Between travel, house guests and days off of work and school, the end of the year can take a toll on your daily routine, leaving your home a hot mess. January is the perfect time to organize yourself and your home, and make sure you start the new year off right. To help you figure out how to declutter your space, we’ve pulled together some tips for organizing three of the most commonly cluttered areas of the home.
How To Declutter The Entryway
Your entryway should be a place where you can step in and decompress from the day. Who wants to walk in the door and be faced with utter chaos? First step on how to declutter the entryway: Tidy up any shoes and bags that you don’t use everyday (do you really need 8 pairs of black boots sitting by the door?) and keep only the daily essentials handy.
The best way to reduce clutter in this high traffic area is to make sure everything has a home. A tray can help corral keys and mail while a bench with wall mounted hooks is perfect for bags and coats. Bonus points if your bench has space for stylish bins and baskets underneath! Hiding clutter is just as good as de-cluttering in our book.
How To Declutter The Coffee Table
Coffee tables tend to be the universal dumping ground for magazines, catalogs, remote controls, left over mugs, iPads… the list goes on. As one of the central focal points of your living room, it deserves better! Go through your magazines and catalogs and recycle anything older than 3 months—Trust us, you won’t miss them. Clear out any items that don’t live on the coffee table and keep only the essentials: remotes, a few magazines or coffee table books, coasters and decorative objects.
A tray (notice a trend yet?) is an ideal tool for reducing the visual clutter on your coffee table. Keeping your coffee table items in a single tray rather than spread across the table instantly makes the space look neater. Decorative boxes are also a great option if you’d like to hide the remotes.
How To Declutter Your Desk
Are you drowning in a sea of paperwork, folders and other desk detritus? It’s high time you get to see the surface of your desk again. Want to learn a magic trick on how to declutter this crazy space? Completely empty your desk drawers and clear your desktop, then put everything in a box. Go about your business as usual. The idea is if you need something, you’ll get it out of the box and put it back. Anything left in that box after a few days, you can probably toss!
Keeping your desk uncluttered means finding some inspiration to put things away. Chic desk accessories are a good start—The more you love the way your desk looks, the more inspired you’ll feel to keep it nice and clean. Pretty file folders are also great motivation for actually filing away your paperwork (no more manila!).
Shop These Decluttering Finds
Remember: The key to living an organized life is making sure everything has a home. Need some gear to help you establish your newly decluttered space? We’ve got you covered.
Looking for help with a whole new look now that you’ve decluttered? Work with a Havenly designer & get a unique space designed just for you.