Without a doubt, one of the most challenging things in our homes is keeping order. Clearly, we all want an organized home, which affects the entire feel of a home. However, often it leaves us feeling overwhelmed and anxious. I’ll admit it, I’m an organizational nerd, always searching for and thinking about simple organizing ideas that will make our home more functional and that don’t take a lot of time.
Obviously, we want to have an organized home, but who’s got the time! Clearly, we are all busy and organizing an entire home can be mind-boggling.
As this has been pressing on my mind, I’ve been trying to see how I can fit in organizing time into my schedule. As a result, the idea came to break it down into 15 minute organizing segments.
In fact, we will share how to break down spots in your home that need organization so that you just spend just 15 minutes.
Now you can choose to work on this 15 minutes a day or 15 minutes a week. Not only will breaking down the tasks into smaller manageable pieces help you to achieve your goals, but it also takes the stress out!
The Plan
Are you ready? The plan is to to set a timer and organize a specific drawer, cabinet, a section of a closet or maybe its a pile of clutter on your kitchen counter.
Make a specific plan, set aside a specific time, set the timer and if you stay focused you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish!
Scroll down as we walk you through 10 areas of our homes where we implemented this idea.
We set a timer and focused on organizing that one specific area in just 15 minutes. It can be done! Just give it a try, you’ll be amazed at the difference in your home in no time at all.
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Gather Your Organizing Supplies:
Gather an organizing/cleaning kit to take with you. This will make the whole process faster and easier. Here are some of the items to have when organizing:
- vacuum
- cleaning cloth
- bins or boxes for sorting and donating
- label maker
Kitchen Organizing Ideas
Clearly, we all know that the kitchen is the heart of the home. There is so much activity in the kitchen, without a doubt we need to implement good organizational methods in the kitchen.
In particular, an organized refrigerator and freezer is a must. With this in mind, we focused on my freezer.
My freezer is located at the bottom of my refrigerator and the large basket is difficult to keep organized.
Obviously I needed storage containers to help keep my food organized.
Before we began organizing the freezer I did some research and found these plastic storage bins from Target. They were the perfect depth for my counter-depth fridge and 4 of them fit perfectly in the lower basket.
Because of these storage baskets, I’m able to organize my frozen food into sections, as well as storing them vertically.
Not only does this make it easy to see what I have on hand, but I don’t find mystery bags pushed to the bottom of my freezer.
For more refrigerator organization ideas click here and for deep freezer organization ideas click here.
Clear the Countertop Clutter
Obviously we are bombarded with mail, school papers and important items we need to take care of. And where do they end up? For most of us, they end up on the kitchen counter!
A while back we implemented a paper organizing system for Steph, but even with that in place, items still end up on the counter.
All flat surfaces are magnets for paper clutter. Clearly, we need to be proactive and take a couple of minutes a day to clear the clutter.
I have to be fair to Steph. After the holidays and with kids home for 2 weeks, there is bound to be an accumulation in the kitchen.
With this in mind, we set the timer for 15 minutes to see what we could accomplish in that short amount of time.
We grabbed some bins for sorting, a trash can and a box for donating and quickly sorted that pile of clutter on the kitchen counter.
Would you believe we had it cleared off and the items returned to their proper place in less than 10 minutes!
Drawer Organization
Any one drawer or cabinet can be cleaned and organized in less than 15 minutes. Just set your timer and give it a try.
Steph’s trouble spot in her kitchen was her bottom drawer. It had a hodgepodge of items in it.
The Halloween items were returned to the Halloween bin in the basement. The plastic storage containers were placed in the proper drawer.
Once everything was cleared out that didn’t belong, Steph found she had empty space in her drawer! 🙌🏻
If you take the time to implement clear organizational ideas in each area, they stay organized!
They will only need a little refreshing from time to time.
One of my all time favorite organizing ideas was placing my spices in matching containers and labeling them.
Clearly having the spice drawer alphabetized is a game changer!
Invest in an organizer for your food container lids. I found mine on Amazon and it makes all the difference in my container drawer.
If you need to label your drawers to keep them organized, then go ahead and do it. I know my sister has labeled every shelf in her pantry to help maintain order there.
More drawer organization ideas
Do you have a “junk drawer”? Admittedly I do. Mine is in my laundry room. While I have implemented a storage system in this drawer it does need refreshing from time to time.
I like to use plastic bins and cutlery organizers to keep it organized.
To help maintain order in this drawer look for organizers that fit the drawer and don’t slide around.
By doing this you’ll find it stays orderly longer.
This drawer has tools, glue, tape, markers, flashlights, post it notes and other gadgets that you need around your home.
Adding storage containers to this drawer will go a long way to keeping order there.
Let’s recap kitchen organizing. Focus on one drawer or one cabinet at a time. Have your organizing supplies ready along with a timer.
Set your timer and work for 15 minutes. If you’re lucky you may even get 2 or 3 done in that amount of time.
Also one more thing to note. Be sure to purge and clear out items that are broken or you just don’t use.
Less is more.
Clutter smothers. Simplicity breathes. -Terry Guillemets
Closet Organization Ideas
As you get into closet organization, if it’s a large closet or it’s filled with a lot of clutter, break it down into smaller tasks. It’s perfectly ok to break the job down into smaller bite size pieces.
