Do you have a room in your house that you’re embarrassed about? Could it be because the room is FULL of junk? Don’t let your junk room be the hidden skeleton in your home! It’s time to learn how to organize a junk room (and kick your clutter to the curb!) once and for all.
I admit, I used to have a junk room in my family home. The worst part? We had the room for yearsss and didn’t even realize there was a leak inside the room! As a result, the room suffered from serious water damage, which caused a huge mold infestation. It was BAD.
One of my proudest achievements this year is definitely decluttering and reorganizing the junk room. In fact, it is no longer a junk room but a beautiful guest bedroom in the making. Stay tuned for the full reveal of this room makeover soon!
In today’s post, I’m going to share everything I know about how to organize a junk room. I will also include:
- What is a junk room?
- Why do some homes have a junk room?
- 8 easy steps to organize a junk room
- How to avoid having a junk room
Related to How To Organize A Junk Room:
- How To Get Rid Of Sentimental Clutter (And Why You Shouldn’t Feel Guilty!)
- 10 Things To Declutter From Your Home Right Now
What is a junk room?
A junk room is literally a room filled with junk. In other words, it is a room dedicated to things you no longer need, use or like such as baby clothes, broken electronics and random gifts.
It’s common to find a junk drawer or a junk cabinet in a household. However, if the mess continues to grow, it will eventually take over a space. Hence, a junk room!
Why do some homes have a junk room?
A lot of people have junk rooms in their homes for many reasons. For one, people are usually too sentimental to let go of the stuff they’ve accumulated over the years. They feel guilty because they have an emotional attachment to these items.
Besides that, some of us can find it difficult to let go of things because we don’t want to be wasteful. But, just because we’ve spent a lot of money on something doesn’t mean it’s meant to be in our possessions forever!
Electronics are a great example. They rarely last more than 5 years but we feel the need to hang on to them because they can be pricey.
For my family, it was all of the above. What can I say? We are a sentimental and thrifty bunch!
8 easy steps to organize a junk room
The hardest part about decluttering and reorganizing is not knowing where and how to get started. Here are 8 easy steps you can take to organize a junk room:
1- Envision a purpose for the room
Junk rooms aren’t intentional. They happen over time. But that doesn’t mean they have to stay that way. Why waste a perfectly good room in the home for random things you don’t need?
For the longest time, my family and I left the junk room as is because we had no purpose for the room. Once our family grew, we realized we didn’t have sufficient bedrooms. So, we knew it was time to convert our junk room into a guest bedroom.
Think of all the things you can do to your junk room! You can turn it into a kids’ playroom, a home office or even a craft room. The possibilities are truly endless.
Trust me, having a clear vision for your junk room will get you excited to start AND complete the room makeover.
2- Set specific and attainable goals
Like all successful projects, it is important to set specific and attainable goals before you start.
I had one goal in mind: to clear the entire junk room in three months. It sounds like a long time but I knew I could only work during the weekends due to my full-time commitments.
I also gave myself a two-hour time limit for each day I organized so that I wouldn’t burn out. Setting boundaries and allocating more time gave me the confidence to achieve my goal.
3- Analyze the contents of a junk room
It helps to analyze what’s inside a junk room before you start organizing. That way, you won’t feel as overwhelmed because you know exactly what you’re dealing with.
I identified five main categories when I had a good look at my junk room. They were books, suitcases, electronics, paper clutter and sentimental clutter.
Grouping like items made it easy for me to create a plan before I started. For instance, I knew right away what to tackle first and what to save for last.
4- Prepare your tools
Don’t attempt to organize a junk room without proper tools! You definitely need all the help you can get. Here are some of my essentials:
- Garbage bags
- Empty boxes or laundry baskets
- Paper shredder or scissors
- Tape or sticky notes
- Marker
- Storage bins
5- Declutter by size and category
When it comes to organizing a huge mess like a junk room, don’t sweat the small stuff (yet!) Start with big and bulky pieces like furniture, gym equipment and boxes. Once you remove these items, you’ll be surprised at how much space you actually have.
Next, start decluttering by category. Focusing on one category allows you to declutter quickly. My junk room had A LOT of books. So, I used two hours in one afternoon to sort, clean and reorganize them in the bookcase.
After that, I worked on suitcases, electronics, paper clutter and finally, sentimental clutter. Some categories took a longer time than others – I’m looking at you, paper and sentimental clutter!
Overall, I found that decluttering by category sped things up and showed significant progress. This process motivated me to keep going.
6- Sort items by these four actions: Discard, Recycle, Donate or Store
Keep these four actions in mind when you are decluttering a junk room: discard, recycle, donate or store. Having only four options helps to narrow down where a particular item belongs.
Use the guide below if you need help sorting out your things:
- Discard any items that cannot be used, repaired and/or recycled like mirrors, photographs and medical waste
- Recycle any items you don’t need, don’t use and/or don’t like. For example, paper, plastic and metal items
- Donate any functional items that you don’t need, don’t use and/or don’t like such as furniture, clothes and books
- Store any item you need, still use and/or like
7- Find a home for the items you would like to keep
Now, it’s finally time to store the items you want to keep! Remember the magic rule to organizing? Everything in your space needs its own home.
I donated and recycled most of the things in the junk room but there were a couple of things I saved. I kept most of my dad’s books because he hasn’t had time to go through them yet. They’re currently organized and color-coordinated in our bookcase (Side note: We’re going to start decluttering his books really soon!)
Besides that, I also kept our picture frames because they can be expensive to purchase. I’m saving them for my next home project – a gallery wall in the guest bedroom and another one upstairs. For now, I’ve stored all of them in a large storage bin.
Lastly, I kept some of my family’s sentimental clutter in our respective storage bins. They are 4 bins in total – one for my dad, my brother, my sister and myself. I labelled these bins so each family member is responsible for what they choose to keep inside it. These will be kept in a cabinet on our staircase landing for easy access.
Other smart storage solutions include vertical shelving and stackable storage bins.
8- Reward yourself
Decluttering and organizing an entire junk room is no easy feat. That’s why it’s important to reward yourself from time to time.
Rewarding yourself can be as simple as creating a moodboard for your new room or taking progress photos to see how far you’ve come!
Call me crazy, but I love inspecting the room after each decluttering session. I get so much joy from watching the room transform!
How to avoid having a junk room
Once you’ve completed steps 1-8, say hello to your brand new room! Enjoy it fully and be careful not to let it return to its previous state.
Here’s how you can avoid having a junk room again:
- Do not procrastinate when it comes to discarding, recycling, donating or storing your items
- Follow a weekly cleaning schedule
- Give everything in your house a home
- File important documents and shred everything else immediately
- Do not buy things in bulk if possible
- Spring clean your room at least twice a year
Decluttering and organizing a junk room is a massive challenge but your time and effort will pay off. I hope these tips have helped and I can’t wait to see your before and after transformations!
