Declutter Your Home Checklist: Den & Linen Closet

Week 3 of the Declutter Challenge finds us in the Den (Living Room/Family Room) and the Linen Closet. This time the checklist includes 26 items commonly found in those family living areas and linen closets that you can most likely discard and won’t miss! At the end of 7 weeks, you will have checklists of more than 150 items that you can toss! Think of it as a Decluttering Scavenger Hunt! Print off your 2024 Declutter Your Home Checklist for the Den and Linen Closet and let’s get busy.

If you are new to this Declutter Challenge, pop over to week 1 where we dive into our bedrooms and bathrooms.

If you haven’t joined the Declutter Challenge yet, you can do that here. Once you join, you will receive:

• weekly emails with a declutter-your-home checklist for specific areas of the home. With these checklists, I feel that I am on a Decluttering Scavenger hunt, which makes the whole process a wee bit more enjoyable!
• additional tips, suggestions, and resources for your successful decluttering

And before you dive in, check out these 10 questions to ask yourself when deciding what to keep or what to discard.

Enough small talk, grab your Declutter your Home Checklist let’s get busy!

Some of these links may be affiliate links and I may earn a small commission off of the sale of these products to help defray the costs of operating this site, but the price you are charged is not affected. You can see my full disclosure policy here.

declutter your home checklist for the den

Whether you call it the Den, the Family Room, or the Living Room or you have a combination of them, these rooms often collect ‘stuff’. These are those rooms that you spend a great deal of time in, so much that you often don’t really ‘see’ what is there, your eyes just glance over everything in the room without really taking it in.

So spend some time really looking at these rooms today. That vase of silk or dried flowers that has been sitting on the shelf collecting dust for the past 5 years…does it really speak to you anymore?

Let’s talk about a few of the items we often find in these rooms.

all those CDs, DVDs, and even VHS cassettes…

Here’s the truth, if you really want to get rid of the clutter in the house, 98% of those CDs, DVDs, and VHS cassettes can go to a new home. You’d be hard-pressed to not find all those songs and videos on streaming services like Amazon Music, Netflix, Pandora, Spotify, etc… You could even upload them to your PC or laptop yourself if you were concerned. And while you look hard at these items, don’t forget all those empty cases you’ve kept on to, just in case…

games and puzzles

Spend some time looking at games and puzzles; ones with missing pieces are easy to toss. Then look at ones that haven’t been opened in years…maybe send those to your local Boys and Girls Club or Church. Pop over here for more places to donate and recycle your discards.

pet toys

If your four-legged babies are anything like mine, they have accumulated any number of toys over the years. And, if your four-legged babies are still anything like mine, they don’t play with 75% of them. And yes, I have finally realized that Peep that Cat prefers empty boxes and bags over any toy we’ve ever purchased, and Flora the Dog prefers to carry our shoes more than she does 50% of her stuffed babies. Check with your PetSmart; ours will take gently used toys to distribute to the various charities they work with.

remote controls

Quick, can you tell what each remote control in the room actually controls? I found 3 remotes for which there was no related device! That was easy!

blankets

Blankets, throws, and afghans have a way of accumulating over time. How many of the ones you have do you actively use? Are there one or two that could find their way to a new home?

knick-knacks and picture frames

Trust me, I love my tchotchkes and picture frames, especially those passed down from family members or that we purchased on our travels. But it is time to take a good hard look at these during your decluttering and re-home ones that don’t spark happiness in you!

An alternative to a plethora of picture frames is to get a digital frame. We bought our mom this digital frame 5 years ago and it is going strong! She absolutely loves it and we love that we can send pictures to her frame from anywhere. The grandkids do a great job of keeping her updated.

manuals are easy to toss in the declutter your home challenge

You may have a few of these tucked in next to your DVD player or stereo system, and they may have been sitting there, unopened, for the past four years since you acquired said DVD player or stereo system. They can get recycled. Chances are very good that all these manuals are available online.

declutter your home checklist for the linen closet

bedding

Take a good hard look at all the bedding and towels that reside in your linen closet. If you are anything like me, you have held on too long to flat sheets that maybe don’t have their matching fitted partner. (I know, they make great drop cloths!)

And let’s not even talk about how pillowcases seem to multiply like rabbits!

Spend a few minutes matching up the flat and fitted sheets with their corresponding pillowcases. I like to put them all together in one of the pillowcases so all I need to do is grab the one pillowcase and I have the entire set.

Toss into the trash ripped sheets and donate the ones that may be perfectly good, but just don’t get used in your home.

Ask yourself the question, how many sets of sheets do I really need?

And then there are the bedspreads and quilts that are perfectly good, but just aren’t your style anymore! Ugh, I know! But they are taking up space in your home and if you aren’t likely to use them again, send them somewhere where they will get used. OR…if by chance you have one of those lovely Candlewick Bedspreads, upcycle it into hand towels!

bath towels

Are you holding onto too many bath towels just because ‘you never know?’ Weed through them and donate the worn ones to your local homeless or animal shelter.

So grab your Declutter your Home Checklist for your Den/Living Room/Family Room and Linen Closet and get after it!

Let the Decluttering Scavenger hunt begin! Pop back in with your successes or challenges!

How many items were you able to check off of your checklist?

What did you find that I need to add to the den and linen closet declutter your home checklist?

If you signed up for the Declutter Challenge, you received a link to the PDF in your email inbox. If you didn’t sign up for the challenge, but still want the Bedroom and Bathroom Declutter Checklist, you can grab it in the Subscriber Benefits Library, where all of the checklists will eventually land. Or, you can click the button below to subscribe to the Declutter Challenge. You can join the challenge at any time and will receive one email a week for 6 weeks with each of the 6 checklists.

If you would like to refer back to this Declutter Your Home Checklist for Dens and Linen Closets in the future, bookmark this page or pin the following image!

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Until next time…  

Hugs,

Thanks for making my day by SHARING!!