My four-week decluttering challenge easily banished chaotic clutter and got my home ready for the holidays, stress-free

With Thanksgiving and the end-of-year holidays just around the corner, my apartment was a mix of last-minute chaos and unpacked boxes. I knew family and friends would be visiting, and I wanted my home to feel welcoming, not overwhelming.

So, I challenged myself to a four-week decluttering challenge, focusing on one room at a time to get ready for the holiday season. It was a nice fall ritual, took the stress and last-minute panic out of preparing my home for Thanksgiving, and easily decluttered a lot of areas.

I was thrilled by how well this decluttering method worked. Here's how you can easily do it in your home.

The fall ritual of week-by-week decluttering was a gamechanger

Before you dive in, here’s a quick look at the mindset and quick checklist that made this four-week process so effective for me. I’m sharing what I learned along the way, from preparing myself for the task ahead to making sure my hard work paid off. It’s a road map to getting your home ready for the holidays without the usual stress and chaos.

The pre-holiday prep

Before I even began tackling a single room, I knew I had to get my head in the game. It was easy to feel overwhelmed just by looking at the sheer volume of stuff that had accumulated.

I started with a simple mental checklist, and you should too:

• What is the end goal? For me, it wasn't just a tidy space; it was a home that felt truly ready to welcome family and friends for the holidays. It was also about making room for memories, not just things.
• Which rooms are a priority? Start with those. It might be a guest bedroom, the kitchen or high traffic areas such as bathrooms and entryways. In each one, consider the key things that will make a difference to the social events or activities you have planned for the next few months. Do you need more floor space? To declutter kitchen cabinets? More counterspace for baking and festive cooking tasks? Space in your freezer to store pre-prepped ingredients for Thanksgiving and other family events?
• What do you need? Do you need a few storage baskets to help you corral items or create sell or donate piles?

With that clear purpose in mind, I gathered my tools. This was crucial. I grabbed a few large trash bags (we like the sturdy ones available for next-day free Prime delivery) a couple of empty boxes to fill with donations, and all my essential cleaning supplies, including microfiber cloths and plant-based lavender-scented Method multi-purpose spray, both available at Walmart.

Having these ready meant I had to stop mid-task and lose momentum. I also committed myself: Every item I touched would either have a home, be recycled, be donated, or be thrown away. It was a simple rule, also known as the one-touch method, but it made every decision so much easier.

Home organizing projects like this one always take more time than you expect, and I tried to embrace that rather than rush, which is why I allocated four weeks for the entire task. A print-at-home task decluttering sheet from Etsy will be handy, too.

It helped having a 'sort it out later' basket for paperwork, items of clothing that needed to be professionally cleaned, and fall home decor to hang up. I decided that was a problem for another day, and for now, it would be fine to store these items in latch-lidded plastic bins (available at Amazon) to keep the contents safe from pests and away from dust.

Week one: The home office

Since it's where I spend the most time, my home office setup was the perfect place to start. After hosting family, it had become a dumping ground and a place to hide anything I didn't want to deal with.

Behind me as I worked were boxes of new shelves, the vacuum cleaner, and a mattress topper. It was a chaotic mess, and I knew I couldn't go on like that.

I began by clearing my desk. I moved piles of books, cables, and stationery, then gave everything a good wipe-down. Getting my new monitor stand (similar ones are available for fast delivery from Amazon) out of the box and setting it up immediately made the study organized almost immediately, with a neat spot to tuck away my keyboard and notebooks.

Next, I tackled the rest of the room. I moved out everything that didn't belong, vacuumed, dusted, and cleaned the baseboards and windows, using the top-down cleaning technique to avoid moving dust onto already-cleaned spots and shortening the amount of time I'd spend repeating cleaning tasks. The natural light that flooded in after I finished cleaning the windows so they were streak-free was incredible, and very needed as dark mornings and longer nights were drawing in.

Focusing on just this one room and giving it some TLC was a game-changer. Doing a fall reset lifted my mood and made starting work the next day feel like a fresh start. While there were still decor updates I wanted to make, the space was now clean, clutter-free, and intentional.

Week two: The kitchen

The kitchen is the engine of the home, and with holiday cooking right around the corner, it was my next target. The cabinets were overflowing with serving platters and casserole dishes, and the tops of my cabinets were a disaster.

My first task was to create space. I organized my cabinets, making sure everything had a clear home, and gave the grimy tops a deep clean.

I also decluttered my junk drawer. Instead of a random mess, I now keep all my dish towels and cleaning cloths there, right by the sink where I use them most. It's a great way to improve functionality and flow in the kitchen. I also went through the refrigerator, tossing expired items to make room for holiday groceries.

If you like to prep ingredients ahead of the big seasonal meals and hosting that Thanksgiving and Christmas usually bring, declutter your freezer and toss anything that's got freezer burn. Planning meals around your freezer ingredients for the next four weeks will also clear out much-needed space to freeze those delicious festive leftovers.

I found that grouping like items together was a huge help. All my drinks went into one cabinet, and all my baking supplies into another. Finally, I relocated a seldom-used blender to a closet, which gave me the perfect spot for a new drink station. Getting rid of a few other items, like a broken cheese grater, made the whole space feel so much more intentional.

Week three: The bedroom

My bedroom was a bigger challenge, but I was determined to improve the overall flow of the space. To tackle the bedroom clutter, I created a donation bag and a trash bag, then started sorting through my closet.

Since the weather was getting cooler, I packed away my summer clothes in a suitcase and donated anything I hadn't worn in over a year. I hung up what I could and used dividers to organize folded items. We have a dedicated expert guide on storing clothes for the longer term if you're stumped on where to start.

The real puzzle was the under-the-bed storage. It was packed with Christmas decorations, gift wrap, and other random items. It was a game of Tetris to free up space. I moved all the festive decorations to the back of my closet to make room for guest bedding and a spare comforter, ensuring I was ready for overnight visitors during the holidays.

Week four: The bathroom

Some rooms take significantly less time, and for me, this was apparent when decluttering the bathroom. The vanity unit in my bathroom gets cluttered up incredibly quickly with toiletries, shampoo bottles, toilet paper, and things I use less often, like face masks and nail polishes. There’s also a mirrored cabinet where I keep makeup and daily skincare items.

But it only took around an hour to streamline this space and reorganize everything. I did the chaos method, taking everything out of the cabinets in one go, removing duplicates and doing a thorough expiration sweep, wiping it all down, and letting go of the eco-guilt, getting rid of anything that I’d had for ages and wasn’t going to use.

Using baskets in bathroom cabinets is a great way to corral items by category. I particularly like these Wayfair baskets that come with chalk labels you can wipe and reuse. It's a simple way to be more sustainable at home.

FAQs

After weeks of sorting through the holiday chaos, this methodical approach to home organizing made all the difference.

While it sometimes felt like I was just shuffling a pile from one room to another, working through it little by little made everything feel so much more manageable.

The process transformed my space from a cluttered mess into a home ready to welcome guests. I’m still 'getting there,' but the space now feels clean, intentional, and perfectly prepared for the season. Let us know in the comments if you'll give it a go!