We’re here to help with our tips on decluttering!
Everyone has clutter - and that’s fine. Some clutter is helpful, and even necessary! But sometimes, it can feel like the clutter in your bedroom is getting out of hand.
Your bedroom is supposed to be a calm space for you to destress at the end of the day, and piles of clutter may be stopping you from relaxing. Below we’ll show you how to declutter your bedroom and why it’s so important for your mental health.
How clutter can impact your mental and physical health
When you have a cluttered bedroom, does it sometimes make you feel stressed or out of control? Don’t worry - you’re not alone.
We know that clutter and untidy places can increase stress. The mess may feel inescapable or too daunting of a task to tackle. These feelings can then cause feelings of anxiety, stress or unproductivity.
Clutter can also have some physical impacts, too. It can increase allergy symptoms, as well as pose a safety hazard.
Anxiety and stress
It’s completely normal to feel symptoms of anxiety and stress when faced with decluttering. Below we’ve listed some of the ways clutter may be impacting your mental health:
- Feels like you’re out of your depth
- Feeling embarrassed at the thought of others seeing the mess
- Impossible to ignore what needs to be done
- Hard to keep track of tasks
- Feeling more irritable
If we’ve described how you feel, then our 11 tips for decluttering your bedroom are for you.
Lowered productivity
Do you ever find it hard to concentrate when you’re surrounded by clutter? Or do you find it impossible to switch off you’re in an untidy area?
This is because untidy spaces can limit your ability to process things. So, when you declutter your bedroom you’ll have a clearer space and a clearer mind to work with!
Physical health impacts
When you have a lot of items cluttering up your room, it creates the perfect environment for dust, mould and pests to thrive. This is because there’s more space for dust to settle and it makes it more difficult to properly clean your room.
Not to mention, having clutter on the floor could potentially cause a safety issue if you’re not careful!
So, to take care of your body and your mind, follow our 11 tips on decluttering your bedroom.
11 steps to declutter your bedroom
Are you ready to start your decluttering journey today? Read through our 11 step guide on how to declutter your bedroom for a clearer mind and a more peaceful bedroom.
1. Set realistic expectations and start small
The first of our decluttering tips is to start small! Choose one area of your room to tidy at a time. If this is your first time decluttering, we recommend you pick somewhere easy so you don’t get overwhelmed.
Also, as you work through this first area, think about what clutter means to you. Do you want a spotless surface with no clutter whatsoever? Or do you like some clutter and just want to remove what you don’t need?
Decluttering is a form of self-care, so don’t over face yourself. You don’t need to get everything done in a day - just take it one step at a time.
2. Create four piles
Once you’ve picked the area you want to start with, make four piles. These will be:
- Bin
- Donate
- Store
- Keep
These piles will inform your decluttering process. You can easily see which section the item belongs to and it allows you to keep track of exactly how much you're throwing away, donating, storing or keeping in your bedroom!
From here, we suggest organising the piles as you finish each section of your bedroom. If you leave these piles until you’ve decluttered the whole room, you’ll have even more to tidy.
You’ll be more tempted to leave the mess until a later date, which means there will be even more clutter - which is what we’re trying to avoid!
3. Tackle the floor
Now you have an idea of how this decluttering process will go, it’s time to tackle the floor. For most people, the bedroom floor can get messy really easily.
Cleaning the floor early on in your decluttering journey means you have more space to walk around your bedroom as you tidy.
4. Organise your clothes
The dreaded clothes heap.
Whether it’s sitting at the end of your bed, covering your desk chair or taking up a corner of your room - it has to go.
Sort through your clothes and put them away. Then, you need to choose a place in your room to neatly store your dirty clothes, clothes you want to re-wear and clothes ready to be stored away.
The main aim of this is to use your new clothes system. Otherwise, every few weeks you’re going to have to address the heap of clothes yet again (and no one wants that).
5. Clear off all surfaces
It’s so easy to just keep adding clutter to empty surfaces, isn’t it? Our next bedroom decluttering tip is to periodically clear off all of your surfaces and organise each item into the four piles (bin, donate, store and keep).
This just means you can ensure that the only clutter on your surfaces is really necessary.
6. Sort through all drawers and storage
One of our most important decluttering tips is to be aware of the clutter you can’t see.
When you start decluttering your bedroom, it can be so tempting to just tackle what you can see. This usually ends with you shoving all of the things in your ‘store’ and ‘keep’ piles into random drawers or under your bed.
