8 BEST DECLUTTERING METHODS TO SIMPLIFY YOUR HOME (PROVEN SYSTEMS THAT ACTUALLY WORK)

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This article talks about the best decluttering methods to simplify your home! 

You’ve watched all the minimalism videos, read all the decluttering tips, and bought all those aesthetic organizational supplies—and yet your home still looks cluttered.

That was me a few years ago.

I tried decluttering multiple times but felt like I was making no progress.

The thing is, isolated hacks and advice are great.

But what I needed to make lasting change was a proven system to follow.

In this post, I’m sharing the 8 best decluttering methods I swear by to simplify my home and life!

These are complete frameworks you can follow from start to finish.

Some focus on speed while others honor your emotions.

Make sure to check out the last section, where I’ll tell you exactly which method is best for you based on your personality and situation!

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8 effective decluttering methods for a more organized life

1. KonMari Method

This Japanese method of decluttering was created by the renowned organization expert Marie Kondo.

This is actually the first method I came across when I started simplifying my home, and to this day, it’s still one of my favorites!

Marie Kondo takes a full-home transformation approach and advises decluttering by category, not by room.

First, you start with clothes, then books, papers, komono (miscellaneous), and end with sentimental items.

She says this order works best because it starts with the easiest categories and builds up to the hardest.

By the time you reach sentimental items, you’ve already practiced letting things go hundreds of times and strengthened your decluttering muscles.

One of Marie Kondo’s main tips is to gather ALL items from each category in one place, so you can actually see how much you own.

What makes the KonMari method unique is that it isn’t based on practical or logical decision-making.

To decide whether something is worth keeping, you hold each item and ask yourself, “Does this spark joy?”

If it doesn’t, thank the item to bring closure to your relationship with it, and let it go.

Everything you keep can then be organized using her methods.

I personally don’t follow her method every time I declutter, but I consistently use her folding technique for storing clothes vertically.

This one is truly life-changing in my opinion!

This method is not a quick fix—it can take weeks or even months to complete.

But it will completely transform your home!

If you want to learn more about the KonMari method, I highly recommend her best-selling book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up!

2. No Mess Decluttering Method

The No Mess method was developed by Dana K. White from the blog A Slob Comes Clean.

Dana offers a “no-mess” way to declutter so we don’t end up with piles everywhere and create a bigger mess than when we started.

The core idea is to handle each item one at a time and make immediate decisions, without pulling everything out at once.

That way, your home stays functional throughout the process, and it’s a lot less overwhelming.

Dana recommends first walking through your house with a trash bag to throw away obvious garbage like broken things and expired products.

Then, take a basket and use it to remove everything that belongs somewhere else.

Relocate those items to their proper home immediately instead of making a pile to do it later.

For the remaining items, ask yourself these two questions:

• If I needed this item, where would I look for it?
• If I needed this item, would it ever occur to me that I already have one?

If you don’t remember you already own this item when you need it, you can safely let it go because you’d probably buy a new one anyway.

Also, each item you keep must have a designated home, and it should be where you’d naturally look for it first.

Another key concept in the No Mess method is that everything must fit in a “container”—whether that’s a shelf, a drawer, a closet, or a bin.

In other words, the container determines how much you keep, which forces you to set a limit and prevents accumulation.

If an item doesn’t fit, you either get rid of it or declutter something else to make room.

3. Room-by-Room Method

The room-by-room method is probably one of the most intuitive decluttering methods you can choose.

It’s super simple: you work on and declutter one entire room at a time, that’s it!

You don’t tackle multiple areas at once or scattered categories across the house.

You focus on one room and completely finish it before moving to the next.

It’s recommended to choose the easiest spaces first and move to the hardest ones as you make progress.

For instance, start with the bathroom because it’s usually small and doesn’t have many sentimental items.

Then move to your home office or guest room, then the kitchen and living room.

Bedrooms tend to collect more personal items, so leave them toward the end.

Also, leave storage rooms like your basement, garage, or attic for last because those might be the most challenging.

They’re where we usually store hundreds, if not thousands, of items—meaning we need to make as many decisions.

Many of us also store sentimental items here, so it’s best to tackle these rooms when you’ve practiced letting go.

For each room, set a realistic time frame and choose a sorting method that suits you.

Make sure to completely finish the room before moving on.

Many of us get caught in the trap of reorganizing the items we relocated and end up getting pulled in all directions instead of focusing on one single space.

4. The Green with Less 30-Day Declutter Challenge

I couldn’t share effective decluttering methods without mentioning my own, which I implement year after year to reset my life and home.

The Green With Less 30-Day Declutter Challenge is a complete guided roadmap I created to walk you through your entire house or apartment.

Each day, you get a specific assignment, so you know exactly what to tackle.

These 30 daily tasks cover almost all areas of your life, alternating between specific rooms, categories of items, and even digital clutter.

Each task is designed to be finished relatively quickly—some are doable in just 10 minutes, and others take up to an hour (depending on how much you own).

Follow the daily plan as outlined, or adapt it to your routine by choosing a task each day based on your time and energy.

I designed this method so you’re never doing the same type of task two days in a row—this keeps things interesting and prevents burnout.

Also, I highly recommend doing this challenge alongside a friend or family member to make it even more fun!

One more thing: don’t fall into the trap of trying to do each task perfectly.

The goal is to simplify as much as possible, but you can still revisit later.

No pressure!

5. Four-Box Decluttering Method

The four-box method is a straightforward sorting system anyone can implement, whether you’re a beginner or more advanced.

Here’s how it works: every item you touch goes into one of four clearly labeled boxes:

• Keep: for items that serve a purpose in your life, that you use regularly, and have space for
• Donate: for duplicates or items in good condition that you haven’t reached for in over six months
• Trash: for items that aren’t in good condition—broken, expired, stained, or damaged
• Relocate: for things you want to keep but belong somewhere else

Choose a space, pick up each item, and immediately decide where it goes.

