How to Declutter Your Bedroom: Bedroom Declutter Checklist & Tips

Your bedroom should be a place of peace and relaxation. But if your bedroom is cluttered, it can be difficult to relax and get a good night’s sleep. Follow these tips for how to declutter your bedroom and create a relaxing oasis in your home!

Use the bedroom declutter checklist to help you get started plus loads of useful tips for keeping your bedroom clutter-free!

Why Decluttering Your Bedroom Is Important

Before we talk about reducing the clutter in your room, let’s take a moment to consider the benefits of a clutter-free bedroom.

A clean, spacious bedroom is the ideal retreat from everyday life. This can help create a place of peace and comfort at the end of a busy day.

When you declutter your bedroom, you’re also improving your sleep quality.

A cluttered bedroom can make it difficult to relax before bed, causing stress and overwhelm, which can lead to restless nights. By decluttering your space, you can create a tranquil environment that will help you get the restful sleep you need.

And less stuff simply means your life gets easier – less to clean, tidy, organise and maintain!

How To Declutter A Bedroom

Now that we’ve talked about why it’s important to declutter your bedroom, let’s get into how to do it! This process is my go-to decluttering process for most spaces within the home.

The reason it works is that it tackles small decluttering tasks one by one, or zones, rather than the entire bedroom space as a whole.

1. Create A Clear Vision For Your Space

Start by asking yourself this: What is the purpose of this space?

Aside from the obvious, that it is a place to sleep each night, and possibly store your clothing and accessories, what do you want this space to be?

Treating your bedroom as a peaceful retreat where you come to sleep at night may be your ultimate goal, eliminating the bedroom from any other purpose.

Or you might want your bedroom to be a comfortable space where you can also watch television or display a favourite collection. In some cases, the space might also need to double as an office corner with a desk if there is nowhere else this is possible.

This can sometimes mean getting rid of furniture or decorative items that aren’t helping you achieve your room goal.

Your bedroom should reflect your purpose and your personality. If you’re not sure what that looks like, spend some time browsing through magazines

2. Clear The Surface Clutter

Once you have a clear vision for your space, it’s time to tackle the surface clutter.

Start by removing any items that don’t belong in the bedroom.

This might include things like dirty clothes that need to be put in the wash, piles of books on the bedside table, paperwork or bills that need to be dealt with, or toys that need to be put away.

Flat surfaces are a magnet for clutter. Clear clutter from surfaces such as the bedside table, dresser, shelf, and floor!

The best part of clearing visual clutter is that you get an instant win, seeing open space in places that were cluttered just a few minutes ago! And when you are feeling overwhelmed, a quick win is exactly what you need.

3. Sort Your Bedroom Declutter Into Zones

Now that all the obvious items that don’t belong in your bedroom have been relocated, it’s time to get right into the action.

The most unintimidating way to do this is to sort your bedroom into zones – small areas that you can declutter one by one.

Zone examples include a single drawer, a single shelf, a single corner of the room or a single surface.

If you are a person who loves to create to-do lists and check them off as you go, it can be really helpful to take a moment to write a list of each zone in your bedroom.

Sit on the bed and look around you to list out each space that needs to be decluttered, i.e. top dresser drawer, second dresser drawer, bottom dresser drawer, for example.

Or grab yourself a printable bedroom decluttering checklist instead!

4. Have A Plan For Your clutter

What are you doing with your unwanted items?

You need to have a plan for your clutter before you start decluttering or else you will end up with piles of stuff around your room, which kind of defeats the purpose.

For each item, decide which category it falls into. This will make decluttering your bedroom much easier and quicker. And have a box or trash bag for each type of clutter so you can keep them separated.

For the items you are donating, recycling or selling, know before you start when you will action this.

Can you do a donation run the next morning? Will you list items for sale that same afternoon?

Quick action gets items out of your home sooner and gets you closer to a better night’s sleep in your own clear and peaceful bedroom space!

5. Start Decluttering The Bedroom

Now that you have a clear plan, it’s time to start decluttering your bedroom!

Pick a zone to start decluttering. Take everything out of that zone, such as the complete contents of one drawer, and sort through the items.

Add the unwanted items to one of your boxes or trash bags you have ready to donate, sell, trash and recycle.

If you are having trouble deciding whether to keep something or not, ask yourself these questions:

• Do I use this item regularly?
• Does this item bring me joy or happiness?
• Does this item add value to my life or make my life easier?
• Does this item have sentimental value?
• Would I buy this today if I saw it in a store?

If you answered no to these questions, it’s time to get rid of it!

6. Consider Your Storage Space

Before you put everything you plan to keep back in its space, it’s a good time to assess your storage solutions.

Do you still have too many clothes for the space you have allocated them? This is a strong sign you might need to reconsider keeping some of the items if there simply isn’t room for them!

Or are there other ways you can make the most of your small storage space?

For example, if you have limited closet hanging space, can you store seasonal clothing elsewhere, such as in a space-saving under the bed vacuum bag?

This isn’t an excuse to keep more than you should. It’s merely a way of making your limited space more functional during the warmer months when a winter jacket might not be high priority in your closet!

Where to start when decluttering is entirely up to you. Clearing the surface clutter and removing items that don’t below is always recommended.

This allows you to narrow your focus just to the items that belong in your bedroom.

After this, you might like to start with the small and easy tasks on your list to get warmed up. This can be a good way to ease yourself into the tougher decisions when you reach the areas that you find harder to let go of.

How To Declutter Clothing

Decluttering clothing is one of the hardest parts of decluttering your bedroom.

