Books piled up high in the corner, kids artwork filling up drawers, linen cupboard door hard to close, skincare that is a few years old, toys galore on the living room floor or more shoes than you really need… does this sound familiar? We all take pride in our home, but at times it can all get too much. Perhaps you have a baby and are struggling to create a new routine, you’re working full time, you’re wanting to spend time with family rather than cleaning, you’re not feeling yourself, lacking energy, you’re a hoarder… or maybe you are just overwhelmed with everyday life.
The clutter around us can have a negative impact on our ability to focus. Perhaps you could be keeping things just for the sake of keeping them. However, by clearing the clutter from your home, it can help you feel clearer, mentally as well.
1st step to decluttering is creating goals for yourself. This will help you work out where you want to start, what you want to achieve. But I know that it’s hard to do this by yourself. I’m here to help you.
I am bringing back my famous Declutter 52 Things in 52 Weeks Challenge. Each week I will give you 1 thing the declutter. This thing may be the area under the kitchen sink, magazines you may have been collecting, or kids artwork you’re having trouble parting with. Let’s just say you may have a huge pile of kids artwork, your weekly 1 thing task would be to go through the entire pile and declutter as much as you can. So you may be able to purge 20 pieces of artwork, it’s not limited to 1!
The Declutter 52 things in 52 Week Challenge is completely FREE!! I will publish a new task on the blog each Wednesday. Task 1 starts the first week of 2019, Wednesday 2nd January. Register below!
Register for the 52 week declutter challenge, decluttering 1 thing or group of things from your home each week. I’ll send you a link to your inbox each week sending you to the latest task. Plus you’ll also receive a copy of this print “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful – William Morris”, and a bonus ‘Create your organising goals’ printable too!!
Declutter 52 things in 52 Week Challenge Rules
- Register that you will be joining the challenge by entering your details above + you’ll also receive a FREE PRINT!!
- De-clutter = purge = throw away, give to charity/friend, find a better purpose for. But do not keep if you don’t believe it to be useful to you in the next 12 months.
- 1 thing = groups of the ‘thing’ ie. 1 thing is to declutter linen cupboard = this could be 5 towels + 2 sheet sets + 3 blankets
- Please share, it also inspires others!! Share a photo of your space each week on instagram using #declutter52 and tag @theorganisedhousewife
- Comment below, let me know you’re joining along!!
593 comments
Children’s toys and art work
I’m sentimental so I keep everything! My children’s artwork and old clothes I find especially difficult to let go of!
Two children and one room…. I need some ideas for storage and declutter…. It’s hard to let things go, especially memories.
Nicola. I keep the good artwork. But have a frame of photos of their artwork.
1. My wardrobe
2. My kitchen cupboards
This is my big issue too I probably have stuff in kitchen and wardrobe I haven’t used for 3 years +
We’re building a new house with space for our 6 kids and I’m determined to move in with no clutter! We’re renting in the meantime.. until we can move in next year… perfect opportunity to get sorted!
I saw an idea on another page for children’s artwork. They scanned each item then did a photo book for each child each year. Keeps nice and neatly. I wish this process had been aroun 30 years ago for my children’s artwork.
ooh yes thats a lovely idea too, could end up a bit expensive but definitely a way to easily keep everything!
My whole house needs a good going over, but perhaps the most frustrating area is my own master bedroom – The dumping ground for things that don’t have a home and piles of ironing and clothes to sort and repair.
@Sandi,
Exactly the same. I clear the whole floor, tell myself i’m going to keep it like this, but within a week it’s back to square one. And it annoys the hell out of me.
That’s my problem too!
The master bedroom for us is the dumping ground for everything. I’m a teacher and I lost my office space at home after baby 2 as we needed the bedroom and since then, it’s just a mess all the time. It’s the last place on the list to get done, so it’s hardly ever done. Yay, I’m not alone!!
Yes! I agree. I have the same problem with my master bedroom. Always tons of laundry, mail, kids artwork and notes for mommy and daddy! But my first spot will probably the kids room. I actually have them on My to do list for tomorrow. Promising myself to throw away at least one bag of “stuff!”
I can relate with the master room being the dumping ground!
I need to declutter my whole house. I would like to move within the next two years and don’t want to drag all the clutter with me.
Yes!! I feel the same. Our bedroom is always last on the list, and is a big dumping ground. My husband is paranoid about anyone going in there and it is not a haven, its horrible. I want it to be a haven!!
Yes!! Me too
I am in the same boat there Sandi!
Hi Katrina,
I have gone through my shoes (after an ankle injury) and have donated shoes that no longer work – high heels, cheap flats with no arch support. I have recognised I need to look after my feet more than what I have been. I have gone through some of my clothes, admittedly not all of them.
I still need to go through: crockery, glassware, makeup, towels, linen – bedsheets, blankets, towels and store those better than i currently am.
We have just got a new bed and bedframe with drawers – we haven’t yet used the doors. I am still searching for inspiration to use the space better. Electrical cables, usb cables, HDMI Cables etc its like a giant spaghetti monster in a series of plastic tubs! Looking for inspiration to organise that also.
Love your work Katrina! Looking forward to the decluttering journey
I need to declutter my whole house as I plan to downsize in two years and have way tooo much lol
I have kept a lot of things in case I might need them. For the majority I haven’t used them or touched them in years. I need to be honest to myself and get rid of them.
Carmel, I don’t know if this helps, but I read somewhere that if you haven’t used something and you can replace it easily for less than $20 ypu should let it go.
Kids rooms and office
We need to focus on decluttering things and spaces the kids grew out of years ago. But I think we’d rather sell stuff than chuck it all out. So much that’s still in perfect shape. Furniture, clothing etc. And still the little voice that says ‘but just in case’ and ‘what if sometime else in the family needs this one day?’.
I need to get other people’s stuff out of my home and shed
Haven’t done a tax return for 5 years really think my paper work needs help
Oh god, yes the paperwork! I’m in the same boat….
My whole house. Things that might come in handy. Clothing, kids artwork, making the time to actually do it!
Emma, I have trouble finding the time to declutter as well but the two strategies that seem to work for me is to just choose one thing to declutter eg a drawer and just do that; and to quickly go through the house with a bag and collect things that I’ve been meaning to get rid of.
The entire house.. I have been hiding everything and not sorting and organising.. really need to get rid of stuff from all rooms including kitchen
Baby clothes and toys. My clothes and unused bags. Knick knacks, pyjamas and nighties. Books. Absolutely everything hahaha. I feel stifled by stuff.
Boxes of bits and pieces, craft stuff, blankets
I keep everything. I’ve done a clean up but still have a long way to go. X
Delighted to be joining this much needed group!!! X
I need to declutter
Paper work and photos put in order
My entire house needs decluttering – we’ve been thinking about it for years – the time has come! Our dis-used lounge room has become a dumping zone! The store room is a nightmare – along with the linen cupboard -cant walk in as there is stuff dumped in the middle of the room! The kids have all left school now so its time to purge & look at ways of re-organising rooms & storing things. I have started & I’m going to have to change my ways/mindset to keep on top of what I want to achieve!
My aim for the next 12 months is to declutter my sewing cupboard, pantry(big big job) and cupboard in the laundry that I keep a lot of excess china(2 dinner sets) White patters, BBQ stuff etc.
I would like to declutter paper, Bills, payslips etc. What do I keep and how long for???
Paperwork for sure and my under the stairs dumping ground.
Books
Linen
Bench top/Coffe table clutter
Paperwork and whole house
Paperwork and books
My office is disgusting- which is also my laundry
This is exactly like me I am working full time at college and my office is a laundry room never seem to get to the bottom of my clean clothes as n aww the children make more before I have sorted it
Our paperwork and we have an other child now so need more space
My office and cupboards that looks tidy but has boxes of stuff
Sign me up…. I’m in!!!
I did this a few years ago and found it very helpful. Need to move on a couple of years ago let’s get prepared!!!
Boy bedroom! And all the little things that kids bring home from school/acquire from outings/collect!!
Office, kids toys, kitchen bench, cleaning products.
My office and linen cupboard
My office
My study/office. Piles of paperwork and ‘to do’ jobs. Need a good software program to track finances too.
Need to declutter the Kitchen and roller bins with kids past school items
Office clutter!
My ornaments/Knick knacks. I have owls, I have candles. Too much!
Joining!
I have boxes to unpack when we moved into our house in February ?
My biggest issue is keeping things that may come in handy!
Paperwork, linen cupboard and clothes.
Toys, artwork, linen cupboard, under the bathroom sink and kitchen sink and our wardrobe! So stuffed full of unorganised clothes!
The washing & kitchen
My kitchen in general. My draws and cupboards are full and I have no idea what is in half of them.
Children’s school work, I tend to keep everything!
Kids Bedrooms
Wardrobr, linee, office/sewing room and basement
Filing cabinet, cupboards, under the sink in the bathroom… so many things, so little time!!
Cook Books
Kids toys/clothes
Linen
Kitchenware
DVDs
We have a ‘study’ which is pretty much a junk room.
Magazines
Sounds like my house too!
Personal keepsakes following end of 21 yr marriage January 2018. Ready to clear out and move on ?
I hear you with this one. Now that my marriage has ended, what on earth do I do with all this sentimental crap I kept? Haha, who knows!
Kids clothes
My whole house, moving next year so have accumulated 18 years of clutter!
