7 things professional organisers never keep in their bedroom, and neither should we
Decluttering experts explain how storing these items in your bedroom could impact your sleep and nervous system
For most of us, the sole function of our bedrooms should be to provide us with a calming place to retreat to at the end of a busy day, ready to unwind and reset. Because of this, arranging and organising our bedrooms with relaxation in mind is important.
Often, due to limited space in the rest of our homes, our bedrooms can become more of a storage space, packed with items that aren’t conducive to sleep, or that make our bedrooms feel more cramped and less spacious. And that’s not all. Professional organisers tell us that there are other items that simply aren’t practical to keep in the bedroom, and are often much better utilised elsewhere.
So if you want your bedroom to be as calm, organised, functional and relaxing as possible, it’s probably best to folow what the experts do. We spoke to a range of professional organisers to uncover the items they personally never keep in their bedrooms.
7 Things professional organisers never keep in their bedroom
“I always encourage my clients to take a few minutes to think about how they want to feel in their bedroom - any clutter or unwanted 'stuff' acts as a visual stimulus that our brains have to process before we go to sleep, and as we wake up every morning,” professional organiser Sue Spencer, a Master KonMari Consultant from A Life More Organised, explains.
“So, think about how you would like your bedroom to look and feel and what you’d like to see as you are waking up – this will give you a great starting point to remove the items that don’t fit.”
Which items would professional organisers personally never allow into their bedrooms, then? These are the seven items that will allow you to make the best start when organising a large or small bedroom.
1. Exercise equipment
While a bedroom might feel like the perfect place for gentle exercise, the equipment is not welcomed by the professionals
Professional organiser and declutterer Catherine Bennett shares that she would never keep exercise equipment in her bedroom - be it a Peloton, a treadmill, or even weights - even though exercise generally can be incredibly beneficial for our sleep.
We all want to make a smaller bedroom feel bigger, and exercise equipment is often cumbersome, leading to a lack of available space, which makes it feel much smaller than it is.
Catherine explains that for her, exercise equipment can also create a more stressful atmosphere in your room. “While it’s often kept in bedrooms for convenience, exercise equipment can disrupt the sense of calm and make the room feel more functional than restful,” she says.
With a background as a PA and coordinator for House & Garden magazine, Catherine is in her element when organising. Based in Guildford with her husband, she has been a professional organiser for almost a decade, specialising in clearing, sorting and organising homes as well as digital organising and regular admin support. She is an active member of the Association of Professional Declutterers and Organisers (APDO).
Where is best to store exercise equipment then? “If possible, instead keep it in a living room corner, spare room, or even neatly stored in a cupboard so it’s accessible but not visually dominant. Ultimately, I always encourage clients to think of the bedroom as a sanctuary. The fewer functional or “busy” items in the space, the easier it is to relax and unwind,” Catherine tells us.
Concealing a rack inside a cupboard keeps all your home fitness essentials handy but out of view. This gym equipment storage rack comprises 7 slots for barbells, resistance Bands, jump ropes, and lightweight dumbbells.
2. Clothes that need attention
This may come as a surprise, given that most of us keep our clothes in our bedrooms (unless you’re lucky enough to have a walk-in wardrobe in your roster of wardrobe organising practices). But experts reveal that they would never personally keep clothes that remind us of the next day’s set of chores in their bedrooms – and advise that you do the same.
“I would never have a ‘floordrobe’ or chair piled with clothes that are ‘clirty’ – clean but dirty - in my bedroom,” Sue Spencer shared. “I often have conversations with my clients about what to do with clothes that have been worn once or twice but aren’t dirty enough to be washed. My view is that if it’s clean enough for me to wear again, it can be put away.”
After a 20-year career in marketing, Sue became a Certified KonMari Consultant with Marie Kondo in 2017, and is now a Master KonMari Consultant - the equivalent of a black belt in home organisation. She runs her business 'A Life More Organised', helping clients to organise, declutter and downsize across Hampshire, Wiltshire, Surrey and London.
For a professional organiser at The Secret Organiser, Marsha Bull, a laundry basket is something you’ll never find in her bedroom; mostly since it’s actually not the most practical spot for it, especially for larger families. She suggests, “rather than the bedroom, store your laundry basket in an area of your home which can be easily accessible for other members of the family, like the bathroom or hallway cupboard.
“Keeping it in your bedroom will not only remind you of chores you need to do, which will then stop you from fully relaxing. But also if you have a busy lifestyle, the likelihood of it overflowing is quite high, therefore you won't have a calm, organised space to look at either,” Marsha continues.
3. A rubbish bin
It’s easy to see why a rubbish bin in your bedroom might seem totally harmless – or at best, actually pretty useful in keeping your sleep space clear from clutter, such as out-of-date beauty items, and clothing tags. However, for Marsha, this is one item she would never keep in her bedroom, and for good reason.
“I would always try to refrain from having a rubbish bin in my bedroom. Bedroom bins often get forgotten about when it comes to taking the rubbish out, which then, depending on what type of rubbish you are throwing in there, can even reduce your air quality,” she says. This, in turn, can obviously have a significant effect on your sleep.
