We tackled the bathroom & linen closets over the past few weeks, so now it’s time to move onto the Bedroom.

Much in the same way the bathroom can be a rest stop for clutter, dressers and side tables can also be subject to unnecessary trouble spots for receipts, change and various other items that are emptied from your pockets at the end of the day. Add in other night time items like lotions, pill bottles, books and other personal items, and you could be losing a lot of space to your ever-growing mess.

Before you get started, it’s suggested that you take a survey of how your every day items are positioned in your room:

    • What do you use every night?
    • Where are your common areas of clutter congestion?

 

When you view your areas of clutter, you may get a better sense of what you leave where, and where those items might be best place to prevent future clutter & for ease of use.

You’ll also need to grab a garbage bag or can and some cleaning products (depending on the surface of your dresser or night stands, a material appropriate cleaner that won’t damage your surfaces). You’ll also need a few boxes for recycling & donation/selling.

Now, lets’ get started:

  • Grab your trash bag & head over to the dresser. Grab any items change & find a receptacle and make a change dish or jar.  This is a great place to deposit any change.
  • If you have any paper items like non-important receipts, ticket stubs, etc., separate the important items into one stack & whittle down the other items into the trash bag. Important receipts can be stacked into its’ own pile for filing.
  • Jewelry: Do you have a jewelry box? Sort those earrings & necklaces into a pile & start placing these items into common pairs into your jewelry box. If you don’t have one, now’s the time to find one specifically for your present needs. If you’re finding items you no longer wear, now’s the time to consider if it’s worth pawning, selling or pitching. Created those piles & then
  • Now that you’ve cleared out the clutter, clear off the top with any items and wipe clean and/or dust the top, and replace the items back onto the top of the dresser.
  • Next, move onto the site tables: follow the same steps you made for the dresser, but create another pile for storable items:
    • Do your side tables have drawers?
    • Are they empty or full?
      • If they’re empty, those items that you organized into ‘storeable items’ can be filed into the drawer. Place them into the drawers based on ease of use & accessibility.
      • If they’re full, the backtrack a bit & de-clutter those drawers into items to keep & items to throw away. Automatically you’ll create some space for the items you’ve placed into the storage pile.
      • It’s suggested here to empty those items & clean out the drawers before you replace the storeable items back in.
  • Once you’ve knocked out the drawers, you’ve got two more items: items to keep & items to pitch. Pitch those disposable items into the garbage, and important receipts can be sorted into a pile for filing.
  • You’re left with items to keep. What’s in this group? Active books & magazines can be stacked into easy to access stacks on the table tops or on the shelf below the table top. Completed books & magazines can be sorted out into items to be placed on a book shelf & items to be recycled or donated. If you’ve discovered spare change, wipe it into your hand & place it into your change dish. Jewelry gets sorted into piles & then stored into your jewelry box.
  • Now that you’ve found a place for everything, grab your cleaner once again and wipe the top of the table & then replace those items back into their places.

Overall, this should take you about 15-30 minutes depending on the level of clutter you have on your dresser.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be talking about your clothes, closets & dresser drawers.

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