How to Turn Your Cluttered Home Into a Haven

When talking about decluttering, we frequently focus on the physical items and the process of gathering, sorting and editing them. What we don’t bring up often enough are the mental aspects of clearing your spaces of clutter. Your cluttered home can’t do the job of being a restful haven for your tired soul because it is weighed down by all of the stuff. That same stuff carries equal weight in your mind; preventing you from truly unwinding. Imagine arriving home and feeling instantly relaxed as you come through the door. It can be done! Focus your decluttering on these three spaces and turn your cluttered home into a haven.

The Entry

When your home feels cluttered the moment you step inside it’s a problem. The main entry of your home (meaning the one you enter most often) should make you feel happy to be there. If your main entry does not equal the one you use most often, stay focused on the one you use. Worry about guests later; we put on our own oxygen masks first around here!

Look around your entry, what do you see? Likely lots of stuff on the floor, surfaces and even the wall in the form of shoes, jackets and miscellaneous items. In a cluttered home, the main entry is somehow a magnet for random stuff. So let’s start by thinning it out! One or two pairs of shoes (tops) for each family member. One most-used piece of outerwear each. And then decide what items amongst all of the miscellany deserve to live at the entry. Keys? Dog leash? Sunglasses? Make your choices (be picky!) and remove everything else.

Now you are ready to add a few key storage solutions that will keep your streamlined collection of shoes and essential items looking neat and unobstrusive. If you have an idea of what you’d like to contain your things, great! If you don’t, may I recommend baskets as a starting place? Baskets look really nice and add warmth and texture to your space. Plus, they are easy to toss things in and simple to move around if needed. They signal intention to what would otherwise look like clutter.

The Living Room

Okay the next area to address in your cluttered home is the living room. You know, the room where you kick your feet up and chill. Maybe watch some TV. Read a magazine. Or accidentally take a nap. In a cluttered home, the living room is at high risk because people congregate there. And bring their stuff with them!

So our first order of business (and the one that will make the biggest impact) is to remove everything from the living room that doesn’t actually live there. Take a laundry basket and chuck in all the random things that have taken up temporary residence. Go slowly and take notice, because some things may have been hanging out for so long that they have become permanent fixtures. Sound the alert to your fellow housemates that they need to come retrieve their things from the laundry basket.

Now let’s address the visual clutter. Most living rooms have bookshelves, entertainment centers or other display surfaces that accumulate framed photos, trinkets, plants, books and other decor items. As the years go by you add things without taking away anything, creating a bit of a jumble that is clearly visible when you are trying to relax. Try removing some things and notice the difference when you sit down. Feels better, right? Think about the editing process as curating the experience in this very important room. If it’s hard for you to decide what to take away because you love everything, try rotating things seasonally so everything gets a turn on the shelf.

Lastly, I’m invoking the basket advice again. This time specifically a small one for your remotes and potentially a large one for throw blankets or to add an easy place to toss items that belong elsewhere. And now you can relax in the living room!

The Bedroom

This one is really important! Because your bedroom is your personal space. And the space where you sleep. In a cluttered home, the bedroom specifically causes big problems because if you aren’t getting enough sleep, the negative effects ripple throughout many facets of your life. Your bedroom should for sure be a haven.

To create a haven-like vibe, declutter all of your surfaces; the floor, nightstands, dresser tops and especially the chair that serves as a dumping ground for clothing.

Put things away where they go, donate things you aren’t using and remove anything that doesn’t belong in your bedroom (including the suitcase you still have fully unpacked from your last trip!)

Clutter is a low-level stressor that is absolutely impacting your ability to fall asleep. Once you’ve created a sense of order in your bedroom, it is easier for your body and mind to relax. And fall asleep…

The Handy Solution

As I’ve mentioned, baskets are a practical and beautiful solution for managing clutter in a variety of places throughout your home – including the three I’ve mentioned here. I’ve curated a selection of baskets on my Amazon Storefront that are functional and beautiful, you can access them here. Please do not shop them until after you’ve done your decluttering due diligence!

The definition of haven is ‘a place of safety or refuge’.  Doesn’t that sound like someplace you’d like to be? If that definition does not apply to your cluttered home you may be unwittingly enabling an additional layer of stress in your life that is completely avoidable.  Your home should work for you, not the other way around. If this all sounds great but you don’t have the time, energy or inclination to do this yourself, hit me up for a DIY Plan and I’ll do the thinking for you. Remember, you deserve a haven to come home to!