Make your bedroom a sanctuary

This might be your home's easiest decluttering project

Clutter happens. I know many families struggle to keep common spaces clear as toys, paper, and misplaced objects accumulate.

But for many people, a home’s primary bedroom is already pretty close to a pristine state. Potentially only 1-2 people spend any time in there. Those people are likely among the neater members of the household, or at least would pause before leaving a wet towel on a bed or a Wawa hoagie wrapper on the floor. In any case, those people are busy, so they’re not spending that much non-sleeping time in their bedroom.

This means that the primary bedroom offers a very doable decluttering project. Your garage might take an entire week to clean out, but in just a few minutes, you could make your bedroom a sanctuary.

So why not take a few minutes to reset the space? If things have piled up on a chair, go put them back where they belong. Clear off your nightstands and make your bed. My guess is that in less than 20 minutes you can have a room that feels serene.

This has a few upsides. Theoretically, a serene bedroom makes it easier to sleep, though if you’re in the sleep-deprived little kid years, a misplaced sweater isn’t going to keep you up.

But more importantly, a clean primary bedroom offers you a space where you can sit and not think you should be doing anything else.

I know that for a lot of people (well, women in particular) if you sit down in the living room to relax, and then see someone’s toy fire truck on the coffee table, you’re highly likely to pop back up and go put it in the toy bin. I can tell people to learn to relax in a mess, but for some folks, that’s hard.

Cleaning the whole house could take all your leisure time. But if your bedroom is a sanctuary? You can just close the door and sit in there. No need to worry about the rest of the clutter. If you can’t see it, you don’t have to remember it exists.