It’s week 6 of the Less Mess Challenge—which means we’re more than halfway through! This week, we’ll be working on organizing and decluttering your bedroom and closet.
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Master Bedroom Musings
When you see master bedrooms on Pinterest and Instagram, you probably see calm, serene places with a nicely made bed and a candle or two sprinkled around for romantic vibes. Not that we’re all trying to live that Pinterest-Perfect life, but these pictures have a point.
When your bedroom is calm, tidy, and peaceful, they become the retreat and resting place they’re meant to be. If your bedroom is messy, cluttered, and full of everyone else’s junk… it probably needs some decluttering and organization!
Bedrooms that are uncluttered and calm actually improve your sleep quality, which then improves many other aspects of your life.
So really, you can’t afford to have a messy bedroom (says a person whose bedroom is currently pretty darn messy).
Take this opportunity to clear your surfaces, tidy your drawers, and give your room a good cleaning. Remove everything that doesn’t belong in your bedroom—it will make a massive difference in the feel of your room and the feel of your life!
Master Closet Chaos
Dressing and preparing for the day affects how we take it on. Do you want to start your day scrounging through piles of wrinkly clothes to find the pants you wanted to wear? And where’s that sweater you know you have but just can’t locate? Is it clean? Is it dirty? Who even knows?
Statistics show that Americans have hundreds of articles of clothing in their closets and only wear 18% of it. 18 PERCENT. That means, if you have 100 items in your closet (which is a very low estimate), you wear 18 of those things.
When you think about how often you do laundry and how many clothes you wear, it just makes little sense to have all those items taking up space and weighing on you (you may not be aware that they’re weighing on you, but I promise if you get rid of half of them and then see the difference in your space, you will feel lighter).
Your Favorite Clothes
Look in your closet and think about your favorite 20 items. What do you like about them? How do they make you feel when you wear them? What style are they?
Use these ideas for future shopping purchases—if new items you’re trying on in the store don’t fit your likes, your lifestyle, your style and don’t make you feel fantastic, LEAVE THEM AT THE STORE.
And what about those clothes that don’t quite fit, but you’re hoping they will again someday? I think you can guess what I have to say about that… leaving them in your closet is like a box of failures. It’s not doing any good.
Accept yourself and your body size. If your body size changes again, love yourself and take yourself out shopping (for items that flatter you and make you feel great).
Organizing Your Clothes
Odds are, you hang some clothes and fold some clothes.
Items of clothing that are usually folded include:
- Pajamas
- T-shirts
- Athletic clothing
- Sweat pants and sweatshirts
- Sweaters
- Shorts
- Camisoles
These articles of clothing are typically hung up:
- Shirts
- Pants
- Jeans
- Jackets
- Dresses
Whether you decide to fold items or hang them is up to you, and probably affected by your current storage solutions.
When hanging clothes, I recommend hanging them by season (summer vs winter), formality (casual vs dress), and finally, by color (light to dark with a rainbow in between).
Why so much effort? Creating zones within your closet will help you find a specific article of clothing when you need it.
When you go into your closet looking for work clothes vs. looking for clothing to wear to a child’s basketball game, you can go right to the section of your closet where you keep that style of clothing and look at the options you see.
Now that you know what you want your closet and bedroom to feel like, let’s make it happen!
Decluttering and Organizing Master Bedrooms & Closets
As always, do what you can when you can. This challenge is broken down by tasks that make the biggest impact in different amounts of time.
If You Only Have 30 Minutes: Quick Declutter
- Clear your dresser and nightstand surface.
- Tidy your dresser drawers, looking quickly through each one and pulling out anything you haven’t worn in a while.
- Remove any items that do not belong in your room (kids’ toys and books, donations, etc.)
- Quickly tidy your closet and gather all the empty hangers in one spot.
- Change sheets and make your bed.
If You Have an Hour: Declutter & Surface Clean
- Everything above, plus…
- Empty your nightstand drawers, wipe them out, and refill them with only what you need—keeping them as simple as possible will allow you to find what you need in the middle of the night
- Choose a few dresser drawers that are overcrowded or messy. Pull the items out, evaluate them, and put back only what you love. Consider swapping drawers or changing your system if they’re still too crowded.
- Look through your closet and sort clothing by weight and style. Remove anything you know you don’t love, doesn’t fit, or you won’t wear. Clear the closet floor.
- Dust all your surfaces.
- Vacuum the floor
If You Have a Few Hours: Declutter, Deep Clean & Organize
- Everything above, plus…
- Empty all dresser drawers to evaluate contents. Fold everything nicely and return.
- Pull each item of clothing out of your closet, look at it, try it on if necessary, and return it only if you love it.
- Assess the contents of any bins. Empty them, clean them out, replace the contents.
- Look at any shoes you have stored—especially the dusty ones — make sure they still fit and you’ll wear them.
- Look through any other items that haven’t been addressed. Are they needed and loved?
- Clear your closet floor and clean it. Put as little back on it as possible.
- Dust baseboards, doors, light fixtures, and switches.
- Wash all bedding, curtains, and blankets.
Matching Hangers
Do you need matching hangers to be organized? Of course not! But they provide a cleaner look in your closet by reducing visual clutter and keeping your clothes lined up nicely. Depending on the hangers you choose, you may even gain some extra hanging space.
Maintaining Closet & Bedroom Organization
Now that you’ve organized your bedroom and closet, you need to maintain your organization. The good news is, even if you let it slide a bit, it won’t be hard to reset barring anything catastrophic.
To maintain your organization:
- Do laundry start to finish — wash, dry, fold, hang, put away — regularly.
- Don’t let your room become a dumping ground for other people’s things.
- Regularly assess your clothing and make sure you still love it.
- Create a donation basket where you drop discards.
- Change your shopping habits — not only is it great for your closet, it’s great for your budget and the world.
Next Up: Bathrooms