Teacher here and the amount of paperwork in my study needs to be brutal. Other paperwork as well as I find it piles up…
My spare room ‘housing’ combined study / files / sewing / library / record player and records / play area when grandchildren (7 & 5) visit sometimes as I tend to visit them now – ahhh!! I don’t like going in there 🙁
Paperwork, even though most bills are emailed I seem to have so much paper!
What do I need to keep and for how long?
Bookshelves
Kids toys, books and everyday stuff that has no purpose
So many things! Mostly paper type stuff–mail, magazines–but even in my kitchen. I just want to have things clean…and that seems to last about a day. It’s frustrating, so then I give up until I can’t stand it anymore. If there’s a surface? It’s got something on it. We’re not pack rats, per se, but we are definitely people who “stack” mess to make it appear less messy. HELP!
My entire house, car garage and life! Does this also include balancing my checkbook???
Hi, l have received your daily nwsletter for sometime now. I think l have registered for this 52 week declutter challenge. I am not certain though. I need to declutter all through my home but the home office needs it most.
My name is Sandra Roe and l live in Whyalla, in South Australia. If l did not register for this challenge. Please advise. Thankyou. Sandra Roe.
[email protected]
Everything my place is a mess still waiting for bookshelves to go up when we find room for them need to get things tidy again
I dont throw anything out. My house stresses me now so i need to sort everything, everywhere.
Joining, whole house needs to declutter and make it easier to manage weekly tasks
Books, linen and plastic food containers.
Things lurking in the cupboards. We’re have another baby, I need to purge crap out of our house to make room and get it’s room sorted.
The shed… Old toys, old books, house building leftovers – tiles, carpet, paint – tools, nuts and bolts, gardening equipment, plus all the stuff that doesn’t ‘go’ in the house!
I registered to join in!
This is perfect for me! I already started this month decluttering/organizing my storage room and giving away some of the baby clothes.
I have a hard time letting go of some things but I don’t want the unnecessary extra stuff cluttering my home making it hard to clean and organize.
I’m not a naturally organized and tidy person so the less I have the easier it is for me!
I desperately need to declutter the kid artwork and toys!
Happy New Year!
Children’s clothes and toys!!! I feel so bad throwing away toys that are gifted to the them but need to be realistic that they have out grown them too!
Joined! Sentimental items – from family, children’s “creations”, cards.
Digital photo storage and backups – I’m hesitant to use the Cloud etc is it secure enough?
Study/spare room – a variety of things we use that don’t have a “home”
Bedrooms and “that” draw – you know the one in the kitchen that just has everything added to it … 🙂
My inherited knick knacks and collectables. My linen-appliance-medicine cupboard. The kids playroom
Office clutter and garage
Office – stationery, leads and computer gear in cupboards…such a mess!
I want to organise the kids school photos and reports so they are all together in a folder/presentation book etc.
Bookshelves, baby clothes in attic, bags of stuff I ‘inherited’ when my grandparents downsized…
I have to look at my wardrobe but also the boys wardrobes, study but more so the paperwork/filling I find that space so hard and pile it up and close the door!
Paperwork in my office. It is my hot spot for sure. My attic is cleaned out, my closets and drawers also. Now if I can accomplish the office it would be wonderful!
My laundry room!
Pretty much my whole life!
Linen cupboard
Kids thing (6 & 8 yo girls) stuff going back from birth ( clothes, blankets, gifts, jewellery,) to now (school stuff, uniforms so that they can be self sufficient in the mornings, school bags, hair ties, the list goes on…….)
Paperwork and unused craft supplies mainly, but the rest of the house could use a going over too.
Study/laundry = dumping ground
Everything! I’ve been trying to de clutter for months and it’s still feeling cluttered.
Spare bedroom (catch all room) and garage.
My whole house lol
Ditto – I did actually manage to do my linen closest last year!… although all that stuff I ditched went to the shed ??????
Joining the Challenge…..
Walk in Pantry – stuff put in there instead of on the bench….
Filing draw – paper work just chucked in…
Garage – sorting out things that don’t have a hpme in the house….
My life
Wardrobes in all bedrooms, linen cupboard, laundry cupboards and bench, kids playroom – basically all rooms need a good declutter
As some have already said above – my whole house! And help teach my kids that it’s ok to let go of things too…
Old uni assignments and resources
Insides of cupboards in every room.
Kids toys (both boys are teenagers now) linen, magazines, costume jewellery, things I inherited from my mother 9 years ago …. I’m hoping to get my husband on board as well, he’s worse than me!
Clothes, bedroom cupboards, linen cupboard, laundry cupboard, kitchen, paperwork …. let’s just say the whole house!
Paperwork pile on the buffet, the pantry, and to re-organise where I store things to make everything more accessible and together.
Paperwork and old school work
Children’s toys, water bottles, bags (backpacks and handbags).
Ready to start!
My entire House !
Joining and I need to declutter my office space and spare bedroom
I need help with my bathroom, magazines, kitchen and laundry room/pantry. I look forward to this challenge.
Love some of the comments, it’s taken 40 years to accumulate all this clutter, I’ve been chipping away the past year but hopefully this course will give me another push in the right direction:)
My whole house and every draw
Linen cupboard, kids toys, books, clothes
Can’t wait to get started!
We once had one study but after retiring my husband and I set up one each. We now have two rooms filled with paperwork, stationery supplies, pen collections old technologies, cords, books, craft, office ornaments boxes of photos….I could go on and on.
Papers, books, clothes, work related things (papers, books)
Fabric! I’ve got both quilting and regular dressmaking fabric…and probably far too much. Oh and there’s a bit of “stuff” in my garage as well. Mostly unpacked boxes from various moves over the recent years.
Paperwork, the garage, clothes, craft stuff!
The children’s play room with all their toys
Everything haha
Cupboards, all are full, no where to put anything! Kids rooms, hall way, my bedroom (esp clothes)
I am going to do you 20 day cleaning/decluttering challenge in the new year! My youngest is off to preschool, 1 day a week will be allocated to this challenge, so will make it a 20 week challenge instead!
Toyroom and kids rooms
The whole house!
paperwork, kitchen, garage
My Tupperware cupboard is overflowing it currently lives in the linen press. Then there’s the rest of the house, let’s just say I should of done this years ago….
Kitchen drawers, cupboard under kitchen sink, laundry cupboard, kids clothes, garage full of boxes from renovating. I’m very sentimental so find it hard to part with things.
Paperwork, wardrobe and cupboards
The whole house, I can feel the weight of all of my stuff, just would like to declutter everything but I feel lost in the stuff.
My garage is always a mess, and my storage cupboard with extra food old Birthday/Xmas cards and heaps of photos not in any albums…. help!
My study and some kitchen draws.
My linen/ things cupboard and old school course books and work.
I am feeling lost. I have so much “stuff”. There are two rooms in our house that are not usable as they are dumping grounds. We are planning to build a new house in the next 18 months. Our current bungalow has never felt like home. We have no storage and as a consequence there are piles of stuff on almost every surface. I feel overwhelmed by it and it is affecting my mental health. This is just the challenge I need.
Kids toys, and drawings
My office/spare room
My Garage, it’s the dumping zone for our house.
Any flat surface! Especially in my bedroom.
I need to de lutter our games and education resources! I am such a bower bird!!
Books, papers and random this and that items that tend to just have no home and collect in random places just plain in the way.
Our house is exploding with kids stuff I need to declutter. Thanks for organising this challenge!
Holding onto things I might need, but won’t use!
I can’t wait for this to start! We have too much stuff and I have tried so hard in the past to de-clutter but every time I look around I’m still not happy. My whole house needs a de-clutter! I’m looking forward to all the tips and challenges to help get my house to a point that I’m happy with.
Linen cupboard plus the huge storage cupboard in my dining room . Full of stuff that we just ‘ might ‘ need and lots of kitchen bits that get used once in a blue moon .
My Master Bedroom and my wardrobe/closet – Business clothes to Retirement Clothes!
My whole house needs some serious attention and decluttering. The challenge is just what I need! Looking forward to seeing all the inspirational pics.
My walk-in wardrobe & the wardrobe in our spare room. I’ve been hoarding things that have moved with me since I left home 25 years ago!
Pretty much every room aaaaaahh
I need to declutter everything!! I am too sentimental and can find uses for everything I have!!
Me too! Because I have lots of storage space it is easy to hide in the cupboards….just in case 🙂
My office! Dumping ground for paperwork and anything else I can’t find a home for or don’t have time to think about right now ??
Kids closets!
A lifetime of clutter in every room. Including furniture I e had from the dark ages! Finally kids are adults time to do something for me!
Kids artwork & school books. Kids books I can’t get rid of.
Whole house!! First year back at work full time and all thise tasks and junk have accumulated!! Particularly kids rooms and the study ‘dumping room’!! Agree with majority of above comments too.
I’ve registered. The linen closet could do with a declutter
My whole house just constantly feels cluttered and I get very overwhelmed with where and how to start. And it feels like when I try and declutter one thing, 20 take its place!
Whole house…declutter Ed when I sold my old place & also when bought this new one but seem to have gathered stuff. Shed also needs organising!
My entire house, really wanting to get it under control!!
My photos, magazines, the linen closet, my sewing room
since we don’t have a basement I’ve found I’ve starting storing everything upstairs since my kids have all grown up and moved out. It’s a real mess!!
We renovated our home last year. This year we need to declutter. We have turned 70 so we need to get rid of lots of ‘stuff’ so our children don’t need to do it when we are ‘gone’ It will also make us happier to have a decluttered home.
Our whole house needs it!!!! We have recently moved to a new house and did a big cull before the move, however our new bigger house already feels too full.
