How to declutter your home one drawer a day

Start somewhere small that you use every day, like the junk drawer, the bathroom cabinet or one kitchen shelf. A small space can be finished in one 15-minute session, and you'll notice the difference the next time you open it, which makes the next session easier to start. Leave the hard places for later: the garage, the storage room and anything sentimental. Before you begin, set out a bag or box for each way out (keep, donate, sell, recycle and trash), so every item has somewhere to go and you don't end up with a "maybe" pile. Then move one drawer or shelf at a time through the room, and the rooms through the house.

It depends on the size of the house and how much is in it, so we won't guess at a number for yours. What you can control is the pace. In our example plan, one drawer or shelf a day for a week is the first step, and ten bags or boxes out of the house is the milestone, set for a few months away. Count your rooms and storage spaces, note which ones are the worst, and give each a few days. We prefer short daily sessions to one big weekend, because they don't need a free day to start.

Start with the things that are easiest to decide on: duplicates, things that are broken, expired food and medicines, packaging you kept "just in case", and clothes you haven't worn in a year. None of these needs much thought, so the leaving boxes fill quickly and you build the habit. Check the batteries and old electronics as you go and put them in their own box, since the EPA says lithium-ion batteries shouldn't go in household trash or recycling bins. For expired medicines, check what your local pharmacy or waste program accepts. Leave sentimental things and anything you'd have to discuss with family until the end.

Sort them by what they're made of and where they can go. Paper, cardboard and the materials your area collects go in curbside recycling. Batteries and electronics need a special drop-off: the EPA says to take lithium-ion batteries to separate recycling or household hazardous waste collection points, and to delete your personal data and remove batteries before you recycle electronics. Worn-out clothes can go to textile recycling where your area offers it; the EPA counts 11.3 million tons of textiles sent to landfills in 2018. Broken things nobody can use or recycle go in the trash. Your city or county's waste program website lists what it takes and where.

Leave them until last, after you've practiced on easier things, and give them a limit instead of a rule. One box per person, or one shelf, is a simple limit: keep what fits, and choose what goes by asking which things you'd reach for first. Photographing an item before it leaves keeps the memory without the space. Things that belong to family are worth a conversation before they go; a quick message such as "Does anyone want Grandma's dishes?" often finds them a home. There's no deadline on this part. Put the task on Someday, finish the rest of the house, and come back when you're ready.

Yes. LeapSteps is our app. Add a task like "Sort one drawer", set it to repeat every day, and give it a reminder at the time that suits you; it shows on Today with the rest of your tasks. Link it to your goal's short-term step, and tap Generate on that step if you want three AI-drafted options for what comes next. LeapSteps can't do the sorting, and it doesn't know what's in your cupboards, so the size of each session is your call. When a step is done, tap Done; it moves to Steps achieved, which is a nice record of how far the house has come.