As we all know, the arrival of autumn brings with it the urge to spend more time indoors. Cooler weather is the perfect excuse to snuggle up and hunker down, but to help your home reach its full hibernation-station potential, it’s worth planning a gradual late-summer declutter.
Decluttering isn’t about aesthetics, and no one’s saying you have to live in a minimalist home.
But, believe it or not, clutter really can create subconscious noise. For every crowded surface or overflowing cupboard, your brain is taking in and processing that visual information in the background. For some people, this can feel stressful – without them even realising it.
When we’re spending more time indoors, then, it’s especially important that our homes work hard for us while also feeling soothing and restorative. The good news is that you don’t need to overhaul every room at once. Tackling a few key clutter hotspots now can make your home feel noticeably calmer by the time autumn rolls around.
Here are seven spaces that could be subconsciously stressing you out – and how to declutter them ahead of the new season.
1. The hallway
The hallway is the first space you see when you arrive home, and while it's a joy to decorate it loudly, it’s also one of the easiest places for clutter to accumulate. Shoes, coats, bags, keys, post and parcels can quickly turn an entrance into an obstacle course.
Start by removing anything that doesn’t need to live there. Summer accessories and layers you won’t use as the weather cools can be cleaned and stored away, while coats and shoes that no longer get worn or no longer fit can be donated.
Then, think about what you actually reach for on a daily basis. Keeping only these essentials close to hand – and giving everything from keys to umbrellas a designated home – will make your hallway easier to maintain throughout autumn.
2. The kitchen worktops
Kitchen worktops have an unfortunate habit of becoming a dumping ground for things that don't have an obvious home. Appliances, unopened post, shopping bags and miscellaneous odds and ends can all creep in until there’s barely enough room left to prep dinner.
You don’t need bare worktops to create a calmer kitchen. Instead, prioritise the items you use regularly and relocate anything that’s taking up valuable space if it's not in your regular rotation.
Be as ruthless as possible with appliances specifically. If the blender, juicer or sandwich press hasn’t been touched for over a week, consider whether it deserves such prime kitchen real estate. Even clearing one section of worktop can make the whole room feel more spacious.
If you have particularly limited worktop space, you might also consider storing upwards rather than outwards. Installing a peg rail for utensils and pans, a magnetic knife rack and floating shelves for cookbooks will help clear space for what you really need immediately to hand.
3. The ‘junk’ drawer
Most homes have one: the drawer filled with batteries, takeaway menus, mystery keys, old receipts, pens that may or may not work and cables belonging to long-forgotten devices.
The problem with a junk drawer isn’t necessarily that it contains miscellaneous items – sometimes those things genuinely need somewhere to go. The issue comes when it overflows so much that, each time you open it, you can no longer find what you need.
Empty everything out and group similar items together before deciding what deserves to go back in. Test pens and batteries, recycle old paperwork and identify stray or duplicate chargers where possible. Small drawer dividers or repurposed boxes can then keep categories separate and prevent chaos from creeping back in.
4. Your wardrobe
Late summer is an ideal time to reassess your wardrobe (with slightly brutal eyes), particularly as you begin swapping lightweight clothes out for knitwear, coats and boots.
Before packing summer pieces away, audit what you actually wore this year. Anything that remained untouched all season deserves closer consideration. If it no longer fits, feels uncomfortable or simply doesn't suit your lifestyle anymore, donating or selling it now will save you from storing it for another year. Lots of charities collect clothing from your door if you're tight on time or your local is too full to accept donations.
Do the same as you bring autumn clothes back into rotation. It’s much easier to spot gaps in your wardrobe – and avoid unnecessary new purchases – when everything you own is visible and wearable.
5. The bathroom cabinet
Bathroom cabinets can, unfortunately, become repositories for half-used products, expired medicine, hotel miniatures and skincare purchases that didn't impress.
Take everything out and check expiry dates, paying particular attention to medicines, SPF and products that have been open for a long time. Dispose of medicines safely and check local guidance for recycling cosmetic packaging.
When putting everything back, keep your everyday products within easy reach and group occasional items together. A streamlined cabinet can make rushed autumn mornings feel that little bit smoother.
6. Your bedside table
If there’s one area worth keeping calm, it’s the space you see immediately before going to sleep and when you first wake up: the humble – yet totally essential – bedside table.
Remove empty glasses, old receipts, finished books and anything else that has migrated onto your bedside table without a good reason. Be particularly mindful of paperwork or work-related items, which can make it harder for your bedroom to feel separate from the demands of the day.
Keep the essentials – perhaps a lamp, your current read and a clean glass of water – and find another home for everything else. If your bedside table has drawers, declutter those too, rather than simply sweeping surface clutter out of sight.
7. The living room
As evenings become darker and colder, the living room often becomes the heart of the home, so late summer is a good opportunity to make sure it’s somewhere you genuinely want to spend your time.
Start with the obvious clutter magnets: coffee tables, sideboards, shelves and the area around the sofa. Rehome mugs and plates, recycle old magazines and papers, and gather up chargers, remote controls and other small pieces of technology, ensuring each has a designated home.
Next, look at the room as a whole. Decorative objects don’t count as clutter simply because they don’t serve a practical purpose – if something makes you happy, it has earned its place. Instead, focus on possessions you’ve stopped noticing or enjoying – the Melon Method will help with styling.
Remember, you're not stripping the room of its personality – you're aiming to offer the things you love enough breathing room to be appreciated every day.
Take your time!
There’s no need to spend the final weekend of summer frantically filling donation bags. In fact, approaching decluttering gradually can genuinely make it much easier to decide what you genuinely want to keep.
Choose one small area at a time – a drawer one evening, a wardrobe rail the next – and concentrate on making that particular space work better for you.
By the time autumn arrives in earnest, you’ll have a home that feels a little lighter, functions a little better and – most importantly – gives you somewhere cosy and comfortable to hunker down and embrace the shifting season.
Helpful kitchen additions
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Maddy is the Homes Writer at House Beautiful UK and Country Living UK, where she can be found writing about the latest interiors news and collating inspiring trend edits. She has previously worked for Good Housekeeping, Prima and Red, and has an MA in Classics and Ancient History from the University of Manchester and a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia, where she was the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper.
