The realist's guide to spring cleaning

Vox

26-03-2025

The state of a kitchen pantry, closet, or garage says a lot about a person. There are some who seem to have the innate ability to keep their spices alphabetized, their clothes separated by color and season, and power cords neatly wound all in one place. Then there are others with more junk drawers than regular ones and small collections of stuff that have accumulated over time.
If you're a member of the latter group, you may have been one of the many curious minds scouring Google for decluttering tips — the search term hit a five-year high in 2025 — or found yourself in a hypnotic home organizing TikTok wormhole.
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A home that's disorganized can create anxiety and overwhelm, says Amanda Wiss, the founder of Urban Clarity, a New York City-based professional organization business. In her experience, the greatest decluttering hurdle is finding the will to get started. Some clients have the perception that the task will be too difficult, the project too big. Maybe you're in the same boat. Or perhaps the online content you've seen around home organization — rife with expensive bins and colorful labels — has you feeling pressured to drop hundreds of dollars on products. However, the secret to decluttering, experts say, is to rely on function over aesthetics and to organize like a real person and not an influencer.
Start with a small, manageable task
For those who struggle getting started, take some pressure off: You don't need to organize your entire house in one weekend. But you should begin with a smaller task or area, ideally one that causes you the most aggravation. Are you constantly tripping over shoes and bookbags as soon as you walk in the door? Start with your entranceway. Does your laundry pile up on an office chair that you'd really like to sit in again? Tackle that first. Do you struggle to find a spot for groceries in the fridge? Make that your project for the day.
'Decluttering is decision-making,' Wiss says, 'and it's exhausting, and there's decision fatigue, and you could at some point just hit a wall.'
If even those assignments seem too big, Wiss suggests breaking them down into micro-tasks: clearing out just the vegetable drawer or storing winter coats. Keep these smaller projects relegated to one room and commit to slowly making progress over time, says professional organizer Robyn Reynolds, the CEO of Southern California-based company Organize2Harmonize. 'If you do a corner here in this room and a corner there in the other room, you're not really going to see the progress and then you're going to feel defeated,' she says. 'But if you actually are able to finish an entire room, then you're going to feel really motivated and proud of yourself because you actually did it.'
You might let that momentum carry you onto another small to-do list item. But be mindful of your energy levels. You don't want to empty your pantry and lack the motivation to put everything back. 'Decluttering is decision-making,' Wiss says, 'and it's exhausting, and there's decision fatigue, and you could at some point just hit a wall and then you still need for those piles to go somewhere.'
Try the three-second rule for purging
Wiss has a straightforward three-step approach to decluttering: Sort like with like, purge, then containerize. First, make sure everything you want to organize is in one place. For instance, all of your chargers should live in one area, all of your shoes should be stored in the same place, all your bowls and plates should be in the kitchen. Then, you can see how many chargers or sneakers or bowls you have and pare down where needed.
If you're finding it hard to part with impractical but sentimental items…
Remind yourself that you're not discarding the memory of a loved one, just their possessions.
If the item is not your style and you'll never use it, let it go.
Don't hold onto items that will only get damaged over years in storage. 'So many times when I clear out garages with clients,' Reynolds says, 'so many things we find [have] mold or water damage. So what was the point of holding on to it when it just got destroyed and now they're throwing it out anyway?'
The purge stage can often be challenging because many people attach memories and sentiments to objects and find it difficult to part with them. Kayleen Kelly, a professional organizer in Olympia, Washington, developed a three-second rule to help her clients pare down items. After you've collected and sorted all of one category of item — like coffee mugs — go through one by one and decide which item you'll keep. If you hesitate for more than three seconds when weighing whether or not to keep a specific mug, it's an automatic keep. This technique ensures you're making confident decisions about what to get rid of. 'If you can't decide,' Kelly says, 'and you hesitate, there's no punishment for indecision. So you just keep it and you keep moving forward.'
To further aid your decision-making process, ask yourself if the item is actually useful, Reynolds says. Again, not everything needs to be utilitarian, but it isn't worth keeping posters from college you never plan on hanging up again. But if you do manage to get infrequent but meaningful use out of that family heirloom fondue pot, by all means, keep it. Reynolds also recommends taking photos of sentimental but impractical items and collecting them in a photo book or digital slideshow. That way, you can memorialize grandma's couch without needing to sacrifice space for it in your basement.
Once you've pared down items, you can properly organize them. This is where you'll create a system for your closet, garage, pantry, or other area you're decluttering. It can be as simple as dedicating one shelf in the linen closet to sheets and another for towels.
Don't spend money on organizers when an old shoebox will do
Experts have observed clients' all-too-common urge to buy expensive organizers and bins before they even start discarding items. Online, influencers push aesthetically pleasing storage containers and label makers, only adding to the pressure that true decluttering involves spending money. 'It's not about buying more products,' Kelly says. The reality is, once you pare down your makeup brushes, you may realize you don't need a container, and a cup from the kitchen will do.
The most important aspect of organizing, Kelly says, is for your system of choice to be functional, so don't waste money on eight-tier hangers if you know you lack the patience to put eight shirts on them. If you do need a container, try to reuse what you already have at home, like a shoebox, Tupperware, an old iPhone box, or a piece of cardboard from an Amazon box as a drawer organizer. For everything else, your local dollar store will have inexpensive organizers and bins.
Donate what you don't need
The most integral aspect of decluttering is to remove the clutter from your space. Don't get hung up on the logistics until after you've set aside the items you want to get rid of, Kelly says. In her experience, most of her clients' discarded items are in good enough condition to be donated. 'Find a place in your local area that takes the majority of everything,' she says. That might be your local Goodwill, Salvation Army, thrift store, or women's shelter.
Related Buy less stuff
After organizing smaller spaces, like your linen closet or the cabinet under the sink, you may have a more limited collection of items to donate. You can be more targeted with these donations, Kelly says, since you have less to discard — and fewer decisions to make.
Local Buy Nothing Facebook groups are also effective in finding your stuff a new home.
For items that can't be donated or given away, look up your city or town's recycling rules. If all else fails, throw items in the trash.
Make it a habit
Because life inevitably happens, systems may fall into disarray and products may once again accumulate. Decluttering should be an ongoing process throughout the year.
To keep her clients in a clutter-free state of mind, Reynolds often imparts some words of wisdom. 'Everything has a price: time, space, money, or energy,' she says. Consider what your clutter is costing you in terms of the time that could be better spent doing anything other than decluttering, the space your items take up, the money it costs to keep, and the vibe it brings to your home.