How To Declutter Your Bedroom!
I vividly remember during 2017 or 2018, when I’d finally had enough of my bedroom. It was messy, filled with stuff I didn’t need and was still resembling a ‘child-like’ set-up. It was a Sunday morning, and I quite literally remember throwing everything of mine onto the ground, sweeping everything off of my tables using my arms, and spending the entire day reorganizing my bedroom.
If I’m being honest, I think that was the first moment when I decided to change my life and my entire lifestyle.
Now, while I definitely got the job done, and started my delve into years of learning organisational and time efficiency skills, the way I did it definitely wasn’t the ideal way to have done it.
And therefore, this blog post!
In this blog post, I am going to be telling you the best way to declutter and clean up your bedroom once and for all! It doesn’t matter if you’re still in primary school, a teen in high school like me, or an adult potentially looking after children of your own, these strategies are perfect for everyone!
So, I hope you enjoy!
BASIC RULES TO REMEMBER WHEN DECLUTTERING YOUR BEDROOM:
Create A Clear Vision:
When I think of a massive declutter, I think about the reinvention of your entire space. Before I first decluttered my room a couple years ago, I had the placement all planned out. I drew it down on a piece of paper and knew exactly what I wanted for my bedroom. While this doesn’t mean you have to completely change everything in order to declutter your bedroom, you really need to think about how you want your bedroom to look, feel and work. Take a few minutes to look around your room and become really clear with what you want for it. Do you want a place to work, live and relax, or purely a location to go to sleep at night. These factors will easily alter how you declutter based on how you plan to use your bedroom.
Break It Down:
Once you’ve created a clear vision of what you want your bedroom to look like, whether it’s empty and chic, or filled with memories and mementos of joy, it’s time to break down how you’re going to declutter your bedroom.
It honestly depends on the person. Are you willing and/or have the time to do it all at once? OR would you like to spend 30 minutes a day over the next few weeks decluttering your room? Where would you like to dedicate the most time to? Making it look better visually? Or really getting into the nitty gritty of your clothes drawers and contents of your bedroom?
For most of us, we don’t have the time to dedicate an entire day to cleaning, so in my opinion, start SMALL. Focus on a single area, complete it entirely, finish it, and stop. No half-assing.
(I’ll be going through the aspects of your room in more detail in the next section!)
Sort Everything Into 3 Piles:
One of the best methods to use when decluttering anything is the 3-box method. This method is used to help you decide what you’re going to keep, what you’re going to get rid of, and what you’re going to put into storage. It is a super efficient way to break down anything, whether it is clothes, toys, games, jewelry or just random everyday items! As for the ‘get rid of’ pile, this is often broken down even further into donate, throw away, and sell piles. By the end of your decluttering journey, I can assure you that your wardrobe will be at least half the capacity it was to begin with!
Only Keep The Essentials:
For your bedroom, it's recommended that you keep the bare minimum of items, only allowing yourself to keep what you need. This does not, in any way, mean purging your room of all your memories and items. All it means is that if you don’t need/actively want it right now, find a new place for it, whether it be in another part of your house, or in storage. Ideally, you want your bedroom to be a restful, relaxing environment. So anything that may negatively impact that is probably best gotten rid of.
Get Rid Of Any Broken/Unused Items:
An easy way to clear a lot of space when it comes to decluttering your bedroom is getting rid of any and all broken/unused items. Forget ‘well, I may need it in the future.’ If you haven’t used it for more than 6 months (even if you keep saying you’re going to get around to it), it's gotta go.
ORDER OF DECLUTTERING:
Start With Your Bed:
When it comes to sorting out your bedroom, your bed is the first thing you want to start with, rather than anything else. Your bed usually takes up the most space and is the most noticeable aspect of your bedroom. So, anything around your bed, on your bed, or stored under your bed needs to be gone through. Sort everything into 3 piles, and then organise anything left over before putting it back. Things like decor pillows, blanket throws or layering sheets are usually not needed on your bed, so they can be removed and stored away. It’s also important that your bed is made and organised so you can use its surface as an organising space.
Clear All The Surface Clutter:
The next part of cleaning up your room is clearing up the surface clutter. Once you’ve done this, I can assure you that your room will look entirely clean and good as new, but this is only the outside of an inside problem.
If you have any surfaces in your bedroom, such as on top of your bedside table, tallboy, dressing table, chairs or desk, this is the first place you are going to start. First, you want to take everything off of these surfaces (I would do them one by one) and then you want to sort everything into the three piles I’ve talked about above; keep, get rid of, and put into storage. Make sure you get rid of anything you don’t use or love, aiming to keep the least amount possible (only the essentials!) Once you’ve gone through everything, wipe down the surface to make it all nice and clean, and put back everything remaining. Repeat this until you’ve finished all the surfaces in your bedroom, including the floor.
