Starting the new year with a plan to organise your home

Identifying and tackling messy hotspots is the key to creating momentum in 2025

If you’re anything like me you probably ended 2024 with a bunch of things left undone and your home not in an ideal state of orderliness. The good news is that the new year brings a wonderful opportunity to reprioritise and reset. But it can feel overwhelming to know where to start when organising your space, and how to best utilise your time and energy when so much needs to be done.

Analyse your home to identify problem areas

A good first step is to take stock of the messy spots in your home. Where does the clutter tend to build up? Is it just inside the main entrance, on kitchen benches, bedroom floors, in the laundry or garage, or unused rooms that have become dumping grounds for your excess stuff? In my experience, the clutter often builds up on surfaces and in storage that are accessed multiple times a day, such as the kitchen, bathroom and clothing closets. When passing through these spaces during the day it’s easy to drop items onto an empty bench or chair so that you can move onto the next task. In that moment, you promise yourself you will be back to put it away later. But inevitably things build up. Eventually there is no more usable space available, and you are left with piles of mess!

This was my home office in my old place before I decided to declutter my life. It was my first declutter ever!

Tackle one high traffic area at a time

Getting high traffic spaces under control will help each day run more smoothly and create momentum for further improvements in your home. But it’s important to be realist and tackle these areas one at a time. You will need to start somewhere though. So identify which of these spaces causes you the most stress on a daily basis and start there.

During my first bathroom declutter it was easier to bring everything out to the lounge where i had more space to work

Surfaces and floors

The first thing I like to do is to clear the surfaces and floor space. It will make an immediate positive impact, and create working space for other decluttering tasks. If clearing your surfaces and floors is all you get done on day 1 of resetting your home, you will have achieved a highly visible, tangible result, which will hopefully motivate you to continue optimising your space.

1. Remove all the rubbish including empty cartons and containers, jars, cardboard boxes, receipts, junk mail, unusable plastic and paper bags and anything else you notice

2. Clean or wash any dirty items that belong in that room and put them away

3. Set aside anything that is broken and cannot be repaired for either recycling or hard rubbish

4. Take items that you plan to keep but don’t belong in this particular room and find a more appropriate spot for them in your home

5. Declutter duplicate or excess items, or anything you didn’t use at least once during 2024. If they are in good condition, place them in bags to gift to friends, donate or sell.

6. Take the rubbish, recycling and items for donation out of your home right away. Check your local council to find out which items are suitable for recycling. Confirm council collection schedules and locate drop off options. If you can’t dispose of items immediately, place them in your car to take to the tip or a charity store on your next outing. But the main thing is to get these things out of your space.

7. Temporarily move all items you intend to keep on that surface. Use soapy water or a low-tox spray and soft cloth to wipe down each surface, paying special attention to greasy or dusty areas.

8. When putting each item back into place, be mindful of allowing enough working space for daily living. Confirm whether each item belongs on that surface or would be better off stored in a cupboard. For example, if you don’t use an item every day, does it need to be kept on a bench top? Take one final opportunity to look over the surface. Remove anything that does not need to be kept there. This is also a good moment to consider the visual impact of the items you are displaying and remove anything that detracts from the overall look and feel.

I’m really enjoying the additional work space after doing a recent declutter of my kitchen bench top

Sort out your storage

Now that your surfaces are tidy, it’s time to reassess how you are using the storage in that space. Truthfully, excess clutter will continue to be an issue until you have assigned a permanent place for each item in your home. If you have too many things than you have room for, it’s time to consider decluttering.

You can approach this task one cupboard or shelf at a time. However I prefer to organise related groups of cupboards and shelves so that I can shuffle items between them if needed.

1. Remove all the items from the cupboards and shelves and place on a nearby surface

2. With everything in view, remove rubbish, empty containers, old items past their used by date, duplicates, items you have not used for the past 12 months, anything broken or damaged and any items that don’t belong in that space

3. Place the items you are getting rid of in bags for rubbish, recycle or give away

4. Using soapy water or a low-to spray and a soft cloth, wipe down the insides of each cupboard or shelf and let them dry

5. In deciding how to restock each space, consider grouping similar items together. Place items that you use the most often within the easiest reach. Lesser used items should either go up high, down on lower shelves, or placed at the back of cupboards. Take into account the size and weight of each item when deciding where to store them. Heavy items are often better off on lower shelves. This step is an iterative process which may require shuffling items around multiple times until you have the most optimal configuration.

6. Consider grouping smaller items into containers for easier access. Use Lazy Susans, pan racks and portable shelving solutions to optimise space and improve accessibility for regularly used items.

7. Once everything has been put away, it’s time to wipe down all the outside surfaces and cupboard doors. Start with the highest cupboards and work your way down to the floor.

8. Finish by vacuuming and mopping the floors

Be prepared to fine tune your newly organised space. Once you start using it you will soon know if further adjustments need to be made.

Now that you have organised and reset one of your challenging spaces, take a few moments to admire your work, consider what you’ve learned from the process and congratulate yourself on a job well done! Take some time to recover your energy before you tackle the next high traffic area on your list.

Decluttering my glassware cupboard was so satisfying and effective

Introduce systems to keep your home tidy

Even in a well-organised home, there is just no getting around doing regular tidying and decluttering. Especially for high use spaces. Remember, these areas are meant to be used. So they will get messy again and again. But hopefully the new set up will make keeping them tidy a little bit more intuitive. So the next step is to create some healthy habits to maintain your organised spaces.

How often you will need to do maintenance declutters will depend how big your home is, the size and configuration of your storage spaces, the number, age and capacity of the people living in your home, lifestyle aspects such as work, pets and hobbies, and the daily habits you have developed.

Work with the flow of traffic and routine in your home to create systems for corralling and managing the build up of clutter. Do you need a container near your door for shoes, umbrellas and bags? Or hooks on the entrance wall to hang coats? Do you need a designated drop off area for shopping bags, or a strategically placed laundry bag for dirty clothes, to avoid them being tossed on the floor? Every home and family is unique. So its essential to be flexible and try different solutions until you find the best system that works for your home. Involve family members and ask them what would help to keep things tidy.

A maintenance declutter of my storage cupboard

Accept that your home is a work in progress

Until you have organised all the storage and surfaces in your home and created systems for each room, you will continue to have regular clutter build up. I have been on a decluttering and reorganising journey for 2 years now, and my home is still not quite where I want it to be. There are still items that don’t have a designated place in my apartment. And those things inevitably build up in messy clutter hot spots. But I don’t allow this to discourage me. Because I know that eventually I will get those hots spots under control and find workable solutions. Organising your home takes time, patience and a flexible approach. Life doesn’t stand still. The way we use our spaces will change, just as our lives and needs change.

Create a master list and plan for your declutters

In prioritising tasks and monitor progress, it really helps to create a list of spaces in your home that need organising. If you live with others, talk to them about potential changes in their space that would make their daily lives run more smoothly. You may need to negotiate with them about what gets kept and decluttered. But planning ahead and given them input into the process will hopefully minimise disagreements and accidental decluttering of items that are important to them.

Changing long standing habits and behaviours takes time. So be gentle with yourself and remember that with good planning, patience and persistence you will end up with the organised home that you have always dreamed of.

I hope you have found this guide useful as you approach your own decluttering journey in 2025.

Love, Lilibet

I still have some spaces to declutter. But I am enjoying my home so much more these days.