How To Declutter And Deep Clean One Room Per Month In 2024

Every January, we take the holiday decorations down and look forward to a fresh start. While keeping the house spick and span may be a New Year's resolution, those usually fall off with haste. That's why in 2024, we're proceeding with a plan in place. This year, we're focusing our efforts on one space a month. There are a lot of deep cleaning tasks that apply to all rooms, like sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, and wiping down walls, baseboards, and doors. Dusting and cleaning everything in sight is key—including things you normally don't pay attention to like lampshades and curtain rods. But don't let this list tire you out before you've even begun. After all, you have a whole month to tackle each room, and once you get started, the results will be all the motivation you need to keep going.

As you work your way through the house, knock some things off your maintenance list and test and replace smoke alarm batteries, replace air filters and light bulbs, clean air vents and registers, and sanitize door handles and light switches. And of course, don't forget to kick your feet up and enjoy the fruits of your labor like dust-free doors and the freshest of linens.

January: Kitchen

1. After spending the holidays playing host and baking endless Christmas cookies, our kitchens are ready for a little TLC. Start by throwing out past-their-prime leftovers and expired foods in the fridge, cabinets, and pantry. This will give you the opportunity to wipe down surfaces before putting the food back (don't forget to defrost the freezer).
2. After you've conquered the food, it's time to take stock of your kitchen supplies like silverware and storage containers, simultaneously wiping down surfaces like drawers and shelves.
3. The biggest focus should be on the appliances, pulling them out to clean the floors and zeroing in on stubborn nooks and crannies like door seals. Give your oven a good cleaning inside and out, as it has worked hard over the holiday season.
4. Make sure you also deodorize and degrease the sink drain and clean any rags or sponges.

1. The basement, attic, and closets are likely the least visited places in your home. Your missing glove, old yearbooks, Aunt Lucy's broken china you can't bear to part with—who knows what you'll find? Your focus here is on decluttering and reorganizing to ensure the things you actually need are easy to find. Choose one storage area to focus on, pull everything out, and sort according to what you want to keep.
2. While the storage space is empty, use a broom to remove any cobwebs, then sweep, vacuum, and/or mop the floor.
3. Return items to the storage space in an organized fashion, labeling unlabeled boxes and making good use of shelves or cabinets.
   

March: Bathrooms

1. Start by emptying your bathroom cabinets and drawers out completely, then wipe them down inside and out. As you're organizing their contents, keep an eye out for expired medicine and makeup, any replacements needed like toothbrushes and towels, and things with an inexplicable layer of grime (you know the kind). This is also a good time to clean your makeup brushes.
2. Make sure you scrub and reseal any grout lines that need some love, removing nasty mold and making your tile look fresh and clean again.
3. Replace the shower curtain liners. Experts say this task should happen every other month, but it often gets neglected in our busy lives.

April: Outdoors

1. Before it gets too hot, turn your attention to the outdoors so you can enjoy porch cocktails, patio fires, and grilling ASAP. Take a broom to all the cobwebs you can see, then power wash your patio, porch, and deck, as well as your exterior, driveway, and sidewalk.
2. After that, clean your debris-filled gutters or hire a service to climb up there and take care of it. This is a good time to schedule any gutter repairs that are needed.
3. Spring clean your windows, wiping down the glass, sills, and tracks so you can have an unimpeded view of the outdoors.
4. Next, tackle cleaning the outdoor furniture, cushions, and pillow covers on your porch. Vacuum pollen from window screens, checking for any damage. Especially on a screened porch, you'll want to wipe down screens for a more pleasant view (but hold off on this task until the worst of the pollen season is over.)
5. Before you turn your attention to the yard, set up the grill and refill your propane tanks.
6. Once that's done, clear out the weeds and dead foliage, trim and prune the plants, add fresh mulch and soil to the beds, and decide what plants need to be replaced.

