As the first buds of spring begin to peek through the lingering winter chill, the season becomes the perfect time for hosting.

But as you dive into spring cleaning, it may be worth updating your checklist. Even with pillows fluffed, sheets freshly made, and cozy linens ready for guests, you may be surprised by how many things should be tossed before company arrives. A survey by Decluttr and the National Association for Professional Organizers found that more than 50% of Americans struggle with clutter, while 78% say they don't know what to do with it or find it too overwhelming to tackle, allowing it to pile up in homes and offices.

Dropping off a few donation bags at the thrift store can feel invigorating. You just got rid of a pile of clutter, and suddenly, all that junk is not your problem anymore. However, many donated items never actually make it onto the sales floor. At best, they create additional disposal costs for already overwhelmed nonprofit organizations, and at worst, they pose major safety risks.

That does not necessarily mean those items belong in the trash, though. We asked professional organizers which donations thrift stores most commonly reject, along with the best ways to safely and responsibly get rid of them instead.

Summer is here, and it marks the perfect time to clear shelf space for new sunscreen, flip flops, sun hats, pool and lawn tools, and more. The beginning of summer is a great time to declutter, so we spoke to professional organizers about items people should toss at the start of summertime.

Start off your summer on a clutter-free, minimalist note by clearing out these eight items.

Decluttering your home is a great first step toward organizing your home, but it’s just that—the first step. It takes dedication to keep your home clutter-free, and one thing you can do to help is minimize how much you add to your space.

Easier said than done, right? That’s why we checked with a few home organizing pros for their list of everyday items we can all stop buying to help keep the clutter at bay.

Organizing your space before welcoming a new season can save you time and headaches down the line. This is particularly true of summer, when blazing hot temperatures can make finishing outdoor chores a sweaty challenge.

To help you get started, we checked with home organizing professionals for their list of outdoor items to declutter before summer.

While spring cleaning is most often associated with decluttering, summer is also a great time to take stock of what you have and need, and what can realistically be donated or thrown out.

The garage is one of the places in the home where items pile up, which is why we spoke to professional organizers about the items people should toss from it at the start of summer for a clutter-free season.

City spaces in Japan are infamously tiny, and nowhere is this truer than when it comes to hotel rooms. With minimal space, though, comes clever design − something I recently noticed on a two-week vacation to Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka.

In particular, with no closet space to speak of in any room I stayed in, it was wall hooks that I saw time and again. Not only are these affordable and simple to add to any room, but they also add plenty of valuable storage space without taking up any floor space at all.

If your home is feeling small these days, you may need to reevaluate what you have in your space. Having a home feel all comes down to a few things you may need to get rid of, not knocking down walls for extra space.

Here are seven decluttering tips from experts that can your space feel instantly larger and more open that's easy to do this weekend.

If your home is feeling small these days, you may need to reevaluate what you have in your space. Having a home feel all comes down to a few things you may need to get rid of, not knocking down walls for extra space.

If there’s one storage spot in your home that embodies the “out of sight, out of mind” attitude, it’s under the bed. Stashing stuff under there is an efficient method for keeping bulky items out of the way, but it’s also an easy place to put things you’ll quickly forget about—a storage black hole, if you will. 

Your kitchen countertops aren't meant to be cluttered up with all kinds of objects, though it's all too easy for this area of the home to become chaotic. "Countertops are valuable workspace, and when they’re filled with items that aren’t used regularly, it limits usability and creates visual clutter that can make the entire kitchen feel overwhelming," says Kelli Lee Dillard, the founder of Slayte Home Organizing in Nashville, Tennessee. "By relocating these items to more appropriate, designated spaces, the kitchen becomes more streamlined, purposeful, and far easier to maintain."

There's nothing quite as overwhelming as the prospect of deep-cleaning your entire home. This year, I decided waiting for spring wasn't an option. After months of quiet accumulation, my space felt overrun with clutter, so I decided that the Lunar New Year presented the perfect opportunity for a refresh.

Once luxury faux fur blankets like Lola Blankets went viral, there was a natural follow-up question: What do you do with luxury blankets when it’s too warm to use them? If you own a Lola or Cozy Earth Cuddle Blanket, you know they’re heavy and bulky, likely too substantial for a hook or blanket ladder.

Cathy Orr, co-founder of The Uncluttered Life, is a Certified Master KonMari Consultant and a Feng Shui expert. She says, “When storing heavy, luxurious or faux fur blankets for the season, it’s best to first prep blankets for storage.”

If your freezer drawer has become a black hole of freezer-burnt ice cream bars and frozen peas, the right tools can make all the difference. To turn the chaos into a useful storage space, we tapped expert organizers to learn their top tips. The pros recommend starting with structured containers like Sterilite Narrow Shelf Bins or Qunclay Plastic Organizer Bins to keep items visible, then adding removable freezer labels so nothing gets lost. Even small upgrades—like lining drawers with these freezer liners—can help keep everything tidy for longer. Read on to shop more expert-approved tools, starting at $7.

Welcome, Mom’s Choice readers! Today, it’s our very great pleasure to speak with Danica Carson, who, together with Cathy Orr, a KonMari Certified Master Organizer, founded The Uncluttered Life, Inc. These two innovators recently won a Mom’s Choice Gold Award for their timesaving Declutter Deck® Kids & Family Edition—a set of 52 prompt cards designed to help families reduce clutter in children’s spaces. The Declutter Deck’s realistic and easy-to-maintain systems make parents’ lives easier and more manageable, allowing them to focus on what’s most important in their lives. The changes, it is reported, are positively transformative, making this product a wonderful resource for busy parents of children ages 1–13.

I've always considered myself a fairly organized person: Everything I own has a "home," I declutter regularly, and I make sure to set aside 15 minutes at the end of each day to prepare my home for the next. And yet, I still feel like my systems could be better. After all, tidying up is only half the battle - it's maintaining that order that really counts. That's why a recent conversation with Cathy Orr, co-founder of The Uncluttered Life, made me rethink one item I've always associated strictly with travel: packing cubes.

It's the first day of spring, which means that deep cleaning before the warmer temperatures set in has become top of mind for most homeowners.

This year, however, you may want to consider a pivot from traditional tidying up to pursue a more trendy and perhaps rewarding method of cleaning: “chaos decluttering.”

The kitchen is often the busiest room of the house, and keeping it organized can feel like a constant challenge. Before you know it, cabinets, drawers, and pantry shelves are filled up faster than you could ever have imagined. Even with the best intentions, it’s easy to fall into storage habits that make your space feel more cluttered and less functional over time.

Utilizing the space under your bed for storage may be one of the best ways to maintain a clean and clutter-free bedroom sanctuary, but this hidden storage solution could also be the cause of flourishing mold and mildew on the underside of your mattress.

Bulky items may also be creating uneven pressure points beneath your mattress, causing irreparable damage and also disturbing your slumber.

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cathy Orr a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Cathy, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

In business, as in life, there are always set backs, unexpected things that come up, and great surprises that lead to opportunities.

For that reason, I believe in always keeping a positive attitude and looking for the good.