An Easy Decluttering Project to Get You Organized in Under 30 Minutes
Apartment Therapy’s January Cure is a free 20-day program that’ll help you refresh your home for the year ahead. Sign up here and get all assignments delivered to your inbox.
Welcome to the first day of Apartment Therapy’s January Cure! This free 20-day program offers uniquely designed tasks that’ll help you refresh your home for the year ahead. Get ready to revitalize your home into a space you truly enjoy being in. We’ll be spending time tidying, getting things in order, focusing on key home projects, and crafting a space you’ll love.
You don’t want to miss out on all the exciting things we’ll be doing, so sign up here to get every assignment delivered to your inbox (you can also put your email address in the signup box below). Now, let’s get started on the first assignment of the program. It’s low-lift, but highly rewarding.
The January Cure Is Here to Refresh Your Home in Just 20 Days
Sign up for the free 2025 January Cure program to refresh and reset your home. It all begins January 6.
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Day 1: Declutter one spot and set up an outbox.
Today’s assignment is twofold: We’ll be decluttering one spot and setting up our outbox. First, let’s declutter!
Declutter one spot in your home.
Choose one small spot in your home that needs some decluttering, such as a basket in your living room that’s been collecting items all week, a junk drawer that’s so stuffed it can barely close, or the chair in your bedroom with a million clothes piled on top of it. It just has to be one spot in your home that you feel confident you can remedy in one session.
Once you’ve picked your spot, let’s set aside 15 to 30 minutes dedicated solely to decluttering it. Start by taking everything out or off of that one spot. Then, clean the area. Now, get to sorting. Decide what items need to be tossed, recycled, or moved elsewhere. Finally, put things back to where they belong, throw out any trash, and recycle items.
Set up your outbox.
If you’ve ever done a Cure before, you might be familiar with the concept of an outbox. An outbox is a place where you’ll be putting items you’re not sure about and need more time to decide if you want to keep or get rid of. The outbox doesn’t have to be a traditional box, either. You can use a trash bag, extra storage bin, or an old cardboard box you haven’t gotten around to recycling yet. As long as it can hold all your “maybe” items.
Once you’ve settled on what your outbox will be, you’re going to want to decide where it’ll be placed. You want to pick somewhere that’s easily accessible, like the back of your closet, as you’ll be using it a lot during the Cure program. (And feel free to move it around too, especially from room to room, but if things get too heavy, park it back where it belongs.)
And that’s it! Now, not only is your space a little bit cleaner, but you are also much more organized for what’s to come.
PRO TIP: It can be so helpful to have an accountability partner, so consider asking a friend or family member to join you on this 20-day challenge or connect with other Cure participants in our forum group to cheer each other on or offer words of advice.
Tell us the one spot you decluttered today and share what you’re using as your outbox in the community forum.
More ways to participate in the January Cure:
Sign up for email updates.
Visit the 2025 January Cure page and catch up on assignments.
Download the January Cure calendar.
Join the conversation by checking out the Cure board in our community forum.
Check off that you’ve completed this task and track your overall January Cure progress here!
The Cure Program is a tradition here at Apartment Therapy — it happens every January, April, and September. Click here to learn more about the year-round program and when to sign up.
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