This blog post is written by my friend Katy Wells, a declutter expert, host of a top-ranked podcast, and now also a published author. Before we kick things off, here’s a little more about her and her expertise in creating a clutter-free home:
Katy Wells, the author of Making Home Your Happy Place: A Real-Life Guide to Decluttering without the Overwhelm, created Holistic Decluttering—an approach that tackles clutter at its roots and pairs it with simple, sustainable systems.
As host of The Maximized Minimalist podcast (5 million listens), Katy helps families break the cycle of clutter that keeps coming back.
Her work has been featured on NBC News Daily, Martha Stewart, Better Homes & Gardens, Real Simple and more. She lives in Asheville, North Carolina with her husband and two sons.
Most of us want the same thing when it comes to our homes: calm
A space where you’re not mentally tallying everything that needs to be dealt with the second you walk through the door. Somewhere you can actually relax and enjoy being with your people instead of feeling stressed by your surroundings. That’s what a true clutter-free home feels like.
And I want you to know that this kind of home isn’t reserved for people with bigger houses, fewer kids, or some magical amount of free time you don’t have. A clutter-free home is absolutely available to you, and it doesn’t require nearly as much effort as you might think.
The families I work with who have the calmest, most organized spaces aren’t spending their weekends doing massive purges or waiting for the stars to align to finally “get organized.” They’ve just built tiny rhythms into their days, ones that work whether you’re starting from overwhelm or just trying to stay ahead of it. We’re talking five minutes or less, tucked into the time they already have.
Now here’s what I’ve learned about habits: they need a little support to actually work. You need the right setup in your environment to create a clutter-free home, and you need to understand why your progress doesn’t seem to last; otherwise, you stay stuck in the clutter cycle wondering why nothing ever sticks.
So I want to give you the full picture today. One simple setup that helps create a more clutter-free home and makes everything else click into place. Two daily habits that genuinely take five minutes or just a few seconds. And one insight that changes how you approach clutter altogether.
Let’s dive in!
First, the Setup: Create a Donation Station
Before any decluttering habit can really work, you need to answer one simple question: where does the stuff GO?
This is where so many of us get stuck. You notice something you don’t want anymore, but there’s no clear next step. So it sits there. On the counter. In the back of the closet. On the mental list of “I’ll deal with that eventually.”
A donation station fixes this immediately.
And it really doesn’t need to be complicated! A bag hanging in your coat closet. A bin in the garage. A basket tucked by the back door.
Two things that matter: make sure it’s visible and easily accessible. If you have to dig it out or go hunting for it, you likely won’t use it because “out of sight out of mind” is a very real thing. You want zero friction between the moment you decide something can go and the moment it lands in the donation bin.
A donation station does two things for you. First, it gives clutter somewhere to go (which sounds funny, but it works). Second, it becomes this visual reminder that letting go is an ongoing rhythm, not a one-time event. It’s just part of how your home runs now.
Once this is in place, the daily habits actually have somewhere to feed into. That’s why we start here.
Habit #1 to a clutter-free home: The Daily Reset
Before we dive into this one, I need to make an important distinction: there’s a difference between clutter and expected mess.
Clutter is anything that isn’t actively supporting you, your family, or your lifestyle. It’s the stuff that’s outlived its usefulness, no longer fits who you are today, or just isn’t earning its spot anymore. At some point, it made sense to bring it in. But now? It’s ready to move on.
Expected mess is the natural byproduct of living. Dishes in the sink after dinner. Shoes by the door after school. Toys scattered across the living room after play time. That stuff belongs in your home, it’s just not in its home.
Expected mess isn’t a problem to solve. It’s a reality to manage. And when you get a handle on expected mess, everything feels lighter. Your home stays calmer, your stress stays lower, and you can actually SEE when real clutter is creeping in.That’s where the daily reset comes in.
A reset is simply a few minutes spent tidying a space back to its feel-good baseline. Not decluttering. Just returning things to “ready.”
Pillows back on the couch. Dishes handled. Shoes back in their spot. Random stuff that migrated throughout the day returned to where it actually belongs.
So where do you start? Pick ONE hot spot, the space where expected mess tends to pile up the fastest. For most people that’s the entryway, living room, or kitchen. You don’t need to reset your whole house. Just choose the area that would make the biggest difference right now and start there.
Depending on the space, you might reset anywhere from once a week to two or three times a day. A kitchen might need a quick reset after every meal. A living room might just need one before bed.
Here’s what makes resets actually stick: tie them to specific moments in your day. Before transitioning activities, like moving from playing indoors to heading outside. Before or after meals. Before bedtime. When you anchor resets to routines you’re already doing, they become second nature instead of another thing on your to-do list.
And here’s a bonus: your kids can do these, too! Resets teach them valuable life skills while contributing to a home that’s easier to manage for everyone.
