Is your bedroom looking a little cluttered? Join the club. These days, we do much more than sleep in our master suites. From working to exercising to chilling to just living more of our daily lives in the bedroom, one of our most personal spaces is bound to get cluttered. Luckily, we’ve got a few simple tips for conquering that clutter one step at a time … without getting overwhelmed (or sacrificing sleep).
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Make your bed. This simple task — which also seems to go by the wayside during rushed morning routines — sets the tone for the rest of your decluttering. No room looks clean and tidy with a messy bed (and a tidy bed automatically makes a messy room look less messy).
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Conquer those clothing piles. Scattered clothing items are often the number-one culprit in a messy-looking bedroom, and this is one of the simplest issues to fix. Start your tidying-up session by finding a home for every piece of clothing that’s scattered around. Piece by piece, put dirty clothes and linens into your hamper, and return any clean ones to the closet or dresser.
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Clear the surfaces. We’re talking night stands, dresser and table tops, and windowsills — these are the places where clutter just happens, and a lot of it can be concealed, discarded, or consolidated (more on that last one later). Get a large catch-all bin like an empty laundry basket or plastic tub and put everything on the above-mentioned surfaces in it. Then evaluate each item one by one. If it’s something you love to look at, or use everyday — or both — put it back where it was. If it’s something you use regularly but can best be concealed in a cabinet or drawer, put it there. And if it’s something you forgot you even had, well, time to discard or donate.
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Put like with like. As you’re putting things away, keep things together — literally. It’s easier to maintain an organized space when you put like with like. Love your fragrance collection? Get it all together in one drawer. Same with jewelry, slippers, etc. Not only does this help you find things easier, it also helps you see what you have, so you can easily consolidate when needed (and not re-buy things you forgot you already have).
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Containerize. This goes hand-in-hand with the above tip. Some things are always going to pile up (hello, loose change, jewelry, and papers). After you’ve edited them down to their essence, put them in trays, jars, and bowls that you like, so they’ll have a singular, stylish place to reside.
- Start a 10-minute tidying ritual. Consistency is key when it comes to keeping tidy (as it is with many other things in life). So take 10 minutes around the same time every evening to do any of the above or other tidying tasks. You don’t have to get to them all — in fact, best to just focus on one or two — really, whatever you can get done in that time span. It may not seem like you’re accomplishing a lot in any single 10-minute session, but this is the type of ritual that pays off over time: With regular effort, your bedroom will become the restful oasis you’ve always wanted.