Declutter Storage Room Or Storage Closet {Mission}

Today's mission is to declutter your storage room or storage closet, or wherever else in your home you've stashed stuff to keep for later.

What you need to do, periodically, with anything that you decide to store in your home, is to go through these items evaluating each one and deciding if that item is still worthy of the space it takes up within your storage area.


Storage areas of any variety, from a whole room, to a closet, or even a shelf or two inside a cabinet, are finite. There is only so much storage space in any home, so if the space where you store items is starting to feel cramped or is overflowing with stuff, you know you'll need to get rid of some of it.

Make Your Storage Space Isn't Full Of Unmade Decisions

Some items, when you store them, you know exactly when you'll use them again. An obvious example of this is holiday decorations, like Christmas decorations. When you store it typically, at least for most of it, you know you'll get it back out again next year when the season approaches.

On the other hand, some storage is really postponed decisions. You see something, you know you don't need it now, but the question you haven't wanted to face is, "will you ever need it?" Reasons you may not have made a decision yet can vary. You may just feel unsure, or you hate to give it up because you paid a lot for it, or it was given to you as a gift, etc., and so you can't seem to let it go, but you aren't really sure you want it either. Those things are really postponed decisions, and during this mission you'll need to actually make those decisions.

Postponed decisions are often clutter that you don't want to acknowledge is clutter yet.

However, if you haven't used it in a year, or more, seriously consider getting rid of it.

I know that's easier said than done, a lot of the time, but to declutter your home these are the types of hard decisions you've got to make.

Fortunately, the more you declutter the easier making those decisions becomes. But in addition, make sure to check out my article about the 5 guidelines to identify clutter, plus it's follow up article, the 6 emotions causing you to hang onto your clutter, and how to break free.

These two articles are designed to help you identify and get yourself emotionally ready to get rid of the postponed decisions types of clutter you have in your storage areas of your home, so you can get rid of that type of clutter finally, and make your home feel so much more spacious and clutter free.

How To Declutter Your Storage Rooms Without Making A Bigger Mess

Once you're ready to tackle your storage room or closet you want to make actual progress without making a bigger mess in the process.

This mission lasts several days within the Declutter 365 calendar for a reason. It will most likely not take you 15 minutes to complete the mission, but instead it should be tackled 15 minutes at a time.

Make sure to use the strategy laid out in the how to declutter article here on the site, so you are both using the 15 minutes at a time strategy, and the tips and tricks necessary to make sure a bigger mess isn't made during the process of decluttering.

Below I've showcased quite a few pictures sent in by readers to show the process of the 15 minutes at a time decluttering method, and also the results participants in the Declutter 365 missions have accomplished in their storage rooms and closets to inspire you to tackle your own starting today!

Photos courtesy of Emily May

Here's What Slow & Steady Progress Looks Like When Decluttering A Storage Area

A reader, Linda, sent in a series of photos of her progress while decluttering a closet she had used for storage. It was not a project that was accomplished quickly, but I absolutely love these photos because they show what slow and steady progress looks like!

Here's Linda's photos, plus what she had to say about them.

Linda sent in this first photo, above, and said, "I have a bedroom closet filled with boxes, some unpacked from a move 9 years ago!! 45 in all. I am tackling getting them all emptied by Thanksgiving. I have tackled 9 and sent 7 boxes of very old papers to recycle in the past 2 weeks. Yeah! Here is the before picture. I will post the after photos in about a month.



She stated about this photo, "Today's progress. Starting to see the walls. More boxes emptied."



She stated, "Another view. Whittling away. Three boxes emptied. Two recycle bins half full each with old papers."4


Then, she sent in another photo around 4 days later, saying, "Update: 15 boxes emptied, 2 recycle bins filled with old paper going to the street on Monday, one trash can filled, two boxes to thrift store. More to go, and I am seeing progress."

So if you wondered what slow and steady progress is when decluttering storage rooms, you've seen it now. Way to go Linda! You're already doing great, so keep it up!

Before & After When Decluttering Storage Closet

Here are a couple of photos from readers showing their results when they decluttered their storage closets.

Above are before and after photos from a reader, Maggy.

In addition, below is a collage of photos from another reader, Cindie.



As you can see from these photos you can see real results over time, just devoting 15 minutes a time to the project!

You can also clear the clutter from your coat or entryway closet, if you've got excess stuff in there. Here's how!

Before & After Results When Get Rid Of Storage Room Clutter

A reader, Dawn, sent in these before and after photos of the results she achieved while working on this mission. She said, "I worked on my storage room. Not 100% done yet but made some good progress!! Hey look there's a floor under there! Lol."

In addition, another reader, Rachel sent in several photos of her storage room, which she dubbed the "Temple of Doom." Here's the before photo, which she explained: "Here is our 'Temple of Doom.' All of our storage is in this room and we are tackling it this week! On a positive note, we found all the newborn baby clothes we'll need in about 3 weeks."



And then, here's the after photo she posted, and wow! It looks great! She said, "progress!" Yeah, I'd say so Rachel. You did a wonderful job!

Want To Do More Decluttering Missions? Get Started With Declutter 365 Today!

Once you declutter one type of item in your home I bet you'll want to declutter some more. After all, decluttering gives you a great reward for even a small investment of time and energy.

The Declutter 365 system is designed to help you declutter, over the course of a year, your entire house, with just 15 minutes of decluttering each day!

Hundreds of thousands of people use this proven system to get rid of their clutter, and bring peace and calm back to their homes.

Declutter 365 works to guide you to clear the clutter without overwhelm, focusing on just one small area at a time, and without making a huge mess in the process, so you see consistent forward progress without all that "messy middle" that makes it even harder to function in your home than before you started.

In addition to building a daily decluttering habit, the Declutter 365 program, along with the accompanying 52 Week Organized Home Challenge, teaches you the skills, habits, routines, and mindsets necessary to maintain the clutter free and organized state of your home from now on, so it'll never be as messy and cluttered as it is right now, ever again.

If you haven't already, make sure to get your copy of this year's Declutter 365 annual calendar here (it's FREE!), find today's date, and do 15 minutes of decluttering on the day's mission. Then, repeat again tomorrow, and again and again. Over the course of the next year, if you do this 15 minutes per day, you'll declutter your whole house!

Get This Storage Areas Decluttering Checklist + 32 Other Decluttering Checklists For Your Home

Right now you're decluttering storage areas within your home, and there's a lot of stuff to declutter in these spaces.

Get your 2 page storage areas decluttering checklist, plus 32 other decluttering checklists, to help you declutter your entire home here.

I've done the hard work of breaking down these tasks into smaller more manageable steps for you, so you don't get overwhelmed or worry you're forgetting a task, and you can go at the pace you want, whether that's fast or slow.

In addition, you can tackle these decluttering tasks in whatever order you want when you use these checklists!

After you get rid of the clutter in the storage areas of your home, why not also make sure to get rid of clutter in off-site storage lockers or units too! You can get instructions for how to declutter your storage unit or locker here.

Related Pages You May Enjoy

Getting Clutter Free 15 Minutes At A Time Hall Of Fame

Getting Rid Of Garage & Storage Area Clutter Hall Of Fame

How To Declutter Stairs & Under Stairs Storage Area

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