The 10 Best Ways To Declutter Your Bedroom If You're Feeling Overwhelmed

You come home after a long day (or night), gobble down some food, get ready for bed, and slide under your covers only to fixate endlessly on the clothes piled high on the chair instead of counting sheep. Though the fix is quite simple, decluttering might not be your jam, especially if you tend to get overwhelmed. Not everyone can just start putting items away or folding clothes that were left out throughout the week. If you tend to feel frozen when it comes to cleaning, but your bedroom has reached your messiness breaking point, there are small steps you can take to help get the ball rolling.

These steps aren't going to help you deep clean your space. Instead, they're low-effort suggestions that will help tidy a small portion of the room, but will make a big difference. While your floors might need a mopping, today isn't the day for that. Instead, try removing all the dirty dishes and empty food containers from the space. Plus, once you finish one easy task, you'll often feel motivated to try another one, getting your bedroom one step closer to being cleaner. Unsure how to achieve a decluttered room without feeling overwhelmed? Pop in your earbuds and read along to discover the 10 best ways to turn your messy bedroom clutter-free.

The first step is slightly inspired by Benjamin Franklin's quote, "A place for everything, everything in its place." In other words, the simplest way to declutter your bedroom is to eliminate things that don't belong. Take a step back and identify the items that you've been lugging in from other rooms. For example, remove the empty glass of water and the coffee mugs from your kitchen and the pills from your medicine cabinet. Since these items don't serve a purpose in the room (anymore), removing them will open up the space and make it seem tidier.

So, move the books precariously piled on your nightstand or littered on the floor to the bookshelf in the living room, your spreadsheets to the home office, sewing supplies to their designated spot, and borrowed furniture to their rightful location. Similarly, put your dirty laundry in the hamper in your bathroom, months-old magazines in the recycling bin, junk mail and outdated receipts in the trash can, and your weights and yoga mats back in the home gym (or spare room or garage). Open or still-packed food and drinks should be stored in a kitchen shelf or the refrigerator (or trash), as the case may be. Basically, anything that doesn't make sense in your bedroom must go. 

If you bring in Amazon delivery boxes, bags from your shopping sprees, coffee cups from Starbucks, and other such containers straight to your bedroom, chances are they've become your permanent roommates. While they won't disturb you or demand your attention like living, breathing roomies, they'll take up precious square footage and add to the clutter. So one quick way to make your room feel instantly tidier is to remove them. 

Eye the bags and boxes critically. Pull out the reusable ones and neatly fold them prior to stowing them away next to your other bags. However, resist the urge to unnecessarily add to your burgeoning collection if you don't intend to use them. But if you're particularly attached to your Jimmy Choo, Tiffany, or Michael Kors shopping bags, repurpose your designer brand store bags into stylish home decor instead of stashing them away in your dresser's drawer. Regarding your cardboard delivery boxes, use them for crafts, reuse them in the attic or basement for storage, give them to anyone shifting homes or offices, or fill them with items you want to donate to make transportation easier. Try to give a second life to as many boxes and bags as possible and put the rest in the recycling bin, provided the materials are recyclable.

What do you do with your worn clothes that aren't dirty enough to be washed yet? Perhaps relegate them to a life on the floor? While convenient, it makes it difficult for you to walk without tripping on the items, and it makes them less clean for a second round of wearing. If you feel overwhelmed cleaning, just take everything on the floor and throw it into the hamper to wash a large load. You can fold them and put them back once that's done. And to keep from this happening again, get two aesthetic hampers you can put right next to your bed. One will be for dirty clothes, while the other will be for can-still-wear-one-more-time clothes. This will help keep them off the floor.

While any laundry basket would work if you have the space to fit it in your wardrobe, you need a chic-looking hamper with a dedicated lid if it'll be staying out. We like SONGMICS' 23.8 gallon synthetic rattan laundry basket, retailing on Amazon for under $50. However, if you'd rather your in-between clothes hamper not look so obvious, check out the Williston Forge wood cabinet-esque hamper available on Wayfair for about $80. Baskets with dividers are a smart option, too, especially if you want to easily access the stored clothes based on their type. For instance, your top wear could go in one section, and the bottom wear could occupy another. 

You're not alone if you dump spare change, sunglasses, phone chargers, hair ties, cosmetics, combs, medicines, and receipts on the top of your dresser. Even if you intend to house the items temporarily, life might get in the way and before you know it, the cluttered top may become an indelible part of your bedroom. The same might hold for other horizontal surfaces in the room, like side tables and work desks. To avoid normalizing messy tops and keep the dust out, view the items with a critical eye and decide what to declutter.

Start by making a mental list of the items you regularly grab from the dresser, like your signature perfume, moisturizer, keys, pennies, and combs. Which of these do you need close at hand and which are out of place somewhere so visible? For instance, while your perfume can stay out, you probably don't need your spare change littering the space. A tip for keeping the top of your dresser clutter-free is to use jewelry cases, stylish trays, and catch-all holders to corral and hide some of these items. For instance, if you want quick access to your earrings, put them in a nice jewelry box rather than leaving them loose on your dresser. Follow a similar process for all the tables and desks in the room to tidy them and enhance their aesthetic appeal. 

You might not be afraid of the monsters slumbering underneath your bed anymore, but the clutter and dust bunnies could take a life of their own if not contained. So, revert back to your five-year-old self and get on your hands and knees to pull out the stored things. After everything's out, wipe them clean with a microfiber cloth. Take a second pass with a broom since you don't want your vacuum to digest pennies, lost pens, or other random junk. Now, attach the upholstery or swivel-head attachment to your vacuum to get rid of the accumulated dust and grime.