Oh I’m looking forward to this! Thank you for putting this together. Our wardrobes and linen cupboard are in the most need for decluttering. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product! ??
Can’t wait to start. My biggest challenge is my garage full of craft stuff and everything else
Kitchen, books, clothes, garage everything. We are in our 70’s so don’t want to leave a mess for our children when we go. Have tied before to declutter so maybe day by day will work.
Looking forward to this. I really need to work on the kids toys and artwork. And my wardrobe. Definitely my wardrobe, too many clothes I’m hoping to fit back into one day.
My whole house and my life as well. Need some motivation to start this challenge. Looking forward for the tips and inspirational pictures.
My entire house and garage. I keep things just in case ? I find the clutter overwhelming and don’t know where to start.
Whole house. Books, kitchenware, linen, you name it and I have too much if it.
Every room in my house needs decluttering – we’ve been in our house 22 years and it’s overflowing! First four priorities would be my closet, my daughters room which has become the stash it all room (empty nesters now), kitchen and quilting room cabinets
I’m finding the clutter overwhelming and not sure where to start. My spare room has become the dumping zone for everything. Some other areas are not as bad.
Papers and the master bedroom 🙂
I am a space to
Toys and clothes
Slave*
Can’t wait to get started. I have been trying to declutter for the past 6 months and all I seem to be doing is moving stuff from the house to the storage shed!
I have joined.
Study/spare room needs help.
I’m in the middle of moving house and didn’t have time to purge before packing so I need help with EVERY room ?
I really enjoy reading your email each day Katrina! I am looking forward to everything in the house having a place – not crammed in a cupboard. A lot to pass on through the free cycle! It will be great to have a focus area each week.
I want everything in my home to have its place. Decluttering after years of home renovations
Papers mainly recipes. I have hundreds of scrappy bits of papers with hand written out recipes waiting to either be made or written up nicely and filed with the recipes that have been tried and liked. Also lots of recipes from pages out of magazines.
My kitchen cupboards, laundry, sewing/craft supplies,in fact the whole house!
Paperwork and the spare room/office!!!
The kid’s room. Lots of toys/games etc that are just not being used. Paperwork is another one. Looking at going paperless for what I can. We have a small house so I find we are not too bad at holding onto things that we no longer use. Finding the time to do it and the motivation can be tricky!
Sewing room!
My whole house in general but mainly bedrooms and office area
I need to declutter the whole house including shed. This includes clothes, jewellery, toiletries, kitchen stuff & junk stuff I keep just in case I need it. The freezer and pantry also need a clean out.
I would also like to get ideas to stop me bringing more stuff into house, which will also save me money.
My whole house needs abit of a sprusing and reboot, just keep holding onto things. So this challenge will help keep the motivation going with the weekly prompts.
Magazines, books, paperwork, clothes, craft supplies
Kids toys and books. Also the office and spare (junk) room
Ooohhh everywhere!! But mainly inside cupboards…..
Quite a few areas but my my spare room takes the cake!! This has been a space where i walk in with good intentions to sort & walk out soon after as overwhelmed where to start so get nowhere. A very unusable room that has so much potential. Thanks for this challenge!
I’m excited for this. I need to declutter bits and pieces round my entire house but mainly kids toys, clothes and paperwork/books
My whole house. Borderline hoarder and lazy as, but enough is enough and I need to get this done. I feel like I can’t breath in here anymore. I’m scared because I think it will be an emotional journey too but I’m hopeful this will work.
We moved in September and truly got rid of so much stuff before then as we downsized but am happy to go though the whole house again using your guidelines.
Paperwork, artwork, school portfolios, kitchen bench
The spare room. Lots of boxes full of sentimental stuff that I need to deal with.
My whole house because there is a chance we are moving again this summer.
Hi Katrina!
I’ve got quite some problems decluttering all documents stored in my laptop. I keep stuff thinking I am going to read them one day, and I rarely do.
I’m in, need to sort everything and hoping the weekly prompts can keep me motivated!
So excited!!!
We are talking about moving, so just don’t want to be taking unnecessary items with us.
Also, as we homeschool, I tend to keep random items for crafts but I really need to purge a lot of it, just never sure what might end up being useful
I’m struggling with the home office and desktop ?
Just to tidy up all loose ends, like kitchen benches, desk etc
Office desk drawers
I’m in. Toys, past lunch boxes,books , linen kids room.
Paperwork and loose ends!
Children’s schoolwork and art work
My kids are both teenagers and I need to de clutter and organise their pre-school and junior school work.
Linen cupboard
I’m in – I need to declutter my desk area – College notes (don’t know whether they’ll be useful in the future??? (I only just completed 2 college courses in 2017 and 2018). Clothes, and ALL cupboards throughout the house – wardrobes, linen and pantry and just general storage cupboards, laundry benchtop has become a holding space for bits and bobs, dog treats, suncream etc.
I need to de clutter so much – but the biggest thing would be my daughters toys – it’s so hard to get a 4.5yr old to agree but she has her room and playroom full of toys and some are no longer played with!
My main items to be decluttered are the kids playroom and clothes.
I’m joining in too! We are building our new home and will move into our new place in 2019 so I just want to remove all the unnecessary things from our lives and have a clean start in our new home.
I am looking forward to de cluttering my whole house but in particular the collection of toys, books and ‘general stuff’ that comes into the house then I need to find homes for.
I have 2 young boys and work 4 days. I hope this will help me conquer the mountain step by step.
My whole house needs a declutter. We just have way too much stuff and most of it just sits there and gets me down 🙁
Grateful for the help to de-clutter many rooms of my home Kat, especially the office, under the pool table and under the beds and the ‘man cave’ 🙂
Sentimental ‘stuff’. We downsized houses in 2018 and now I’d like to display the special things, and move on the rest. i have my own childrens’ stuff as well as ‘stuff’ of memories from 4 lots of grandparents! as well as photo’s…….. any help greatly appreciated xx
Hi Kat
I need help with
Study
Storage cubbord under the stairs
Kids bedrooms
I keep everything for sentimental reasons and it’s getting ridiculous now ?
My husbands hoard… hopefully he doesn’t notice!! 😉
Our kitchen and cupboards
I’m really looking to declutter my whole home but feel so over whelmed by the whole idea. I am really not sure where to start. As a consequence I have not achieved anything over the last 12 months other than accumulate more ‘stuff’. I need HELP as I am also a terrible sentimental hoarder of everything.
The whole house – but mainly paperwork
My entire house! But mainly would love to declutter the “study” paperwork etc and kids rooms/toys/clothes.
I’m playing!!
I need a get rid of some crap in EVERY area of my home. My hardest part is probably the craft stuff….. But don’t tell my husband I admitted that!
I’m in ! My house is a gross mess ! haha. Looking forward to a cleaner year ahead. Thank you
I need help with my Family room tbar has become a catch all for everything!
I’m in, we are in a muddle and I don’t want to drown in stuff.
Looking forward to this challenge! Top of my list: The junk room (once called a spare room) and my bedroom.
Everything but I really need to go through all my recipes and get rid of many and organize. declutter the kitchen cabinets and pantry. Books, kids old school stuff, arts & craft supplies, and all my papers and piles of stuff on running and triathlon
Boxes of mixed ‘stuff’ from moving months ago.
Paperwork, toys and clothes. And books. And DVDs. And the whole kitchen…
There’s definitely some work to do…
Kids toys that are good quality and can be used for other sibling who isn’t old enough to use yet (A few more years)
Also things which you want to get rid of that you can sell as they are worth $$ value, but it’s a whole new process of selling and still holding onto items. I end up just keeping it and storing it again :/
garage stuff
Computer area
Looking forward to the challenge and an easier house to manage
I have a few pieces if furniture that have drawers with random bits and pieces in them. Some things I think I might need, others have just accumulated. Very much looking forward to the challenge and so is my husband!
Hi Kat
It is all of my house. Office, pantry, kitchen cupboards, my laundry etc.
I’m a first time new mum. So I’d love help with putting things in place to make things easier being a mum, and running a business from home with my hubby.
Thank you 🙂
Home office. It is always a mess. And so much paperwork with running a business from home.
So looking forward to this challenge!! Areas I would like to focus on are:
Office Paperwork and filing cabinet
Linen cupboard
Kitchen utensil drawer with the spatulas, egg rings, cheese knives, corn cobs holders, wooden spoons, knives etc etc etc
Clothes
Laundry is a collection point for all those Coles/Woolies shopping bags! I seem to have baskets of them …help!
I need help decluttering my walk in robe and kitchen
I can’t wait to start this challenge!! My whole house needs to be decluttered and organised, especially since moving into the house 2years ago and having kids I always put it off (or start then don’t follow through). What needs the most attention is the kids playroom, my kitchen bench and my office/Disney display room ?
I keep everything even old envelopes to use as scrap paper for shopping list etc. I have held onto things that might be needed at some stage or perhaps for when my child moves out and needs a bit of a head start even though things are second hand.
I now have my daughter and partner and child living with me and the house is over run. I keep reorganising things so as to make everything fit but I don’t seem to be able to be ruthless and get rid of things. On the bright side my grandchild is now playing with things I have hoarded from when her mother was a child. I am retired and can not afford to just go out and by new things.
I will give the challenge a good go.
the whole house plus a couple of small sheds
Thank you so much for this kind and generous gift , Kylie. Looking forward to getting started.
Pretty much the whole house. I need to paint the walls but I need to be able to move first
I’ve registered. Thanks for making this free Katrina. Looking forward to chipping away the clutter.
