February Decluttering & Home Organization Ideas
Decluttering your home can quickly become a lot without a plan and the right expectations. Our February decluttering calendar puts emphasis on doing a little bit in lots of rooms and areas of your home. Then, later in the month, the focus shifts to getting your home ready for the spring season.
The goal, quite simply, is to just do a little bit of decluttering every day. That daily progress, in time, will bring about big changes to your home.
You can find the full calendar of ideas as a printable at the bottom of the article. Take your time, make it routine, and just focus on getting the daily tasks done.
Decluttering for February
Below the calendar, you’ll find the full detailed list of all of the daily tasks. On really tiring days, even 10 minutes of progress will make a difference.
Week 1
- Sort & organize your photos from January.
- Tidy your workspace for 15 minutes.
- Go through your purse/bag and organize it.
- Declutter and organize the car for 20 minutes.
- Set a 15-min timer & tidy as many surfaces as you can in the kitchen.
- Tidy the messiest shelf in the fridge.
- Set a 30-min timer and tidy the fridge, tossing expired things.
Week 2
Set a 30-min timer and tidy the pantry.
Focus on the high-impact tasks such as tossing expired food, grouping similar items together, consolidating half-empty containers, and putting items you use daily on the most convenient shelf. If you have time, you could also wipe the shelves and visually organize the pantry.
Set a 15-min timer and tidy as many surfaces as you can in the living room.
For all surfaces in the living room (coffee table, shelves, entertainment center), return items to where they belong, wipe off any dust, and organize everything else that’s left on those surfaces.
Declutter and organize the entertainment/TV area and cables.
Today, you can focus solely on the TV stand/entertainment unit. Organize the cables using cable ties or cable organizer boxes. Toss any old remotes you no longer need. Put away extra cables. Wipe off the dust and tidy everything else that’s left.
Put away anything that doesn’t belong in the living room.
Walk through the room and get anything that belongs elsewhere. Group the items by the room they belong to (e.g., kitchen, bedroom, entryway). Return all of them, one room at a time.
Clear the coffee table.
Clear everything first and wipe down the coffee table. Then, decide which items you want to keep (e.g., book, candle, tray). If you want to keep a few smaller items, it’s a good idea to have a tray for all the small items so that it can look more organized.
Remove any knick-knacks you don’t need.
Go through the house and look for knick-knacks in places that often have them without us even realizing it (e.g., side tables, bookshelves, windowsills, entryway, top of cabinets). Decide what deserves to be on display and then donate the ones you no longer want.
Set a 20-min timer and organize the remaining things in the living room.
This is a great opportunity to focus on one thing that bothers you most about the living room in its current state. It may be that you have too many decorative items, no defined ‘home’ for all your items, or overcrowded shelves. Pick just one thing to focus on. Or, if you love everything about the living room, just do a quick tidy.
Get the Week 2 (February 8-14) decluttering printable here.
Week 3
Set a 15-min timer & tidy as many surfaces as you can in the bedroom.
Focus on surfaces that will make the most impact: nightstands, dressers, window sills. Remove any items that don’t belong and wipe the surfaces clean.
Put away anything that doesn’t belong in the bedroom.
Put worn clothes in the laundry. Clear any coffee mugs or tea cups. Put clean clothes in the closet. Look for other items that might not belong in the bedroom.
Tidy the nightstands.
Clear everything from the nightstands first. Then, wipe them clean and return only the items that you want to keep. Try to keep only a few items you really need.
Set a 15-min timer & tidy/organize storage areas (dressers, under-the-bed area, etc).
If you want to keep it simple, take it one area at a time and just do 15 minutes of tidying and organizing. You could focus just on the under-the-bed area. Or maybe pick a drawer in your dresser.
Look at the wall art and decor & decide what to keep.
Look at the wall art and decor and ask yourself if you would still put it up there today. If it makes you feel good and happy, you can keep it. If not, consider relocating it or donating it.
Have a final 15-min reset of the bedroom.
You could make your bed extra comfy, putting fresh sheets on and fluffing the pillows. Or, you could simply straighten out any remaining decor and items.
Set a 30-min timer and focus on a quick closet declutter for spring.
Start by putting your favorite seasonal clothes front and center. Then, you could put away out-of-season clothes (either in the back of the closet or store them away if the closet is too small). You could also group the items by type of clothing or color.
Get the Week 3 Decluttering printable here.
Week 4
- Declutter and organize your shoes for spring.
- Go through your accessories, organizing them for spring.
- Get a bag & walk through the house, picking up anything you want to donate.
- Set a 15-min timer & focus on decluttering the area that first comes to mind.
- Put 5 items back where they belong.
- Catch up on any previous tasks for 15 minutes.
- Do a final 15-min walk-through of the house and tidy what you want.
