How to Declutter Your Spare Room for Holiday Guests: A Complete Guide for a Warm Thanksgiving in Florida

The holiday season is just around the corner, and that means one thing: guests! If you have a spare room in your Florida home, you may have visions of transforming it into a cozy, 5-star-worthy retreat for your visitors. But more often than not, these extra spaces end up as catch-all rooms—overflowing with storage boxes, office supplies, or craft materials that somehow seem to pile up over time.

Whether you’re hosting family for Thanksgiving or friends escaping the winter chill, this is the perfect time to reclaim your spare room. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the decluttering process, sharing tips from professional organizers and practical storage solutions that ensure a warm and welcoming holiday stay.

Set Clear Intentions for the Room

Before you dive in, decide how you want the room to function. For many, a spare room serves multiple purposes—home office, craft corner, or even extra storage space. To streamline the room for holiday guests, it’s essential to focus on the primary goal of making it comfortable and accessible. Once you’ve decided to prioritize guest needs, it’s easier to determine which items to keep and which to remove.

Create a Decluttering Plan

Decluttering an entire room might feel overwhelming, especially if it hasn’t been tackled in a while. Professional organizer Julie Stobbe of Mind Over Clutter advises breaking down the decluttering process into manageable steps:

Label Bins or Boxes: Start by designating bins or boxes for recycling, donations, trash, and items that belong in other rooms. Having these sorted from the beginning will help keep you on track.
Set Up Storage for Essentials: Determine which categories—like linens, books, or electronics—you want to keep in the room. Use small bins or shelves to organize these items as you go along.
Plan a Donation or Disposal Day: One key to successful decluttering is ensuring items you’re removing actually leave the house. Julie suggests taking donations to your car right away or scheduling a pickup with a local charity to prevent items from lingering in other parts of the home.

Start with the Biggest Impact

Sometimes, a spare room’s main problem is the amount of miscellaneous items that have accumulated. To make the biggest impact, begin with the most cluttered areas, such as:

The Closet: Often a magnet for seldom-used items, the guest room closet might hold everything from off-season clothing to holiday decorations. Start by emptying it out completely. Assess each item’s purpose and consider relocating items that don’t serve guests directly. Keep only essentials and leave enough space for guests to hang their belongings.
The Floor and Furniture: Clear any items piled on the floor or furniture surfaces. Stacks of magazines, boxes of files, or even exercise equipment can be relocated or stored more neatly. Having clear floor space instantly makes the room feel more inviting.

Organize Small Items and Papers

Small, random items can make a room feel chaotic. Here’s how to handle common clutter categories:

Paperwork: Spare rooms often double as storage for paperwork. Sort through any piles of paper, discarding or shredding what’s unnecessary and filing important documents in a designated area. Going forward, set a routine to prevent paper piles from returning.
Knickknacks and Souvenirs: If the spare room houses keepsakes, consider creating a “memory box” where these items can live. This strategy is also ideal for kids’ items—simply store their keepsakes in a dedicated box within their own rooms.
Notes and Reminders: To avoid “notes-to-self” scattered around, try consolidating them on a single notepad or app, and schedule a regular time to review and act on them.

Incorporate Storage Solutions that Enhance the Room’s Function

After decluttering, you may need to add guest-specific storage solutions that won’t create clutter. Here are some options for a neat and functional guest room:

Over-the-Door Storage: Hang a fabric organizer on the door to hold essentials like towels, toiletries, and small comforts for guests.
Multi-Purpose Furniture: Invest in a dresser that doubles as a luggage rack or bedside table. A stylish chest of drawers, for example, can hold extra blankets while offering surface space for a guest’s suitcase.
Under-Bed Storage: For items you still need to store in the room, consider under-bed storage boxes. These hidden storage solutions can house seasonal items, freeing up closet space for guests.
Vertical Storage: Use tall bookcases or wall-mounted shelves to keep storage functional without crowding the room.

