10 Minute Organizing Tricks

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10 Minute Organizing Tricks

Clutter can sneak up on us, when we least expect it. If I don’t stay on top of it, life can become very unorganized, very quickly. I don’t always have a lot of time to take on large organizing projects, so I like to find ways I can organize things quickly to help me stay ahead of the clutter.

10 Minute Organizing Tricks

I call these my 10 minute organizing tricks, and today I thought I’d share them with you in case you find yourself stuck in the same place as I get in. Lots of clutter with very little time to deal with it.

Containers

A big tip to staying organized, is actually having a place for everything to go. Since we all may not have enough closets or designated storage space in our homes, sometimes using containers can bring a room together quickly. I like to use baskets, or wooden crates to store items I don’t want just sitting on a shelf. This can make a room feel pulled together, while still offering a pretty solution for storage. In just 10 minutes, you can just stick plenty of things in that basket or container and you are done!

The cute baskets above I found at Hobby Lobby when they were on sale. They were perfect for our upstairs bathroom, they look clean and are super easy to put things away in. (Read about my Bathroom Organization ideas here)

Bed Linens

Linen closets can get out of control quickly, if you don’t stay on top of their organization. Wash all your sheets and pillowcases in the same laundry load if possible, and fold them together to organize them in a snap. Simple fold the top and fitted sheets, as well as the additional pillow cases to that set and slip them inside one of the pillow cases. This keeps them all together as a set, and makes your linen closet or area look neat and tidy with little to no effort.

Scarf Hanger

Shower Hooks

Shower hooks are inexpensive (I’ve often seen them sold by large bulk amounts at thrift stores!), and can make a lot of extra organization where there is none. Purses and scarves are difficult items to organize if you have more than one or two. Slip them on a shower hook, and put the shower hook on a closet hanging rod. This will keep them up, and will help purses hold their shape better too. See how I put together the Scarf Hanger above here.

File Holder In The Kitchen

Don’t worry, I’m not asking you to file papers in the kitchen! Use a wire, file folder organizer to instead hold baking sheets, and cutting boards. This saves a ton of space in the cabinet, and makes you feel a lot more organized than rifling through the noisy stacks of pansin the kitchen cabinets. Plus it heps to keep your pans from getting all scratched up.

Get Rid of Clothes

Take ten minutes and go through your closet and remove any old clothes you are no longer wearing, or have grown out of. Do this for each of your family member’s closets too, and watch how much more organized your closets become! Save the clothes for a yard sale, or donate them to a local charity. If you are unsure of which clothes to get rid of, use your 10 minutes to turn all of your hangers backwards in the closet. Each time you wear a garment, turn the hanger the correct way. Any clothing with a hanger still backwards in 2 months, remove from your closet.

Want to learn more about minimalizing your closet? Read my minimal clothing tips here and then how to maintain a minimalistic closet here. I’ve also got an article on creating a minimalistic children’s clothing closet here.

Use a Laundry Basket

Use a laundry basket to collect items from one room, and take them to the next. This will keep you from making multiple trips, maybe even up and down stairs, and will make cleaning and organizing go quickly. One of the biggest keys to staying organizing is keeping items in the room they belong in. Kitchen items belong in the kitchen, kid’s toys belong in their rooms or in their play room, bathroom items belong in the bathroom, and so on and so forth.

The trick has saved me so many times when I need to clean quickly before a surprise visit. My favorite basket to have around is a Tubtrug. I use them from everything from cleaning up around the house to carrying in my product from the garden in the summer. They are pretty, very easy to clean, and light to carry!

Label It

Sometimes one of the best ways to be organized is to just be able to easily know what’s in certain containers around the house. That way you aren’t continually having to open them to remember what is inside. In 10 minutes you could label a lot of containers! I use these simple little Chalk Labels for things like my pantry goods. They come off easily if I ever have to remove them and if I change the contents in the container I can simply erase and re-write the label to reflect the new contents.

Double Your Freezer Space

Since we freeze a large amount of product in the summer and since we buy our meat in bulk. Freezer space is a precious commodity. And who wants to pay more for another freezer when you can easily double the space in the upright freezer that you already have?

Just use office binder clips to clip up bags (or anything that you can get a grip on) to the wire shelves in your upright freezer (or in any freezer with wire shelving). This is a great way to store bags of produce either from the grocery store or home preserved.

Container Storage

Utilize Containers for Craft Storage

have some old formula containers laying around or know someone that does? They are perfect for craft organization! Simply put your most used craft supplies such as crayons, buttons, stamps, etc into well washed plastic formula containers and then give them a label. if you have several of these containers they will line up very nicely on a shelf and they are perfect because you don’t have to fret about the inside getting dirty from the craft supplies!

