How to Declutter the Living Room (with a Free Printable Decluttering Calendar)

Declutter your living room one baby step at a time with our free printable decluttering calendar!

It's time for our monthly decluttering calendar, and in December we're going to be decluttering the living room! Each month I choose a space and break it down into little baby steps so that we can get it looking neat and tidy by spending just a few minutes decluttering each day.

Since I know that December is busy, I chose the living room because it's not typically a place where we store a ton of extra items (like a bedroom or storage space would be), so it should be an easy one! (And I also gave you the whole week of Christmas off, so you don't need to worry about squeezing it in over the holiday!)

The Easiest Way to Declutter a Living Room

I keep all of the monthly decluttering calendars together in a "decluttering calendar vault" so you can easily go grab one for whichever space you may want to declutter. You can gain access to the vault by clicking the button below.

[See every single one of our free organizing printables-- more than 200 pages worth!-- in our organizing printables library!]

A Simple Process for Organizing Any Space in the House

I use the same simple steps to declutter just about every space. You can see my easy process in this little video:

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To recap, to tackle each little assignment on the decluttering calendar, we will want to...

1. Take everything out of the space.
2. Purge like crazy.
3. Put like items together.
4. Corral like items.
5. Label! (optional, and only pertains to certain items)
6. Refill your space.
7. Train yourself to put things back in their spot.
8. Don't be afraid to tweak systems that aren't working.

Eight may seem like a lot of steps, but once you get the process down, it should only take a few minutes to complete each assignment.

Creating Zones in the Living Room

Living rooms often serve more than one purpose. When we lived in a one bedroom apartment when we were first married, we had a little "office zone" in the living room because there was no other space to put a desk. In our townhouse, we used the living room both as a hangout area and for toy storage.

The "hangout zone" of our townhouse living room.

I have found that the easiest way to organize a room that serves more than one purpose is to create zones. Instead of intermingling the toys and our TV area in the townhouse, for example, we had a "toy zone" on one side of the room and the living space on the other side.

Of course toys would make their way over to the hangout area, but when it was time to clean up, everything went neatly back into its own zone, which kept things tidier even in a small space.

The "toy zone" in our townhouse living room.

Our current living room doesn't really serve a dual purpose, but I still have "mini zones" in the drawers of our entertainment unit-- one drawer holds DVDs, another drawer holds gaming accessories, another drawer holds workout gear, etc.

When everything has a "home" to go back to, it's a lot easier to keep things organized!

Grab Your Printable Decluttering Calendar!

Decluttering is a simple process, but I’ve found that having a guide– like a decluttering calendar– to walk me through it makes me more likely to follow through and stick to the plan. Again, you can request your decluttering calendar and gain access to the “decluttering vault,” which will contain all previous decluttering calendars and every new calendar when they come out each month, by clicking the button below.

If you’re looking for more inspiration for decluttering and organizing the living room, these posts may be helpful:

How to Organize DVDs and Video Games

Our Living Room Entertainment Unit

Our Townhouse Living Room

Townhouse Living Room Toy Organization

Which decluttering themes would be most helpful for future monthly challenges? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for following along! Have a great day!