Do this until everything has been sorted.

Don’t overthink or delay decisions by adding a “maybe” box!

Once you’re done, put away everything in the Keep box to their proper homes.

Immediately throw away what’s in the Trash bin, and relocate each item in the Relocate box to its correct room.

Finally, put your Donate bin in your car so you can drop it off at the donation center within 24 to 48 hours.

6. Swedish Death Cleaning

I know this method might sound morbid, but it relies on genius principles that I find truly life-changing!

Swedish Death Cleaning is a decluttering philosophy popularized by Swedish author Margareta Magnusson in her book The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning.

It encourages you to gradually reduce your possessions over time, before you pass away.

The goal is to ensure you don’t leave any unnecessary burden behind for your loved ones to tackle.

It’s a long-term process that focuses on mindful decluttering throughout the course of your life, instead of in one big purge.

The core, guiding question is: “Will anyone I love want this when I’m gone?”

If the answer is no, and you’re not actively using it now, you can declutter it guilt-free.

With this reflective method, we don’t keep things “just in case.”

We only keep things that are truly useful or meaningful to us right now.

Margareta also advises talking to family members and asking them directly what they’d actually want.

That way, you’re not burdening them with unwanted heirlooms when you’re gone, and you can even gift them items while you’re still alive.

What I love about Swedish Death Cleaning is that it focuses on the legacy we leave behind for our loved ones.

It allows us to curate the items we actually want to pass on instead of leaving a ton of meaningless stuff behind.

It’s also about living well with less burden while we’re still alive.

The author recommends starting early—in your 50s, 60s, or even earlier, whenever you start thinking about your future.

7. The Minimalism Game

This is one of the most popular decluttering methods out there!

The Minimalism Game, created by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, is a 30-day gamified challenge that helps you get rid of 465 items in one month.

Here’s how it works: on day one, you declutter one item.

On day two, you get rid of two items.

On day three, three items.

And so on, up until day 30, where you let go of 30 items.

The great thing about this method is that you start small, and over the course of the month, you build momentum, which makes decision-making easier.

As the month progresses, it forces you to dig deeper to actually find things you’d otherwise never have thought about decluttering.

You can play the Minimalism Game alone, or with your spouse or even a friend.

Either way, the gamification will motivate you throughout the month to keep going, even when things get hard.

There’s also a reverse version, where you start by decluttering 30 items, then 29, and so on, until the last day, where you only need to find one item.

8. One-In-One-Out Decluttering Method

The one-in-one-out method is not an initial decluttering method, but rather a maintenance-based prevention system.

It’s for people who want to prevent stuff from accumulating, rather than for reducing inventory.

This stops clutter from returning, especially after you’ve already decluttered.

The core principle is that every time an item comes into your home, an existing one must leave.

This means your total number of possessions remains stable.

Ideally, you should decide what will go before you even bring the new item in.

But if that’s not possible, make sure to declutter the chosen item ASAP.

You don’t want decluttered items still lying around your home two months from now.

It’s also recommended to pick an item from the same category as the one coming in.

For instance, if you buy a new kitchen gadget, donate a duplicate or unused one.

If you upgrade to a new phone, sell or recycle the old one.

That way, each category stays manageable and doesn’t get out of control.

If your goal is to reduce the number of possessions you have, try a variation: the one-in-two-out method.

For each new item, you’d need to get rid of two.

I’ve also read about someone doing the one-in-one-out method dollar-for-dollar: if they spend $100 on new things, they’d need to declutter $100 worth of items.

What is the best decluttering method for you?

These are all super effective decluttering methods for a more organized life.

However, not all of them will work for you, your lifestyle, and your personality.

Here’s exactly which method is right for you based on your situation and personality:

If you’re a beginner or completely overwhelmed:

• No Mess Method: Perfect if you’re drowning in clutter—it prevents more chaos, and your home stays functional during the process
• Four-Box Method: The simplest method you can choose

For people wanting structure and clear guidance:

• Green With Less 30-Day Declutter Challenge: Daily assignments and a complete roadmap
• Room-by-room Method: Clear structure and linear progression

If you tend to be emotionally attached to your things:

• KonMari Method: Acknowledges your emotions and encourages gratitude
• Swedish Death Cleaning: Helps you see letting go as a gift you give to your loved ones (and yourself)

For fast, dramatic results:

• Minimalism Game: Declutter 465 items in 30 days
• Four-Box Method: Declutter an entire room in just a few hours

For long-term maintenance:

• One-In-One-Out Method: Prevents clutter from coming back

Of course, these methods can be combined.

For instance, you can use the room-by-room method while applying the No Mess principles.

You can also do the Green With Less 30-Day Challenge using the Four-Box method.

The one-in-one-out system can be used after implementing all the other methods!

Final Thoughts on the best decluttering methods

I hope you’ve found this article about the best decluttering methods helpful!

As I said, there isn’t one single best system—only a best method for you, based on your home situation, personality, and goals.

But don’t overthink this part.

Try one method, and if it doesn’t suit you, you can easily switch to another along the way.

Don’t be afraid to combine them so they actually work for you!

Just start today!

If you’re looking for more decluttering inspiration and tips, you may be interested in:

• How to declutter fast? 25 effective and quick decluttering hacks 
• How to start decluttering when overwhelmed with clutter and mess?
• 9 ways to get out of a decluttering rut
• 8 common mistakes to avoid when decluttering

Now, tell me, which of the best decluttering methods do you want to try first?

Please leave a comment!

Don’t forget to share this post with your friends and family so they can finally declutter their homes too.

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