets to organize your products.
DAY 2: KITCHEN COUNTERS
Kitchen clutter starts on your counter tops. Your kitchen looks a lot less messy when you have cleaned and cleared counter tops.
- Remove items that you no longer want to keep on the counter.
- Clear off all paperwork.
- Wipe down everything thing on the counter.
- Develop a system for paperwork. Immediately decide if you need to keep or throw away each piece of paper.
If you struggle with keeping paper clutter off your counters, the Simplicity Habit shares why you may be hanging on to counter clutter.
DAY 3: FRIDGE CLEAN OUT
- Take everything out of your refrigerator (Yes you need to do this here too!)
- Wipe down all of the shelves.
- Throw away old and expired food.
- Group similar foods together and utilize bins and baskets to organize your products.
DAY 4: COAT CLOSET
It is good to organize your coat and outwear area at the end of every season.
- Remove outwear you do not need for the current season.
- Wash and store out of season items elsewhere.
- Donate or trash items that no longer fit.
- Assess what items you might need for the next season including coats, boots and shoes.
DAY 6: JUNK DRAWER
Every house has a catch all drawer that stores all the junk! It is a good idea to go through this junk drawer every so often.
- Take everything out of the drawer.
- Decide what items need to go back in to the drawer and which things can be stored somewhere else.
- Utilize drawer organizers to keep things tidy.
DAY 6: MAKE UP AND TOILETRIES
Do you like to try new make up and skin products? How often do you check your toiletries to make sure things are not expired?
Take the time to go through your make up and toiletries and throw away old products. If you have a lot of duplicate products, consider donating unused toiletries.
PRO TIP: Create a overflow bin with all of your extra toiletries. Then when you run out of an item, check this bin before buying a new product!
DAY 7: TOY BIN
Before the holidays get here, you will want to go through your kids’ toys! You can start small with this declutter project by focusing on one or two toy bins. Or you can spend a little more time to declutter your child’s room or play space.
Here’s how to Declutter Toys in Under an Hour!
DAY 8: LAUNDRY ROOM
Whether or not you have a dedicated laundry room, you most likely have a spot near the washer and dryer where stuff accumulates!
- Remove all items that do not belong in the laundry room.
- Organize remaining items into bins and containers.
DAY 9: SHOES
Now it is time to tackle some of the clothing and accessories. Today, you will want to organize your shoes. If you have time, be sure to declutter your family’s shoe collections as well! This is a great opportunity to determine what shoes you might need for the next season.
If you have a hard time parting with shoes, you might try to sell your items to a local consignment or on Facebook Marketplace. It is nice to make some money on things you no longer need!
DAY 10: MASTER CLOSET
Are you ready to work on your own closet? Schedule enough time to tackle this project in one day!
- Take everything out of your closet.
- Sort items into Keep, Donate and Trash piles.
- TRY ON everything you plan to keep.
- Be honest with yourself. If you have not worn an item in a year, you will probably never wear it!
- Take note of the items in your closet that you love so that you make good clothing purchases in the future.
- Donate items right away.
- Sell clothing to consignment shops, on FB marketplace and Poshmark.
DAY 11: JEWELRY AND ACCESSORIES
One area of decluttering that tends to get overlooked is jewelry and accessories. Take stock of all of your purses, scarves, hats and jewelry. Let go of items you rarely use. Pick your absolute favorites and get rid of the rest of the items.
Put your jewelry on display so that you are more likely to wear it. In this post, I’ve shared some of my top jewelry and accessory organization ideas.
DAY 12: BOOKS AND MAGAZINES
Start with magazines and newspapers and go through those things you no longer want. If you have a hard time parting with magazines, really consider how often you look back at old issues. Read this post for what to do with old books and magazines.
Donate your books or pass them along to a friend.
DAY 13: HOME DECOR
Clutter accumulates all over the house including all the home decor you display. So before you start getting out that fall and holiday decor, you want to evaluate all of your current home accessories. You will be amazed that by taking away some home decor accents, your house immediately feels less cluttered.
Some ways to manage home decor clutter include:
- Reducing your use of decorative pillows
- Corral blankets into baskets
- Limit small home decor pieces on shelves and tables
- Take away 1-2 items from each shelf or coffee table
It is a matter of personal preference how much home decor you can handle in your house. However, keep in mind that home decor can be clutter too! And let’s face it, more home decor accents means more to dust and keep clean. So, think about keeping out less stuff.
DAY 14: LINENS AND TOWELS
The last day of the 14 Day Declutter Challenge is to work on your Linen and Towel organization! Get ready for holiday overnight guests by having a clean and organized linen closet. Take stock of your towels and make sure you have enough for any guests.
Get rid of old towels or use old ones for garage or house cleaning. Make sure you have a full set of towels for each member of your house.
Organize your bed linens together and throw away old sets.
Why is Decluttering So Difficult?
You put all this time into decluttering your home only for your home to get unorganized again a few months later. The reality is that we accumulate “stuff” all the time. Every time you bring something new into your home, you need to find a place for it to “live”.
Decluttering is so difficult because we have so much stuff! If you have a big family, every single person is bringing in more stuff to your home including paperwork, clothing and other goods. Therefore, decluttering is an ongoing process! This Declutter Challenge will help you get started!
What if I Do Not Have Time to Declutter?
There is a catch to decluttering. If you don’t declutter, you are spending more time cleaning and organizing your home. But, the reality is that it takes time and energy to declutter. So what should you do if you do not have a lot of time to declutter your home?
Break down the decluttering into smaller, manageable blocks of time! Two weeks might not be enough time for you to declutter and that is okay! Set a schedule that works for you!
You will find that once your home is decluttered, you will spend less time keeping it clean. So, keep the end result in mind when you start to declutter!
How Do I Start the 14 Day Declutter Challenge?
We are making this challenge so easy for you! Write down the 14 Day Decluttering Calendar and decide when you are going to get started! Follow me on Instagram from September 1st- September 14th to get motivation and tips on the Declutter Challenge.
Remember, you can start this two week declutter challenge at any time. You can take longer than two weeks to declutter if needed. However, you will want to finish this project before you start decorating for the fall and the holidays!
If you would like to Declutter Your Entire Home, you will want to start with the Ultimate Decluttering Guide available in The Shop!
You might also like these organization posts:
How to Declutter Toys in Under 1 Hour
30 Day Spring Cleaning Challenge
2021 Clear the Clutter Challenge
This is perfect! Looks like I missed the first day though!
we got started on instagram yesterday but you can still join!
I’m a little behind but definitely want to do this with you and Keri. With the summer basically behind us and the holidays ahead, I need to tidy up a bit around the house. Thanks for putting this together!
My family would tell you I have no problem at all decluttering.. my motto is usually I can always buy it again if I really miss it or need it (so I may hold onto big ticket items for a few weeks just to make sure no one notices they’re gone). This is a great and easy to tackle challenge. Though I think the only one I haven’t done recently is the coat closet. I typically do this later in fall as I’m pulling out and evaluating winter gear.