Room-by-Room Decluttering Plan

Who this is for

A whole house broken into pieces small enough to start. One row per room or zone, with the date you mean to do it, the time you allowed, the time it actually took, how many things left and a tick when it is finished.

Anyone facing a house that cannot be done in a weekend, people who keep starting in the same drawer, and households splitting the job between them.

What this helps you track

• Every room and zone written out, so the job has an end
• The date each one is planned for and who is doing it
• How long you allowed against how long it really took
• How many things left the house from each zone
• Which zones are done and which are still waiting

How to use it

1. Write the household, the date you are starting and where the things are going — charity shop, sale, recycling, the tip — at the top.
2. List the rooms, then break the big ones into zones: a wardrobe, a cupboard, the drawers under the bed. A zone you can finish in one sitting is the right size.
3. Put a date against each zone and the time you are allowing for it. That figure is yours; the sheet does not suggest one.
4. As you finish a zone, write the time it actually took and the number of things that went out, then tick it.
5. The difference column and the totals are worked out in the browser and the workbook; on paper, subtract across the row and add down the columns.
6. Read the summary at the end: it tells you what the house has actually let go of, which is usually more than it feels like.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

How long should a room take?

The sheet has no view. A kitchen drawer and a loft are not the same job, and nor are two people's lofts. Write what you are allowing, then write what it took, and your own figures will be better than anyone's guess.

What counts as an item?

Whatever you decide to count — one thing, one bag, one box — as long as you count the same way all the way down. The number is there to show progress, not to be audited.

How is this different from the 30-day challenge?

The challenge gives you one area a day for a month, in order. This plan is the whole house mapped out at your own pace, with the time and the counts recorded. Plenty of people do the challenge first and the plan afterwards.

Where do the things actually go?

That is the line at the top of the sheet, and the donation and charity shop log is where each drop-off gets a date and a destination. Deciding before you start is what stops the bags sitting in the hall.