Did you know that visible clutter in the bedroom can actually be impacting your sleep?

Studies have shown that extra clutter and mess in the bedroom can keep you from falling asleep as quickly as those with neat and tidy rooms. Even the simple act of making your bed in the morning can improve your chances of a good night’s sleep.

So, how do we keep our bedrooms neat, tidy, and clutter-free?

You can start by addressing these top bedroom clutter hotspots and setting up systems for decluttering them!

 

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The Top 7 Bedroom Clutter Hotspots

1 – Bedside Tables

Let’s face it. Bedside tables are clutter magnets. They, at some point, become the home to cups of water or tea, books, reading glasses, lip balm, a charging phone, spare change, jewelry, lotion, tissues… and maybe even some clean laundry from time to time.

It’s easy for clutter to pile up on the bedside table and add to the visual clutter in your bedroom. And even worse, it’s super annoying to reach over to check the time on your charging phone in the middle of the night and knock over random items that really shouldn’t be there!

How to Declutter:

• Get a more functional bedside table. Try one with multiple shelves or drawers that can organize your typical bedside table clutter better. Create dedicated spaces in the side table for normal items, such as a space for a charging phone, a place for books, a spot for your glasses, etc.

• Use a small dresser for a nightstand. There is generally more storage space inside the drawers as well as on the top so it’s easier to provide homes for your side table necessities without as much visual clutter. Remember, white space is our friend!

• Add a decorative bowl or tray for loose clutter. Keeping your small random items in a defined space makes them feel more organized and tidy! (Or, you can try this nightstand tray organizer for an all-in-one solution.)

• Get a pocket organizer for the side of the bed. These are brilliant places for books, reading glasses, remotes, phones, etc. that would normally crowd up your bedside table! (Try out this one from Amazon.)

• Create a drop area outside the bedroom. That way you drop the clutter before it enters the room (and most likely ends up on your bedside table). This one is a bit hit and miss because that other area can then become a clutter hotspot if you don’t set up some organization, but… at least it’s not in the bedroom taking away from your peaceful retreat vibe.

2 – Bedroom Closet

Ah, those lovely little closet doors. That simple invention wields a power that can be used for good but is almost always used for bad.

Friends coming over and don’t want to clean? Stuff things in the bedroom closet!

Bought something you know you shouldn’t have? Shove it in the bedroom closet!

Once you close those doors, you are instantly able to disconnect from the sources of drama hidden within… at least until the next time you have to open them.

For that reason, bedroom closets are an exceptional bedroom clutter hotspot. And unfortunately, the more cluttered and unwieldy your closet becomes, the less likely clothing items make it back inside and instead are left on the floor or other places in the bedroom.

There also comes a time when the closet doors simply won’t shut at all!

How to Declutter:

• Purge your wardrobe! Yes, the more you purge from your entire closet, the easier it will be to keep it all neat, tidy, and organized. Read more about the closet decluttering process.

• Organize your closet. Put together simple solutions that make it quick and easy to find what you need and to put stuff away again. Use baskets, add additional vertical space for storage, move the adjustable shelving (if you have the ability), and think critically about your lifestyle so that the closet makes sense.

• Stop buying things you don’t need. We’re referring to clothes here! I know it’s hard, but minimizing our clothing has a multitude of benefits (like saving you money), and it helps cut down on the closet and bedroom clutter in general. Here’s a helpful list for how much clothing you actually need in your wardrobe. Or, check Decluttering School’s Stop Overshopping.

3 – Dresser

Much like the closet, those dresser drawers can act as one of many hidden clutter spots in your bedroom. The top of the dresser, however, is yet another clutter hot spot stressing you out and keeping you from sleeping well at night.

The top of the dresser is a place where jewelry boxes can overflow and laundry can get left in nearly toppling piles if left unchecked.

Basically, any of the flat surfaces in your bedroom can turn into a clutter zone if not organized effectively.

How to Declutter:

• Add a jewelry dish. If there are a few pieces of jewelry you are wearing consistently and find it a waste of time to put them away, put them in a cute little jewelry dish instead. (Note: This might be something you include on your bedside table instead.)

• Add an easy hang jewelry rack. This is for things like bracelets and necklaces. You can also incorporate some wall space for extra jewelry storage.

• Incorporate drawer organizers inside the dresser. If you have dedicated spaces in your drawers, it makes it a little bit easier to put things you’re tossing on the top of the dresser away. (Try these from Amazon.)