I’ve been at it for the last few months, but still feels like I’ve got so much to do, and I’m often moving things from one room to another more than actually getting rid of them.
I’ve got 3 young kids, so lots of clothes for and toys for infant to 7 year old (including yet to be worn hand me downs).
I particularly find paperwork challenging as I have to sit down to go through each page, and when I’m done ‘sorting’, they go back into the boxes waiting for my next action (and then after a while, I find myself needing to go through them again). Not having an ‘office’ or proper place for them doesn’t help.
Storage is a big problem – minimal storage in the house, no garage, small shed. But after reading some comments above, I’m looking at it as a blessing in disguise, as knowing me, I’d probably fill them all and still say storage is a big problem.
Everything! We’re generally pretty good, but since having my first bub 8 months ago, I feel like I’ve “lost my mojo” a bit in this regard. So I’m keen to get back on track and find ways to make housekeeping a bit easier for us!
I’m looking forward to de cluttering my filing cabinet and switching to a more electronic method of storing paperwork and organising budget documents. I have a small house. And it’s perfect timing as I’m now off on maternity leave for most of 2019!
Paperwork, recipe books, magazines …. they breed when I’m not looking 🙂 🙂
Study…paperwork, ornaments both inherited and bought, paperback books (my husband’s), just lots of stuff throughout the house
Entire house, especially master bedroom (which is a dumping ground), laundry/linen cupboard, knick knacks from other people
Cupboards, kitchen and bedroom especially.
My whole house needs de cluttering, I find it very hard to through anything away.
after more useful tips. I have a free my house of 100 items every March so looking to expand on this if I can.
My storage cupboard and the rest of our home really. It’s not so much clutter but things I really do love and can’t bare to part with but really need to…. We downsized to a unit but the accumulations of ‘stuff ‘ continues…
My linen press’ (there are multiples) and my garage are the worst spots in my home, they have become the places where I dump things out of sight so the rest of my home is clean and clear
Walk in robe
Pantry
Medicine drawer
Utensil drawer
Pretty much everything i think!! :/
My home is totally chaos!
My whoe house… esp my kitchen benchtops.. it’s a dumping ground for everything from everyone! I get so unmotivated as it’s always there! I have little storage cupboards so everyone sees it all!
Craft area – way too many unfinished projects, kids wardrobes, abjnet under the TV, bedside drawers, foyer coat rack – had everything but coats!
My 6 years old daughters room and my wardrobe
Kids artwork, toys, gifts from other people, items bought overseas
Kids toys, spare room (I call this our inside garage. Dumping ground for things with no home). I struggle with the thought of things going to land fill and selling things is becoming hard work and time consuming. Giving things to charity feels like there’s an abundance there too. I have found a good local charity that puts packages together for those in desperate need and not-for-profit but it’s hard transporting the stuff. Oh I’m full of great excuses!! ?
My bedroom, wardrobe (old clothes hide in there for years), Storage area under the stairs, paperwork
My wardrobe is my biggest problem! I’m looking forward to this challenge! Thank you.
I need help with my cupboards and drawers, I hide everything away in them so my house is not cluttered, but these places are.
Lots to do but main focus – craft supplies, study & wall unit.
Mostly my whole house. I’m a sucker for keeping things just in case. Our wardrobe is just awful. The pantry. The kitchen. The kitchen table which has all the miscellaneous items that we don’t have a storage cupboard for… My desk… The laundry… Now that we have two young boys under 2.5 it’s really hard to find places for all the toys! So many toys. It’s even hard to find time to declutter at all really. I need help!
Most of my house. My bedroom, office, living room cupboard and back room are definitely the most common dumping grounds and need a good sort out.
I need to clear out the clutter in my office. Then move onto my craft room
I am in! I need help with kids stuff; books,
School bits and pieces and toys.
I as need loads of help with clothes.
I have registered & need to de-clutter my office & bedroom & linen closet 🙂
I am a second generation hoarder. I have many rooms I desperately need to declutter.
Office and paperwork…though I have a plan to set up a “scanning station” at the garage door so when we come home all the bills and mail get scanned, scheduled and saved and then shredded!!
My entire house is a wreck!!! Hate to have anyone visit!!
I have just registered! Thankyou! After just having baby number 3 I have realised that my house is way too cluttered with so much in every room. I for some reason have been holding on to things. My first thing to declutter is the children’s clothes I have been storing since they were babies! Not sure though whether I should keep any outfits as memories, hmmm. Anyways looking forward to 2019 declutter challenge!
Wardrobes and paperwork
So excited! Paperwork is our tricky one (old paid bills, car rego, tax, bank letters/mail etc)
Garage, kitchen cupboards and pantry, laundry, kids artwork, bedside tables, office nook, bathrooms
‘Memories’ clutter!
Stuff I have kept from old jobs from when I was 17! Kids special pictures… collectables that really aren’t…. Seriously… it all needs to go
My laundry seems to be the epicentre of all clutter. ??
I’m joining the challenge cause I need to move into a smaller house so need to get rid of a LOT of stuff
Toys
Clothes
Utensils?
Kids toys
Kids artwork when they are so sentimntal about everything
My study
My whole house. Like others have kept things “just in case”. Also have inherited things that my kids do not want so have to do something about those.
I need to declutter my whole house. I‘ve got heaps of cook books & magazines to sort through. Plus I find it hard to declutter my wardrobe.
Craft supplies
My bedroom, the biggest dumping ground. Especially when people come over. Also old kids toys that can be sold.
Craft, sewing and hobby materials
I desperately need help in decluttering my sewing-quilting-knitting stidio. STUFF is everywhere–unfinished projects, new projects. You name it.
My whole house! Kid’s toys, office, linen closet, clothes! I feel like my house is a mess right now and it is driving me crazy!
Paper and paper. Old bills etc.
Walk in robe
I need to declutter and organise our spare room or “dumping ground”
Hi Kat, im moving house and soon will be getting into a new house. So that is where ill be coming from.
I want to declutter our whole house. My main focus is children’s toys and kitchen, but the whole house is my plan. We also have little piles of “things” everywhere, on benches, cupboards etc, that does my head in.
And I’ve registered!
My study plus any drawers throughout the house that has become a dumping ground to stuff that doesn’t have a home.
Definitely the toy room & the kids wardrobes as I never really look at these and we are getting overtaken by all their stuff.
I need to declutter the entire house as we are moving. I would like to start in our office & kitchen in particular.
Joining the challenge. Focus is on Bedrooms and kitchen in preparation for renovating. Thanks for the inspiration!
home office and books
Joining the challenge, as I feel like I have been wanting to declutter for YEARS. I feel I am a combination of a hoarder (I don’t like to admit it) and sentimental. I have been overwhelmed by going back to work full time after having my 3rd child (after a miscarriage.) I feel that I am losing myself, I get anxious about how my house is and I withdraw.
I would like to get rid of Toys, clothes, stationary….everything that does not have a purpose…instead of making up a purpose.
I am joining in! I have a small house and too much stuff = no organisation! And with a nearly 3 year old it makes it even worse. Looking forward to the next year!
We are going major home renovations and I’m always finding things that don’t belong. It’s time to clean out!
I have boxes in the garage from when i move out of home – childhood memories. Also crockery and vases I’ve inherited from grandparents – what if they’re valuable and I can sell them – how do i find out? Who do i ask?
Finally paperwork and children’s artworks – they’re teenagers now!
Most of my home… Especially with all the new items from Christmas. But Paperwork is the worst here!!
Bookshelves, kids rooms master bedroom, wardrobes….. oh who am I kidding, our whole house is a mess!
I’m in for sure
My whole house, especially kids room and toys! Small house, family of 5…it’s chaotic!
Yep the Whole house but my walk in robe will be a challange
Wow I need decluttering on so many levels! love this plan!! ?
My office – work from home, am a Treasurer of school P&C so have all that paperwork, and am a volunteer SRE teacher so every semester I get given another set of teaching materials – A3 folders are hard to store.
Also Jewellery – things I had as a child, and items family buy me that I don’t wear often.
And my husbands papers and junk – piled everywhere, mixed with Maccas wrappers in the garage – it’s disgusting!
My whole house. I have 2.5 year old triplets plus a 3.5 year old so am constantly surrounded by their clutter, also my husband will not throw anything out. We had to swap houses with his mother when the triplets came along so am also living with a lot of her stuff which has never been moved. No storage either. At a loss where to start. We have a sleepout which is full to the top with all my boxes ( I have never been able to unpack my belongings as there is no room) it is also full of all the things the kids get into that we don’t want them to, same as the pantry when the kids get into something they shouldn’t I throw it into the pantry to stop them getting into it. My house is a shambles and feeling very overwhelmed as I am normally an extremely organised person and I can’t get on top of this!!!! HELP!!!
Yep..my whole house.. including the verandah 🙁 the ‘guest’rooms are the main dumping ground (we seldom have guests)
my spare room, many of the horizontal surfaces in the house, my craft stash, my sewing/repairs baskets
My whole house,especially the shed. Children have moved out and have their own places so can finally get rid of what they now don’t want at their house. Time to down size.
I need to declutter our basement!
Hi, my whole house could do with a bit of a “joosh” to be honest! My biggest problems would be the junk accumulating in the spare room, and my office space. I have trouble getting the washing put away once it’s been picked in from outside…
We have a drawer in the kitchen that everything that looks important goes in. I hate it.
