Are you a procrastinator looking for some motivation to declutter your home?
Do you find yourself overwhelmed by the idea of decluttering because of how time-consuming it can be?
If you’re looking for a push to start cleaning your messy house and if you love challenges, then you’re at the right place.
This 7 Day Declutter Challenge is for you if you’re tired of living in a cluttered house but can’t bring yourself to pick up your decluttering tools. Now this challenge might seem overwhelming because no one has an entire week to spare just for cleaning the house. Many people who start a 7-Day Declutter Challenge don’t go beyond the first 3 or 4 days because of the tiredness that sets in. But here’s something that they fail to understand. If you’re taking up this challenge with the thought that you’ll have to spend the entire week just decluttering your house, then you’re getting it wrong.
This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures.
What’s A 7 Day Declutter Challenge?
The 7-Day Declutter Challenge requires you to devote little time, maybe an hour or two, every day for a week. It aims to maximize the little time you have to create a maximum impact on your home. But if you want to go deep into the layers rather than just decluttering the topmost surfaces, then you might need a little more than an hour. It totally depends on you to decide how big a decluttering project you want to take up each day.
This challenge will help you get into the rhythm of decluttering even after the week has ended. And you’ll definitely want to do it again after a few months after seeing the results. You can start on any day of the week but make sure you mark everything on the calendar to ensure that you’re running on schedule.
So, if you’ve made up your mind to finally take this challenge, let’s start with the day-wise list of tasks to accomplish:
Day 1: The Living Room
It makes sense to start the 7 day declutter challenge with your living room because it’s where your family spends the most time and it’s the first sight for anyone entering your home. Given how important it is to have a calm living space, you might need to spare a little more than an hour to fully bid goodbye to the living room clutter.
- Grab a basket and take a tour of your living room. Pick up anything that’s lying out of place –books, snack jars, Knick-knacks, kids’ toys, extra linen, clothes, utensils and such. You can either put these items back to where they belong or keep them aside to be dealt with later.
- Take down the décor that doesn’t go with the style of your home along with any excessive decorative items. Make sure that you keep only the ones you love to see on a daily basis.
- Keep a pretty little basket somewhere in the living room to toss in daily-use items like remote controls and cellphone chargers.
- Clear off the clutter on top of the coffee table and the center table. Pick up the old magazines and newspapers, physical mail and catalogs and put them in their rightful places.
Day 2: The Bedroom
I can’t talk enough about the importance of getting rid of the bedroom clutter as it’s the space where you relax in after the end of the day. You can’t hope to get a good night sleep in your bedroom if it’s stuffed with clutter.
Before you start decluttering your bedroom, make sure that you bring in three boxes to sort your stuff for Donation, Selling and Trashing.
- Clear off the clutter sitting on your nightstand and the bedside table. Get rid of anything that doesn’t belong there and allow only a couple of items, maybe a book and a bottle of water.
- Make your bed and take away the clothes lying on the chair. Get rid of any random stuff lying on the floor or on the bed and return them to their rightful places.
- Open your closet and start sorting through the clothing. Organize your clothes using closet organizers, hangers and hooks if needed. If you have time to take up a complete closet declutter, here’s a detailed post that can help.
- Sort through your shoes and keep only the ones that you love and wear on a regular basis. Get rid of the ones that don’t go with your style or are torn/damaged.
- Gather all your accessories in one place and look through them for the ones that you love. Donate or give away anything that you haven’t worn in a long time and keep only the ones that make you feel good.
Day 3: The Kitchen
Decluttering your kitchen can be a bit challenging because of the many cabinets, drawers and utensils that you need to sort through. But it’s important to declutter your kitchen more than any other room of the house because it’s the place where you cook for yourself and your family. A clutter-free kitchen makes for a healthy and hygienic family life and can have a big impact on how your home looks.
- Look through the appliances cabinet and set aside the items that you haven’t used in the last one year or so. You can either donate or pass away these items to someone who can make them useful. Look for appliances that are broken and the ones with missing parts and see what you can do about them. Is it possible to get them repaired? Are the missing parts available in the market? If no, get rid of them right away.
- Clear off the countertops as a cluttered countertop can make your kitchen look messier than it is. Aim for a clean line of sight and put away anything that doesn’t belong there. Keep countertop décor to the minimum.
- Sift through the pantry items and throw away any spices and eatables that are past their expiry date. Get rid of the items that smell a bit off and use stackable containers and jars or a spice rack organizer to keep your pantry organized.
Day 4: The Bathrooms
Bathroom is most likely the easiest room to declutter (if you’re not taking into consideration the cleaning part). As someone who is compulsive about a clean bathroom, I prefer calling in professional cleaners every week for getting my bathroom deep cleansed. Decluttering is what I do on my own.
- Look through your makeup, skincare and haircare products and get rid of anything that’s past its prime. Use a makeup organizer to store your products in an organized manner.
- Sort through the bathroom drawers and cabinets and get rid of expired medicines, empty packets of sanitary napkins and broken cleaning supplies.
- Clear the countertops of anything that doesn’t belong there. Make sure that you keep only a toothbrush holder and a soap dispenser on the counter while keeping the rest of the items in the drawers and cabinets.
Day 5: The Home Office
Home office is where you spend most of your time while at home and therefore, it’s important to keep it clutter-free. Home office being the place that houses most of the paper clutter in your house, it’s important that you have a proper system in place to dispose it off.
- Sort through your mails and get rid of any junk mail on an immediate basis. Open the mails that you haven’t yet, and keep them organized in the filing cabinet or put them in the shredder right away. Also go through your filing cabinet and shred away the old unimportant documents while keeping the rest of the paperwork nicely organized.
- Sift through the stationery items lying in the drawers and get rid of the broken paper clips, pens and pencils.
- Clear off the clutter on top of your work desk and put away the things that don’t belong there. Your desk is where you work on and it’s important to keep it free of visual clutter or items that can be distracting.
- Get rid of any old magazines, receipts, planners, business cards, notes, reminders and old calendars.
Day 6: The Kids’ Room
Kids room can be the most challenging place to declutter. You may find yourself surprised by all the things that your kids might have been holding on to. Make sure that you invite your kids in before you start decluttering their room.
- Throw away the broken toys and those with missing pieces. Since you can’t donate these toys, it’s best if you throw them away or call in a waste management company to take them away.
- Look for toys that your kids haven’t played with in the last few months. Make your kids donate these toys to someone who will be able to play with them.
- Donate clothes and shoes that no longer fit your kids. Get rid of the torn or stained clothes and the ones your kids don’t like anymore.
- Dispose of the old schoolwork and artwork. Look through the stationery drawer and get rid of the broken crayons, broken pencil boxes and old markers.
Day 7: The Garage
You might have to seek help from a family member or a friend to declutter this part of the house because it can have more clutter than you can imagine.
- Go through your athletic gear and look for things that you haven’t used in years. There may be a cricket bat or a hockey stick or items that you no longer play with. You can either donate them or put them up for a yard sale.
- Look through the gardening tools and yard equipment. Get rid of the duplicates if any. Get the broken items repaired as soon as possible or get rid of them if they are beyond repair.
- Go through the random items you might have dumped here. There might be old boxes, tools and things that you have no intention to use. They can either be donated, sold or trashed.
Now that you know everything about the 7 Day Declutter Challenge, it’s time to pick up those decluttering tools and get going. Also, make sure that you deal with the decluttered items at the end of each day or you’ll have to deal with them all at once at the end of the week.
The mere idea of taking up this challenge can be a bit challenging but it will feel like a game once you’ve built the momentum.
Have you taken this 7 day declutter challenge yet? How did it turn out?