Your living room is the most clutter-prone area of your house. It’s where all your family members gather at the end of the day to relax, spend their downtime, talk and be entertained. It’s also the space where you entertain and serve your guests.
Given how busy a place it can be, living room attracts clutter way more quickly than any other area of the house. It basically attracts clutter from every other area of the house. You bring in food and snacks to eat from the kitchen to the living room. Kids may bring their toys to play with in the living room because it’s spacious. And it’s not uncommon for random items like books, reading glasses, backpacks, shoes and charging cords to find their way into the living room without you even realizing it.
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No matter how cluttered it is, your living room deserves to be an ideal relaxing sanctuary for you and your family. You don’t want the living room clutter to make you feel stressed after a tiring day at work.
Irrespective of how disorganized your living room is, it’s totally possible to turn it into a clutter-free zone if you somehow manage to include these simple tips in your decluttering routine:
1. Pick Items That Don’t Belong In The Living Room
Things like kids’ toys, shoes, backpack, books, glasses, snack jars, dishes and random items of stationery often end up lying around on the dining table or coffee table. These items can be a lot distracting for your family members or for people visiting over.
Pick a small basket and start doing a general pickup of the items lying on the living room floor, center table, coffee table and the dining table. Return these items to their rightful homes immediately. If possible, create a habit of spending 5 minutes every day to do a general pickup to avoid having to deal with too much at once.
2. Seek Help From Your Family
Your living room is the one area where your entire family gathers at the end of the day to spend their down time. It’s obvious that the clutter that resides there belongs to everyone in the family and it’s fair that you get all your family members to help you clear it. Asking your family to chip in will also get the job done faster.
3. Take Down The Excess Décor
Too much décor can be visually distracting and can make the walls and flat surfaces look overly cluttered. Sort through the décor items sitting on the flat surfaces of your living room and keep only the ones that you love seeing every day. Try not to keep more than a fruit bowl on your dining table and a vase on your coffee table. If possible, keep the center table free of any décor items while limiting the wall décor to 2 or 3 objects.
4. Declutter Your Entryway
A cluttered entryway can create a bad impression on the guests visiting your home, and hence it’s important to keep it decluttered at all times.
You can keep a little shoe rack in the entryway for your family members and guests to park their shoes nicely. Get a key holder installed to hang the house keys and car keys and make it a point not to throw the keys on the sofa or the couch.
5. Clear The Couch And The Sofa Set Of Random Items
Your living room sofa often ends up becoming a dumping ground for magazines, AC remote control, charging cables & cords and blankets. Make it a habit to spend at least 5 minutes every day in clearing the couch of random items of clutter. Wipe the surface of your sofa and the couch with a clean dry cloth and vacuum the hidden corners to make your living room look presentable at all times.
6. Get Rid Of Unused Items In The Living Room
If you haven’t realized it yet, clutter in your living room multiplies just as quickly as it does in your kitchen or the bedroom. Here’s a checklist of the items you can declutter from your living room right now:
- Charging cables and cords you no longer use or intend to use
- Candles or diffusers that you don’t love anymore
- Magazines and newspapers you’ve already read or don’t intend to read
- Any worn out or extra coasters on the coffee table
- Pillows that are torn, mismatched and the ones that you don’t love anymore
- Old and excess décor items
- Old mail
7. Organize The Items That Belong In The Living Room
Now that you’ve removed the items that don’t belong in your living room, it’s time to organize the items that do. Things like television remote control, pillows, décor items, newspapers, magazines, CDs and DVDs are supposed to stay in the living room but if left unorganized, they can kill the entire vibe of it.
Keep a small basket in your living room to toss random items like remote controls, charging cables and that book you are currently reading. You can get a magazine rack to arrange newspapers & magazines and a mail holder for any incoming mail. If possible, put together storage to hide clutter. A storage footrest, an entryway bench with a storage section or just a little cabinet to keep extra items like puzzles, kids’ toys and games can help you hide the clutter when you are expecting guests.
Also, create a habit of returning the blankets back to the bedroom 15 minutes before you go to sleep. Ask your kids to return their toys and games back to their room after they are done playing with them.
So there you are! Although these living room decluttering tips can serve as the perfect guidelines, you must invite your family to help you in the process. Ask your kids to lend a hand wherever possible. Tell your spouse to not let their stuff settle in and keep it where it belongs. With the joint efforts of your family and using the tips stated above, you can easily conquer the living room clutter in no time.