Another area where I have problems is recipes. I have recipes written on pieces of paper, on the laptop, in cookbooks, I have recipes cut out from magazines, some are stored in display books, some are pinned in Pinterest… Very disorganized.
oh, I can’t wait for this…..kids toys and paper work! and yes, like the comment above…recipes would be handy too!
My whole house. But especially paperwork and recipes
My Craft/ junk room
The “junk drawer” full of all the things I think I need to keep like spare screws and keys for things I’ve no idea what they are for, coins, odd receipts, buttons etc
Photos, Paper work, children’s toys, cords (lots and lots of cords) and my garage again full of things like Christmas boxes, sentimentals (baby clothes and trophies) oh the list goes on and on! Can’t wait to get started
I love a good declutter. I struggle with my office, just heaps of paperwork like bills, receipts, warranties, kids school stuff, old sentimental things like birthday cards, baby items, stationary etc.
How to get the kids to stop leaving their stuff all over the house. i have 1 child that is messier than the other two combined. Her room is a disaster however it is the office that is the worst room in our house. Our family of five all have study desks in the office, and the kids (14, 11, 9) just treat it as a room or surface to dump everything. I would show you a picture but it is too embarrassing. The worst thing about our office is that it doesn’t have a door to hide the mess, it is like a lounge room, and it is the first room you see when entering the house. It’s a disaster.
I have a room in my house called the junk room. My husband and I are planning a second child and will need to turn the junk room into a child’s bedroom.
Not part of the house exactly, but our garden shed is a bit of a disaster! Can barely step foot inside. Also tops of wardrobes and under beds. We tend to use these areas for storing stuff that doesn’t have a place 🙂
Where do I start? My laundry is a dumping ground. Linen cupboard to scared to open it. I have a room that has all the kids school work from prep, ages 9 and 13 and books from when my eldest (24)was a baby. Cupboard under the stairs is a massive shoe dump. My bedroom wardrobe needs a good cleaning out. Need somewhere to put sports gear and equipment.
Can’t wait to start! My whole house needs a declutter. I’m pregnant with my second and I need to make room for more stuff haha. But I’d also like to be more organised and hopefully this will also help my family follow my lead and put things away too.
I’ve bought an off the plan apartment (not yet started), due for completion June 2020, so I do have a bit of time but do need to sell here, then perhaps rent. Soooo, yes I am a hoarder, have moved house many times but just keep keeping and accumulating stuff (I may need).
i.e. Hard copy bills (3yrs) paper n plastic carry bags, stationary, rolls n rolls of wrapping paper, hundreds of loose photographs, scores of photo albums (many from my deceased mum). My beautiful mums last handbag, her private papers pre 2010.
Craft items – boxes of quilting fabric, beads n beading books n utensils, tubes of paint, art canvases – love all my crafts.
Cook books mostly unused but beautiful- winter coats, bags of scarves- on n on it goes… ??
I need to have a system for sorting through and filing paperwork! It’s a complete mess!
There are also lots of other dumping grounds for clutter around the house that I would like to sort through.
My bedroom….I am constantly throwing whatever in there to make the rest of the house look clean and I just close the door – walk-in wardrobe, drawers, dressing table, side tables (even in between bed and side tables)…oh and under the bed ?
Sorting out the kids bedrooms!
Spare room and study!! Lots to get rid of so I can put things away properly! : )
So many areas to declutter – kids artwork, clothes, kitchen and skincare & makeup. I could open up my own store full of body creams ?. I also need help with organising house documents ?
My garage it’s a dumping ground for everything and it annoys my husband to the max and I can’t wait to see how to organise every room and keep it that way. It’s almost like I’ve got a live in gremlin that follows me around and un does all the work I’ve just done
I need to declutter my pantry and office space. Whilst I am on holidays it would be good to get things in an orderly fashion.
I need to declutter my whole house as I recently got married and my husband and I are living in my house and there is not enough room for both of our things.
Garden shed, office – bills, warranties, wills etc and what to do with boxes of old and sentimental documents etc – I’m not bad at decluttering but I suspect you will have some tips I’m not aware of – thanks for doing this!
bedrooms with mystery boxes of 30+ years of memories.
Looking forward to the challenge. Really need to decluttrr the kitchen cupboards and kids toys, books and old clothes.
Physical memories
My husband is a hoarder and I do most of the housework and tidying. I work part time and get sick a lot so I feel like I am drowning. I am aiming to adjust my spending in 2019 to pay people to help with gardening and house repairs so that is one goal. We have lots of hobbies and collectables which we want to enjoy. My daughter and I sat down and answered your questions. Her goal is to have friends over and my goal is to reduce frustration at myself and my family and feel at ease when people drop over. I also want useable space and not tripping over things to get anywhere. I’m the new year I am going to rebel and buy a new vacuum cleaner as I can’t use the two cheaper horrible cleaners by husband buys. I also want to buy my daughter a decent work desk. I have been chipping away at the house on my days off but hubby pulls things out of the recycling that I throw away. He is a wonderfully kind man but sometimes the clutter in his rooms makes me want to cry. Arguing is getting nowhere. I need to get these guys on board and have common goals to work on together. I hope giving them weekly tasks for common goals will help. I would like to start on the hall cupboard so I can find tools and spare room so people can come and stay. My daughter wants to work on her room and cupboard. The biggest mess in my part of the bedroom is the year’s school work and memorabilia. My husband’s weakness is junk mail and he won’t let me cancel it. My husband won’t let me touch his paperwork and I don’t know how to change his mind. That is the biggest mess for him. I have bought him folders, dividers, etc but he doesn’t use them. I am slowly getting rid of baby gear but so few people will take it. Slowly going through bookcases and donating the books we don’t want. It is a mountain to climb but with your help I hope to get there in 2019!
Filing cabinet keeping old paperwork “just in case”. Kids artwork and school work/books – keeping for them. Although have been told to take photos and store on a usb.
Kids toys – sorting and storing.
Kitchen cupboards, study ? paperwork, kids rooms, kids artwork and school work.
Sentimental/memories/cards/journals etc etc! Kids toys, kitchen cupboards, all the “random stuff” that don’t have homes like CDs (music and computer software), garage….. let’s face it the whole house ha!
My whole house needs to be decluttered so I can get it ready to paint and renovate!
Probably mentioned a lot already, but lovely notes from our kids, artwork, photos, flyers etc from events or things we have done. I keep thinking that I will create a scrapbook of sorts for each year of photos plus what sort of things we got up to. Never done it. Photos on my computer are another nightmare area for me. Again, I would like to finish albums of our children’s first years and albums of the ‘best of’ for each year, but alas never done. Also bits of paper and lists, notes of mine. I feel like I need a home for them.
I am a bit of a hoarder so I have a lot of everything I need to declutter!
I’d love inspiration to declutter the kitchen, mostly the pantry and a better way to organise the fridge! Plus kids toys
Definitely need to declutter my garage / storage. Way too much stuff that I haven’t used in ages. The whole house could use a good going over though.
I’ve joined the challenge. My entire house! Especially the master bedroom and the loft and garage.
The wall unit in my dining area needs going through. It holds books, trophies, crockery and the bottom shelf holds anything that doesn’t have a home. Papers, nic nacks, batteries and cords, and home office stuff because I don’t have space for an office.
A general house declutter
I’ve joined the challenge… cupboards…. all the cupboards.
I really need to declutter my whole house especially the spare room. It has become the dumping ground for everything
I’m signed up! Kids artwork for sure, as well as toys. My office also needs to be sorted, tidy and functional so I can stay more on top of the running of the house, and start studying next year.
I really need to be brave and declutter the whole house! We’ve been gradually going thru kitchen cupboards and I’m doing my wardrobe again for the 3rd time in 9 months thanks to WW 🙂 I need to be brave and donate the clothes that i no longer wear even though they were either Mum’s or given to me by Mum (she passed in 2011)
I need to declutter everywhere! I’m after a simpler way of putting things away and having a tidy house!
Kids bedrooms/toys, master bedroom, computer desk/dumping ground. My attempts haven’t worked, willing to give this a go!
Declutter the whole house and better storage ideas.
Recently retired and shifted house. Not enough storage now. Got rid of heaps before we shifted but still have heaps of boxes to unpack and organise in space I have.
i need to declutter the whole house ! Dining room (storage area/dumping groud) and toys are probably the worst area of my house atm
– Old makeup, mini shampoo/conditioner bottles, hair products etc.
– Stationary that I no longer use/ have multiples of.
– Filing cabinet. (some of those drawers are filled with craft supplies that have been sitting unused for years!)
Storage ideas for clothes that are too small or out of season.
Decluttering toys.
I just want things to have a place! No more loose bits floating around. Lol
I want to purge in the garage and shed mainly with some purging in the house also.
Joining the challenge.
Need to declutter the whole house and I need help to organize every single room( organization is my biggest weakness ). And have been thinking of becoming a minimalist ?
The entire house needs to be decluttered. Looking forward to it 🙂
My whole house but mainly the master bedroom, extra bedroom and office /craft room. All of these are dumping grounds so the family room and kitchen stay decluttered. I clean one room and vow to keep it that way and within a month, it’s all back! I live in a smaller home and do not have a lot of built-in storage so I’m constantly trying to find new ideas.
My whole house! We have just moved 2 weeks ago into a bigger house after 12 years being in a tiny house with no storage facility’s. I have thrown/donated and sold alot mainly furniture and toys/clothes. We have set up furniture and clothes and bathrooms and kitchen only. Everything else is still in crates and I have approximately 12. They are office things, artwork and keepsakes from our daughter and from my overseas travels many many years ago. I want no clutter, I want to walk in everyday to no mess, if a visitor pops over i want to feel relaxed. I joined because I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed with the task.
