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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…

CDs and  DVDs.

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!

Remote controls sitting on top of a wooden table.

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?

Stacks of cable-knit blankets.

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.

A close up of text on a white background

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.

Manuals.

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.

Stack of towels.

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?

Den and Linen Closet Declutter 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.

The 2024 Decluttering Challenge

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!

Blurred image of items in a bathroom with text overlay.

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Until next time…  

Hugs,

Signature of Lynn

Thanks for making my day by SHARING!!

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10 Comments

  1. Lynn, for years it was a family challenge to find new kitchen gadgets for my mother-in-law. Then I started the same thing with my husband for his stocking (spoiler alert: I do put things in his stocking, not just Santa). Needless to say, we have gadgets, all small but numerous, that I don’t even know the function of. They are all going to a better life when we move to our new house under construction. I don’t care if it is bigger, they’re going to someone new.
    Organizing in the kitchen might include a hunt for gadgety items of questionable use.

    1. So true my friend!

      Kitchen gadgets have long been my weakness! It pokes my heart a wee bit to rehome them, but I do appreciate the more organized drawers! Good luck with your decluttering my friend and how exciting that you’ve got a new home on the horizon!

      Hugs, Lynn

    2. Is nice to know that even you, Lynn, have a weakness for kitchen gadgets. I laughed when I read Penny Amy’s comment. My sister and I still exchange Christmas “stockings” (We now use gift bags) and until recently have always included either a kitchen gadget or cookie cutter. It is a major problem for me, especially since I moved to a house with a smaller kitchen and very little space in drawers. Some of the duplicate items went to a niece who moved into her first apartment. (When you have duplicates, they usually look brand new). I am still working on the rest.

      1. Oh girlfriend, I have many weaknesses…Kitchen Gadgets are just a big one! But it doesn’t help that my family ‘enables’ me with new gadgets every Christmas in my stocking!

        And I love that you and yours sister exchange stockings! I don’t think I could convince my brother to do that with me!

        I have done a similar thing with my duplicates…saving them for my daughter. Of course, now my attic is getting filled with ‘stuff for Kate’!! Oh well, one day we’ll whittle it down.

        Keep on keeping on in your decluttering…it is a process!

        Have a great weekend my friend.

        Hugs,

        Lynn

  2. Hi Lynn, I am so enjoying your lists. So simple, yet so very helpful. I am adding that stack of boxes from online ordering (of things I probably should not have purchased in the first place) to the list. We have been saving them to use for decluttering, but there is more than enough.

    1. Oh Karyn, I am so very glad! Those dreaded boxes are a bane to me as well…I hate to throw out a good box. When we get to the attic I will surely be challenged to pare down my box collection.

      Happy Decluttering my friend.

      Hugs, Lynn

  3. I am a refinisher and have a strong desire for all different types of rags and drop clothes. I found while decluttering the first rooms, I had stash piles everywhere. I have now collected them and put them all in one basket in the laundry room. I am limiting myself to a pile of drop clothes and a basket of rags. Culling the linens from the linen closet and kitchen was so easy this time. If they were good they went to charity, if they were stained, old, etc, they went to the rag basket. When it was full, the older rags went in the garbage. What a help this has been!

    1. Good Morning Stacia!

      First off, I envy your talent (and patience) as a furniture refinisher! What a skill to be able to take a neglected piece of lovely furniture and bring it back to its glory!

      Second, well done with the ‘management’ of your rags and drop cloths. It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking “I can’t trash this because what if I need it 7 months from now?’ And I get that you need rags! But the truth is that rags are produced just about every week in our homes, as we use our towels and sheets. I love how you tackled this challenge and came up with a very practical solution!

      Thanks for chiming in and sharing your success!

      You are entered into the gift card drawing.

      Hugs, Lynn

  4. Good morning Lynn
    I had no trouble printing your bedroom and garage decluttering lists but now I can’t get the rest of the lists printed. What can I do to get them all on paper? My “office” desperately needs to be decluttered before any other rooms as it is a catch all for everything office, computer, and electronic related..

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