 

Make The Bed

It seems like a such a simple thing to do, but my whole day feels more productive once I make the bed. Staying organized can sometimes be a state of mind. Once you are motivated to be organized, it’s easy to get your house organized too. Making the bed takes less than ten minutes each day, and can make the whole room look and feel so much more put together. It’s one way I like to start my day!

So whether you have an hour, or just a few minutes, we can all use some 10 minute organizing tricks! I’m always looking for ways to keep things organized quickly in my home. Do you have any tricks you’d like to share to add to my list?

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20 Comments

  1. Great tips! Some of them I already use, but some are brand new to me. And I feel the same way about making my bed. Also, I really don’t like climbing into an unmade bed at night.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

  2. This is a great post full of terrific tips. Also, I am wondering where I can find your oatmeal chocolate chip bar recipe. You posted it several months ago. It had 1.5 sticks of butter in the dough and the chocolate layer was between the two oatmeal layers. They were really decadent and I cannot find them in your recipe section under bars or desserts. Can you please tell me where it is stored. Thank you.

  3. You are so right. Nothing makes a home look less organized than an unmade bed. 10 minutes, make the bed and the home looks so much better.

  4. I think of that old saying “a place for everything and everything in its place”. I have a few things end up in some weird places but it works. Out of necessity I had to move my meat thermometer to a cabinet where little hands couldn’t reach. Now I find it more efficient to keep it there.

  5. Ohhh I have house envy right now!! I’ve 2 boys, and a husband who love to leave messes, but never can help pick up.

    I came here from the Simply Sweet Home link up, but I’ll be back to browse, I’m sure of it!

  6. Lots of really great tips here Melissa. I always try to make the bed in the morning it makes me feel so much better. And I recently got rid of 6 bags of clothing. What a load off my mind that was. If we just do a little each day we can keep on top of the clutter!

  7. I learned the laundry basket idea from my stepmother many years ago, and it has been invaluable while raising my own kids. However, I’ve never seen the Tubtrugs before this post. The shallow ones seem like they’d have so many great applications. And cute colors, too!

  8. Good ideas! You are right about things can change so fast without ongoing effort…. reminds me of the fact that all things are moving toward a state of disorder… so true! 🙂

  9. Most of these are new quick organizing tips! Thank you so much! Another thing I do to organize is hang shoe pocket organizer in the closet doors and keep office supplies and other small items in them. I label them first aid, tape, glue&gluegun, stamps, batteries, scissors, etc..This has really helped me put these things away and know where they are right away. The clear ones are the best, but I have also used cloth.

  10. great ideas and some reminders of things I had let slip. Who doesn’t love an organizing post? Thanks for submitting

  11. I think you are right on target with your concept of 10-minute organizing sessions. Everything I read about organization says that you need to do it regularly and in short spurts. You’re right that most of us don’t have extended periods of time to undertake a massive organization project. It’s better to stay on top of things. Thanks for your great ideas.

  12. I totally agree with making the bed. It stresses me out to see an unmade bed. I will definitely start labelling things. just need to get started. Thanks for the tips! #inspirememonday

  13. Thanks for these great organizing tips. I have been trying to simplify my life by finding new homes for stuff I don’t need anymore. I recently gave away some childrens books to some families with small kids. They loved getting some new books to read!

  14. Thanks once again. I got a new tip on how to use my freezer! We continue to use our 1060 sq. feet for a family of five adults. It involves quite a bit of purging as now we are all moving into community college, careers, writing, gardening, sewing, grilling, etc. It is life renewing to get rid of the old and bring in what nourishes each new faze of life we are entering. My husband and I are doing this too, not just the college students. New interests. We are in our mid-50s.

  15. Oh, I do agree to all of these! But especially making the bed— it’s a discipline I love and appreciate SO much (it’s so much comfier getting into a made bed at night, too).

  16. I really enjoyed your 10 minute organizing tips. Thanks for sharing. I love for things to be organized, but fail in the worst way just by dropping the ball. I clean my closet out and a month later, it looks like I never did it…ugh! I’m going to purge that closet if it kills me…Lol
    Thanks again, Merissa. My name is Melesa, pronounced Muh lee suh, but I’m called Merissa, Melissa, Mareesa. You never know! Lol
    You probably get the same thing.

  17. Thank you so much for this, sometimes just reading your posts makes me feel more capable and less stressed. Thank you!