A rubbish bin can really add to visual clutter, also making your space feel smaller when it doesn’t need to. Marsha also explains that it can even become a health risk. “Food rubbish in a bin can then turn mouldy, which may also mean an unpleasant smell that can easily hinder sleep – plus you also run the risk of attracting flies.”
4. Any work related items
Ask anyone, and likely to be close to the top of the list of things that can ruin our sleep and even our general day-to-day relaxation, is work stress. So it makes sense that keeping anything related to your career in your bedroom is hugely frowned upon by professional organisers, and something they take pains not to do themselves.
“With the increase in working from home, lots of people have had to find space in their bedrooms for a desk and somewhere to work,” Sue says. “But in an ideal world we’d make sure that your work life is kept separate from the bedroom space, which should be somewhere you can relax and fall asleep without any triggers from the day.”
Catherine agreed, saying, “Keeping work items, such as laptops, work devices and papers in the bedroom can make it much harder to mentally disconnect at the end of the day. It blurs the boundary between work and rest which can affect sleep quality, so I don’t keep any work items in my bedroom.”
Marsha Bull runs The Secret Organiser, serving clients in Hampshire, Surrey and West Sussex. She helps clients with day-to-day home organisation, wardrobe organisation, bereavement organisation and decluttering for individuals with ADHD.
According to Marsha, there are plenty of other, more optimal spaces in the home in which to store these items, both from a practical and holistic point of view. “Store these items elsewhere, like in a multi-purpose room, dining room or lounge. When we enter our bedroom in the evening, we need to eliminate all external stresses that could cause our minds to feel overwhelmed,” she says.
However, if your bedroom is your only real practical spot in which to work from during the day, Sue reassures that there is a way to minimise the damage to your sleep once night falls.
“If you have no choice but to use your bedroom as a work area, then make sure that you pack away your work at the end of the day, removing papers, laptops and any work ‘stuff’ into another room (or put in a cupboard or basket out of view),” she says. “Then, change the lighting and light a candle to shift the atmosphere in the room and make it feel like a different space.”
5. Screens and digital clutter
As you may expect, screens in general are something professional organisers try to keep away from their bedrooms as much as possible. “In an ideal world, your phone wouldn’t be within arm’s reach of your bed. It’s all too easy to fall into late-night scrolling or early-morning checking. Even the charger cables can add to the sense of clutter,” Sue says.
Dr Zulqarnain Shah from SSP Health explains that from a biological standpoint, our screens can have an enormous impact on sleep and our nervous system, given how they can impact our circadian rhythm.
“Even if your phone is switched off from calls or notifications, it still acts as a cue that keeps your brain alert,” says Dr Shah. “Our minds associate the device with stimulation, work emails, social media, messages, and that’s enough to make it harder to unwind.”
6. 'Life admin'
Storing items related to all your ongoing life admin in your bedroom is also something most professional organisers would never do. “Bedrooms need to be a place to switch off, but paperwork – whether it’s bills, to-do lists or unopened post – will be an unwelcome distraction to a place of calm,” Catherine says.
‘Life admin’ items can really increase stress, Sue agrees; something none of us needs before bedtime. “Papers and lists and life admin items can create visual noise that your brain has to process - it helps if that’s not the last thing you see before you switch off and go to sleep.”
Items related to life admin can even make your bedroom more unhygienic. “Stacks of papers and books piled up around the bed make it difficult to keep the area clean and act as dust traps, which can be particularly aggravating for those with asthma or those who struggle with nighttime breathing,” Sue says.
When it comes to the best place to store all of your life admin, Catherine suggests, “I always recommend keeping paperwork in a dedicated home office area, or, if you don’t have that room, keep it stored in a simple filing system in a living space.”
7. 'Limbo' items
Professional organiser and founder at The Home Organisation, Laura Price, shares that one of the things she ensures that she keeps away from her own bedroom are what she calls ‘limbo items’ - e.g. items that are associated with your to-do list.
“Charity donations, paperwork, a cardigan that needs mending, a gift you're planning to return – bedrooms become the graveyard for these limbo items. They sit there for months, reminding you of things you need to do."
Laura Price is the founder and creative director at The Home Organisation. After becoming overwhelmed with her own home, she realised the benefits of organising, and now heads up a team of professional organisers and declutterers.
Not only can these items make your bedroom feel smaller and create internal stress about your 'mental load', but as with so many of the items in our list, they can also disrupt your sleep.
In order to deal with them, Laura explains that it’s best to acknowledge how awkward limbo items can be to properly place in your home. “In all honesty, there's no good place to put these things - you just need to make a decision,” she says. “Set aside twenty minutes, work through them, then get moving and either fix, return or donate them.”
Laura continues, “If you can't honestly say you're going to move each of these little 'projects' on right now, accept it's not going to happen and just get rid of them; in an environmentally safe way, of course.”
Decluttering a bedroom according to your preference is one thing, but knowing which items even the experts would recommend removing from this space (or never allowing in it at all) is quite another.