Declutter Your Wardrobe/Closet:
Once you’ve finished cleaning and organizing the surface of your bedroom, now it’s time to delve into the deep. It is now time to tackle your wardrobe. This part is often one of the hardest since many of us create a connection with our clothing, no matter whether we actually wear them or not. For this, you want to follow the same 3-pile rule, and be as ruthless as you possibly can.
As well as your wardrobe/closet, you also want to go through your chest of drawers. For anyone who wants to take their time, this part of the process is ideal since you can tackle one drawer at a time, everyday until they’re all completed. By breaking down this task into smaller projects, this will help you avoid feeling overwhelmed by the amount of clothes you have.
Once you go through all of your clothing, and choose what you want to keep, get rid of and put away, think about the way you want to put them back into the drawers/closet, so everything has a place and can be easily retrieved. For me, that meant applying the Marie Kondo folding method to my drawers. However, everyone has their own preference.
Clean Your Bedside Table:
If your bedside table is covered in, and filled with clutter, then it is time to go through it! Like your desk, I find it best to keep the least amount of items possible on your bedside table. While a couple decor-style items are okay, ideally you only want to keep necessary items on it such as an alarm clock, your phone, a lamp and a glass of water.
Tidy Your Desk:
I don’t know about you, but in my opinion, I find it most efficient to have my desk in my bedroom. I do this since my bedroom is an isolated, quiet and peaceful location for me to relax and complete my schoolwork in the mornings. Decluttering your desk is super important as it needs to be clean and neat in order to focus and complete your school work to your best ability. So for decluttering it, I recommend keeping the least amount of items on your desk as possible! A planner, a couple of books and some writing supplies are all you really need. As soon as you place any distractions on your desk, it immediately ruins your focus. So, when going about decluttering your desk, make sure to spend some time going through your it and making sure you have everything you need.
Pack Up Out-Of-Season Clothes:
As I’ve gone through before, you want to keep everything in your room to a minimum. Anything you don’t need right now, can be packed away until you need it. This also applies to seasonal clothing. If it’s Summer, get rid of any winter clothing or layers that you won’t need for another 6 months. While it may seem like a hassle to store away just to bring back later on, it will make your bedroom, as well as your mind, feel so much more comfortable, relaxed and chill.
Remove Unnecessary Furniture:
In order to make your room look as decluttered as possible, consider removing any unnecessary or unused furniture that may take up space. This could include couches, chairs, ottomans, tables, plants, mirrors and more. Take a look at your room and see if there is anything that you don’t need. If you find something, consider removing it from the equation. Freeing up floor space will immediately make your room feel so much bigger and more spacious.
HOW TO KEEP YOUR ROOM CONSISTENTLY CLEAN:
Make Your Bed:
Making your bed each morning does not take much time or effort, but makes so much of a difference in your bedroom! Not only does it look so much better visually, but it will make you feel so much better going to bed at night! I’d compare the feeling to getting into a freshly made bed at a hotel. You also cannot forget to consistently have your bedsheets and pillow cases cleaned, about once a week ideally.
Reset Your Room Daily:
Another positive habit that will help you keep your room consistently clean is resetting your room every day. By this, I mean that you spend a few minutes every morning or evening cleaning up any mess you’ve made, allowing you to wake up in the morning with a clean and tidy room. This is the alternative to spending hours every week cleaning, or just allowing the mess to consume your bedroom once again! For me, I’ll usually just spend about 3 minute every morning, folding up clothes I didn’t put away, wiping down dusty surfaces and removing any glasses from my bedroom.
Find A Place For Everything:
Something my mum always used to say to me growing up was that there should always be a place for everything, a home for it to live. When clutter builds up in your bedroom, or around the house, it is often because it does not have a set home and is moved around until it ends up cluttering surfaces and all over the floor. Once your room is newly cleaned, organised and decluttered, stop using it as a dumping ground and make sure you find a place for everything!
The Bottom Line:
While the idea of cleaning really sucks sometimes, the results you receive from it are completely life-changing!
As a teen, I’ll admit I spend A LOT of my spare time in my bedroom, since it’s quiet and uninterrupted for my study. But cleaning your room completely changes the vibe, and makes you feel happier overall! Not to mention it gets your parents to be quiet about it.
Thank you so much for reading today's blog post! I hope you enjoyed it! Can’t wait to see you next time!
Mia Xx
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Hi, I’m Mia!
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