7 Universal Hot Spots For Clutter (Plus Easy Ways To Tame Them) (2024)

At our house, it seems like both our dining table and the storage cabinet in the living room are always cluttered up with miscellaneous items. And I suppose it doesn’t help that the stuff cluttering the dining table often gets shoved unceremoniously into that storage cabinet. (But not by me, of course) ;-)

As I’ve recently been doing some tidying up and organizing around the house, I’ve also been dwelling on the clutter that so often plagues our dining table and nearby storage cabinet has been. We all have areas where clutter tends to congregate, and I’m sure you could think of a few such hot spots in your own home!

So I thought we could start our decluttering efforts together, and that’s what we’ll do in this post! But trying to eliminate all clutter from your house would be a massive undertaking, so instead, we’re going to start by addressing the most commonly cluttered areas.

Below, you’ll find simple solutions for decluttering and organizing 7 clutter “hot spots”. Not only will this make a much more manageable project than trying to tackle your whole house, but you might be surprised what a difference your efforts make!

7 Easy Organizing Solutions For Common Clutter Hot Spots

1. Dresser Drawers

Take a look in your dresser and determine what the problem is. Not enough room for socks? Move them! Put them in a different drawer, or move them to a basket or shelf somewhere else.

Not enough space? Get rid of a few things you rarely wear. Or try a different folding method to make the most of the space available.

You may end up refolding and rearranging your drawer’s contents a few different times before finding an arrangement that works, so don’t be afraid to experiment!

To help prevent your drawers from returning to their cluttered state in the future, resolve to tidy them up a bit every time you put clothes away.

2. Entryway

A good first step for dealing with a cluttered entryway is to remove any items that are “out of season.” Keep what you need near the door, and store the rest in a closet or storage bin until you need them again.

Another way to clear up clutter is to utilize an over-the-door hook or peg rack to get things up off your floor and tabletops. Hang up items like purses, backpacks, and umbrellas so they’re easy to find and stay cleaner too.

3. Pantry

When your pantry starts to get chaotic, checking expiration dates is a great place to start. There’s likely to be at least a handful of items that have passed their prime, and getting rid of them will free up valuable pantry real estate right off the bat.

Another useful step is to transfer bulkier foods from their original packaging to mason jars or other food storage containers. Eliminating bulky and redundant packaging frees up additional space (and it looks nice, too!)

Once you have some wiggle room in your pantry, finish off by arranging things so that they’re visible and easily accessible. Put larger items at the back of the shelves and smaller items in front, using tiered shelves for easy access to smaller items.

4. Junk Drawer

Every home seems to have a junk drawer somewhere that’s packed to the brim with miscellaneous items. To get a better handle on what you’re working with, start by sorting out items by category.

Use broad categories if necessary, grouping craft supplies like tape, glue, and colored pencils together while making a separate pile for office supplies like calculators, stamps, and staple removers. When you’re done sorting, you can decide what should stay in the drawer and what to store elsewhere. (For instance, if you have a designated storage area for office supplies, move your pile of office supplies there!)

As for the stuff that will stay in the junk drawer, just organize it as best you can. Shallow storage bins of any kind will come in handy here!

5. Under The Bathroom Sink

I don’t know why the area underneath the bathroom sink seems to attract clutter of its own accord, but it does! And it doesn’t help that it’s so easy to develop an “out of sight, out of mind” attitude about this particular space either.

If you don’t have an under-the-sink organizer or storage bin, getting one like this is a great place to start! Once you have a bit more structure in the space, you’ll be able to replace your items in a tidier and more accessible way.

Related: Under-The-Bathroom-Sink Makeover In 5 Easy Steps!

6. Charging Station

If there’s an area in your house where people often plug in their devices to charge, cord clutter can be a very real issue. In this case, the easiest solution would be to replace those individual cords with a centralized charging station like this one.

Not only will you be able to charge more devices at once, but they’ll look a lot neater too. The shorter cables won’t get tangled up, and it’ll put an end to the arguments about whose charger is whose! :-)

7. Paperwork Pile

Paperwork like mail and documents are a common source of clutter in many people’s homes! And unless you have some sort of paper organizer, you may feel like you’re fighting a losing battle against your paperwork pile.

A simple organizer like this one can go a long way! Use the separate slots to distinguish between bills, forms, personal letters, and other papers that tend to clutter up the area. And don’t forget to use it—it won’t help much otherwise!

For more clutter corralling tips: The Most Useful List For People With Too Much Stuff

What’s the biggest clutter hot spot in your home, and how do you keep it organized?