October Decluttering Challenge (Themed Weeks and Quick Wins)
We’ve pulled out all of the stops with our October decluttering challenge to make it fun, engaging, and goal-specific, so you can stay motivated and notice a difference.
Each week is themed to keep things interesting, and the ideas will rarely require more than 30 minutes of your time.
As with all of our decluttering months, the goal is to make progress through a daily routine of decluttering.
Don’t try to declutter in one go. Do a little bit every day, stay motivated with the visible wins, and make decluttering something you do on a regular basis.
You’ll find the calendar at the foot of the article. Have fun, get the whole house involved, and focus on small wins. They’ll very quickly add up!
Decluttering Ideas for October
A Good Start to The Month
October 1: Set up a donation box to add to throughout the month.
October 2: Do 15 minutes of surface decluttering and organizing in the living room (e.g., coffee table, TV stand).
October 3: Pick your favorite area of the house and declutter it for 15-30 minutes.
The Clutter Culprits Week
October 4: Set a timer for 30 min and sort paperwork into 3 piles: shred, recycle, and organize. Look for paperwork to sort in your home office as well as other places it may be hiding, like the kitchen countertop, the car, and the mailbox. Shred anything personal you don’t need. Recycle flyers, catalogs, and other papers like that. Organize files you need to keep and try to find a good organization system (e.g., labeled binders or boxes).
October 5: Go through your digital files and delete what you don’t need for 30 minutes. Try to focus on the biggest wins here. Sort files by size and see if you can delete some bigger files that you don’t need. If you don’t have much to sort through on your laptop/desktop, you could go through the photos on your phone. Delete screenshots, blurry photos, duplicates, and other photos you don’t need.
October 6: Set a 30-min timer and declutter your toiletries. Start by tossing anything expired. Then, combine half-used duplicates and recycle the empty containers. If you have unopened toiletries that are good but you don’t want, you could donate these.
October 7: Declutter cleaning supplies for 30 min. Gather all your cleaning supplies and group them by category (e.g., glass cleaners, bathroom cleaners, all-purpose sprays). See if you can consolidate any half-used bottles of the same exact product (don’t consolidate different products/brands). Toss anything broken or worn-out. Organize the cleaning supplies in one readily accessible spot (or you could also keep room-specific products in that room e.g., bathroom spray in the under-the-sink bathroom storage).
October 8: Set a timer and declutter the kitchen utensils for 30 min. Start by tossing anything broken, warped, melted, heavily scratched, chipped, or rusted. Then, look at duplicates and see if you really need seven wooden spoons and a pile of mismatched measuring cups. Keep only what you want/need and donate anything in good condition and toss or recycle the rest.
October 9: Sort cables and other electronic accessories into 3 piles: toss/recycle, donate, organize. The easiest win is to recycle any broken, frayed, or damaged cables and electronic accessories. Then, use cable organizers (bins, bags, boxes) to organize anything you want to keep. You could sort by type (e.g., USB-C, lighting, HDMI, power adapters). If you have lots of duplicates, consider whether to donate some.
October 10: Declutter your linens (e.g., towels, bedding) for 30 min. If you have old towels and blankets, animal shelters will often happily take them. You can also keep just a couple of old towels as cleaning rags. Let go of anything stained, thin, pilled, scratchy, or torn. Organize the bedding, towels, and other linens by category and season.
Get the Decluttering: The Clutter Culprits Week printable here.
The Free Zone Week
October 11: Make a list of 6 zones/areas you want to declutter this week. You could focus on rooms and try to go for some mini decluttering wins in one room per day (e.g., kitchen, main bedroom, living room, bathroom, second bedroom, closet, entryway and hallway).
Or you could focus on just one room and pick 6 zones in that room to declutter. For example, in the kitchen, you could pick the refrigerator, the spice cabinet or shelf, the pantry, the cupboards, the under-the-sink area, and the countertops. For this list, we’ll assume each zone is a room and give you ideas for some quick wins.
October 12: Declutter zone 1 for 15-30 min. Assuming zone 1 is the kitchen, you could start by tossing things like 1) stale spices, 2) expired items from the fridge and freezer, 3) chipped plates and bowls, 4) chipped mugs and glasses, 5) expired items from the pantry, 6) heavily scratched nonstick pans and pots, and 7) stained or broken plastic containers.
October 13: Declutter zone 2 for 15-30 min.
Assuming zone 2 is the main bedroom, see what things you could toss (e.g., old bed sheets, old comforters, uncomfortable pillows, items you forgot about that you stored under the bed), relocate (e.g., items that don’t belong in the bedroom), or donate (e.g., decor items, furniture).
October 14: Declutter zone 3 for 15-30 min. Assuming zone 3 is the living room, first, focus on decluttering visible flat surfaces like the coffee table, the TV stand and media console, the windowsills, and any bookcases or shelves. Then, relocate items that don’t belong in the living room. Finally, organize and tidy the remaining items (e.g., put remotes on a small tray).
October 15: Declutter zone 4 for 15-30 min. Assuming zone 4 is the bathroom, there are potentially many quick wins here. Toss things like old toothbrushes, dried-out nail polish, old loofahs, dried-out or expired makeup, and old skincare products. Do a tidy of anything under the sink, removing items you no longer need. Recycle empty toiletry bottles.
October 16: Declutter zone 5 for 15-30 min. Assuming zone 5 is the closet, this is another area where you could have some easy decluttering wins. Toss clothes with stains that can’t be removed, clothes with broken zippers that aren’t worth fixing, worn-out clothes and shoes, and worn-out bags and other such accessories. You can also donate clothes and shoes you haven’t worn in over a year and don’t plan to wear again.
October 17: Declutter zone 6 for 15-30 min. Assuming zone 6 is the entryway and hallway, consider what items you have that you could toss or recycle (e.g., broken umbrellas, worn-out doormats, old mail, flyers, catalogs, cardboard boxes, various knick-knacks). Organize the remaining items and only keep what you truly need on a daily or frequent basis in the entryway.
Miscellaneous Week
October 18: Organize sentimental items by category (e.g., cards, photos, souvenirs).
October 19: Declutter hobby/craft supplies for 15-30 min.
October 20: Declutter and organize the entryway for 15-30 min.
October 21: Toss expired items from the fridge.
October 22: Toss expired items from the pantry.
October 23: Go through old Halloween (or holiday) decorations & only keep what you plan to use.
October 24: Donate old Halloween (or holiday) costumes you don’t want or need to keep.
The Numbers Week
October 25: Find 3 pieces of clothing to donate.
October 26: Find 1 broken item to toss or donate
October 27: Find 1 old item (e.g., old shoes, old blanket) to donate or toss.
October 28: Find 1 empty container to toss/recycle.
October 29: Find 3 items out of season to store away.
October 30: Toss or donate 1 thing you kept just in case years ago and never needed.
October 31: Find 1 item to toss, 1 item to recycle, 1 item to donate, and 1 item to relocate.
