Week 3 Decluttering Challenge: Living Room

Week 3: Living Room

If you have multiple spaces in this category (like a formal living room and a family room), pick the one you spend the most time in. I’m going to mention lots of categories of things this week, because these spaces can look very different depending on what your current season of life is. Disregard what doesn’t apply to you and extend the principles to anything I don’t mention.

Day 1: Five-Minute Tidy

• This room is probably going to have more actual picking up to do than any other spaces in your house. Feel free to do this tidy by yourself or get your kids involved. Pick up toys, throw away trash, remove anything broken, return books to the shelf, etc. Remember that you can go another round of five minutes if you want to.

Day 2: Establish the purpose

• Start with another five-minute tidy. If your kids are home, you may want to involve them today if you didn’t yesterday.

• What’s the purpose of this room? What activities do you do here? Some ideas: TV watching, entertaining guests, playing board games, reading. Do your kids play with toys in this room? Work puzzles? Think both general and specific. Is this where everyone winds down at night? Maybe its purpose is rest, same as your bedroom. Do you have guests over a lot and this is where they congregate? Then maybe the purpose is hospitality. 

• Once you’ve identified what this room is used for, start removing the things that detract from that purpose. If you want this to be a fun room for your kids, then maybe the computer you work on needs to go to a different room. If you want it to feel welcoming for guests, make sure you’re removing clutter that makes it hard for them to sit and get comfortable. If this room is about connection, consider moving the TV elsewhere. Deal with any piles that are keeping the space from being welcoming.

Day 3: Promote What Matters

• Do a five-minute tidy with your kids.

• What were the activities you listed for this room? Let’s start making sure we have what we need for them. I’m going to list a lot below, but hopefully not everything will apply to you. Feel free to split this up into two days if it's too much. Here’s some ideas:

  • If this room is where your kids play, let’s make it a point to organize and streamline what they play with. I’m going to say something that may rub some the wrong way: there is absolutely no toy on this earth that your kid NEEDS to have. They don’t need the natural wood, Montessori-based toys. They don’t need fancy, light-flashing Fisher-Price ones. And they don’t need anything in between. We have been told by those who want us to spend our money, that our kids need these things in order to learn and be successful, but there is zero research to support this idea. Do you know how kids learn best? Through pursuing creativity, engaging in imaginative play, and being outside in nature. None of those things require a trip to Target. Now, I’m not telling you to get rid of every toy in your house. While not all toys are created equal, I do think having a few well-chosen items for your children to play with is great. I just think we need to let go of this idea that we need the perfect combination of toys in order for our kids to play well. The reality is pursuing less is probably going to give you better results than having more. If you feel like your toy situation is overwhelming, start by choosing categories of toys you want to keep. Our favorites are building toys (legos, magnatiles, magnetic building blocks, etc.), dolls, items for a play kitchen (food, dishes), little people toys, anything with wheels (cars, trucks, diggers, and tractors), and dress-up clothes. We have had little success with big toys like doll houses and play kitchens. My kids usually lose interest in them after a month, but they will play with the items that go in them for years without complaint. I like to box up any toys I’m considering getting rid of and put them in an out of the way place like a garage or other storage area. Set a reminder on your calendar for a few 2-4 weeks later to donate them if you haven’t wanted them in that time. If a kid comes to me and asks for a specific toy I’ve boxed up to donate, then I will pull it out for them. Honestly, they probably won’t even notice the things are gone (I think mine have asked for something once, maybe twice, in the four years I’ve been doing this), but you will quickly see a huge change in how well your kids play.

  • A great method for paring down board games and puzzles is to place a sticky note on each. Anytime a game gets played or a puzzle used, the sticky note gets removed. Give your family a couple months, then get rid of any that still have sticky notes. I love to do this at the start of our Summer break when I know my kids will have a lot of extra time to play.

  • Try separating your books into general categories, including a to-be-read shelf, kids books, etc. The container concept can be helpful here– you only have so much space in your home for books. If the books are overflowing that space, then either let go of the ones you don’t love or get rid of other things in your home to make space for more shelves. 

  • Do your remotes have a designated home? I don’t mean the table they usually sit on, but something like a basket or drawer where everyone knows to look for them. And while you’re at it, consider if there is technology that is distracting from this room’s true purpose. Do you still have a DVD player and DVDs even though no one has watched one in five years? Do you have extra remotes that you don’t know what they go to?

  • What about “in progress” things? Make sure that books you’re reading, Bible study materials, journals, etc. have a designated home, like a basket to contain them. The same goes for craft projects you like to have nearby so you can work on them a little bit each day (just make sure you are actually working on them and they’re not just gathering dust).

Day 4: Container concept

• You may have already pared down your containers yesterday if you worked through the above list, but use today to confirm that there aren’t any areas spilling over their limits. Do you have more throw pillows than fit on your furniture? More blankets than can actually be used? Don’t forget to consider decor in this as well. There’s nothing wrong with having lots of knick-knack type of decor if you enjoy it and can manage it well, just make sure it’s not taking over your living room and keeping you from that room’s true, or desired, purpose.

Day 5: Consider your routines

• A daily five-minute pickup is a great habit to implement with your kids.

• I like to make sure my floors are taken care of in our main living spaces. A lot of messiness can be ignored if the floor is decently clean and tidy, but when the floor is in chaos, the whole house usually feels in chaos. Some of us do this naturally, and some of us (raising my hand here), need designated days to get our vacuuming/sweeping done. Knowing that we are going to vacuum or sweep, will naturally cause us to pick up beforehand.