The living room is where most people spend the majority of their time when at home. And when there’s clutter everywhere, it can become a stressful place to be. That’s why there’s a certain number of things people should let go of to feel more relaxed and happy in the living room.
The living room should be a room for families to play games and spend precious time together.
It’s also where we welcome friends when they come over.
So it’s important to keep this room tidy and clutter-free!
That way, we can share quality moments with our loved ones without feeling there’s always something to clean, pick up, and store away!
Not to mention all the other benefits of living more minimally!
There are so many things we can declutter in our homes!
I shared in a previous blog post that one of my best decluttering hacks is to start decluttering in your most used room.
This is where you’ll see the biggest impact of your decluttering effort!
That’s why I wanted to give you some inspiration with things to declutter specifically in the living room, as it’s where most people spend most of their time at home!
Here is a list of 11 things to let go of in the living room to make it a more enjoyable living space!
Decluttering motivation: 11 things to let go of in the living room
1 – Board games and puzzles
Who doesn’t love family nights playing board games or completing puzzles?
And these are great to enjoy when you are bored at home!
But the thing is that board game boxes often take up a lot of space.
If you do not have much room to store them, consider letting go of board games that you do not use or love.
Many board games can easily be decluttered: games your kids have outgrown, those with missing pieces, duplicate decks of cards…
Do not forget to let go of board games that your family didn’t enjoy or those that you don’t see yourself playing again.
The same thing applies to puzzles that you’ve completed.
You can frame them, or pass them on to other families!
2 – Books
If you’re an avid book reader, you might have clutter piling up on your bookshelves!
Books are easy to accumulate so keep your favorite ones and those you will be reading soon.
But consider decluttering the rest!
It could be books you’ve never read and don’t plan on reading, or books you didn’t enjoy.
As for books that you liked but don’t plan on rereading, why don’t you donate them to a friend?
Let other people enjoy your books instead of leaving them unused, collecting dust on your shelves!
Let’s spread knowledge and good stories!
And do not forget you can get a library card and find most of the books you might want to read there.
Not to mention that it’s a great way to save trees and forests!
3 – Magazines and newspapers
The thing with magazines and newspapers is that while they’re a great source of knowledge, they quickly get outdated and not relevant anymore.
Another downside of magazines is that they often have a lot of ads in them, and that is why I never buy them.
It annoys me!
Ads can trigger you to buy things you don’t need which is not helpful if you want to avoid impulse buying.
And if you’re like me, you might not want to reread a magazine once you’ve read it.
If you want less clutter in your living room, check online if you can read the magazine digitally instead.
You will be able to read it, without the clutter that comes with having a physical magazine.
4 – CDs, DVDs, and VHS tapes
Nowadays, we are so lucky that streaming services exist!
They are amazing resources that allow us to watch hundreds of series and movies of all kinds of genres!
And thanks to them, we don’t have to own dozens and dozens of DVDs or VHS tapes as we used to several years ago.
So if you love watching shows and movies, consider subscribing to a streaming service!
That way, you will be able to declutter the majority of your DVDs.
Keep your favorite ones, but let go of those you’ve watched and don’t plan on rewatching.
Also, most movies we only watch once so it doesn’t make sense to keep them afterward.
Do not forget to declutter your CDs as well since you can now listen to your favorite songs on Youtube or Spotify!
5 – Cables
In most homes, we use various electronics in the living room: TVs, consoles, DVD players, computers, tablets, phones…
This means that you may have a lot of different cables in your drawers!
If you have a cable you do not know where it goes to and you never use it, declutter it!
Do not forget to get rid of chargers that do not work anymore and are broken.
In the past, I’ve had some chargers that would not last more than a year.
I recycled them as best as I could since this was the only thing I could do.
There is no sense in keeping broken things if we cannot repair them.
Also, who likes having drawers full of entangled cables in them?
6 – Photos albums and pictures
Do you enjoy looking at physical pictures?
If you’re used to storing them in photo albums, these are often very bulky!
And if you have too many pictures, chances are you may not be looking at them very often.
Having only pictures that you love and that spark joy prevents you from having too many albums that are taking up precious space in your living room!
Go through your printed pictures and declutter blurry photos, those that you don’t like, as well as duplicate ones.
Keep the best pictures that remind you of happy times and memories.
There are also some photos that you may want to keep but not necessarily in a physical form.
In this case, consider scanning them and getting rid of the physical photos.
