How To Declutter In 10 Minutes A Day

Decluttering can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be! With Clean Mama’s simple and effective method, you can tackle any space quickly and efficiently. Here’s how to get it done in four easy steps:

Start Small

Pick a small area to focus on first. Whether it’s a drawer, a closet shelf, or a section of a room, starting small helps build momentum. Set a timer for 10 minutes to keep you focused and to prevent overwhelm.

Sort and Categorize

As you work through the area, place items into four categories: Keep, Donate, Toss, and Relocate. Be quick and decisive—if you haven’t used it in six months to a year, it might be time to let it go.

Contain and Organize

Once you’ve sorted through everything, it’s time to contain and organize. Not everything needs to be contained but plan out how you’ll use bins or baskets to contain what’s left. Store similar items together to make it easy to find what you need. Labeling can also help maintain the order long-term and help family members know where things go.

Maintain Your Progress

Decluttering isn’t a one-time task, it’s a Daily Task. Incorporate a quick daily decluttering session for 10 minutes or weekly tidy-up session to maintain the space you’ve just worked on and to keep it clutter-free. The Clean Mama Routine’s focus on consistency helps ensure your space stays organized over time.

One of the Daily Tasks in the Clean Mama Routine is to deal with clutter, this makes a huge difference in how our homes feel and it also helps free up space in that never-ending to do list. Instead of thinking of what you can’t get done because you’re at work, in the car, on vacation, look at what you CAN get done!

Decluttering doesn’t need to be a long, drawn-out process. With the Clean Mama method for decluttering, you can quickly and easily transform any area into a tidy, functional space—one step at a time!

The Real Goal of Decluttering

Decluttering works best when it isn’t something you constantly have to restart. The real shift happens when cleared spaces are protected by simple, repeatable habits—not motivation, not big cleanouts, and not starting from scratch every few months.

That’s why decluttering works so well as a Daily Task. A little, done consistently, keeps clutter from quietly creeping back in and turns what you’ve cleared into something you can actually maintain.

If you’ve spent January letting go and creating space, the next step isn’t more decluttering—it’s learning how to keep that progress going.