Out of sight out of mind, right? But you’re just creating more clutter for your future self to deal with. Take the opportunity to sort through all of these storage areas. Don’t feel like need to do it all in one go, as we’ve said before, just pick one small area at a time to declutter.
Be ruthless! The more space you clear, the less likely clutter is to mount up again.
7. Organise your wardrobe
Sometimes you might not even want to open your wardrobe and face the clutter and mess in there. (Believe me, the feeling is mutual!) But we have a system for you to follow if you need a bit of help:
- Find all of your out of season clothes
- Store them in boxes or out of the way until the weather changes so you don’t have them mixed up with the clothes you wear regularly
- Organise the rest of your clothes into a system that works for you
- Ask yourself, do you prefer to have your clothes organised by type? Or would you like to keep all of your work outfits and go-to clothes together?
- Donate all clothes that you don’t need
- Be honest with yourself. Are you hanging onto clothes that you haven’t worn in years for no reason? There are plenty of charities that would happily accept them!
- Repeat this process with anything else in your wardrobe
- Shoes, bags and other accessories can take up a lot of unnecessary space, so make sure to include them in your decluttering process!
8. Utilise the space under your bed
Storage beds are incredibly useful when it comes to keeping your bedroom clutter-free. It’s a good way to store bigger items, while still being easily accessible.
You don’t have to have an ottoman bed or drawer storage, either! If your bed has suitable under bed clearance, the space between the floor and the bottom of your bed, you can fit storage boxes underneath.
9. Clean your bed
Your bed is the centrepiece of your bedroom and it’s also the place you want to relax.
If you find that your bed gets cluttered easily, take a few minutes out of each day before you go to bed to clear everything off your bed. Trust me, it makes all the difference.
To go the extra mile, this is the perfect time to wash your bedding and clean your mattress. This really does add the extra touch of luxury after a few hours of decluttering.
If you’re unsure of how to clean your pillows and mattress, the following guides can point you in the right direction:
- When Should You Wash Your Pillow?
- How Can I Clean my Mattress?
- How to Clean a Memory Foam Mattress?
- Deep Cleaning Your Mattress at Home
After all, who doesn’t love getting into a nice, fresh bed?
10. Invest in storage furniture
If this guide has inspired you to do more decluttering in your daily life, then it may be a good idea to invest in storage furniture.
There are lots of clever storage techniques for any sized room, and you can always make the most of the storage you have! For a stylish and practical option, we suggest looking into an ottoman or drawer storage bed.
If you’re looking to treat yourself, why not check out our extensive collection of storage beds today?
11. Final touches
You’re nearly finished!
For the necessary clutter that can’t be put away, we have some quick solutions.
Try using little decorative dishes, trays or bowls to put your belongings in. Whether it’s your keys, change, perfume, make-up or watches - they can all have a place now!
Dedicate these small spaces to important clutter, but be careful not to let it get out of hand.
Decluttering top tips
If this is your first time decluttering, here’s the Mattress Online decluttering checklist for you to stick to:
- Only keep the essentials!
- Only tackle small sections at once
- Be ruthless! The only way it will get better is if you’re honest with yourself
- Make a cup of tea and stick some music on to make it fun!
Mental health benefits of decluttering
Once your bedroom is all clutter-free, you’ll see the benefits it’ll have on your mental health. Here’s how decluttering your room can positively affect your mental health:
- Easier to fall asleep
- Improved sleep hygiene
- More control over your space
- Improved self-confidence
- Less irritable due to clutter
- Lowered symptoms of anxiety and stress
- Higher levels of productivity
- Better focus
- Becomes a mindfulness exercise
- Decluttering can become therapeutic
Practical benefits of decluttering
Here are some of the practical benefits you can look forward to when you’re finished as well:
- More space
- Improvement in air quality
- Easier and quicker to find things
- Less dust
How to keep on top of it
Great! Now your room is nice and tidy - but what now?
You have to stick to your decluttering system so it doesn’t get out of hand again. Here’s a daily checklist for you to stick by until it just becomes a part of your routine:
- Make your bed every morning
- Put your dirty and clean clothes away as soon as you can
- Reset your room every day
Be careful not to let decluttering become an obsession - it should make your life less stressful, not more.
We hope all of our tips for decluttering have helped you learn how to declutter your bedroom! Having a clutter-free room can be so important to your mental health, and now you know why! If you’re looking to learn more about cleaning your mattress, our helpful guide can help you out. Or, if you’re more interested in the link between mental health and sleep, our post ‘How Does Sleep Affect Your Mental Health’ can provide more information.