When you reset regularly, you keep the visual “noise” lower, your home calmer, your stress levels lower, and you start to notice the stuff that doesn’t belong, which leads us perfectly to the next habit.
Habit #2 to a clutter-free home: The Clutter Audit
This one sounds almost too small to matter, but trust me on this. It’s the habit that helps you make steady progress no matter how busy life gets.
A clutter audit is a quick, in-the-moment choice to let go of something that isn’t serving you. It takes literal seconds and it happens while you’re already moving through your day.Think of it as background awareness, not a brand-new chore.
You’re brushing your teeth and spot the skincare product you never reach for. You’re putting away laundry and see the shirt your kid outgrew two months ago. You’re grabbing your morning coffee and your hand skips right over that mug you always avoid.
These are clutter audit moments. You notice, you decide, and the item goes straight to your donation station.
See why that visible, easily accessible donation station matters now? When there’s zero friction between noticing something and letting it go, you actually follow through.
Here’s where it gets exciting: this habit compounds. Even just three items a day means you’re 90 items lighter by the end of the month. That’s real, tangible progress without a single marathon decluttering session. No blocked-off weekends. No overwhelm. No waiting until you “have time.” Just tiny moments stacking up into something that actually changes how your home feels.
The daily reset handles the expected mess. The clutter audit catches the clutter that’s overstayed its welcome. And here’s a little secret: your resets are a perfect time to do clutter audits. While you’re putting things back in their place, you’re naturally scanning your space. It becomes a one-two punch that keeps your home running smoothly without requiring superhuman effort from you.
The Insight That Makes It All Stick: Match the Tool to the Clutter Type
Okay, here’s something that might surprise you: most people only ever tackle one type of clutter. They clear the easy stuff, feel great for a few days, and then wonder why their home feels full again or why they’ve hit a wall. It’s not a motivation problem. It’s a tool problem.
Through my work, I’ve uncovered there are four main types of clutter, and each one responds to a different approach. I’ll give you one tool for each to get you started!
Superficial Clutter is the easy stuff. No real emotional weight attached, it’s just… there. Taking up space without earning it. The question to ask yourself: Have I had the opportunity to use this in the last six months? If the answer is yes but you still didn’t reach for it, you have your answer.
Scarcity Clutter is what you’re keeping out of fear. Fear of wasting money. Fear of needing it “someday.” Here’s the reframe that helps: It’s more wasteful to keep something and not use it than to let it go. Your space, your energy, your mental bandwidth… those are being wasted on things that just sit there. Letting go isn’t wasteful. It’s actually how you free up those resources for things that matter.
Sentimental Clutter is the tricky one for most of us. These items carry memories and meaning, and that feels sacred. But here’s something I remind my students all the time: if everything is special, nothing is. The question to sit with: Does this still feel emotionally aligned, or am I keeping it out of guilt? Guilt isn’t a good enough reason to give something prime real estate in your home or in your head.
Identity Clutter is the sneakiest of all. It’s tied to who you used to be or who you think you should become. The hobby supplies for the hobby you never started. The professional clothes from a career you’ve moved on from. The question that cuts through: Does this feel like an invitation or an obligation? If it feels heavy or pressuring or full of “shoulds,” that’s worth paying attention to. It might be time to let that version of yourself evolve and let the stuff go with it.
Small Shifts, Big Results
Here’s what I want you to take away from all of this:
A clutter-free home isn’t built through big dramatic overhauls. It’s built in tiny increments. A five-minute reset here. A decision there. A donation station that gives clutter somewhere to go. A daily reset that keeps expected mess from piling up. A clutter audit that catches what’s overstayed its welcome. And the understanding that different clutter types need different tools.
You don’t need more time and you don’t need to wait until you feel motivated. You just need a few minutes a day and a willingness to start right where you are.
You’ve absolutely got this!
What you just read is the foundation of what I call Holistic Decluttering
Most methods only treat the surface, they chop off the visible weeds so things look better for a little while. But if the root is still there, the clutter always grows back.
Holistic Decluttering pulls the weeds out at the root. Then it helps you plant something new: peace, clarity, confidence, and a home that actually feels the way you want it to.
If traditional decluttering advice has let you down, my book will be such a relief.
Making Home Your Happy Place: A Real-Life Guide to Decluttering Without the Overwhelm goes way beyond the bins and one-size-fits-all rules. Inside you’ll take a deeper dive into the four clutter types, uncover your Stuff Story and what your clutter’s been trying to say, experience the freedom of a Good Enough Home, learn how to onboard your family so you’re not doing this alone, and build simple systems that take minutes, not weekends.
It’s available for pre-order now wherever books are sold.
Your home can feel lighter, calmer, and full of joy. And when it does, so will you.
xx Katy
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