12 Daily Decluttering Tips that you Need to Know if You’re a Mom

Learn the 12 daily decluttering tips that will help you easily keep your home clutter-free and organized, even if you have kids!

Do you want to be one of those moms who are constantly at war with piles of laundry and floors covered in toys? Or do you want to be one of those moms who have their stuff together literally and figuratively?

What is that you say? The second option? I thought so.

Well, today is your lucky day, because I am sharing the 12 daily decluttering tips you need to know if you’re a mom!

Before you can get to the list of tips to keep your home clutter-free and organized, you have one thing you need to do first…

Start with a clean slate

In order to implement the daily decluttering tips below easily and effectively, you need to start with a clean slate. That means your home needs to be clutter-free and organized already.

You can’t maintain an organized space that wasn’t organized, to begin with. The tips below will help you keep clutter from getting out of control, but you need to make sure it’s under control from the start.

There are so many awesome daily decluttering challenges out there that can help you get organized by giving you daily tasks to accomplish in just 15 to 20 minutes per day. At the end of the challenge, you will have worked your way through the whole house. I think decluttering challenges are so great for moms because it’s easier to fit small tasks into each day instead of trying to tackle the whole house at once.

One of my favorite motherhood bloggers, Lynzy over at Lynzy & Co, recently posted a 30-Day Decluttering Challenge that I love. It’s perfect for moms because there’s a whole chunk of days just dedicated to decluttering your children’s stuff. She even included a free printable checklist that you can use to keep track of your progress. If you need to start decluttering your home from the ground up then I would definitely go check that out.

It’s all about maintenance

Once your home is clutter-free and organized, it’s all about maintenance. There are certain things you can do every day that will help you stay on track so that next time you want to do a decluttering challenge you don’t have to start from scratch.

A few of the tips listed below will be super easy to accomplish and some require a little more self-discipline. Just remember that any effort you put into keeping your home decluttered will come back to you tenfold.

I truly believe that when your surroundings are organized you can think more clearly and calmly, which makes you feel more positive and happy which ultimately makes you a better mother.

What are the 12 daily decluttering tips you need to know?

1. Give every single item a home

One of the easiest ways to keep your home clutter-free is to make sure every single item you own has a home; its own special place. You should not have any items that float from surface to surface. You should even give little items like jewelry, keys, change, etc a designated place to live even if that’s just a tray on your dresser or entry table.

It also doesn’t have to be super organized. I have a large basket I keep most of my daughter’s toys in, that way I can just carelessly throw them all in at the end of the day and I’m not wasting time organizing something that will be messed up again the next day.

The reason why giving every single item its own home is important is that it takes the guesswork out of cleaning up. It’s so much quicker and easier to clean when don’t have to think about where you should put each item.

2. Do a 10 minute clean up every night

One thing I do every night to keep organized is a 10-minute clean-up. No matter how tired I am, how late it is, or how hectic the day was, I take the time to put all my stuff and my daughter’s stuff back in its home. I do this religiously. Every. Single. Night. This is when tip number one really comes in handy. Putting everything back where it belongs becomes effortless when everything has a home. There is no thinking involved, which is nice when you’re exhausted from chasing your kiddo around all day.

3. Don’t set items where they don’t belong

Another tip for keeping your home clutter-free is to make sure you don’t set things down where they don’t belong. That means don’t throw your jacket over a chair when you get home from work. Take the time to hang it in the coat closet or on a coat rack. Don’t throw your purse on the couch after your trip to the grocery store. Put it on a designated hook or bring it to your room. Don’t toss your keys on the kitchen table after picking your kids up from school. Put them in a bowl on your entry table or hang them on a hook by the garage door.

Those are pretty specific examples, but I think you get the point. Do your best to always put things away where they belong instead of setting them down somewhere random. Implementing this tip will also help to keep you from losing things!

4. Do short tasks immediately

The next tip on the list is to do tasks that won’t take long to complete right away. Basically, if a certain task will take you less than 2 minutes to complete, don’t put it off for later. Take out the trash before it overflows, put your shoes in your closet right after you take them off, clear the dinner table right after you’re finished eating, etc. This is a hard one for procrastinators because it means being proactive and not saving anything for later. So if you’re a procrastinator, really force yourself to adhere to this tip.