While the other odds and ends that live in our bedrooms are relatively easy to make a decision on, there tends to be a much bigger emotional attachment to clothing. It is not so unlike decluttering sentimental items.

The reason for this is that we often have memories associated with our clothing and accessories that cause us to pause, even if we haven’t worn an item in years or know that it is worn out or no longer fits.

It might be that we are holding on to our old favourite dresses from when we were much slimmer. Or a beautiful pair of shoes we wore to a special date. It could even be that holey old faded band t-shirt we got at a concert in 1999.

This is where those decluttering questions are important, particularly around whether this item currently brings you joy or happiness.

Are you holding onto those old dresses that don’t fit because they make you happy or because you desperately want to get back to the size you were when they did fit?

If this is the case, there’s a good chance they aren’t bringing feelings of joy, but instead feelings of guilt or other negative emotions.

Wardrobe Decluttering Hack

If there are items that you can’t bare to part with today, but you know you probably should, try this wardrobe coathanger hack for decluttering clothes.

Turn each hanger so that it is facing backwards on the rack. Over the coming months, each time you wear an item of clothing, turn the hanger the correct way.

At the end of the period you have set for yourself, if any of the hangers are still facing backwards, it’s time to seriously reassess their value in your life!

You can do similar with dresser drawers by adding a drawer divider and starting with everything on one side, then moving it to the other side as it gets worn.

This approach won’t give you an instant clothing declutter, but it will help you downsize gently if this is an area you are struggling with.

Keeping Your Bedroom Clutter Free

Once you have decluttered your bedroom, it is important to keep on top of the surface clutter and ensure that items are put back in their proper places.

There are a few helpful tips that can keep you on track with the decluttering process to avoid it getting out of hand once again.

Have A Place For Laundry

Keep a laundry basket in your bedroom for dirty clothes if you find yourself scattering them all around the bedroom.

This will avoid them from getting mixed up with clean clothes or from creating a dumping ground until wash day.

Identify Clutter Hot Spots

Clutter hot spots are areas in your bedroom (and the rest of your home) where clutter seems to naturally gravitate towards. For some people, it might be the top of their dresser or bedside table.

Others might find that items tend to pile up on their chairs or floor.

My personal bad habit is leaving a pile of barely worn clothes on the floor near my dresser, like a jacket that I might wear again tomorrow. To break this habit, I added a decorative bamboo ladder to the corner of our bedroom where I can fold and neatly hang those couple of items, instead of leaving them on the floor. It isn’t perfect, but it looks far less messy than it did before.

Once you have identified your own personal clutter hot spots, make a point of decluttering them regularly or finding a way to eliminate the temptation as I did with the ladder.

This could be a trinket storage dish on your dresser or a drawer you clear out to store the books, pens and other items that seem to end up on your bedside or dresser.

Sometimes it might even be effective to add something decorative, such as an indoor plant (or artificial plant) to a corner to deter you from throwing items over there.

This will help to prevent those clutter hotspots from reappearing!

Daily Pick Up Habit

Another effective way to keep on top of your tidy space is to create a daily pick-up habit for your home.

Set a reminder on your phone before bed each night or after breakfast to walk around the home for 5 minutes and put things back in their proper places.

This simple strategy can really help to keep your home clutter free and have you feeling much calmer as you walk in the door!

Daily Room Reset

Just as it can be a huge stress relief to have a daily kitchen cleaning habit at the end of each day, it can be just as effective in creating a calming space by having a daily bedroom reset.

Make a habit of making your bed every single morning. This alone will make your room look far less cluttered and much more inviting as you climb into bed each evening.

Open the curtains and let in the natural sunlight and if the weather is fine outdoors, open the windows and let in some fresh air. Every bedroom sanctuary is better with sunshine and fresh air!

Decluttering Kid’s Bedrooms

The decluttering process for kids’ bedrooms can be a little different from an adult’s bedroom, but the basics are still the same!

Start by going through everything and getting rid of anything that is no longer used or loved.

You might find it helpful to do this with your child so they can see firsthand what items they use on a regular basis and what clothing still fits them.

Then, it is time to tackle the storage in their room.

Depending on how your home is set up, you may have toys in your child’s bedroom or keep them elsewhere in the home. Often they tend to spill over, even if you do have a playroom.

Check out my guide for decluttering toys to tackle this particular set of kid clutter.

If your child does have clutter hotspots with toys or clothing, consider what storage systems will help them maintain a tidy room.

Invest in some good toy storage systems, such as stackable storage tubs or under-bed sliders to utilise your space and help keep things organised.

Or this might be adding a laundry hamper for dirty clothes or keeping a small tub in the corner of their room for toys and having them put each item away once a week as part of their regular chores.

Tip: If your child is reluctant to declutter their room, offer them a bedroom makeover! This was the key to getting my daughters both on board with letting go of the things they no longer needed.

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Need more help to declutter your bedroom and the rest of the house? Grab my Declutter Your Home Workbook:

These tips will help you get started on decluttering your bedroom and keeping it clutter-free. It is important to identify any areas that are prone to becoming cluttered and come up with a plan to deal with them regularly. It’s time to turn your bedroom into the peaceful sanctuary that you deserve!

For more decluttering tips:

• How to start decluttering when you feel overwhelmed
• How to declutter toys
• 30-day declutter challenge calendar
• 10-minute decluttering tasks and quick wins
• How decluttering can save you money
• The 1 box decluttering method
• How to create your own home management binder
• Outdoor toy storage ideas
• Toy storage ideas for kids
• Things you can throw away right away
• How to declutter your kitchen
• How to declutter your bathroom
• Books about decluttering
• How to organise paperwork
• Living room declutter tips
• Cleaning hacks to save time