Welcome!

Thanks for visiting my blog. Hope you find some helpful hints for organizing your time and space. My passions are to help you make home a refuge instead of a crisis center, and to help you function in peace rather than chaos - at home or at work. I have switched my main blog to 1-2-3 ... Get Organized on WordPress, so please visit me there.



Thursday, August 21, 2008

Decluttering in 5 - 20 Decluttering Tasks You Can Do In Five Minutes or Less



I used to hate emptying the dishwasher - until one day I decided to time myself and see how long it took to do this dreaded chore. Around five minutes. For some reason, knowing that it only took five minutes removed my mental barrier! It's still not my favorite thing to do in the world, but I don't dread it like I used to do.

Next time you find yourself procrastinating about some unpleasant task, time yourself. See if that knocks down a few of your mental barriers against that task.

My mom mentioned reading an article in her local paper about decluttering tasks you could do in five minutes. So I got to thinking - what are some other dreaded chores that only take a few minutes. Here are a few I came up with:

1. Sweep the bathroom or kitchen floor
2. Mop the bathroom or kitchen floor
3. Dust one room
4. Empty the dishwasher
5. Fold a load of clothes
6. Clean the kitchen countertops
7. Wipe off the kitchen or dining room table
8. Sort the mail
9. Clean the storm door window
10. Declutter the surface of a coffee table
11. Clean the bathroom sink
12. Clean the kitchen sink
13. Empty the trash
14. Clean off your desk – or a corner of it!
15. Throw away the old food in your fridge
16. Have everyone in the household pick up their items in a common room and take them to their own room
17. Place newspapers in a recycling bag
18. Clean a mirror
19. Clean out a drawer
20. Make a to-do list (relieve your brain of clutter!)


So, if you have a few minutes, you can make your surroundings more pleasant with little effort! By doing a little at a time, decluttering and cleaning don't have to require enormous chunks of time.

What do you do to declutter in short snatches of time?

Related Posts: Decluttering in 10 - Entry Way, Decluttering in Three, Decluttering in 5 - Check out the Shelf Life of Your Spices, Declutter in Five - Decluttering your Bookmarks or Favorites

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great list of ideas. I've recently discovered that my whole life, I've never been able to develop any routines (i.e., no specific cleaning habits; I don't even get ready in the morning in the same order each day). Your list seems to be of things I assume organized people just work into their day, but they don't even cross my mind. I'm printing your list and putting a copy on each floor of the house as a reminder of what I can do. Thanks!

One other tip I read somewhere that has stuck with me is, "If it will only take 30 seconds, do it now." This sometimes helps me not leave things lying around... It only takes 30 seconds to put it away.

Thanks again for all your tips!
Sandra