How to declutter your home: Simple decluttering tips for busy mums

Bed with tablet and side table - tips for how to declutter your home.

As a busy mum, wondering how to declutter your home without feeling overwhelmed can feel like an impossible task, especially when you’re juggling family life, managing everyone’s belongings, and trying to stay on top of everyday chaos.

However, decluttering doesn’t have to mean all-day clear-outs, or striving for a perfectly minimal home. Instead, it’s about creating simple, realistic systems that make your home feel calmer, and easier to manage.

In this post you’ll learn how to declutter your home step by step, even if you only have a few minutes at a time.

You’ll discover how to shift your mindset so decluttering feels achievable, how to start small to build momentum, and how to use simple systems to decide what to keep, and what to let go of.

If you’re ready to feel more in control of your home, reduce clutter, and create spaces that work for your family, this post will help.

Download your FREE declutter checklist with 100+ items to declutter here

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Why decluttering feels hard

Decluttering can feel hard as a mum because you’re managing more than just one category of items, you’re also managing:

Toys
Outgrown clothes
Paperwork
A busy and well used home

And you’re managing all these categories with limited time, energy, and interruptions.

Here’s how to declutter your home easily, without having to reach unrealistic levels of perfection.

Step 1: Start with the right decluttering mindset

Getting into a decluttering mindset is really important when it comes to decluttering your home, which for me means getting into the mood to actually start decluttering, which I do by reminding myself of the following:

You don’t have to declutter your whole house at once
Done is better than perfect (my favourite reminder)
Small progress adds up quickly

Step 2: Start small

Often decluttering can feel overwhelming when we think we have to declutter an entire room in one go, so to avoid this overwhelm start with small, manageable fast decluttering jobs that provide an instant sense of progress, and the momentum to keep going.

Here are some small decluttering jobs that I do when I want to declutter, but want to do so in a more manageable way:

A kitchen cupboard
A fridge shelf
One closet drawer
The medicine cabinet

If you only have 5 minutes to declutter, try these quick decluttering jobs.

Step 3: Use a simple decluttering system

The easiest decluttering system that I use to decide what to declutter from my home is to ask myself the following questions:

Do I use this?
Do I love this?
Do I need this?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, then I declutter the item and add it to one of the following piles, which are discussed in more detail in step 7.

Donate
Sell
Recycle
Bin

Books and notepads on table - tips for how to declutter your home.

Step 4: Declutter room by room

Decluttering my home room by room is the step I like to take once I’ve tackled smaller jobs, and I’m ready to tackle larger ones.

Here are some items you can consider decluttering from each room of your home, if this is a step you want to do when it comes time to declutter your home.

Living room

Our living room tends to be a room where toys, paperwork, and random bits and pieces gather.

Here are some things you can focus on decluttering from your living room:

Coffee table items
DVDs you no longer watch
Excess cushions that always end up on the floor
Excess décor items
Furniture that doesn’t suit how you use the room
Paperwork
Side tables that collect clutter
Throws you never use
Toys

Bathroom

Family toiletries, half used bottles, backups you forgot you had, and items that belong elsewhere are often large sources of clutter in the bathroom.

Here are some items to focus on when decluttering this room.

Broken or unused tools
Duplicate items
Empty or nearly empty bottles
Excess linens
Expired makeup and medication
Items bought on impulse and never used
Old loofahs, sponges, and flannels
Towels that are worn, stained, or scratchy
Travel size products
Worn out bath mats

Bedroom

Your bedroom should be a calm space, where you can rest, recharge, and wake up feeling refreshed.

If your bedroom doesn’t feel like any of these things, then it’s time for a bedroom declutter.

Here’s are some things to focus on decluttering from this room:

Décor that no longer suits your room
Empty cups or water bottles
Excess chargers and cables
Excess cushions
Excess throws

Kitchen

The kitchen is the most used room in our homes, so doing a regular declutter is essential.

Here are some items you can declutter from your kitchen.

Broken gadgets
Chipped or mismatched items
Cracked, stained, or warped plastic containers
Duplicate items
Excess drink bottles and flasks
Excess pots and pans
Expired food
Items that haven’t been used in the last 12 months
Mismatched, damaged, or unused containers

Kitchen with croissants - tips for how to declutter your home.

Kids rooms

Clutter can feel never ending in our kids’ rooms.

Here are some items you can consider decluttering from them:

Craft supplies
Fancy dress or sports gear
Old school artwork
Outgrown clothes and shoes
Outgrown toys and books
Party favours
Toys with missing pieces, broken parts, or that no longer work

Step 5: Tackle clutter hotspots

Another way to declutter your home is to focus on categories of items.

Here are the most common categories of clutter within our homes, and some ideas of items you can declutter within them.

Clothes and accessories

Broken or unused accessories
Clothes that need repairs but you don’t have time to fix
Clothes you no longer wear, or that don’t fit
Duplicate items
Items that don’t suit your climate
Scarves, belts, or hats you never wear
Seasonal clothes you didn’t wear last season
Socks with holes, missing pairs, or stretched elastic

Paperwork

Bills you’ve paid
Expired medical leaflets
Expired permission slips
Expired warranties
Manuals for items you no longer own
Old bank statements (check how long you’re required to keep them)
Old prescriptions
Outdated appointment letters
Promotional leaflets

Books

When decluttering books, ask yourself the following questions and declutter any that have a no answer.

