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I rarely do massive declutters anymore since becoming more of a minimalist as we just have less stuff in general. But after a busy summer, our home needed a refresh.
This was my autumn reset after the kids returned to school (meaning my son, as my daughter is a toddler and she’s still with me all day).
If you’re also in need of a declutter or just a reset of your own home, then I’ve got a free declutter checklist for you. It’s a really simple one and gives you my best tips. And if you’re ready to upgrade and have even more help from me, I’ve got you with my Simply Decluttered program.
Keep reading below or watch the video:
Let’s now dive into the first area of our home that needed attention.
The living room
I started by tidying toys, and tidying with a toddler always feels like one step forward, two steps back as she was taking toys out anyway. But I don’t mind as long as she’s happy.
I was here, I had a quick look through the toys and picked out some that needed to be rehomed as they belonged upstairs. I wanted to take them back where they belonged and put them in the right baskets to make it easier for the kids to find their toys. I also took a few out to declutter, knowing they weren’t playing with them anymore.
The toys we have at the moment are kept in baskets in an Ikea unit.
On the top, we’ve got some train bits and accessories and vehicles my son loves to play with. We also have some baby toys, animal figures, and things like that.
In the bottom basket, they have wooden train tracks, wooden blocks for building, Magna-Tiles, and Kapla blocks. These are the most played with in our home as both kids love building things, and it’s so good for their imagination.
They also have some toys in their play kitchen. I had a quick look through the pretend foods and items, and I think I decluttered about 20 little toys overall.
Afterwards, I sprayed and dusted the table with the Purdy&Figg spray cleaner I always use. As I was doing this, I got an exciting delivery. I treated myself to a new Pott candle. These are the only candles I currently own because I simply love them. They’re non-toxic, and the orangey scent is my absolute favourite. I really love it when they come out with the Christmas scents as well!
Also in the living room, I actually had a few boxes to declutter as well, like an iPhone box. These boxes can be useful if you actually have a use for them, but since I don’t, there’s no reason for me to keep them. So I can easily declutter them.
I also had a couple of parcels to return because I had ordered some jeans to try on, but they weren’t the right fit. So I sent them back and ordered other ones.
This is your reminder: if you’ve got things you’re not super excited about, just return them. There’s no point in keeping something that doesn’t make you feel great.
Then I moved into…
My toddler’s bedroom
I mainly looked through her wardrobe because she has outgrown most items in her current size. We’re also switching from summer to autumn, so obviously, all the summer dresses and items won’t fit her next summer. This is how I ended up decluttering quite a lot in here—about 25 or 30 pieces of clothing.
I will soon buy other ones to replace these in the next size up and more autumn-appropriate. But I did take out everything that she’s outgrown—anything that she’s not wearing anymore—and I’m going to either donate or sell some of them. I’m just trying to ensure that everything she has in her wardrobe fits her and she can wear it.
Our wardrobes
It was then time to go through my wardrobe. I took out all the seasonal items, like dresses and skirts, as I am not going to wear them anytime soon but I will next summer. I put them in storage. I have a couple of baskets on the top of my wardrobe, and that’s where they’re going to live until the next season.
I then took out some knitwear that had been stored under my bed, waiting to be worn this season.
And since I’ve got a new pair of jeans, I decluttered the old pair. This is one of the rules I’m following—one in, one out. I had ordered the jeans in two different colours, one suits me, the other one I returned.
I also had a look through my jewellery. I don’t have much jewellery, nothing fancy, but I did declutter a couple of necklaces I wasn’t wearing anymore.
I then looked through other summer items. Since summer was over, if there was any seasonal piece of clothing or items that I hadn’t worn, I easily let it go, including a couple of bags.
My husband also decided to declutter one of his jackets. He wasn’t really wearing it anymore, so he gave it to me to put in the declutter pile.
My son’s bedroom
I continued this home refresh process by going into my son’s bedroom, this time with my son.
Together, we went through his Legos. We do a toy rotation with the Legos: he has some sets in his bedroom, and some kept in two storage boxes. We went through them, and my son decided to declutter one of these storage boxes. He’s keeping just the one storage box of Legos.
This works really well for us, as it prepares us for the upcoming season. He’s got his birthday coming up, and then it’s Christmas. There is going to be a little influx of toys and gifts. It’s just good to declutter before that so that we don’t feel overwhelmed when the time comes.
I then went through his clothes. He’s got some seasonal items in two boxes on top of his wardrobe, as well as some swim gear. I just went through and took out some of the items he’s outgrown.
Of course, he doesn’t change clothes as often anymore because he’s a bit older, but it’s always good to have a quick look through and get rid of anything that doesn’t fit or isn’t needed anymore. It helps to keep things in check.
I moved onto his desk afterwards and got rid of quite a lot of paperwork and drawings—you know, those papers with just one line on them.
To finish things off, I had a look around the entire bedroom to see if there was anything we didn’t need in there anymore.
Under the stairs cupboard
Next, I moved back downstairs and checked the cupboard under the stairs, which we consider “the command centre”.
Since we reorganized my son’s wardrobe, we moved his Trofast IKEA unit with storage boxes here. We obviously don’t use it for his toys anymore, we repurposed it. In all those boxes we are now keeping random things and utility items needed on hand. This way, they’re not all jumbled up in one junk drawer.
In the two boxes at the bottom, we have some shoes and wellies, so I went through all of those. We’ve got a rain cover for the buggy and the baby/toddler carrier.
In one of the boxes, we have some envelopes and bags that I like to keep and use when we sell something. I do limit myself to having two or three bags in here at one time; we don’t need a pile of them.
Then we’ve got one box at the top with things we need when we head out the door, like sun cream, sunglasses, and a lint roller.
I also had another bag in here that I decluttered as I was no longer using it.
The whole space felt much better and more streamlined after getting rid of some of the items we didn’t truly need.
The entryway
Moving into the entryway, I also looked through the shoes in our shoe unit. We did have quite a few pairs to declutter.
For example, I realized I wasn’t wearing a black pair of trainers anymore. When I got them, I thought they were fine, but it turned out they didn’t fit me that well; they felt a bit too tight. So, I decided to sell them. They were as good as new and sold straight away on Vinted, which I didn’t expect, but some items sell really quickly.
I went through some of the paperwork we had in our little inbox here as well.
The bathrooms
The next step was to check our ensuite bathroom. There, I got rid of some of the products, like a hairspray and a couple of empty products. I then gave everything a bit of a refresh and got any empty products out of there.
I did a similar process in the kids’ bathroom, and I replaced their Mustela body wash with a new bottle.
The shed
Then I went to the shed knowing we had some paint pots. I have recently painted my toddler’s bedroom so we had two Farrow & Ball paint pot samples and one big paint pot that’s about half full. I gave them to some of our neighbours to use for one of their projects. I don’t like storing paint anymore; I just pass it on to somebody else who can use it.
We also had a carry-on scooter that we used for travelling, but my son’s outgrown it, and it’s just not practical for us anymore.
In total, about 130 items left our home. I feel like every time I do this, things just feel lighter and a bit easier to manage. We are constantly bringing stuff into our homes so I think it’s equally important to take things out.
As you can see, decluttering doesn’t have to be overwhelming—it can be a refreshing reset for your home and mind. I hope my journey inspires you, and I’d love to hear about your decluttering experiences in the comments below. Until next time, happy decluttering!
