5, 10 and 15 Minute Decluttering
Posted on July 8, 2009 by LJ Earnest
Categories: Clutter,Organization,Simplification
Wednesdays are simplicity days at SimpleProductivity blog.
Most people I know won’t embark on a big decluttering because they think it will take too long. I decided to put together a list of quick decluttering projects to get you started getting rid of the junk in little chunks of time.
5 Minute Decluttering
- Clean out your wallet. Get rid of old receipts, expired coupons, business cards and outdated pictures.
- Clean out your pen cup. Either at office or home, go through your stash. Get rid of anything that won’t write.
- Purge your socks. Go though your sock drawer and toss anything that needs to be tossed.
- Clean the place where you stash take-out goodies. Wherever you keep them, get rid of old menus, chopsticks, plastic forks and packages of condiments.
- Purge your magazines. If you have more than three unread issues of a magazine, recycle the older ones. Let’s face it, if you haven’t gotten to it in three months, you probably won’t get to it at all.
10 Minute Decluttering
- Clean out the center console in your car. Remove the change, wrappers, receipts and anything else that has collected there (Barbie shoes? Playdough? I’d love to hear what people find).
- Go after the kitchen sink. Remove anything from around your sink that you don’t use daily. I found scrubbers that were well past their prime, and a baby bottle brush (my “baby” is six).
- Purge one bathroom shelf. Pick a shelf and clean it out. This may be a 5 minute job, but if you have extra time, put things back neatly.
- Clean one clothing drawer. Get rid of anything not wearable.
- Purge utensils. I swear my kitchen breeds spatulas. Get rid of anything that is obviously over-worn or broken. Remove anything you haven’t used. Remove as many duplicates as possible.
15 Minute Decluttering
- Clean out your medicine cabinet. Anything that is expired or no longer of use needs to go. Contact your local pharmacy for a take-back program, or contact your local hazmat location for drop-off instructions. Do NOT flush old medicines!
- Purge and clean one refrigerator shelf. Cleaning the refrigerator can be a daunting task. Do one shelf, pulling everything out, wiping it down and getting rid of old half-used stuff. You will be amazed.
- De-gunk your glove compartment. I think the maps must breed too. Purge outdated and duplicate maps. Make sure your registration and proof of insurance is handy and up to date.
- Purge under a sink. Under-sink cabinets become a dumping ground for all sorts of stuff. Clean yours out.
- Remove unused kitchen gadgets. Gadgets are fun and cool, but unless you actually use them regularly, get rid of them. The grilled sandwich maker looked cool at the time, but I used it maybe three times? Same with the deep fryer. Out they go!
Decluttering doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Pick a small spot and declutter. By constantly decluttering small areas, we make long-term major progress.
Photo by simax105
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Comments (4)
We have this great decluttering plan in place where we wander around the house looking at things shaking our heads and saying, “I can’t deal with this right now.” Then giving up and doing nothing.
Maybe, we’ll give some of your ideas a try.
I’ve tried your approach too.
I find when that happens I just ask myself to do a “5 thing quicker picker upper”. I grab 5things that aren’t in place and put them away. If I’m feeling particularly ambitious, I’ll repeat for 5 pieces of garbage/recycling and 5 things to be given away. Repeating this often enough does make a big dent, but doesn’t take a whole lot of time.
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I never knew there are so many places to decluttter in just a few minutes. I used to focus on the major areas and end up doing much stuff in the weekend. I’ll give all these a try.