Busy and want to declutter your home quickly? Here’s my quick and easy guide on how to declutter a room in 30 minutes. Believe it or not, a lot can be done in a short period of time!
Read on to learn about how to declutter a room in 30 minutes.
Why Is Decluttering Your Home Important?
First of all, why is decluttering a home important? There are several different reasons you should declutter your home:
1. Increase Storage Space
Firstly, when you decluttering your home, you’ll automatically reduce the amount of stuff you own. When you don’t have stacks of paper cluttering your desk, you’ll have room to put some nice family photos there instead. If your cupboards aren’t full of plastic containers you use once a year, you’ll be able to buy food in bulk and store it in the place of the containers.
2. Reduce Anxiety and Stress
When you take the time to declutter, you’ll have less stuff around you. Believe it or not, clutter can be a huge source of anxiety. When you have less clutter around, you’ll think clearer and will be able to complete tasks more quickly. Think about it. If you’re sitting at your desk in your home office and can see stacks of paper and trash in your peripheral vision, your brain processes what it sees. Whether you consciously know it or not, your brain spends time processing this information. If you’re trying to complete the monthly reports in a timely manner, it can be extremely difficult to do it if your brain is spending energy on other tasks!
3. Save Time Normally Spent Cleaning
When you learn how to declutter a room in 30 minutes and take the time to clean your space, you’ll save time. How? Here’s an example. When you have piles of clothing in your wardrobe you don’t wear, you’ll need to spend time digging through them to find the one pair of pants you need. On the other hand, if you’ve taken time to declutter the closet, you’ll be more easily able to find what you need.
Let’s say that decluttering saves you 5 minutes a day of time normally spent digging through your wardrobe. Over the course of a year, you’ll have saved 1825 minutes per year or just over 30 hours! Decluttering saves you time and the headache and stress of looking for clothing.
4. Strengthen Relationships
If you live with family, friends or roommates, clutter is often a source of conflict. For example, let’s just say that your roommate is cleaner than you and despises clutter. When you have a tendency to pile up cardboard boxes and containers in the shared kitchen, you’ll likely spend time arguing about why or why not you need to clean up the mess. If you live with family, you’ll spend less time fighting about why the kitchen is messy.
Live alone? While decluttering may not have as much of a direct impact on relationships as it does for those living with roommates or family, it still effects you and those around you. If you keep a clean space, you’ll be able to host friends for dinner. Additionally, you won’t feel guilty or ashamed about having a cluttered space!
Tips to Declutter a Room in 30 Minutes
Step 1: Gather the Necessary Supplies
Before you tackle the task of decluttering a room in 30 minutes, you’ll need to get prepared! Be sure to gather the necessary supplies for your cleaning challenge. Find 3 laundry bins or boxes, papers, a marker and tape. Label each bin with either ‘Throw Away,’ ‘Donate’ or ‘Keep.’ Get a bucket, mop, soap and sponges for the cleaning portion of the decluttering task. While you can find storage solutions and cleaning tools as you go, if you want to declutter a room in 30 minutes, you don’t want to spend half that time finding your supplies!
Step 2: Declutter a Room in 30 Minutes by Getting Rid of Any Distractions
After you’ve gathered the necessary supplies, you need to get rid of any distractions. There are many types of distractions that can get in the way of cleaning and decluttering! Anything from noise coming from the neighbor mowing the lawn, one of your child needing attention and your phone constantly buzzing. Here are the top tips to get rid of distractions when decluttering a room:
- Turn your phone off vibrate mode. Switch it to silent mode or turn it off completely. Better yet, put it in another room or in the kitchen drawer. When you don’t see your phone, you’ll be more likely to stay on track with tasks.
- If you have kids, try to do your decluttering when they’re at school or hanging out a friend’s place. Struggling to find time? Invest in a babysitter for a few hours.
- Block out any noises. Close all windows and doors in your house. Can you still hear the neighbor’s kids splashing in the pool? Buy some earplugs or wear noise-cancelling headphones. Personally, I love wearing noise cancelling earphones and blasting my favorite tunes while crossing things off my decluttering list. You’ll keep the energy up and will block out any distracting noises!
- Ask your spouse or partner to leave the room. While your loved one has your best interests in mind and probably doesn’t mean to be a hinderance to your progress, he or she can unintentionally distract you. Conversations and noise can get in the way of cleaning. Alternatively, ask him or her to help you out!
Like This Article? Pin It!
Step 3: Set a Timer and Scan the Room
After gathering supplies and eliminating distractions, it’s go time! When you declutter a room in 30 minutes, you should use a timer. Using a timer will keep your energy up and motivate you to get as much done as possible in a short period of time. You can set a timer on your phone (so long as you commit to not looking at it while cleaning!). Alternatively, you can set a timer on your computer, laptop or even use a stove timer.
Once you’ve hit the ‘start’ button, it’s time to rock! First, do a quick scan of the room. Ask yourself “What is taking up clutter or is trash?”
Step 4: Dump Everything Not Needed into a Big Basket
Next, grab everything that is taking up space or is trash and dump it into a large laundry basket next to the three bins labelled ‘Donate,’ ‘Throw Away’ and ‘Keep.’