Been decluttering all the time. Constantly chucking things out. But still feel like our apartment is not ours. Living in an apartment is hard when you don’t have an outside area to spread out to. My office desk is the local dumping ground, lists and lists of things that need to be done for the family but no one but myself has any interest to get things done. Tried everything to encourage help but to no avail. So just need to get myself better organised. Amongst other things – Tupperware cupboard, Pantry cupboard, large arts and crafts cupboard, DDS room and her toys all over the house, oldest DDs clothes, reclaim some of our balcony for ourselves yet have space for our fur baby to live as well. The list goes on. ……..
Oh yes and in the garage. Trying to sell our apartment so most stuff is stored in the garage. Poor hubby
Need motivation and a plan to declutter the whole house .. Also have 2 storage units that need to be emptied and closed yikes!
I keep culling but I’m still in a mess – Help!
My laundry… I would love to have a clutter free, beautiful working laundry… oh and our walk in robe too
Everything. EVERYTHING! Literally all of the other comments combined! Heeeelp!
Our whole house needs to be decluttered!
3 kids + working part-time + being sentimental = a home that has piles of items that do not have a home 🙁
I am looking forward to decluttering the whole house as things have crept back in and finding housekeeping taking to long. Being a homeschooling mum to 3 children and having health problems, I need less things
My whole house. Hoping to put it on the market in the new year
Photos are everywhere in my house. Photos on my computer as well. I feel so overwhelmed with is the best way to organise them
My entire house!
How I would love for someone to come in and just clean it all out and take away the feelings and emotions attached with the ‘stuff’ *sigh*
Office and bedrooms need a big declutter and photos oh how I need to organise the photos
Definitely joining in this year. My biggest issue is mementos, especially things like a tea set, never used but given to me by my oma.
My kitchen!
It’s well as being a busy, working mum, my hisband and I share a small home office space in our dining room as both our jobs require us to bring work home. It’s hard to keep it all separated from home bills etc and tends to look messy all the time.
My garage is the biggest priority. Been declutteeing all month, but always needs doing
Office and paperwork.
The study / office. A shared space for both my hubby and I as we both work from home routinely.
It’s a huge job and I seem to have” no time” so I never start.
I’m in! Whole house needs it ?
Children’s artwork, old clothes, kitchen appliances that we rarely use, my linen cupboard. Every room of my house needs decluttering and/or better storage solutions. I also need to find more time to do it!
I’m sentimental! My own artwork from school days (20 years ago!) all my text books and assignments from university, all my sons artwork from day one!!! ? oh I need help!!! Furniture!!
Our w/in wardrobe needs a revamp – our garage needs a declutter – the fridge although clean and no out of date products, its messy and same with the pantry……
Everything! I collect way too much stuff and I don’t need it! My house is always so cluttered because I don’t have space for everything. People tell me I need more storage but I just need to get rid of things!
I’m helping my mother declutter her house after the death of my father (he struggled to let things go) so really it’s the whole house, plus the sheds. It’s going to be a long process I think.
E.v.e.r.y room in my house needs decluttering. The “stuff” I’ve (we’ve) accumulated over the years is ridiculous! Bring it on Katrina!
The last 25 years of my life. I am ridiculously sentimental. I can’t bare to let anything go. My house is bursting at the seams.
I’m looking forward to this challenge! My hubby and I are both ‘dumpers’ and we need to sort out piles of paperwork and other bits and bobs which get hidden away but never sorted through.
Hi, I’m love to purge through my stuff only to accumulate more than before! My problem areas are paperwork, toys & clothes
So many of these comments sound like me. My whole house needs decluttering. Mainly drowning in kids toys, clothes and just too much stuff in general.
Toy room, spare room and office and bedroom – way to many things and no room in cupboards , thanks
I am another whole house problem, the clutter tends to get moved from one room to another. 2019 is my year to sort out my house and life!
My master bedroom everything that needs to be dealt with but not right now gets dumped in there
Our storage room, bookshelves and kids stuff.
Keepsakes from three generations
Children’s bday cards and stuff from birth to to 13!!
Paperwork ?
Definitely need help with decluttering all my closets and drawers throughout my entire house.
I have a spare room in basement which I cal. “The Back Room”. Needs serious reorganization. I am also going to try helping my boyfriend get rid of some things which are older than the hills. He doesn’y Know where to begin and has asked for my help
Do I have to supply an email address? One of my goals for 2019 is to reduce the volume of newsletters in my inbox, so as it stands I won’t be joining you but good luck to those who do.
Mostly I need help in how to stop my family from keeping everything!
We’ve just moved twice in months so you’d think it’d be clutter free – but no! Have surface, will clutter it up!!!
Whole house. We are a family of five with a LOT of hoarding tendencies
EVERYTHING. And yes, I yelled that. I feel like I live in a house with walls that are closing in. My husband and I don’t have children, but we have four dogs and stuff that is taking over. I don’t feel like I have control of anything anymore….things fall off of things like the desk and bookshelves. We aren’t hoarders, but I don’t want to get there either! I feel so much better when things are clean and need the help to get there. This will be just the ticket!
The messiest areas are desks, closet spaces where things can be hidden, and the master bedroom where my entire old office is packed in boxes. I work at home now at the kitchen table so don’t need all that stuff, but can’t bear to part with it. Can’t wait to begin! I may go do something now! 🙂
clothing, and paperwork and linen cupboard, and dvds
I need to declutter draws I seam to put stuff into them out of sight out of mind. Also our walk in wardrobe and kids rooms now that they have all moved out.
To hard to list when my whole house is over cluttered!!!
Yeah I think that’s my problem too Meg ?
Cupboards!! Inside cupboards!!! I’m a visual person so I leave things out that need doing so anything in cupboards never gets done
Paperwork
I don’t have a big house but I need to clean out my cupboards and my desk.
Looking forward to the challenge.
Just stuff in general
Garage. Seems to be the place we seem to store the stuff that might come in handy one day!
I have 6 kids… their clothes are a nightmare!! I keep the outgrown clothes for the next child to grow into… only ever keep the perfect condition ones to save on clutter…but still have SO much and no space to store them nicely!
Oh man… desperately need to declutter my “study” (also known in the house as ‘mums crap room’) and the standard storage room full of who knows what that has built up over 5 years.
My craft space is terrible and my magazines are out of control.
Piles of papers, my daughter’s things she hasn’t moved out and she has been out of house/ married with her own house for 3 years. And general clutter throughout the house.
Kitchen and laundry
My garage… ugggggg! I’ve wanted to clean it out for about two years. It’s full of old white goods, broken vacuumes, broken and unused furniture. It’s basically just a dumping ground for things I want to get rid of but are too big to put in the rubbish bin!
Hi Katrina, thank you for running this challenge again. My hallway is my next quest…it’s a big cupboard, a set of cubes and a bookshelf. Old kids toys, stuffed toys, craft bits & pieces, nannas old laces. I have parted with the easy kids toys but these are the good ones and there is some resistance from Miss 18 (my youngest). Keeping a dolls house for visitors and future grandchildren!???!!! Also lots of Australian Geographic magazines which are so beautiful and mostly never read!!!!
I need to declutter to make room for my first baby espcially the “junk room” which we are converting into the baby room
My whole house but mainly the bedrooms, toy room etc… my kids deserve to grow up in a clean environment.
I would like to see what we have left to uncluttered after having two massive declutters with kids toys, craft room and kitchen this year. Plus stuff from bathrooms and bedrooms.
Paperwork, outgrown toys, books and clothes.
Can we please also have the ‘how to’ with tips and tricks to declutter and then suggestions with the best ways to store/display following the purge.
I am joining as I have a husband who is a hoarder and would love to get some ideas about how the declutter the home,’
I am so guilty! I keep almost everything & have to dispose of things thoughtfully. My downstairs room (AKA Junkroom) is in serious need of attention along with every cupboard in the house! Please help!
My garage
Getting the family on board!!!
Craft supplies, books, clothes – all need a good de-clutter!!
The whole house! My husbands and my office, shared kids bedroom, entrance to the house. Oh, and the paperwork…. eeeek!
The whole house started doing this in November need inspiration to keep going.
Spare bedroom, kitchen draws/cupboards and kids toys :/
I want to only have things in my house I will use or that mean something to me. I want to have a neat and tidy house and everything having a place to belong
Every cupboard in my house needs decluttering along with kids toys. I would love to have my office desk tidy and all documents filed in an orderly manner. I would love go have started going through photos. I just want to have a tidy house where everything has a place.
The Study: paperwork, old computer stuff, boxes never unpacked since we moved in
Bedroom: any ideas to persuade my husband to get rid of old clothes – he can’t use them all for work clothes – he’s retired (and very into DIY), go through my jewellery (I need to part with stuff but emotional attachments…)
Stitching stash: charts that I’ll never stitch – tastes change – I need to list somewhere for sale….
My husband is actually the hoarder: I really really need some ideas to help him – his OCD doesn’t help
I need to be more ruthless getting rid of things with a sentimental value eg I have a necklace that my mother in law gave me when she was still alive – I’ll never wear it but I can’t bring myself to throw it/donate it.
Anita.?
Paperwork. Stuff in ‘kids’ rooms (one of them left home 10years ago!). Garage (too much storage space is a curse).