4 – Corner Chair

How many of you have that cute little chair in the corner of your bedroom? You know… the one that you put there because you thought it would be a nice place to sit and read or relax?

And how many of you actually sit there?

If you’re like most people I know, that plush-looking corner seat has turned into a throw place for clothes, bags, jackets and purses – anything but your body! It’s many bedroom’s biggest clutter culprit for sure.

How to Declutter:

• Rid yourself of temptation. If you never use the chair at all, remove it! Claim back some of that physical space that decreases visible clutter and gives you peace of mind.

• Install place to immediately hang jackets, handbags, etc. Hang a hook on the back of the door, for example. Or, create space inside the closet that makes it easy to hang those items without hassle.

• Create a system for putting clean laundry away immediately. For example: Do not bring clean clothes back into the room unless they are folded or on hangers (do that in the laundry room). That way they can instantly go straight into drawers or hung in the closet instead of tossed onto the corner chair. Read more about laundry systems.

5 – The Bed

The bed is supposed to be our special, relaxing space to recharge at the end of a long day. But if your bed is basically a pile of blankets and throw pillows with a pile of laundry on one corner, that probably doesn’t send relaxing vibes to your mind.

Not only that, but getting into bed then becomes a chore, and that pile of laundry probably ends up on the corner chair – or worse – the floor!

How to Declutter:

• Make your bed every day. Making this a part of your daily life routine not only visually declutters the bedroom but also provides a sense of accomplishment first thing in the morning.

• Use fewer throw pillows. Yes, they’re cute. Yes, they add a pop of color. Yet too many and they’ll start to become clutter, especially if they’re not put back on a freshly made bed each morning.

• Don’t put clean clothes on the bed! As mentioned before, create a system for laundry that makes it easy to put it away when you immediately bring it into the bedroom.

6 – Under the Bed

Under the bed is another one of those hidden clutter spots that can quickly spill over if not kept in check!

Do you find yourself kicking bags and shoes underneath the bed before company arrives?

Have you slid an extra box of clothes underneath, like the extra box of purged closet clothing you were supposed to donate away, but can’t?

You may not be able to see that clutter all the time, but you know it’s there!

How to Declutter:

• Get some good under-the-bed storage. Instead of kicking random things under the bed, you could install some clever slide-out drawers to store your belongings in. When you have a good under-the-bed system, you have less room to simply stuff miscellaneous items away haphazardly.

• Give yourself boundaries. Allow yourself to only put a certain type of thing under the bed – like your seasonal items – and nothing more. Knowing this space is only available to a certain type or amount of items keeps the clutter level from going overboard.

7 – Floor

How could we write a post on bedroom clutter hotspots without mentioning the floor?!

It may only be a pair of shoes here, a bag over there, and your pajamas next to the bed. (Or, it could be a lot more than that.) Still, that clutter adds up!

How to Declutter:

• Put a dirty clothes basket nearby. If you change next to the closet, and your dirty clothes basket is in the bathroom, then there’s a higher chance of items ending up on the floor instead of where they belong.

• Add a clean clothes basket. If you’re someone who simply cannot put their clean clothes away when bringing them in from the laundry, you could integrate a cute basket for storing said items until you have the time. It’s not the ideal method, but at least it keeps the clothes from being stacked or left in all the wrong places around the room.

 

The Best Ways to Declutter Your Bedroom

While we just covered ways to declutter some of your bedroom’s biggest clutter hot spots, each bedroom is different. We have different furniture and different amounts of physical space, so all the pointers above simply might not be an option for you.

In order to make your bedroom the clutter-free zone of your dreams, it’s important to keep the following basic tips in mind:

1. Have homes for everything that lives in your bedroom. Knowing where things should be will help you keep them from being strewn in random places.
2. Identify what causes clutter in the bedroom (usually clothes) and create systems to address it. Do you need to dedicate 10 minutes before bed tidying your room? Do you need a better laundry system?
3. Make your bed every morning. Seriously, it helps! Once you see that your bed is nice and neat, you might be more inspired to whip the rest of the clutter hotspots into shape.

 

It’s possible to walk into a bedroom every day that is a calm and relaxing retreat. Once you tackle these biggest clutter hot spots and create the right systems, you’ll be on your way to a decluttered, organized bedroom and more restful sleep.

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Tackle other household clutter hotspots!

• Clutter hotspot: school papers
• Clutter hotspot: kitchen counters
• Clutter hotspot: keys