5. Immediately toss unwanted junk mail and newspapers

In my opinion, there is nothing worse than paper clutter. It’s ugly, messy, and half the time most of it is trash anyway. When you get your mail every day, immediately go through it and toss everything you don’t want or need. Better yet, recycle it!

6. Keep dishes out of the sink and create a dishwashing schedule

Another thing that really screams clutter is dirty dishes in the sink. If you have a big family then you know how easy it is to get behind on dishes and how quickly they can pile up. Try your best to keep dishes out of your sink and eliminate that extra clutter by creating a dishwashing schedule.

If you run a full dishwasher every night, then unload them in the morning, as people use dishes throughout the day they can put them directly in the dishwasher leaving the sink nice and empty. Then, of course, by the end of the day, the dishwasher is full and ready to run again.

7. Always be on the lookout for trash

One of the best ways to keep clutter at bay is to always be on the lookout for trash. If you see a piece of trash, throw it away right then and there. If you’re not a mom you might be wondering what kind of household has trash just lying around.

However, if you are a mom then you know kids have a way of conveniently forgetting where the trash can is located and it’s not rare for pieces of trash to be randomly found around the house. You can even make it into a family game, create a tracking spreadsheet, and reward the person who throws away the most pieces of trash every week!

8. Keep clothes where they belong

There is almost nothing I hate more than seeing clothes lying on the ground. Clean clothes belong in a drawer or closet. Dirty clothes belong in a hamper or in the washer or dryer. Period!

If you want to keep clothes from cluttering up your home, make it a house rule to always keep clothes where they belong. No tossing clothes on the floor, chair, bed, etc. When you take off your dirty clothes throw them straight into the hamper. If you take something off and it’s still clean hang it up or fold it and put it back into a drawer.

9. Clean up as you go

One way to keep clutter from getting out of control is to clean up as you go. This goes for everything from cooking to art projects. Don’t wait to clean the kitchen until after dinner is over. Clean up as you cook, so after dinner, someone just needs to load the dishwasher and no one is stuck cleaning up a mess.

If you do an art project with your kids, don’t leave all the supplies lying around for days. As soon as you’re done with the project, clean everything up. Those are just two examples, but keep the clean up as you go mentality throughout every aspect of your day.

10. Use a toy rotation schedule

If you’re struggling with excessive toy clutter, but don’t want to get rid of too many toys, try to use a toy rotation. Essentially, a toy rotation is when you break up your children’s toys into separate groups and only let them play with one of the groups at a time by switching out the groups every few weeks.

This works to help with clutter by cutting down on the number of toys your children have access to, so instead of having 100 toys out at a time, you’ll only have 25. Check out this article on how to start a toy rotation for more detailed information. 

11. Create routines

One way to seamlessly add all these daily decluttering tips into your life is to create routines around them. As I mentioned in tip number two, I do a 10-minute clean-up every night. I don’t really think about it because it’s part of my daily routine.

I also implement tip number nine, clean up as you go, into my daily routine as much as possible. From making breakfast in the morning to all the things I do before bed, I habitually clean up as I go because it’s just part of my routine. Another thing you can create a daily routine for is laundry. Having a consistent laundry routine will help you keep the clothing clutter under control.

12. Limit what you bring into the house

If you want a clutter-free home, you have to get into the habit of limiting what you bring into the house. Every time you’re about to buy something new or accept a hand-me-down ask yourself if you really truly need it

If you need more strict guidelines, you can always go by the “one in, one out” rule. For every item, you bring into your home, get rid of one similar item. If you get a new dress, get rid of one you don’t wear anymore. If you get your child a new toy, donate an old one. Going by this rule can really help you from accumulating too much stuff over time. Make this “one in, one out” rule a daily practice and you’ll be golden!

Just do your best

If you’re a mom, it can sometimes feel like clutter is taking over your life and you’ll never be able to get it under control. However, by implementing these 12 daily decluttering tips, I guarantee keeping your home clutter-free and organized will feel easy even if you have kids. Just remember, you are a mom, not a maid. Get the whole family involved!

Get everyone on board and encourage them to practice these daily decluttering tips with you. And please, always remember that sometimes life gets crazy and that means clutter can get crazy right along with it. Don’t stress or worry if the clutter gets out of control. Take a deep breath, remember these tips, stop stressing, and just do your best!