​How to Declutter Your Nightstand or Bedside Table for a More Relaxing Night

by Susan McCarthy
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Chances are that you can declutter your nightstand in the hour before you go to bed. You’ll go to sleep feeling a sense of accomplishment and you’ll set yourself up for more relaxing nights when this small space is free of clutter.
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Image by Tuulemeelne from Pixabay

Wondering why you should bother to declutter your nightstand or bedside table when you’re asleep most of the time you’re near it?

​Since this is a space that you see first thing in the morning and at the end of the day, the condition of this small area can direct your thoughts for the day or night.

Chances are that you’d like to wake and fall asleep without feeling stressed. A clear space can help. Since this is likely a small space, it shouldn’t take too long to declutter and organize. A key to this process is to decide what belongs in this space as opposed to relying on the happenstance of whatever gets set down on this small flat surface.

Nightstand Clutter

Even if your bedside table isn’t covered with stuff, you can still declutter it. There have been times, even with very few things on my bedside table, that I realized I still had unwanted and unnecessary items in this space.

In some cases, I thought I should keep certain things beside my bed (a box of tissue and hand cream, for example) even though I rarely used these things here. So, don’t get caught up in lists of ‘5 Must Have Items for Every Nightstand.’ What is useful for one person is someone else’s clutter.

And fewer items are better because there will be more space on the surface, and this just looks relaxing.

If your nightstand has a drawer or two, then you may think that the clutter doesn’t matter since it’s hidden out of the way. But do you go into those drawers looking for things you want to use? If the drawer is cluttered, chances are the experience adds to an undercurrent of stress. You can also be intentional about what you keep in the drawer.
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What Should I Keep on My Bedside Table?

Again, you don’t have to rely upon someone else’s list. Instead, think about your bedtime routine. What do you regularly do when you get into bed? Are there habits that you’d like to engage in? Do you have established habits that you aren’t happy about.

You can use the space to direct how you want to start and end your day. Want to journal? Keep your journal and pen handy. Want to stop grabbing your phone first thing in the morning? Then don’t keep your phone here – put it across the room, or in another room.

If you don’t use something, then consider storing it in a new space or getting rid of it. Don’t burden yourself with obligations to engage in a dozen different actions during the bookends of your day. Keeping this space sparce and simple is a way to bring more peace into your entire day.
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​How to Declutter and Organize Your Nightstand

• Pull everything off, out of, and from around your bedside table.
• As you handle each item, consider if you use it with regularity. Do you enjoy engaging in this activity? Do you find it beneficial to have the item beside your bed?
• Are there things that don’t belong here at all? Why did they end up here? Do you really want papers from work or from a personal project beside your bed or does this create stress? Make a rule, no papers on the nightstand. When you clearly identify what you want, you’ll find it easier to uphold this rule. Want to add more oomph to your rule? Include your reason for following this guideline. An emotional connection will help you stick to this.
• If you have time, carry things that don’t belong on the nightstand or in your bedroom to the room where they do belong. You don’t have to fuss with putting them away perfectly right now as you don’t want to distract yourself into doing unnecessary tasks before bed.
• Return the bare minimum of items that you want beside your bed. Watch out for keeping items in excess. For example, if you read before bed is it really calming to see a stack of a dozen books here? Put what you aren’t reading on your bookshelves. Really, it’s much less stressful to see the book you’re reading as opposed to feeling as if you should stay up later to read more or that you need to read faster.

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Make a point of tidying this area either in the morning or at night so this space never becomes disorganized again.​

How Do You Declutter a Bedside Table?

Remember, before you start, consider what you want here. What types of activities do you want to engage in first thing in the morning or last thing at night? Use this space to support or build your morning or bedtime routine.

• If you want to avoid an action while you're in bed, don’t keep items that encourage the activity on your bedside table. Keep your phone, checkbook, mail, and papers from work away from this space.
• Remove everything as opposed to simply glancing at what you have here.
• Create a space for functional items that you use. Never remember to put on hand cream? Move the tube to another spot in your home.
• Limit what you keep on your nightstand. This space should encourage calm as opposed to setting your mind racing about what needs to get done. ​