How to declutter your bedroom

Your bedroom should be a sanctuary, a refuge of peace, somewhere you can go to unwind and restore yourself - mind, body and spirit. Ideally it should be a clear, serene space in which you can have a proper sleep. However, in real life, bedrooms quite often become a clutter nightmare where we tend to dump and pile up many items of our home we do not use regularly.

So let us have a quick look at where the so called clutter hot spots can be found in a typical bedroom and see what difference decluttering can make. And I am also going to give you a sneak-peak as to how it is done in my bedroom.

In general bedroom is more prone to get cluttered than other rooms for a number of reasons. One of the reasons comes actually from the nature of the bedroom (especially in small homes and / or in homes lacking enough storage space): we have big furniture here with lots of storage space, so obviously we do keep lots of things here. Other reasons are the bedroom being a private area restricted for visitors, and being one of the least frequently used places in a home. We use our bedroom mainly in the morning and in the evening, and it is not the public or social area where we welcome family, friends or other visitors and „show off our best” to others. Therefore we somehow feel more inclined to dump and keep here things because „we only sleep here” and „no one sees the mess here”.

What we generally overlook is how badly this can affect our health and wellbeing – so if you are a health-conscious person, start to pay attention to how much clutter you accumulate day by day and make it a habit to get rid of it from time to time, especially in your bedroom.

Wardrobe bulging with clothes

Experts say that most people wear only 20% of their clothes 80% of the time. Also too much clothes can result in the so-called „decision fatigue” – every time when you open your wardrobe you find it difficult to decide on what to put on because of an overflowing wardrobe making you feel like you have „nothing to wear”. I am sure we women are all too familiar with this, right?

Check through your clothes and be brutally honest. Ask yourself three questions: Have I worn it in the last two years? Does it fit? Is it stained or torn past repair? Be ruthless here with yourself and with your answers and make sure you chuck out a nice pile of clothes. This process should actually include your your underwear, socks and shoes as well.

I do this twice a year and I make myself sit in front of my wardrobe until I have picked at least 5 pieces to get rid of – I either sell them, gift them to someone, give them to a charity shop or take them to a H&M store (they run a “Recycle Your Clothes” project and you can drop off any clothes and textiles from any brand and in any condition).

Drawers full of bits and pieces

Out of sight, out of mind – it is true, is not it?! You can tuck whatever you want away in your drawers – and then forget about it. And with time, actually pile up a nice amount of clutter. Free your drawers from unnecessary items and make more organised space for the ones that are needed indeed.

These can be anything from elastic bands, hair clips, old tickets, postcards and letters, receipts, and other general junk. Tip the contain of the whole drawer out onto some paper and be ruthless again. Ask yourself a few questions again. Do you really need it? Do you really need that many? Could you easily and quickly replace it if you did need it in the future? What remains can go back into the drawers but do try and organise them – you can even buy small boxes or dividers for your drawers to keep the remaining items more organised.

I go through my drawers regularly, 4 or 5 times a year not only in my bedroom but in the whole house as well and trow out everything that is old, expired or I do not feel I would need in the future. If you find this too frequent, then do it at least twice a year – spring and autumn seem to be a good time to declutter your drawers.

Dirty / clean laundry in piles.

If you keep your laundry basket or bag in the bedroom, make sure you put everything to be washed away in the basket or the bag, and have a regular wash day. Also, do not let the clean clothes pile up but put them away after they have got dry.

If clothes need repairing, do the repairs as soon as possible – otherwise they will sit around forever and piling just up slowly but surely.

It also helps if you get into the habit of putting your used clothes away each day – either put them back in the wardrobe if they can be worn again or in the laundry basket.

I usually leave out the clothes that can be worn again on a hanger to air for a while, then I put them away. I have got a „repair basket” where I keep all the clothes to be worth to be mended and I make sure there is at least one morning or afternoon in a month when I take this basket out and mend as many pieces as I can.

Dressing table full of cosmetics and make-up

Cosmetics do not last forever. Check the use-by date or, if there is not any, throw away anything you have had for over a year. Also, try to reduce the number of them – you do not need so many different types of cream and make-up, do you?

A few years ago I decided to drastically cut back on my cosmetics and make-up. My initial aim was to simplify my beauty regime and only use natural and organic items. But eventually it helped to create a more organised, tidy, fresh and airy looking bedroom. I even moved all the make-up from the bedroom to my bathroom and only left the most necessary cosmetic items in the bedroom.

Large pile of books, magazines, newspapers by the bed

Bedroom is an ideal space for reading and relaxing, and keeping books, magazines here is absolutely ok – provided you do not have too many of them overflowing the place taking up valuable spaces and they are somehow neatly organised. As bedroom is a space for relaxation, rejuvenation, so try to keep books with positive message and energy here. Also, check regularly all the magazines (or even the books) and if they are already read and old, give them away to friends, your local community centre, hospital, care homes or recycling centre.