I need good storage ideas we have no storage in our house besides and 2’x2’ under the steps for holiday decorations. I don’t even have a spot in my house for pens and note pads only 1 drawer in my kitchen for utensils and no area for a desk. I have 3 kids, 1 in school so all his projects, then my 2 at home toys! We also have more than enough clothes for 5 people. That’s where I started decluttering when I found this page!
EVERYTHING!!!!! I need a good cleanout everywhere!!
My worst clutter is paperwork, never know what I need to keep so I keep it all!
I also have a lot of stuff, gifts etc, that it feels wrong to part with but I don’t use of need.
Our house is so full of “stuff” that we “might need” one day. I would love to go through everything. Having so much stuff means that it gets dumped where ever there is a spot and the kids are now picking up bad hoarding habits to. Books, toys, pantry, kitchen drawers, bathroom cupboards, kids art, craft supplies, cable box, office shelves, clothes, garage shelves, pretty much everything.
My whole house! Everything!
Everything!!! So tired of just shifting things from the public areas to the 2 dumping rooms. I know I’ll never be a minanalist but I’m tired of feeling overwhelmed by our stuff!!
Everything 🙁
my spare room, i have already taken steps to reduce lots – anyone want to by some designer dresses lol
My whole house but bedroom and spare rooms. I’m a clutter queen. I wish l could have tidy house than looking like one of them horders episodes.
Everything except for the pantry…..I did that last week
My whole house needs a going over i have been doing it but not making headway, especially the toyroom and spare rooms which house my craft
I feel my whole house needs going over. But the big things i think are linen, toys and books and kitchen cupboards ?
Craft supplies. Books. Bike parts and gadgets. Bikes, scooters, skateboards. Toys. Husband and children, I think. This would be the solution ;)).
Photos and photo albums
I need to de-clutter so much!! I moved into my new house and 3/4 of y house is still packed in boxes and I have lived here for 7 months now!!! I know I need to cull but I so afraid of even starting lol
Not sure where to start! Working full time with 3 kids, the house is much less organised than it used to be and everything his piling up… looking forward to changing this!
One of my problems is my own clothes they fall into the category of oh I am sure I will get back into that or oh that will definitely come back into fashion. Or I remember when my mum bought me that dress when I was 17. I find things that are linked to a memory hard to get rid of. I usually let things build up and then when I am completely overwhelmed I then go on a massive rampage and cull things. I am thinking about scanning some things but it isn’t the same as keeping an original though.
I end up with piles of cr*p everywhere because things don’t rally have a ‘home’ so I spend a tonne of time just moving them around and getting overwhelmed and distracted
I really need some tips on how to declutter other people’s stuff as well as my own. There’s a lot of both in the storage upstairs. The “out of sight, out of mind” approach!
My whole house as I am a “might come in handy one day” person and also far too sentimental.
Kitchen cupboards, side board and filing cabinet. these are the last things and the hardest. help me please
Oh I have too much of everything! I grew up on a farm out of town and learnt from an early age to buy in bulk, shop the specials, plan ahead, repurpose, recycle, compost and to save items ‘just in case’ or because they would come in handy. But this has lead to an organised but well an truly overcrowded conglomerate of storage systems that well and truly need PURGING! For me I also need to look at the entry point of the item… why do I/did I buy it/get it? And I need HELP to identify and fix this behaviour otherwise I’’m afraid I’ll just re-clutter!!! Can we declutter Christmas stuff too please?
Looking forward to today’s task ?
I have registered! I can’t wait to do this! I have wanted to declutter and have less stress in my life for a few years now. I got rid of a few things last year but need to do so much more. Thank you for helping us through this.
I started with my kids’ play room today. Haven’t quite finished but it’s getting there!!
I need to de clutter my kitchen, both food and cupboards, and our spare room – the dumping ground!
I live with chaos – ‘can’t have anyone over syndrome’ I’ve read books and still feel unable to start , I am hoping weekly instructions will get me there.
All of the above. Looking forward to this.
Wow, thought I was the only one with the paperwork problem but it seems to be a common theme here. Yes, all the insurance, life policies, certificates, licences, general stuff – what should I keep, how long should I keep it,
I’m in 🙂
I have trouble letting things go
I absolutely hate clutter but I also like too many things lol
I find that I de-clutter but it makes its way to the 2 car garage (I only have one spot for the car) as I don’t want to get rid of it
My craft supplies
Clothes!!
Power,phone etc cords, main walk in wardrobe, linen cupboard and toys.
Home Office & Kids artwork is always my problem & it gets put in the ‘too hard basket’ 🙁 Plus ive been trying to get photos printed and create a photowall for about 3 years now!!!
Count me in on this! I have been trying to declutter for around 12 months now and I feel like I’m one step forward, two steps back. I’m particularly overwhelmed by the spare room/office, my wardrobe and the garage. I’m looking forward to the ideas and inspiration ?
Count me in! I have ‘dumping grounds’ all over my house. My home office is the worst, so bad I can’t even use it! Can’t wait for some inspiration!
I really need to declutter my 3 kids old clothes but I have too much, it’s so overwhelming.
Yes i am in desperate need of help with my kids clothes! They have way way too much but i cant decide what to do with it
Don’t know whether it’s too late for me to add my list, but my priorities, in order, are:
1. Children’s bedroom. Utter unmitigated disaster. Only room in the house that I’m downright embarrassed to have anyone see.
2. My study. I guess I could call this a mitigated disaster? Got a lot of stuff done in here in recent years, but still *lots* more to do.
3. My bedroom. This is kind of for the opposite reason; I’ve done wonders in here and am really pleased by how much I’ve got done, but would like to keep going and finish the job.
Really glad you’re starting this up again as it feels perfect for me right now; am looking forward to it!
Childrens toys, kitchen items & husbands garage!
My study is a dumping ground and I do struggle to throw out paperwork. I’m still holding onto my kids school stationary i.e. reference books, pens, textas, pads etc… (my kids are now in their 20’s) . I want to make this room a sanctuary where I can do creative things and manage household paperwork happily.
My Tupperware cupboard!
Kids rooms (toys) and the junk drawer/ cupboard in the kitchen. Also how to declutter kids artwork they bring home at the end of each year and how to organise it.
Me! I am a clutter person. I want to simplify my life.
The study/spare room. It is our dumping ground for everything – kids artwork, paperwork, toys that need to be fixed, half our linen is in there as we have no linen press currently too.
Hi! I just joined the challenge today! Everything needs a declutter at my place! But areas to focus on would be kids tourism/artwork/craft supplies, laundry, and cupboards -linen, under sink, bathroom!! Not to mention the garage where all of the stuff that has been gone through gets dumped!
The whole house ?
The Laundry and home office at my place!
Living at my in-laws and our lounge room and bedroom are the same room which becomes a dumping ground. Full time job, 9 year old twind and helping my disabled Mum with shopping and banking etc and it gets hard to focus on decluttering
I am so excited to start decluttering! My goal is is reduce what I have and reduce what I buy, I have too much stuff! I have 3 kids and a hubby too, so I feel it is time to remove anything we don’t want or need, to help us stay organised and motivated!
Thank you, Emma x x
We are building a new house this year so it’s a perfect time to get rid of everything that doesn’t need to be moved.
I need to declutter and organise absolutely everything. I’ve recently became a single mum and moved into a small house so I need to organise everything and be able to fit into the house comfortably.
I’m desperate to declutter our dining area aka kids dumping ground! With 2 primary aged kids 10 and 7 and a considerable lack of storage, we have overflowing open storage cubes and tubs of toys, craft supplies and general “stuff”. I’m not sentimental and LOVE a council clean up but just can’t seem to get on top of this area!
Literally the whole house …. toys books artwork clothes craft supplies paper constantly clutter my house
I need to declutter.. a lot of things. The hardest part seem to be things I have inherited or given by people, things that I don’t really use but can’t through away.. and every thing in the kids section (I have a 2, 7 and 9 year old..)
From the front garage through the house and into the rear workshop is 14 years of clutter from a family of 4 horders. One who.has moved out and left stuff behind. Plus boxes from my mums house as we are selling it now she has passed on
Whole house
Read to go! Bring it on tidy house!
All those ‘memories’ I have kept for 3 children & everything else that is an ‘I might need it one day’.
Paperwork and overall household items.
My whole house needs decluttering. I’m a teacher so seem to keep stuff in case I need it. My Dad has just passed away and I have lots of his treasures added to the mix. I donate lots of stuff but seem to just move lots of things around without making any real progress. I need to get rid of stuff and get my energy back.
Shoppong bag storage is my major clutter corner at the moment. I have so many of them and need to know how to keep them looking tidy while easy to grab them.
I need to do the whole house. Happy for all the tips ie storage, laundry cupboard bookshelves how to get rid of all the clutter.
Good day,
I really need to declutter my mind. So I am hoping when I get my house clean, my mind will be too. ALL of my home needs done. Worst areas are my office, storage room and basement.
My spare rooms need the most work but whole house
Every single room in my house
Office paperwork, I’m too scared to chuck old records and statements. What do I actually need to keep!?
My whole house.
Youngest child starting school so will have a couple of free days! First want to declutter and then paint! (Or both at the same time).
My study…..
1. Paperwork overload (even tips on how to organise online clutter would be good as we go towards less paper)
2. Main bedroom chaos with laundry piles and nowhere to put it things
3. The spare room which stores all the suitcases/ excess stuff that don’t know how to organise and nowhere to store
My whole house. Biggest problem area is the spare room which is the dumping ground, it has a great spare bed in it but is not usable as there is too much stuff on it, under it and around it.
