It can be a struggle for anyone to keep their home organized and tidy all the time. After all, even Marie Kondo admitted that after having three children, she has “kind of given up” on the tidying methods she preached for years. However, if you know how to clean, it can be much easier to get your home clean quicker without feeling overwhelmed.

I’m a writer, and any writer knows the concept of fear of the blank page. That’s basically when you haven’t even written one word yet, and it can be a little overwhelming knowing what to write first. I’ve found that overthinking can be the enemy to productivity, so it’s best to just dive in knowing you can always edit your writing later. This same concept is true of cleaning.

The first step in cleaning isn’t actually dusting or vacuuming. Those steps, which are the real work of cleaning, come after the organizing steps. If you’ve ever tried to dust a table covered in clutter you understand why it’s necessary to get the mess put away before getting out a dust cloth. So, while this post is about “cleaning” it’s mainly about how to prep your home for cleaning by organizing.

My husband was in the military for 9 years, 3 months and 2 days (as he jokes, not that he was counting), so he tends to think strategically and methodically when it comes to tackling a task. With that in mind, he came up with an easy to follow step by step process to get rid of clutter and organize a room.

We have used his approach to cleaning, or rather pre-cleaning, multiple times, but most recently, we used this process when cleaning our son’s bedroom.

Our son, Walter, likes to keep a lot of things like boxes and paperwork. He also likes to play with a lot of toys that have small parts, like LEGOs. Over time, this leads to a pretty cluttered bedroom. Thankfully, when he follows the steps my husband has laid out, he is able to get his room straightened up to the point where I can actually vacuum the floor without vacuuming up any LEGOs.

Here is my husband’s step-by-step process to strategically clean a bedroom; although, this process works equally well in a playroom, living room, home office, etc.

Note: Before getting started it’s helpful to have a trash can and a bin to put things in that don’t belong in the room. As you go through the steps, when you find something that doesn’t belong in the room, but it in the assigned bin.

How to Organize a Bedroom in 6 Easy Steps

Step 1: Clothes

In this step, you need to put away all of the clothes in the room. This means that dirty clothes go in the hamper and clean clothes get hung up in the closet or folded and put in the dresser. This is also the step where we put away accessories like hats, belts, scarves, etc.

Step 2: Books

Now, pick up the books and put them on the bookshelf. This also includes putting away notebooks, sketchbooks, coloring books, etc that perhaps belong on a desk.

Step 3: Trash

Throw away any trash. This includes paperwork that has become clutter and is no longer needed or wanted.

Our son keeps a lot of boxes from LEGO sets, so we stack these under his bed or in his closet because he often doesn’t want to give them away. We still attack these in the “trash” step even though they’re not technically trash. They take up less room when we put smaller boxes inside larger boxes Russian doll style, or when we fold them flat.

After filling the trash can, empty it if it’s overflowing, but keep it in the room. You may find more trash as you continue to clean.

It’s also important to point out that when you finish one step and move onto the next step, you may find things you missed in a previous step. For example, you might find a book you forgot to put away when you’re throwing away trash. That’s okay. Go ahead and put away the book. Basically, if you find misplaced items from previous steps, go ahead and put those items away when you see them while completing the step you’re currently on.

Step 4: Stuffed Animals and Big Items

Put any big items like stuffed animals, pillows or blankets on the bed. If you’re cleaning a room like a living room, put them on the couch. Basically, the point here is to get the big items out of the way of you can easily see smaller items. We’ll organize these items later.

Step 5: Group Small Items

Now we’ve come to what tends to be the most time-consuming step. This is when we take small items and put them with other similar items. For example, put all of the LEGOs wherever LEGOs are stored. Put the pencils and paper wherever the pencils and paper or stored. If you come across a group of items that do not have a “home,” find a temporary home for them. That could be a shoebox or a ziplock bag. Make a note that you’ll need to find a more permanent storage container for these items later.

In my son’s case, he has a lot of LEGOs. Some of them, like his Harry Potter LEGOs, are assembled, on display and ready to be played with. Other LEGOs tend to end up all over the floor. We put all of his loose LEGOs together in one bin that he can dig through when he’s making his own creation. Actually, in our playroom we have other ways to organize LEGOs, but that deserves it’s own post.

It’s important to note that step 5 is not the time to worry about arranging all of the small items perfectly. For example, my son can easily get distracted with LEGOs and want to start building something with them instead of putting them away. Just focus on putting them away.

Step 6: Make It Pretty

This is the final organization step where we make the room look nice. Take all of the big items off the bed (or couch) and make the bed. You’ll probably use some of these big items, such as pillows, to decorate the bed (or couch).

Now is also the time to “decorate” with the smaller items, like LEGOs, and to adjust the way things are displayed on shelves, tables, etc.

Watch the video below to see this step by step process in action.

After you’ve finished all of these steps, empty the trash, bring the hamper to the laundry room, and bring the bin of items that don’t belong in the room out of the room to put in the rooms where they do belong.

Now, the room is actually ready to be dusted and vacuumed. A microfiber cloth and my trusty Pure Haven surface cleaner are my go-to dusting items. For vacuuming, I recommend this cordless Dyson vacuum which makes vacuuming super quick and easy. I love that it’s lightweight, powerful and very effective. Seriously, if we don’t pick up all the LEGOs, the Dyson will find them!

Are you going to use the steps above to organize and clean your home? Which room in your home tends to get messy most often?