Decluttering Checklist, Room by Room

One visible win before any room. Pick the most visible surface and clear it.

• Choose the surface you see most often: a table, a countertop, a coffee table.
• Photograph it as it is, without tidying first (your “before” photo).
• Set a 15-minute timer and empty the surface completely into a box. Don’t sort yet.
• Clean the empty surface and put back only a few things you use every day.
• Sort the box into three piles: its place, exit bag, “decide later” box. Photograph the result.

One spot per person, for what is really used. Mail is handled the day it arrives.

• Photograph the entryway, then empty the furniture, hooks, catchall tray and doormat.
• Sort every object with the 4 questions: keep, exit bag or waiting box.
• Put back one pair of everyday shoes and one coat per person, plus keys and the day’s mail.
• Set up a mail sorter or three folders: to handle, to file, to throw out. Throw flyers out right away.
• Clean, photograph the cleared entryway, and put the extras in the exit bag.

The countertop first, then the one cabinet that overflows the most.

• Empty the countertop completely. Put back only what you use every week.
• Sort what you removed with the 4 questions. Duplicates go. Appliances you don’t use weekly leave the countertop.
• Take everything out of one cabinet. Throw out expired food and containers without lids.
• Group by use and put back by frequency: daily within reach, occasional up high.
• Photograph the cleared countertop.

Give the room its function back: sitting, talking, resting, without walking around piles.

• Empty the coffee table, TV stand and window ledges.
• Put back only a few chosen objects on each surface.
• Group cables: one cable, one function. Put them in a closed box.
• Sort magazines, papers and things “in transit”: back to their room, or out of the house.
• Give a closed place (drawer, box, basket) to remotes, chargers and games. Photograph the room from the doorway.

Surfaces first, then the closet by category.

• Clear the nightstand, dresser and chair.
• Empty the closet completely, by category: tops, bottoms, dresses, sweaters.
• Ask the 4 questions about each piece: keep, exit bag or waiting box.
• Set aside seasonal and formal clothes in a garment bag or a dated box, up high.
• Put back by category, most-worn in front. Photograph the bedroom and the closet.

The essentials, nothing more.

• Empty the cabinet and ledges. Line up every product.
• Throw out the expired and empty ones without debate.
• Group by use: face, body, hair, teeth, care.
• Put expired medicines in a separate bag for a proper collection point.
• Put back by frequency, clean the empty surfaces and photograph the cabinet.

The desk first, then the most visible pile, sheet by sheet.

• Clear the desk completely. Keep only what you use at it every day.
• Take the most visible pile and handle it sheet by sheet: throw out, file, or note the action to take.
• Create three destinations: a wastebasket, a “to handle” folder and an archive binder.
• Sort desk supplies and cables with the 4 questions. Pens that no longer write go now.
• Photograph the cleared desk and list the actions from the pile.

Box by box, in front of the entrance to the space.

• Photograph the basement and garage as they are.
• Take the boxes out one by one. Open each, apply the 4 questions, and decide before opening the next.
• Separate right away: keep, exit bag, bulky items to drop off.
• Put back only what you keep, labeled and in a single visible row.
• Photograph the cleared spaces.