Key takeaways
Work on one small zone at a time, such as a single drawer, and finish it before you start the next.
Sort everything into four piles: keep, donate, toss, and relocate.
Look up cribs and other baby gear on the CPSC recall list before passing them on, and anchor any dresser or bookcase you move.
The IRS's basic rule is to keep records that support a tax return for three years, with longer periods in a few specific cases.
Old phones and lithium-ion batteries don't go in the trash. The EPA says to delete your personal data and remove batteries before recycling.
Decluttering a family home room by room
In a house with kids, decluttering rarely happens in one weekend. It happens in short stretches between school pickup and bedtime, so the plan has to work in 15 or 20 minutes and still leave a room better than it was.
This plan works one zone at a time, starting with the rooms you walk through most, and ends with where things go once they leave.
There's some research behind the urge to clear things out. In a 2010 study of 60 dual-income spouses, published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, wives whose home tours used more words about clutter and unfinished projects had flatter daily cortisol patterns and more depressed mood over the day. It found a correlation, so it can't show that clutter causes stress.
Set up four piles before you touch anything
Grab four bags or boxes and label them keep, donate, toss, and relocate. Relocate is for anything that lives in another room, like shin guards on the kitchen table. Don't walk each item to its room as you find it, or you'll spend the session tidying the hallway.
Pick a zone small enough that you'll finish it in one go, and set a timer for 15 or 20 minutes. When it rings, return the relocate items, put the donate bag in the car, and take the toss bag out to the bin, so nothing drifts back inside.
For each item, ask two questions. Have you used it in the past year? Would you buy it again today? Holiday decorations and keepsakes get a pass on the first one, though there's still a limit, such as one memory box per child.
Start with the entryway and kitchen
In the entryway, give each person one hook and one basket or shoe slot. Move off-season coats and boots to a closet or an under-bed bin.
In the kitchen, clear the counters first, then go cabinet by cabinet. Duplicates are the easy cuts: the third spatula, the spare can opener, the food containers with no matching lids. Keep the counters for what you'll use every day, and move the waffle maker you use twice a year to a higher shelf.
Bedrooms and closets
Sort clothes by category instead of by drawer: all the T-shirts, then all the jeans. It's easier to keep the best few when you can see the whole pile at once. Anything stained or torn goes in its own textile bag, separate from the donations.
Don't skip the textile bag. The EPA estimates the US generated 17 million tons of textiles in 2018 and recycled 14.7% of them, while 11.3 million tons went to landfills. Clothes in good shape can go to a local charity or thrift store. Some cities and retailers run textile drop-offs that take worn-out fabric as well, so check your town's recycling page before anything goes in the trash.
Kids' rooms, toys, and outgrown clothes
Keep one outgrown bin in each child's closet. Clothes that don't fit go straight in, and when the bin is full, sort it into hand-me-downs, donations, and textile recycling.
For toys, sort with your child once they're old enough to have opinions. Let them pick favorites from each type, like cars or dolls, and box up some of the rest. Swap a stored box for one in the room every few weeks. Broken toys and puzzles with missing pieces go in the toss pile.
Before you donate or sell a crib or other baby gear, look up the model on the CPSC recalls site. The CPSC states that it is illegal to sell any recalled product, and it tells resellers not to pass on broken or wobbly nursery furniture even when it hasn't been recalled.
Moving furniture in a kid's room carries its own risk. A 2022 CPSC report counted 581 tip-over deaths involving furniture, TVs, or appliances since 2000, and 472 of them were children. If you move a dresser or bookcase, anchor it to the wall in its new spot and keep heavy things in the lower drawers. The CPSC says most anti-tip kits cost less than $20 and take under 20 minutes to install.
Paperwork and the home office
Paper stalls a lot of people, because it's hard to know what's safe to shred. The IRS guidance on how long to keep records gives a starting point. In most cases, keep records that support a tax return for three years. The period is six years if you left out income worth more than 25% of the gross income shown on your return, and seven years if you claimed a loss from worthless securities or a bad debt deduction. Keep records for a house or other property until the period of limitations ends for the year you sell it.
Set up three folders: action (bills to pay, forms to sign), this year's tax records, and long-term papers (birth certificates, passports, deeds, and copies of filed returns). Shred anything with an account number on it. Open the mail next to the recycling bin each day.
Where to donate, recycle, or toss what's left
Before a donation run, check the website of the charity or thrift store you're heading to. Each one sets its own rules, and some don't take items such as mattresses, car seats, or large furniture.
Old phones and laptops need a few extra steps. The EPA's electronics guidance says to delete all personal information first and to remove batteries, which may need to be recycled separately. Lithium-ion batteries, and devices that contain them, should not go in household trash or recycling bins. For drop-off, look for a recycler certified to one of the two accredited standards the EPA names, R2 or e-Stewards.
Leftover paint, cleaners, and motor oil count as household hazardous waste. Your local solid waste agency can tell you where they're collected.
Keeping clutter from coming back
Give each category a container with a limit: one bin of craft supplies, one shelf of mugs. Once it's full, something leaves before anything new comes in.
Do a five-minute reset each evening. The kids put toys back in their bins, and the relocate basket gets emptied into the right rooms. Keep a donate bag in a closet all year, so there's always somewhere for outgrown things to go.
For storage and organizing ideas room by room, browse our organizing guides.
Frequently asked questions
How long should I keep tax records?
The IRS says three years in most cases. The period is longer if you underreported income by more than 25% (six years), claimed a loss from worthless securities or a bad debt deduction (seven years), or didn't file a return (indefinitely).
Can I donate used baby gear?
Often, yes, but check the model on the CPSC recalls site first. Selling a recalled product is illegal, and the CPSC advises against passing on broken or wobbly nursery furniture.
How do I get rid of old phones and batteries?
Delete your personal data, remove the batteries if you can, and take both to a certified electronics recycler or a battery drop-off. The EPA says lithium-ion batteries and devices that contain them should not go in household trash or recycling bins.