Make the Room Comfortable for Guests

Creating a cozy, inviting atmosphere is as essential as decluttering. Here are some finishing touches to transform your spare room into a true guest retreat:

Fresh Linens and Bedding: A made-up bed with clean, fresh linens instantly elevates the room. Add extra blankets for those cooler Florida evenings in fall and winter.
Nightstand Essentials: Provide essentials like a bedside lamp, a few books or magazines, and a small clock. Including a bottle of water and tissues also shows thoughtfulness.
Welcome Kit : Consider putting together a small welcome kit with basic toiletries, a few local snacks, and information on nearby attractions or holiday events.

Create a Plan for Dual-Purpose Spaces

If your spare room also functions as a home office or hobby area, there are ways to maintain this functionality while making it comfortable for guests:

Portable Office Setup: Keep a laptop instead of a desktop and store office supplies in a rolling cart. This allows you to easily relocate work items to another area while guests are in town.
Craft Storage Solutions: If you have a crafting or hobby area, use small bins or caddies to keep supplies contained and out of sight. You might also consider storing larger supplies under the bed or in the closet when guests arrive.

Get Ready for Thanksgiving in Florida

Thanksgiving in Florida means a mix of traditional and tropical, as seasonal flavors and family gatherings meet sunny skies and balmy temperatures. Preparing your guest room for the holiday season is about more than just decluttering—it’s also a chance to add a bit of festive flair.

Holiday-Themed Accents: A simple holiday-themed throw pillow or a small arrangement of fall flowers on the nightstand can bring Thanksgiving cheer into the room. For a Florida twist, consider adding a tropical houseplant or incorporating autumn colors in beachy textures, like a woven blanket or a coral-patterned pillow.
Provide Florida-Specific Necessities: Depending on the weather, guests may appreciate a small fan or extra blanket. If they’re visiting from out of state, they may not know that Florida’s Thanksgiving weather can vary—so stock the room with options!
Local Thanksgiving Activities: Print a list of local holiday events, markets, and nature spots. Many Florida towns host Thanksgiving weekend events, outdoor festivals, or even boat parades that guests might enjoy.

Establish a Post-Holiday Decluttering Routine

Once the holiday season has passed, it’s easy to let clutter creep back in. To keep the guest room welcoming year-round, try implementing these habits:

Regular Decluttering Sessions: Schedule a quarterly check-in to assess what’s in the room and reorganize if needed. Quick decluttering sessions throughout the year will help prevent a major clean-up before every holiday.
Rotate Seasonal Items: Since Florida doesn’t have a drastic change of seasons, it’s easy to forget to switch out seasonal items. Establish a habit of rotating out anything that won’t be used for the next six months.
Keep Daily Clutter at Bay: Make it a rule to avoid using the guest room for everyday items that lack a designated space. It’s tempting to stash things in this “extra” room, but by keeping it mostly empty, it’s always ready for guests.

Enjoy Quality Time with Your Guests

Finally, remember to “declutter” your own schedule during the holidays. Hosting guests can be a special time to relax and reconnect, so make sure you’re not too bogged down with last-minute cleaning or errands. By taking care of decluttering in advance, you’ll be able to enjoy your guests’ company with ease.

Creating a guest-ready space doesn’t require a complete overhaul—just a little bit of planning, some practical organization, and a warm, welcoming touch. This Thanksgiving, give your guests the gift of comfort, so they can feel at home and enjoy a delightful Florida holiday. Happy decluttering and happy Thanksgiving!

If you find that decluttering your spare room still leaves you short on storage space, consider using My Stack Box portable storage. These storage units offer a convenient solution for temporarily housing items you don’t need immediate access to but want to keep nearby. With My Stack Box, you can store seasonal decorations, extra furniture, or bulky items that may clutter your guest room, giving your visitors the clean and welcoming space they deserve.

One of the great benefits of My Stack Box is flexibility—our containers can be delivered directly to your home, allowing you to load it at your own pace. This is especially helpful when preparing for holiday guests, as you can clear the room quickly without the pressure of last-minute organizing. Once filled, the box can either stay on your property for easy access or be stored off-site until you need it again.