For this year’s Get Organized Month, I created this 31 Days of 15-minute organizing list and tips. This list is ideal for the busy person who doesn’t have loads of time to organize their home, but their goal is to get organized in their home and simplify this year.
By going through this list each day, you will be well on your way to getting organized. Also, check out the links from other posts I wrote on a particular topic.
DAY 1: Gather unused organizing items and place in one location to use as a reference.
DAY 2: DS/Wii/Xbox/PlayStation games – donate any unwanted /unused games. Get a bin to sort them.
DAY 3: Pencils and pens drawer in the kid’s room – sort them into bins for them to access quickly.
DAY 4: Vanity makeup drawer – purge old makeup and use the make labels on newer makeup as a reminder. Check out this post for free tags.
DAY 5: First aid kit bin -put all supplies together in one container.
DAY 6: DVDs / CDs sorted – purge any you don’t want. If you have a little more time, you can try this.
DAY 7: Supplies for home office – go through and organize things like paperclips, staples, post-its, printer cartridges, etc…
DAY 8: Utensil drawer – sort your drawer by type in an organized bin.
DAY 9: Cable bin – group cables together and store in a closed container.
DAY 10: Under the bathroom sink – here is a post that shows what should be under the sink.
DAY 11: School supplies – sort out your pencils, pens, colored pencils, etc…
DAY 12: Car divider conceal – clean out any trash you don’t use.
DAY 13: Junk drawer – throw away trash and group items get bins to organize things. Check out what should be in a junk drawer post.
DAY 14: Hang picture frames to remove clutter from the floor.
DAY 15: Bathroom vanity drawer – here is a post I wrote with tips.
DAY 16: Reference Books organizing – remove phone books and other dated books that are not used.
DAY 17: Nonfiction/Fiction book organizing – pull books that are ones you haven’t looked at in over two years.
DAY 18: Paper supplies and recycling any looks paper that you are not using.
DAY 19: Kids books organizing – have the kids sit with you and go through their books to donate to children in need.
DAY 20: Garage donating items – get rid of items in your garage that you are donating.
DAY 21: Organize a bin that has random items in it.
DAY 22: Photos Organizing – get rid of blurry and unwanted photos.
DAY 23: Scrapbook/Craft area – Clear out the unwanted scraps, dried out and broken items.
DAY 24: Manufacturer manuals organizing – gather your manuals and use an accordion folder A-Z and file them in by manufacturer name.
DAY 25: Work space – go through your desk drawers.
DAY 26: Receipt box organizer – use an accordion folder to sort the receipts you want to keep.
DAY 27: Bill Organizer – Make a list of bills and due dates while doing bills.
DAY 28: Investment organizer – make a list of investment names, contacts, and amounts in each account.
DAY 29: Bedroom nightstand – divide little items into bins so you can reach them in the dark.
DAY 30: Linen closet organizing – a group like items, here are tips from a post I wrote.
DAY 31: Pantry organizing – a group like items, add bins for smaller items. This are tips to help you keep in your pantry. Here is what I did converting my closet into a pantry.
Here is an image you print and use to get you started.
Good luck in this process. Leave a message on how it goes.
Please note these are affiliate links through Amazon, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn affiliate fees if you decide to make a purchase.
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I can’t possibly do more than 2 of them in 15 minutes but it is a nice job of sorting the jobs. Maybe I can do them in a week of 15 minute segments for each job!
That is a great idea! It will take you longer, of course, but at least, the list will help keep you focused on what you need to do for that weeek.
If you saw my house, you would know, I appreciate anything that helps me get organized. Thanks for sharing.
Sabrina this is a great list! But, I’m so disorganized the only task on your list wold take me 15 minutes is sorting the cutlery, and that’s pushing it. I’m personalizing the list to read, “Pamela’s’s 2 hour a day organizing tips.”
Sorry to hear that. Try using the list as a suggestion on what area to organize. Make it a goal to organize one area once a week. It will take longer but it will eventually be finished. Doing some organizing will help you feel less overwhelmed.
Have for as long as I can remember written to do lists. They work very well for me. About this particular list you made thought, I don’t need to do any of those things because all those areas are organised.:-)
Great job for keeping on top of your areas! Remember: Organized areas need to be reviewed and systems need to be refined when there is a change in your life so they stay organized and not fall into disarray.
The photo organizing; wow that’s a big one. For me that took many months hard labor. But I do agree that breaking a big chore down is the best approach.
When it comes to a home, I’ve found that if I keep 2 places somewhat organized, it actually encourages me to fix the rest. Those are bathroom, which is the first thing I see in the morning, and kitchen, which is the second. Best part: Those only take 5 minutes each.
When it comes to my work, I wish I had something similar going on…. just today I spent hours cleaning up my computer before it completely jams… That’s something I should spend the 15 min/day I guess. Could you make a checklist for that, too?
I total agree if you have two areas organized in your home, it makes you more likely to get the other areas organized as well.
Regarding your other issue with work, I created this Clearing Digital Clutter checklist that worked for me. Here is the post link: http://sabrinasorganizing.com/clearing-digital-clutter/ It helps me stay focused on what I completed when declutter in my computer files and what I still need to do. I hope it helps.
Thanks for stopping by.
I’m sad to say that in my house 15 minutes would not even scratch the surface of some of these things. Probably take me a day or two just to sort out my fiction/nonfiction books.
Sorry to hear that. 15 minutes organizing will help anyone, it just may take longer to finish. Tip:Take 15 minutes per day until that that task is completed. Even if you stay on that task for a few days or even a week, it will at least be completed when you are done. Always finish one task before starting the next one.
Sabrina, thank you for helping those who do not have dividers in their silverware drawer. As someone with more than mild OCD I began to twitch thinking that people have old phone books. Thanks.
Great way to break down organization tasks into small chunks and do a little bit each day.
I’m a very organized person…but this is a great list an the idea of 15 minutes a day is fantastic! I’m passing this on to some friends who really need it:)
Thanks Jacqueline, I really appreciate it.
Sabrina – this is a great list. I especially like the 15 minutes a day plan. I’m pretty organized but I did bookmark this page and later I’ll use it to check out my under the sink cupboard and some of my other closets.
My – you are organised.
Great tips!
I take it you follow all of these through.
Those are all pretty basic organizing tips. Nice list. May I suggest perhaps some photos to split them up and make the post a bit more visual? You have some good ideas but scrolling through a long list without any breaks can be a bit tedious. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the feedback. I was thinking of adding photos but I thought it would be too long and visitors would lose interest traveling to the end.