Digitizing pictures is a great minimalist hack to simplify your life!
7 – Dead plants
It is so hard for me to say that, I am so attached to my plants!
But when a plant dies, there is no chance of you reviving it.
This is sad but there is nothing you can do.
Let it go, it doesn’t look good and adds visual clutter to your living room.
Plus, you’ll feel sad every time you look at it.
Instead, replace it with a new beautiful plant that you’ll cherish as much as the previous one!
Also, this is the perfect opportunity for you to learn what you did wrong last time.
Too much water?
Not enough lighting?
Was the environment too humid?
It’s important to take proper care of your plants because having them around is an amazing way to make your home healthier!
Did you know that they’re great natural detoxifiers?
8 – Home decor
Home decor items are easy to pick up at the store so many people accumulate them in their homes.
If that is you, I recommend that you let go of any kind of decor in your living room that you don’t love, or that has no meaning to you.
Having too many decorations often makes your living space look cluttered, which is probably not what you want.
So declutter excess or broken decorations or knick-knacks that are a pain to clean and dust!
I used to have too many decor items in my childhood bedroom and as a result, I never looked at them as there were so many.
Whereas now that I have a few meaningful pieces, I notice them more easily!
9 – Paperwork
If you store your papers in the living room, go through every single piece of paperwork and ask yourself if you need it.
Most of the time, we need to keep the papers that enter our homes for a specific period.
But then they become irrelevant.
So if we do not regularly let go of unwanted papers, they accumulate and add unnecessary clutter to our living space.
As soon as you receive some sort of paperwork, immediately assess what you need to do with it.
Store important documents in filing cabinets or binders.
Take action on tasks that you need to do such as paying a bill.
And recycle everything that is junk mail or other useless papers.
10 – Cushions
Decorative cushions often serve a practical purpose as they offer back support when you’re on the couch.
But if you have an excess of them, it clutters your living room and makes tidying your space more difficult.
They often find themselves on the floor and it’s a pain to pick up at the end of the day.
So if you have too many decorative cushions, take each one of them and ask yourself: “Do I use it?
Is it comfortable?
Does it match my home style?
Is it in good condition?
Do I love it?”
If you answer “no” to one of these questions, consider letting it go.
Other people would love to have your decorative cushions!
Knowing this should help you get rid of them if you’re struggling with decluttering.
11 – Toys
Whether you have kids or pets, they might have a lot of toys to play with.
If you store some of them in your living room, having toys scattered everywhere around the space can drive you crazy.
You risk tripping over one of them and you’re tired of having to clean this mess at the end of each day.
If that is you, make sure to declutter your children’s or your pet’s toys regularly.
That way, it doesn’t get overwhelming to keep up with tidying!
Declutter any broken, duplicate, or unsafe toys, and toys that your kids have outgrown and that they do not play with anymore.
Consider letting go of the excess and bless another child by donating it to another family!
Final thoughts on things to let go of in the living room
There you have it!
I hope that this list of 11 things to let go of in your living room was helpful!
These things are often cluttering up our living spaces without us noticing.
It shouldn’t take you a long time to declutter your living room!
So take a bag, go through this list and assess which item you’d like to declutter from your living room.
Let it go!
It’s time for you to create a relaxing, welcoming, and clutter-free space for you and your loved ones.
If you’re looking for ideas for things to declutter in other parts of your home, these articles will help you:
- 30 things to declutter for a minimalist kitchen
- 9 things to get rid of for a minimalist bedroom
- 15 things to declutter for a minimalist bathroom
What things have you decided to let go of in your living room?
I read digital magazines. I use Zinio. You might mention that.
Oh, I love this idea! I didn’t know about Zinio, thank you! 🙂
De-cluttering can be difficult when family photos are your only items to aid your memory when you get old. Family holidays should be kept in an album for younger people to learn from. Today many family events are gradually lost for ever when held on a mobile phone or updated computer or tablet. These valuable historic memories are easily forgotten in time but can be valuable to help someone with dementia, or even offspring needing some sort of comfort at difficult or sad times of life. De -clutter but be very careful to consider what you are throwing out.
Many older .means for recording have already been lost or become obsolete, taking the memories with them. I am saying this as very old lady who cherishes many photos and saved family treasures to bring back those memories in a lonely world.
Love what you said and I cannot agree more!! We should be very careful when decluttering photos because they are truly irreplaceable.