Welcome to another installment of my blog series on what order you should declutter your home in. We've looked at why you should start in the kitchen, move to the bathroom next, declutter your closet third, and declutter your bedroom after that. Now it's time to move to the next spot, your entryway!
By entryway I mean your foyer or the area inside your front door including your front coat closet. But while you are at this step I also would suggest you tackle all the entrances to your home. So I would tidy your entryway at the front door, back door, side door, and garage door. I would declutter them in order from least cluttered to most cluttered leaving the hardest for last, that way you can build up momentum with each win. YAY!
Let's look at why your entryway should be step number five.
REMEMBER: The biggest hurtles of decluttering are getting started and then making enough progress, fast enough that you can see some positive change and therefore, keep up the momentum.
With these two issues in mind, let's talk about why you should make stop number five just inside your front door.
Most importantly, just having a specific room that's where you start after finishing your bedroom, will make continuing to declutter so much easier. So whether you've got mountains of clutter everywhere, some mild disorganization, just moved to a new house, or want to do some deep cleaning, try to get into the habit of always starting in the kitchen, then moving to the bathrooms, then your clothing, then your bedroom, then the entryway. That way you don't have to think about where to go next. Simple. Easy. Done.
Okay but why isn't it the first place to declutter since it is the first thing you see when you walk into someone's house?
1. While what others think of your space might be important to you, how your space works for you is the most important. If your entryway is bare except for a box or two that need hidden away in a closet or the garage, then by all means start with that 5 minute task and then move onto the kitchen. However, if your entry way is a disaster of coats, shoes, boxes, things to be donated, yard tools, kids backpacks, and a whole lot more of who knows what, that is a serious project. And if your kitchen, bathrooms, and bedroom are a complete mess too, as long as you can safely get into and out your door, then I would say other priorities come first. Feeding yourself, going to the bathroom, bathing, getting dressed, and having a sleep educing bedroom are more important than not having a mess by the front door. PUT YOURSELF FIRST. What others think of your home is not number one, you are.
NOTE: If you want to deal with your (not anyone else's) shoes, coats, and other wearable accessories during your clothing declutter, then feel free to rummage your entryway closets for those items during that earlier step. Or if not, no worries. Time to tackle those clothing items now!
Okay, I get why my entryway shouldn't be first, but why is it next after my bedroom?
2. Your entry way is the first thing you see when you walk into your house. Now while we don't want to care too much about what others think, walking into a tidy entryway is still SUPER nice for you and all who live there. So now that the essential areas of your house are done, it's time for your home's first impression to make a good one.
3. It's time to conquer the dumping ground. Your entryway is one of the most likely places for important things to get set down, left, and lost. Therefore it is an important space to declutter and organize so you can easily grab things like keys, sunglasses, and wallets before you head out the door.
4. Your entryways are command centers for things going in and out. Having organized entryways is super awesome too so that you have a system for what to do with items as they come in and go out of your house. These points in your home are perfect zones for command centers where your mail, kids' school things, work items, donations, library books, and quick grab items all have a place.
5. Decluttering your entryway will make you feel AMAZING. For the previous three reasons listed, once you are done decluttering, organizing, and creating command centers for your entryways, you will feel on top of the world. Plus these spaces tend to be fairly small and therefore reasonably quick to get through (even though you'll always be optimizing). So even if your living room a few steps away is a complete disaster, at least your entryway is beautiful, functional, and inviting.
Although starting with the kitchen, next the bathrooms, then your closet & bedroom, and now your entryway, may be a great rule of thumb, it may not be the best place for you to start depending on your circumstances. Don't take this advice as fact if you're gut is telling you another space is more important right now. If you don't know where to start though, following this order is better than starting nowhere.
Feel overwhelmed by your home or entryway?
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Read the whole series:
5. Where to Declutter Step 5: The Entryway (this post!)
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