1. TAKE EVERYTHING OUT AT ONCE
As with decluttering a closet or organizing a dresser, the best way to approach decluttering a nightstand is to take everything out at once and lay them where you can see them. Prerna Jain, professional house cleaner and organizer from the Ministry of Cleaning says, 'Start by sorting items into piles, such as items to keep, items to donate, and items to throw away.'
2. CLEAN YOUR NIGHTSTAND WHILE IT IS CLEAR
When cleaning a bedroom, a cluttered nightstand can encourage you to skip dusting and move on to the next area of the space or, arguably worse, dust around the items you have stacked there. Contrary to what you may think, just because you can't see the dust it doesn't mean it is not there.
3. RECONSIDER WHAT YOU CLASS AS AN ESSENTIAL
The most difficult part of decluttering a nightstand is understanding which items not to store on your nightstand, and what you consider to be essential. ‘Ideally, a nightstand should be clutter-free. This means using it only to store things that you use while you are in bed,’ says Amélie Saint-Jacques, professional organizer, and National Association of Productivity and Organizing member. ‘The essentials on top of my nightstand are a lamp, the book I'm reading, a clock, and a glass of water on a coaster,’ she shares.
4. BANISH YOUR PHONE
It is common to see a phone charger tucked somewhere nearby a nightstand, sometimes even a laptop charger, however, experts suggest decluttering major tech from your nightstand during your clearout. Not only do cables look untidy and induce stress, but blue light is one of the main barriers to sleeping better and improving sleep.
5. THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU NEED EASY ACCESS TO
One of the biggest nightstand design mistakes to avoid is opting for a table that doesn't have some form of enclosed storage – whether it be drawers or a cabinet. Although free-floating nightstands or leggy bedside tables make look stylish in a bedroom, or even help to make a bedroom look bigger, it is impossible to keep everything you need besides your bed on display without it looking untidy.
6. CONSIDER A DRAWER ORGANIZER
There are all kinds of bedroom organizers available on the market to help in organizing a bedroom, many of which are ideal for organizing and helping to declutter nightstands.
WHY DECLUTTERING A NIGHTSTAND IS IMPORTANT
There are plenty of things in your bedroom you can get rid of right now, and many of them will likely be found nesting on or on your nightstand. These framing furniture pieces are some of the highest traffic spots in our home and are often overutilized and overburdened with everyday junk that would be better off elsewhere.