Do I have time to read this?
Do I love it?
Does it suit my current life stage, or interests?
Is it useful?
Would I buy it again today?

Book and cushions on couch - tips for how to declutter your home.

Digital clutter

Archive or delete emails you no longer need
Delete computer files you don’t need
Delete duplicate photos
Leave Facebook groups you no longer find helpful
Remove apps you’ve never used, or haven’t used in months
Unfollow social media accounts that make you feel bad

READ MORE: Digital declutter tips for busy mums.

Toys

Character or fad toys your kids no longer have interest in
Excess soft toys
Games without all the parts
Party bag toys
Puzzles with missing pieces
Toys that are similar
Toys that no longer work
Toys your children haven’t played with in months
Worn or damaged soft toys

Another way you can reduce toy clutter in your home is by implementing a toy rotation system, which means only having a few toys out for your kids to play with at any given time.

Step 6: Declutter when you have no time

Yes, you read that right, declutter when you have no time.

I know this doesn’t make sense, but as mums we’re constantly busy, there’s never the perfect time, or perfect day to declutter our homes.

Therefore, we have to build decluttering into our real lives, which means decluttering in small pockets of time like:

A quick declutter before bed
For 5-10 minutes while dinner cooks
One small decluttering task per day

Step 7: Decide what to do with decluttered items

When deciding what to do with decluttered items, the best thing to do is to create 4 piles and place decluttered items in their respective pile.

Here are the piles I create when I declutter, and the items I add to them:

Donate – items in good condition
Sell – higher value items (if they don’t sell in a week, I donate them)
Recycle – only items that are recyclable
Bin – broken or unusable items

Coffee table, sofa, cushions - home reset items.

Step 8: How to keep your home clutter free

Keeping your home clutter free means you don’t have to continually do large decluttering jobs.

Here are some easy things you can do to keep clutter within your home to a minimum.

Find homes for everyday items

Make sure every item in your home has a dedicated place, for example toys in a toy box, remote controls in a remote control holder, or blankets in a blanket basket.

Do mini daily resets

A mini 5 minute reset, or tidy up at the end of the day helps keep clutter under control.

Here are home reset activities you can try:

Clear surfaces
Fold blankets
Place paperwork in a paperwork holder
Put items back where they belong
Put toys away
Remove items of clothing from rooms

Use a donation bag

One of the decluttering tips that I love and practice is to keep a donation bag in my bedroom, that I put items into that I no longer want. Once the bag is full, I donate all the contents.

Use the One-In, One-Out Rule

This is another one of my favourite decluttering tips, which is when a new item enters my home, I declutter an old item.

To take this one step further, before buying anything I think about whether I actually have space for it in my home. If I have to make space, then I don’t buy it.

The one touch rule

Another way to maintain clutter is to deal with something as soon as you pick it up, instead of putting it somewhere else to deal with later.

Some examples of this include:

Filing, recycling, or shredding paperwork as soon as it arrives
Folding clothes as soon as they’re dry
Loading dirty dishes into the dishwasher as soon as you’re finished with them

Declutter while you wait

Another great way keep on top of clutter is to declutter while you’re waiting for something.

For example, I declutter my kitchen counters while I’m waiting for the kettle to boil, or put laundry away when I’m waiting for dinner to cook.

Tablet on sofa - tips for how to declutter your home.

Decluttering checklists

One of the best ways to keep on top of clutter, and to make decluttering less overwhelming, is to use decluttering checklists.

Here’s the ultimate declutter checklist with 100 things to declutter, which you can start using today.

Do seasonal mini declutters

The start of each season is a great time to schedule mini decluttering sessions, where you go through your home and declutter items you no longer want.

It’s also a great way to remove any items from your home that you won’t be using for a long period of time like large coats, wellies, summer dresses, or outdoor furniture.

How to declutter your home – a recap

Decluttering your home as a busy mum isn’t about finding hours of free time, or creating a perfectly minimal space, it’s about making your home easier to live in, one small step at a time.

And remember, you don’t need to tackle everything at once. A single drawer, a quick 5-minute tidy, or one clutter hotspot at a time can be enough to build momentum and help you feel more in control of your home.

Every item you remove, every surface you clear, and every system you put in place, creates a home that feels calmer, more functional, and easier to maintain. Over time, these small actions add up to big results.

By maintaining simple habits like daily resets, the one-in-one-out rule, and regular mini declutters, you can keep your home feeling manageable, without starting from scratch again.

If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed by clutter, take this as your reminder that you can do this slowly, simply, and in a way that works for your life right now.

In case you missed it, here’s your free printable declutter checklist to help you make decluttering your entire home easier.

Which small area in your home could you declutter today to get started?

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How to declutter your home: Simple decluttering tips for busy mums

Why decluttering feels hard

Step 1: Start with the right decluttering mindset

Step 2: Start small

Step 3: Use a simple decluttering system