{"id":19187,"date":"2026-03-11T07:16:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T07:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/every-decluttering-tip-you-need-to-clean-out-your-house-right-now\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:07:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:07:22","slug":"every-decluttering-tip-you-need-to-clean-out-your-house-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/every-decluttering-tip-you-need-to-clean-out-your-house-right-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Every Decluttering Tip You Need to Clean Out Your House Right Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sheltering at home can be stressful, but it also provides lots of time and opportunity for home projects you’ve been putting off. To help you, we’ve created a collection of all the best, expert-approved decluttering tips on Guideposts.org<\/em>.<\/p>\n

1. Start small<\/h3>\n

Guideposts <\/em>blogger Holly Lebowitz Rossi recommends starting your clutter clearing<\/a> with a small task. She calls it a “rearranging project.”<\/p>\n

“A rearranging project is something that can be done in 15 minutes or less, and it will leave a single corner, surface, drawer or shelf in your home looking noticeably clean and orderly,” Rossi writes.<\/p>\n

Read more of Rossi’s advice on how to start decluttering your home. <\/a><\/p>\n

2. Follow the 60 percent rule<\/h3>\n

Because cleaning can be so overwhelming, decluttering expert Kathi Lipp created the 60 percent rule<\/a>. This rule suggests that you’re allowed to take a cleaning break, when you’ve gotten rid of 60 percent of the clutter. Lipp says this will help you avoid burnout and leave mental energy for you to move on to other spaces.<\/p>\n

Read Lipp’s tips for decluttering every room in your house. <\/a><\/p>\n

3. Donate your giveaway pile<\/h3>\n

Joshua Becker, author of The Minimalist Home<\/em>, says one simple way to keep yourself motivated is to not <\/em>try to selling the things you’re decluttering<\/a>. \u201cTrying to sell everything you\u2019re getting rid of just adds time, stress and usually frustration to the process,\u201d Becker says. <\/p>\n

As an alternative, he recommends donating your cast offs instead. \u201cYou can’t change the past, you can only learn from it,\u201d Becker says. \u201cJust because you made a mistake by buying things that you’re not using doesn’t mean you have to carry [them] into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you can’t donate immediately, at least take the time to label and pack up your donation boxes, so you can take them as soon as you are able.<\/p>\n

Read six more decluttering tips from Becker. <\/a><\/p>\n

4. Use the container concept<\/h3>\n

Dana K. White is a decluttering expert<\/a> whose life changed when she gave up organizing and started getting rid of things instead.<\/p>\n

One of her secrets to clearing out a space is called the container concept. This simple idea states that the size of your storage spaces determines how many items you can keep.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can have as many socks as will fit in your sock drawer,\u201d White says. \u201cLet that be the deciding factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read White’s tips for cleaning out your closet in seven simple steps.<\/a><\/p>\n

5. Think about what clothes you actually wear<\/h3>\n

When clearing out closets, Colleen Ashe, the founder of Ashe Organizing Solutions, suggests remembering that most people wear 20 percent of their clothing 80 percent of the time. That means most of us can get rid of a lot of clothing. <\/a><\/p>\n

“If you haven\u2019t worn it in over a year\u2014maybe it has a stain, maybe it is missing a button or maybe you never liked the color\u2014it\u2019s probably time to give it away,” Ashe says.<\/p>\n

Read more of Ashe’s tips for decluttering your bedroom for a better night’s sleep. <\/a><\/p>\n

6. Ask one question<\/h3>\n

Happiness expert Gretchen Rubin recognizes that decluttering<\/a> can cause decision fatigue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think you can avoid the decision fatigue,\u201d Rubin says. \u201cBut you can manage it.\u201d<\/p>\n

To help her make hard decisions, Rubin asks one question to determine whether or not she keeps an item: “Does it energize me?”<\/p>\n

Read Rubin’s six practical decluttering tips.<\/a><\/p>\n

7. Consolidate<\/h3>\n

Another one of Dana K. White’s tips<\/a> is to get rid of any duplicate items.<\/p>\n

\u201cPut ‘like’ things together,\u201d White says. Doing this will allow you to see how many of each item you own. Then, using the container concept, figure out how many of that item will fit in your space and keep only that number.<\/p>\n

Read White’s five tips to declutter your kitchen.<\/a><\/p>\n

8. Organize by category\u2014not location<\/h3>\n

Marie Kondo, star of the Netflix show <\/a>Tidying Up with Marie Kondo<\/a>, <\/em>says most people mistakenly declutter by room instead of by the category of an item.<\/p>\n

Instead of organizing your bedroom and then your front hall closet, Kondo\u2019s method prescribes a specific way to go through your belongings:<\/p>\n