Ready, set, go! The Real Simple Team shares its comprehensive, three-part home organizing plan. Start by figuring out your relationship to clutter and learning ways to tailor your organizing to your personality. Next, dig into the decluttering process, letting go of items from every room in your home and putting away everything that remains the best way. Finally, wrap it up with easy maintenance strategies to keep your home tidy—once and for all!
The Stuff of Life
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Get Ready Opener • Before you begin the decluttering process, take a moment to consider your relationship to clutter. Learn ways to tailor your organizing process to your personality, then gather all the supplies you’ll need to keep yourself on track.
What’s Your Organizing Personality? • Get to know your habits and discover surefire strategies to eliminate clutter once and for all.
Less Is More • Meet four women who decided to live a downsized life. They share their motivations, strategies, and challenges—plus the rewards of their newfound simplicity.
Working with a Pro • Frustrated with your cluttered life? Now may be the perfect time to bring in a professional to jump-start your organizing efforts.
Setting Goals • An organizing action plan is essential for decluttering success.
Clutter Therapy • Real couples, professional organizers, and relationship experts share ideas so that clashing styles can happily coexist.
Preparing to Purge • While there’s no magic formula for decluttering success, these practical tips will help you get more done—and get rid of more stuff.
Declutter Opener • No need to get overwhelmed as you begin to decide what to keep and what to toss. Make the job easier by focusing on one room at a time and tackling common pain points that can help you clear clutter fast.
The Art of Sorting • Here’s a two-step secret for successful decluttering: Put like with like, then identify what to keep.
Clarifying Questions • Some decluttering decisions are easy. For everything else, here are a few things to ask yourself.
Entry • Stop messes at the door with a streamlining routine that boosts efficiency, whether you have a few wall hooks or a dedicated mudroom.
Family Room • The gang’s all here—and all the clutter is under control, thanks to rigorous editing of your home’s quintessential shared space.
Kitchen Countertops • Streamline the heart of your home and enjoy faster meal prep and easier cleanup. You may find sitting down to eat a bit more enjoyable.
Refrigerator • Each member of your family interacts with this compact space dozens of times a day. Give it the decluttering it deserves.
Nightstand • A clutter-free bedside is an invitation to peaceful slumber. Do the tough editing work now and savor a better sleep tonight.
Closet and Dresser • Stop digging for that one shirt—and wrinkling everything else in the process—by doing a top-to-bottom clothing reset.
Bath Vanity • You’ll look good and feel great after a total audit of the sink countertop and surrounding storage spots in your bathroom.
Kids Rooms • Toys, clothes, school stuff, and sports gear abound in young ones’ bedrooms. Calm the chaos and teach some decluttering skills at the same time.
Home Office • With more people working from home, a tidy work space is more important than ever. Even if yours is a bedroom corner or a caddy you tote from room to room, it should be streamlined for optimal function.
Garage • For many, this ultimate utilitarian space is clutter’s final graveyard. Address these common problems and get ready to park your car...