May: Garage

1. It's tempting to ignore the garage and just accept the cobwebs and clutter, but the end result is so worth it. To begin, open up the garage doors and take out as much as you can to start the decluttering process and make cleaning easier.
2. Once that's done, it's time to scrub the space down from top to bottom, doing the usual dusting and wiping down of surfaces as well as the walls and garage doors. Once you dry them with a microfiber cloth, sweep the floor to get rid of all the dust and dirt before mopping and hosing it down.
3. While the floor is drying, decide what you want to keep, grouping everything by category. Once the floors fully dry (after about two to four hours with a floor fan), use shelving units, pegboards, and wall hooks to organize your garage. This is a great time to purchase and install storage systems.
4. Before you head back inside, don't forget to replace the batteries in your garage door openers.

June: Primary Bedroom

1. Now that we have the communal spaces and outside taken care of, it's time to focus on you. Pull out everything in your closet, dressers, and nightstands, discarding or donating whatever hasn't been used, doesn't fit, or is simply creating clutter in a space that's supposed to bring calm.
2. Once you know what's left, it's time to start organizing to maximize space and make everything easy to find. Store winter clothes and other items you won't be using this season in the back of the closet.
3. After that's done, head to the bed and remove all the bedding (bed skirt included) to be washed and clean the mattress.

July: Office

1. Sometimes the most cluttered space is the home office because it's so easy to shove things in your desk while vowing to address them later. Go through your documents, shredding what you no longer need and scanning the essentials.
2. After, tackle your junk mail—not just recycling it, but contacting the senders to be removed from their lists.
3. Take a look at your supplies, checking for things like dried-out pens and an overabundance of notecards, to figure out what to replace, donate, or throw away.
4. Once your space is fully decluttered, see if you can further optimize your organizational system for maximum efficiency.
5. On the tech side, make sure to dust the electronics, sanitize your keyboard and mouse, and if you haven't yet, tame your cords with a cord cover kit or cable management box.

August: Laundry Room

1. The laundry room may clean our clothes, but we often neglect this space when it comes to house cleaning. The first step here is to move your washer and dryer. Gather up any lost socks or washcloths prior to washing your lint trap filter and dryer vent, which will enhance your dryer's heating abilities, resulting in faster-drying clothes and a lower energy bill.
2. Before putting your washer and dryer back into place, clean the floor and the back of the appliances.
3. Finish the job by cleaning your washing machine and taking stock of your laundry supplies.
   

September: Entryway And Mudroom

1. Summer's over, which means school has started and colder weather and holidays are on their way, making September the ideal time to get your entryway and mudroom in top shape. Give most of your attention to things like shoes, jackets, and mats. What needs to be cleaned, patched up, donated, or trashed?
2. Dirt and sand often get swept into the corners of this hard-working space. Pull out boots, beach bags, and other items that tend to pile up in the room so you can give the floor and baseboards a good sweep and scrub.

October: Dining Room

1. Another year has flown by and a new season of hosting is almost upon us. First do an audit of your linens and cushions, looking for stains and holes. Once they've been treated or trashed accordingly, launder and press the leftover linens, taking special care with any heirlooms.
2. After, hand wash your china and polish your silver so they're ready to go the next time guests come over.

November: Living And Family Room

1. You want to make your guests feel right at home when Thanksgiving arrives. In addition to decluttering, your top priority in these rooms is to attend to the fabrics, which are often neglected in daily cleaning. Give your slipcovers, pillow covers, and blankets a good wash.
2. Once that's underway, you can focus on spot cleaning and vacuuming the sofa and chairs.
3. This is also a good time to clean that area rug. Small, washable rugs can be thrown in the laundry, while others may need spot treatment or a trip to the dry cleaner.
4. Other things to consider: dusting electronics (especially in hard-to-reach-areas) and sanitizing remote controls.
   

December: Kids' Bedrooms

1. As the year winds down, the gifting ramps up—which means the clutter does too. Stay ahead of the mess by partnering with your kids to purge clothes that don't fit, neglected toys, and knickknacks that should have never made it into the house in the first place.
2. Once that's done, work with them to reorganize their closets, sanitize plastic toys, and wash stuffed animals and soft toys.
3. You also want to give all bedding, including bed skirts, a good clean, including the mattresses.
4. Before you check this final month off your list, do a thorough audit of everything in the room, looking for things to address like watermarks on the nightstands, drawings on the closet walls, and broken slats on the bed (because kids will be kids).
   
   
   credit: Southern Living