Once the area is clean, catalog the things you found underneath and whether you'd like to keep storing them under your bed. For instance, you might want to continue housing seasonal clothes, footwear, toys, suitcases, and extra linens, but you should stop storing certain things beneath your bed, like important documents and delicate dishes. To make the random items feel more contained, invest in clear under-bed containers that will allow you to break them out into categories. For instance, if you want to store shoes, get a special container with shoe slots, such as this one from Amazon that can fit 32 pairs. However, if you want to stash seasonal clothes, get a different container, such as this large but flat container with wheels from Amazon.

When was the last time you checked the expiration date on your scented body lotion, life-saving sunscreen, or nude lipstick? Even though beauty and skincare products are omnipresent in bedrooms, they're one of the most common items people forget to declutter. In fact, Oxbridge's 2021 survey revealed that one in four people confessed to using expired makeup. Products past their prime don't work as intended. Worse, they can harbor bacteria and mold, leading to skin irritation or infection.

To minimize the clutter in your bedroom, check the best by date on each of your skincare products and cosmetics. If that's not present, check if there's an open-tub sign beside a number and the letter 'M,' signifying the number of months the item is good for after it's opened. So, if a product features 9M on its packaging, you can use it for nine months before tossing it. In case you don't find the date or the open-tub sign, a rule of thumb is to use liquid mascara and eyeliners for no more than three months, while their pencil version can last up to one to three years. Lip products remain good for up to two years; creams, foundations, and powders last between one and three years. Since it can be difficult to keep track of the dates, toss out your skincare and makeup products when they start smelling off, change their inherent hue, begin clumping, feel off, or forgo their consistency.

A tangled web of cords and cables is enough to make your neat and tidy bedroom look and feel cluttered. The visual clutter is worse for people with a work desk and/or TV in their sanctuary. Fortunately, there are multiple ways you can hide the cord and clutter mess in your bedroom. Before we get to them, ensure all the cords and cables are unplugged from their wall outlet to minimize accidents.

One of the easiest ways to hide them is behind a tall dresser or closet. When dealing with a lot of wires, segregate them in bunches and tie them up with some cable ties (Dollar Tree sells a 65-piece pack for $1.25) or Velcro strips. Then, hide them behind your bedroom furniture or inside a beautiful box or basket. Alternatively, stick a few adhesive hooks to the back of your furniture to loop the tied cords. If this seems like a lot of work, grab a pack of 13 Command cord clips from Amazon for about $12 for a similar look. You could even nestle the unruly cables inside a split tube (Lowe's sells a 7-foot tubing under $5). For a more permanent solution, put the wires inside a cable channel (or cord cover), stick it to the wall or along the baseboards, hide the gaps with plastic tubing, and paint it once you're done.

A key reason why your spacious bedroom looks cramped could be the sheer amount of furniture wedged in every available corner. Sure, you want a chair beside your dresser or maybe a small couch to curl up with a good book when the mood strikes, but anything that doesn't serve a specific purpose will end up becoming a clutter magnet. Plus, clearing out supplementary furniture will make your room seem more spacious than it is. So, look at the room with fresh eyes and assess if you really use the stool at the foot of your bed, the nightstand with just one lonely lamp on it, or the high-back chair near the window. If they don't do anything but catch your discarded clothes and empty delivery boxes, then it might be time to remove them.

Take your time and remove anything you haven't used in a while. Rearrange the ones that made the cut to give your bedroom a refresh without spending a fortune. If needed, replace them with furniture with built-in storage. For instance, if you're in the habit of lacing your shoes while sitting on the stool near your bed, swap it with an open-top ottoman to use it as a storage solution, too. Shift the discarded pieces to another room or sell or donate them if you don't have the requisite space.

Our nightstands tend to become clutter magnets. Rather than just housing your lamp, you might have started using it to store varied knick-knacks over time, like a box of tissues, accessories, and home keys. While convenient in theory, it can make your room look instantly messy. Having an overflow of random things by your bed — from receipts to notebooks you haven't touched in months to empty water bottles — can make the space feel chaotic. So, ensure your nightstand is always clutter-free.

Start by removing everything off the surface and wipe it clean with a slightly moist cloth. Give the displayed items a wipe-down, too. Now, get rid of any item you won't need in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning. Don't worry. You don't have to remove them permanently; simply place them in your nightstand's drawers instead. Make it a habit to only place one to three essential items on the stand, like a glass of water (on a coaster), an alarm clock, glasses, an eye mask, a baby monitor, or a lamp. Choose what's most helpful to you. Additionally, find your devices (yes, including your phone) a home away from your nightstand to keep their blue light or incessant notifications from interfering with your sleep cycle.

It might be challenging to maintain a tidy closet if the thought of decluttering your wardrobe makes you break out in hives. But don't let it stop you from realizing your dream of a tidy space. Simply embrace a few storage and organization solutions, like drawer dividers and bins and baskets, for a Pinterest-worthy display.

Start with the dividers to assign specific zones for all your accessories, including jewelry, watches, wallets, handbags, belts, and scarves. This will keep your drawers organized since it'll be easier for you to retrieve and put back items. Not sure if you want to divide your drawers horizontally or vertically? Get adjustable dividers to organize your drawers your way. We like Utoplike's 4-pack adjustable bamboo dividers available on Amazon for under $30. If your shelves and not your drawers are the problem, get clear vertical dividers to help keep your sweaters, jeans, and even purses in place.  A great example is this 6-pack available on Amazon for under $25.

Another great way to maximize the available space in your wardrobe and keep it organized is to use storage solutions, such as rattan baskets, fabric bins, acrylic tubs, and stackable drawers. Corral your wayward shoes, about-to-be orphan socks, 20 pairs of jeans, work shirts, and more into specific bins and attach a label to minimize confusion. Pro tip: Fold and store the items vertically to help you spot your options more easily.