Clearly you wouldn’t eat an entire elephant in one bite, but bite by bite it can be done.
Clean and clear one shelf or one side at a time. Just set the timer for 15 minutes and do what you can in that amount of time.
Once again, look for storage boxes or baskets to help maintain order in the closet.
For example, in my coat closet I use Ikea storage boxes. Not only are they inexpensive but they also do a great job in corralling gloves, hats and scarves. I also keep my hydration backpack and our 72 hour kits in these boxes.
In spite of already having organizing ideas in this space, I needed to make some adjustments.
Located on the top shelf in this closet are seasonal wreaths for my front door. I’ve decided that they would be better stored in my basement storage room. So those have now been relocated.
In addition, there is also other seasonal and holiday decor I stored on the floor. I’ve now decided that all of this decor would be better stored in the basement storage room.
I like to keep the closet floors clear for easy cleaning.
At this time, sort and purge coats or jackets that you no longer wear. Create a donation box and share the love.
More Closet Organization Ideas
Definitely kids closets can be an organizing nightmare. Not only do they hide stuff in there they don’t want to put away, but they also are growing and often there is clothing that no longer fits or is worn out.
Sort and purge items that are no longer used. At the same time, clear out items that just don’t belong in a closet.
As you empty out the closet you may find a few surprises like Steph did. She was shocked to find a swim diaper on the top shelf. It’s probably been 5 or more years since Aiden wore diapers!
As you can see here, Aiden is a stuffed animal hoarder! He has now chosen 5 stuffed animals to keep and the rest will be donated.
We also had a box filled with clothing that no longer fits as well as toys and games that will be returned to the toy room.
Now the only items in Aiden’s closet are clothes, shoes, hamper and extra bedding.
There are clothing items from his older brother that do not quite fit yet. We chose to store them in storage bins on an upper shelf.
Now doesn’t that look and feel better!
More Bedroom Organization Ideas
In addition to closet organization, we also decided to add a little order to Ellie’s dresser.
For the most part she keeps her dresser neat and organized.
However, we did go through her pajamas and pants drawer to purge items that no longer fit.
Then for smaller items like socks, tights and underwear we added storage boxes to help keep it tidy.
These fabric boxes are from Ikea and do a great job at maintaining order.
Flat surfaces are particularly difficult for Steph. I’m sure if no one else lived in the home it might be easier, but we love our family and will one day teach them to put items away.
Although, as we went through this area, there were definitely items she left. 😉 Probably the difficulty is her bad ankle and going up and down the stairs.
Note to self, paint brushes and rollers do not belong in the master bedroom.
Just like the kitchen, we placed bins and boxes on the floor for sorting and got the items to their proper home.
Once it was cleared off we restaged the decor. As a result, now it’s a place to relax and rejuvenate.
Cleaning Closet Organizing Ideas
Steph is so lucky to have a closet like this! However it was in need of some organizing ideas. At one point her vacuum did fit in the closet.
First we needed to get items out that did not belong in this closet.
There was a stack of bags of clothing the kids had outgrown that needed donating. Her first thought was to sell them on the Marketplace, but with no nibbles it was not time to donate them.
Since this area is small we opted to organize it shelf by shelf, rather than pulling everything out.
The first area that needed attention was the beach towels. They had been stored on the top shelf. However, each time the kids got one down, they all came down.
With this in mind, we relocated the beach towels to a lower shelf along with the gym towels.
Now the top shelf is for extra toilet paper and paper towels.
We also cleared out cleaning supplies she no longer used and tidied up the shelves.
Last but not least, we added some storage hooks. Using all the vertical space not only clears up items that were on the floor, but creates additional storage.
Now the beach bag is stored on a hook along with a bag that holds the attachments for the vacuum. Finally, there is now room for the vacuum in the cleaning closet!
Organizing the Bathroom
Clearly the bathroom is one of those areas in the house that will need a pick me up more often. It’s one of the busiest rooms in any home and order needs to be maintained.
We implemented clever bathroom organization ideas last year in here. At this time we just need to refresh it a bit.
First we pulled out all the items from the cabinet and wiped up any spills.
Then each storage container was reorganized and items that were no longer being used were tossed or donated. There was an abundance of pink hair bows that will be donated.
Once these containers were organized they were placed back in the cabinet.
Hanging storage for the irons and hair dryer free up space in the cabinet.
Once the cabinet was organized we cleaned are reorganized the drawers.
Organizing Ideas in Just 15 Minutes
Does this feel like a doable plan for you? Clearly, it made a big difference for us. Knowing we had a limited time to accomplish the task helped minimize distractions.
Working at it little by little you can accomplish great things!
Most of us are weighed down by mental clutter – the to do lists, and calendar events that are cataloged in our brains. Not to mention the physical clutter that weighs upon us as well.
Clear away that clutter and find a surprising amount of relief. If your environment is less chaotic your mind will be too.
We hope you’ve been inspired to try organizing an area in your home for just 15 minutes.
Please share with us your results! We’d love to hear about the changes that are happening in your home and in your life.
Most of all, we hope it fills your life with joy. Joyful, the way life is intended to be.
We hope you have found these tips helpful, but no matter what you do, make your home a home that you love!
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And as always here at Sunny Side Design
WE HOPE TO BRING YOUR HOME TO THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET!
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