Our bedroom is not too big so there is not too much space for anything else than the basic bedroom stuff (double bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers, side tables), hence we do not have any extra space for books either. However, as I love reading and I am trying to get myself into the habit of starting and finishing off the day by reading I do keep a few books on the floor just right next to my side of the bed – they are mainly about either interior design with beautiful images or self-development, health and wellbeing.

Piles of papers, letters, photos on the bedside table or drawers

Bedroom is not really the place where you keep your official documents, your bills - especially if they are just lying around and about. Take the relevant action (pay your bill, answer an important letter) and then organise these papers - throw them away or neatly file them away and keep them in some other room.

As for the photos – edit them and keep only the most important and best ones. You can either organise them in a nice album or frame and display them somewhere in the room.

This is a constant „fight” between me and my partner in our home. He is a scattered-minded, messy entrepreneur who has a tendency to leave things where he has dropped them off – and often time it is the bedroom. And if he has put something down he leaves it there forever not even remembering where he has left it. So it is a neverending work to clear away business cards, bills, cheques, work documents, his notes, his keys to keep our bedroom decluttered – even though we have an office room with a nice cabinet where all the official papers are stored.

We only have a few photos in the bedroom and they are photos of us representing our relationship. Photos of family and friends have different place in our home.

Bedroom doubles up as a study or workplace

If you can relocate your computer, filing cabinets and work paraphernalia to another room, do so. If it is absolutely impossible, then first of all make sure you unplug all the electronic devices when it comes to sleep-time. Try to keep as little physical workload in your bedroom as possible and make sure you regularly revise all your papers and and any other things on your desk as to whether you really need them or not.

We both work from home and are fortunate enough to have an office room in our apartment. Though I should call it „my office” as Mr H. somehow prefers working in the bedroom from the bed... If I want to look at the bright side of the problem I can say luckily his office is only his phone and his laptop apart from the occasional notes and business papers, so he does not have that much work-related stuff and it is easy to clear away or remove them when it is needed.

Stuff behind the door and under the bed, on the top of the wardrobe

These are "perfect" spaces for all sorts of boxes, cases, tennis or badminton rackets, etc. It is not that you cannot use these spots for storage, they can be extremely useful if you live in a small apartment or in a home lacking enough storage space. The point is to keep these areas organised, clean and tidy instead of just randomly dumping stuff there as you do not know where to put them. Think carefully through what to keep in the bedroom and organise everything accordingly, and definitely stay away to store anything here that is energetically not clear.

Our apartment does not boast with plenty of storage space – we have only two built in wardrobes (one in the bedroom, the other one in the guest room) so I need to be creative to think about other options without making our home looking too crowded and stuffy. One of the options is using the space under the beds – but I only keep things under our bed that are somehow related to the function and purpose of the bedroom and make sure it is not too much and well organised. I have got a few wooden boxes where I keep the bedlinen, towels and indoor clothes and the air and energy can still circulate under the bed.

Television, mobiles and other electronic devices

This is sensitive and challenging I am aware of it. However it is not a good idea to have these electrical appliances in your bedroom as they emit EMFs (ElectroMagneticFields) and blue light which can disturb your sleep and could cause different health problems. If you wake up every morning feeling sluggish, low on energy although you slept through the night for 6-8 hours and you feel otherwise healthy, think of how often you use any of these devices in your bedroom - do try and keep all electronic equipment out of this room room of your home but at least switched off and/or unplugged.

Well, this is another „hot topic” between us and to some extend it is related to the bedroom / study point. He loves his work, he loves doing business so he excessively uses his phone and laptop sometimes spending long hours working in the bedroom. And if it was not enough he loves watching movies on his laptop while being in bed just as much. For me the bedroom is a sacred space where I can recharge and rejuvenate myself and I need the room to be kept clean and tidy not only on the physical, material level, but also on the mental and energetic level. This is still something we need to work out and arrive to a good compromise that keep both of us happy.

The point is to only keep the bare minimum number of items in your bedroom, and get rid of anything that does not correlate with the main purpose of a bedroom and is not conducive to a restful, relaxing environment.

If you follow this principle you will definitely notice a positive change regarding the quality of your sleep.

Are you feeling confused where and how to start decluttering your bedroom? Do you feel you need personal help and encouragement to get rid of your junk? If yes, my Space Revival service can help you to find instant solution.

Or maybe you want to know more about the main clutter hot spots throughout a home, learn about the main causes of piling up things and the 6-step formula to eliminate clutter? Then the day-long Home and Soul Decluttering workshop is designed for you. In this in-depth workshop with lots of exercises you will learn how you can dejunk your home and your life once and forever to live a happier and healthier life in an inspiring and healthy home.