Paperwork , kids toys, the whole house really.
My office, spare ‘junk’ room and all if my child’s toys are what I really need help with. AND the garage/shed if you have any guidance
The whole house. It’s just oozing with stuff everywhere ??
Our whole house is a disaster area. I used to be a pretty organised person. At least I always knew where everything was. Then our eldest daughter became ill with a seemingly undiagnosable condition. She was 16 at the time. Suddenly other things became more important and now 12 years later our home looks like an absolute disaster area. Last year both our children finally moved out of home and I thought , “yes, I’ll be on top of it by Christmas”. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Every room in the house is a mess. We have boxes piled up everywhere and many more that have made it as far as a shipping container just to get them out of the house. It just feels like an endless, thankless task and my husband generally isn’t much help. Our bedroom is far from a relaxed haven and the rest of the house isn’t much better which makes it super hard to relax because everywhere I look there’s just more to do. I hate living this way and crave simpler times. Help!! Please!!
My house is generally “neat and tidy” – however – at this stage in our lives ( late fifties) with mostly our adult children gone – we have room – BUT we will need to downsize and I am finding it hard after being in a big house to imagine having /needing/living with less – this is a good time to start – before Im pressured into it – thank you for the opportunity to get ahead of the game
Kitchen needs a huge overhaul. In the process of upgrading kitchen so perfect time to have a clean out my cupboards and organise my pantry area.
-All the papers. Random, maybe important, need to shred, need to file, do I need them, papers.
-Play room art supplies, very little wall space.
-cleaning supplies
-office that is in my bedroom, because extra kid 😉
Sentimental clutter, old photos etc
office
art supplies
Paperwork
Kids school work
Kids artwork
Toys
Just stuff that builds up but isn’t easily labelled.
Toys, papers/artwork and clothing
My Bedroom
The Spare rooms and especially the cupboards in them have become dumping rooms… and our cupboard with tools/lightbulbs/leftover paint in cans etc
Bedroom. Bathroom. Office. Garage. … okay, the whole thing!
Have just sorted out my CDs. Just the start… I find it hard to part with gifts even though I might not like them or they don’t suit my decor
General household items and dust collectors
My wardrobe & plastic containers in the kitchen.
The entire house needs going over but our study is a disaster as we run a business from there. Ahhhh help!
Everything. Just have way too much stuff. And I hold onto things for sentimental reasons or the cost factor. HELP. And I’m starting late..?
I have finally just done a huge cull over the xmas break. Study room, front section of our lounge and all 4 bedrooms. A huge boot load to lifeline, 2 recycle bins and 4 rubbish bins full gone, such a relief but still have sooooo much more to do. Kitchen cupboards are overflowing!!
I’m slightly late to the party, but I really need to declutter my cupboards (linen cupboard, plastics cupboard, pantry, laundry and bathroom cupboards!!). I also need to let go of clothes because I just hoard them and never wear them. Even knowing this I still can’t bring myself to throw them away!
Need to declutter lots of things!
-clothes
-paperwork
-kids artwork
-toys
The whole house especially where things get dumped and just multiply
Everything!! Hubby and I hang on to too much and we don’t want our kids to follow our bad habits!! Time poor and storage space poor doesn’t help!!
My wardrobe, garage and spare room
I can’t touch the garage: I’ve tried sorting and stacking but most of it is my husband’s stuff (and he borders on hoarding) but I can’t throw out anything unless it’s broken
Kids books and clothes.
My whole house needs decluttering lol
I need to declutter my whole house! I plan to tackle it by targeting one room at a time
I’m with Michelle ?? My whole house needs decluttering so I can’t wait!! We’re also moving so I plan to be ruthless ?
love the attitude Caroline!! being ruthless now will make moving so much easier and less stressful for you
Hi. I’m a bit late but better late than never ! I really struggle throwing out the kids things because everything has a memory attached
Craft supplies!!!! I think the local Kindy will be getting a lot of donations from us this year 🙂
Joining. Not sure what I really need to declutter though…so I’ll just follow the posts.
Somehow links in your emails aren’t working for me… I can’t get to where to download the free print 🙁
I keep getting: “We can’t connect to the server at trackcmp.net. ” Unfortunately this has been going on for a while now. It keeps happening to all the links in your newsletters as well 🙁 it’s really frustrating.
hmm thats so strange, I’m so sorry about that! If you can send through an email to [email protected] we can send you the print 🙂
I need to declutter clothes and craft supplies. I have a lot of my mother’s and sister’s fabrics and yarns that have finally loosened they’re sentimental hold on me!
that’s great to hear, sometimes it takes a while to part with sentimental objects!
My bookcase: I have books that were given to me years ago but I still haven’t read them yet I can’t bring myself to part with them. Hard and soft cover novels, fact and fiction; cook, how-to and history books; magazines, planners and photo albums – my whole life in 5 big messy shelves!
I need to carry on decluttering . We moved from a 5 bed house to a much smaller 3 bed a few years back. Got rid of lots of stuff before we moved, but I still feel we have too much. Especially the loft! So onwards and upwards, need to realise the rainy day is not coming ?
Ooh yes its so hard downsizing when you’ve got so much stuff!! Good luck, you’ll smash it 🙂
Photos – printed and online
Jewelry
Kids things from hair ties to clothes to toys
Junk draw
Art and craft supplies are a biggie for me, and I also have quite a few collections of various things such are china and crystals. And those clothes I just can’t let go of. Time for quality over quantity!
yes quality over quantity is key! 🙂
All the closets and the kids playroom
Hi I’m new my biggest problem is getting and staying organized I just went through my pantry in mid November and its a mess again my kitchen is chaos and in a small apartment its so hard.
Keep up your good work Ruth and dont stop trying. It will get easier each time, get the family to help out too if you’re sharing the home with others, that will make it easier for you to stay motivated and help you to keep it in order 🙂
My emails!!
Hello I love to declutter all the time and i love being organised
me too, sounds like you’ve come to the right place 🙂
The whole house! still got boxes from when we moved 12 years ago. I find particularly difficult my daughter´s toys, dolls, baby clothes (she is 16 now) and sentimental stuff like drawings, mementos, cards. Thank you for your help!
I have so many things to de-clutter that I don’t know where to begin, the hardest room to start on is my ‘sewing room’ as this is where I put a lot things of my Mum’s after she died 4 years ago. Mum’s will be the hardest, but there is so much other stuff as well, I find it quite overwhelming, I also have a tendency to procrastinate, which doesn’t help.
Should read ‘Mum’s things’ in the second line.
My whole house from top to bottom!!
Late to the party- but we have a third shower in our house- in our laundry. The idea behind it when we built was that we are on a farm and hubby comes home filthy, so he should theoretically be able to shower before entering the house. In reality it keeps getting filled with junk, so it’s probably been used twice in 18 months!! That and the garage need sorting- and the study cupboard. Too many things really!!!
that is a great idea having a shower outside for that reason! sounds like you’ve got a big job ahead of you, but you’ve got this Mel. One thing at a time 🙂
As an empty nester, we have had opportunity to basically declutter our home, so am joining the challenge to ‘fine tune’ & maintain each area as it comes up. This will be very helpful, thanks!
It’s lovely to have you come aboard Joanne! I hope my challenges help you with your fine tuning. Kat x
Hi, I’ve tried to declutter paper, bills, receipts, payslips etc. I get stuck on what should I keep and how long for???
Many thanks
Hey Kristy, this article of mine might help you: https://theorganisedhousewife.com.au/organising/money-saving-budget-tips/how-long-you-need-to-keep-bills-and-receipts/ – thanks, Kat x
Hi! We are moving, so it will be very useful and challenging to declutter things that are no longer in use, that don’t need to be packed, brought to the new house and organized there.
Inna, moving house is the BEST time to declutter! We moved house a few years ago now, and I was able to declutter so many things in the process. Happy moving! Kat x
I need to declutter the whole house. I started working and studying nearly a year ago and I’m doing absolutely nothing around the house, just no time. So there are piles everywhere. We only have a small house, and then I have my craft room which is half of the shed. Our youngest son has just moved back in and I just have piles everywhere because I don’t have time to go through them and actually deal with them. I’ve got to get my study done by the end of term or I won’t have a job anymore, so really concentrating on that at the moment. Hoping to get some tips on doing little bits at a time.
Karen life is a constant juggle isn’t it? Just remind yourself that you don’t need to do it all at once – I am a firm believer in breaking tasks down into smaller more manageable ones. Good luck with the study lovely. Kat x
I’m joining in! Currently (because let’s be honest everything needs going through at some point!), I need to declutter my kid’s toys and closet. I have a boy and girl and they share a room. I’m lucky they both play with everything but there’s still just so much. I think I know what to do, i.e. toy rotation, etc. but never get around to it. I have somethings sorted together but really need a clear out!
I know exactly how you feel Amanda – I felt the same way when my kids were younger. I am pretty sure their toys used to multiply behind closed doors, LOL! All the best with your decluttering tasks 🙂 Kat
Late joining but going to do a few tasks each week to catch up. Can I make a suggestion that you look at decluttering the garage and the garden shed and give us some storage ideas. I know this is usually a man’s domain but I think it’s so massive at our house it’s too big a job for him to contemplate, there’s also probably lots of single ladies who would like some tips on these areas too. Have been reading through all the previous weeks tasks and you’re absolutely amazing, thanks Kat!
Great feedback Vikki! Leave it with me 🙂 Kat x