While it may seem counterintuitive to take an extra step of throwing everything into another basket, it’s a lot easier to sort through stuff when it’s in the same place. Be sure that everything is cleared off the floors, shelves and other furniture. You’ll need a clear space for the sweeping, dusting and mopping phase of the decluttering challenge!
Step 5: Sort Everything by Their Destination
After everything is in the baskets, time to sort them by destination by transferring the items out. Obvious junk can put into the ‘Throw Away’ bin. Next, take a look at any items you don’t use. If you sincerely don’t use or have purpose for any items, you can likely donate them. Items that serve an obvious purpose or those that you need can go in the ‘Keep’ bin.
Step 5: Clean Surfaces and Put Items Back
Before putting back possessions in the ‘Keep’ bin, you’ll want to clean any surfaces. Dust off the cupboards and shelves. Do a sweep of the floors and mop after as well. Wipe down all surfaces to ensure they’re dry. Now it’s time to put items back that you’re keeping. Be sure to put items back where they belong. Books should be kept with books. Kitchen tools should all go in their designated drawer.
Step 6: Make a Commitment to Declutter a Room in 30 Minutes Regularly
You’re all done! Your bedroom, kitchen or bathroom is cleaner and a better place to live. Hopefully by now, the timer hasn’t beeped. If it has, no worries. Learning how to declutter a room in 30 minutes takes practice. Even if you took 45 minutes or an hour to declutter, what matters is that you made the decision to commit to a simpler, less cluttered lifestyle. The only way to get better at something is to practice. Commit to learning how to declutter a room in 30 minutes by setting aside time once a week. Keep a journal of:
- What room you decluttered
- The types of items you got rid
- How long it took to declutter the room
- Your feelings afterwards
Commit to cleaning your entire home by decluttering one room per week. Feeling overwhelmed? Start with one section or area. For example, if you want to declutter the garage, start with one shelf or bin. If you want to declutter your bedroom, tackle the closet first.
Extra Tips for Decluttering a Room in 30 Minutes
Declutter a Room in 30 Minutes with Family, Friends or Roommates
While it’s a good idea to try and declutter without the kids around, if the kids are old enough, why not ask them to help you out? Take part in a family decluttering challenge. Set aside an hour or two on a weekend to sit down with your kids. Explain why you’re decluttering and how it’ll help improve your family’s life.
Ask your kids if it’s ok that his or her room is cleaned at some point. If there is some resistance about getting rid of stuff, that’s completely normal. Be patient and help your child go through his or her personal belongings one by one. You can compromise with your child about decluttering. How so? Promise your child a new toy for every 5 or 10 he or she gets rid of.
Additionally, be sure to offer a reward to your kids for helping you out with decluttering. This might mean a movie night with snacks at home or maybe even some ice cream after dinner! Ask your kids what he or she wants as a reward. If you have more than one child, take turns for rewards for each successful phase of decluttering a different part of the house. Offering a reward is important because it will help your kids stay motivated.
Do Not View Decluttering as Losing Money
One common issue that many encounter when decluttering is thinking they’re losing money and value from items thrown or given away. While it’s true that you spent money on an item and you worked hard to earn that money, the cash is already spent. There’s no use keeping old stuff around the house. Broken items are of no use. Additionally, stuff you don’t need just crowds up the home.
Here’s an alternative to just giving away stuff: why not try to sell it first? List your items on Facebook Marketplace. If you can’t sell it, donate it. When you donate items to thrift stores, you’re helping the less fortunate out. Firstly, when you donate, those who cannot afford to buy retail have the chance to purchase your used goods at a fraction of the cost. Additionally, secondhand stores usually donate a portion of sales to a worthy local charity. Live a simpler lifestyle free of clutter and help others out while doing it!
Track Progress and Reward Yourself
Even if you aren’t doing the decluttering challenge with others, it’s important to track progress and reward yourself. If you’re doing the challenge solo, be sure to treat yourself to something after completing a phase or stage of your decluttering journey. Order some special takeout or buy yourself that blue handbag you’ve been eying for months. Treating yourself is important. When you allow yourself rewards, you will be incentivized to keep sticking to good routines, setting goals and achieving them. Be sure to set aside some funds in your monthly budget for little treats here and there.
A Final Note on How to Declutter a Room in 30 Minutes
Learning how to declutter a room in 30 minutes – or even 45 minutes or so – takes practice. Take it one step at a time by going through each stage of the process. Invest in proper cleaning and storage supplies, get your family involved and be consistent.
Before you know it, you’ll be a pro with minimalism and simple living!
Like This Article? Pin It!
Janita is a frugal living expert and owner of Frugal Fun Finance. With over five years of personal experience finding and trying out the best ways to make and save more money, she's eager to share her knowledge. Janita's strategies have helped her save thousands of dollars for funding investments and traveling to over 20 countries.
Janita completed training in personal finance at The University of Western Ontario and McGill University, two prestigious Canadian universities. Her expertise has been shared on GoBankingRates, Yahoo Finance, and NASDAQ.com.
