We are all so busy these days. With work and shuttling kids around taking up most of our day, our organizing tasks are usually lumped in with every other chore that needs completing. However, organizing doesn't have to happen 24 hours a day 7 days a week. You just need to change your habit and make organizing one of your priorities. To do this, you will only need 15 minutes a day. By doing this consistently for 15 days, you will have organized 3.75 hours in 15 days! Wow, isn't that amazing! Try these small organizing tasks that take 15-minutes increments each day and see how it makes a big difference in 15 days. For 15 minutes per day for 15 days, you will help your home and day be more organized and, as a result, help you save time and money.
Jump to:
- Day 1: Go through and remove unused items in your Utensil Drawer.
- Day 2: Go through your Junk Drawer.
- Day 3: Plan what you eat for the week and write it down.
- Day 4: Clear out the clutter in the car pockets.
- Day 5: Put your jewelry on an organizer and sort it by color.
- Day 6: Another organizing task that takes 15 minutes is to Go through your magazines and get rid of some.
- Day 7: Go through your coat closet and remove items you don’t wear.
- Day 8: Go through your medicine cabinet and remove expired and unused items.
- Day 9: Go through Freezer
- Day 10: Go through your desk drawer.
- Day 11: Go through the brushes in your bathroom and remove them.
- Day 12: Now, go through your mail daily and recycle all the junk mail.
- Day 13: Now, sit down and write down the tasks you need to get done today.
- Day 14: Move the food from the back of your pantry to the front of the pantry.
- Lastly, on Day 15, clear clutter from the living area of your home.
Day 1: Go through and remove unused items in your Utensil Drawer.
Pull all the items out of the utensil drawer. Clean it, replace everything you want to keep, and discard or donate the rest.
Day 2: Go through your Junk Drawer.
Visit our things to keep in the junk drawer list for ideas on what should be in this drawer.
Remember to remove everything and insert a drawer organizer (affiliate) to maximize your area. Below are some drawer organizers (affiliate) from Amazon (affiliate) (affiliate).
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Drawer Organizer Tray for Vanity Cabinet (Set of 10)
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Day 3: Plan what you eat for the week and write it down.
Visit our HOW TO MAKE A DIY CHALKBOARD PANTRY DOORS for a DIY project on how to make a Weekly meal planning area. If you need help with meal planning, check out these posts below.
HOW TO MAKE A MEAL PLANNING SYSTEM THAT WORKS
SPEED UP WEEKNIGHT COOKING CHALLENGE
Now, let's move on to the car.
Day 4: Clear out the clutter in the car pockets.
Cars can get cluttered when you neglect to clean them out. If you are looking for ways to organize your car and things to place in it, check out our CAR ORGANIZATION CHALLENGE for tips on what should be stored in a vehicle to keep it organized.
If you have jewelry (affiliate), the next task is for you.
Day 5: Put your jewelry on an organizer and sort it by color.
You can make one easily if you don't have a jewelry (affiliate) organizer. Check out our DIY jewelry (affiliate) organizers below.
HOW TO MAKE A NECKLACE ORGANIZER PICTURE FRAME
HOW TO MAKE AN EASY DIY EARRING ORGANIZER PICTURE FRAME
You can also find some fantastic ways to organize your jewelry (affiliate) in this post: 6 AMAZING WAYS TO ORGANIZE YOUR JEWELRY
Day 6: Another organizing task that takes 15 minutes is to Go through your magazines and get rid of some.
Magazines/newspapers are dated material. Finding this content only is super easy these days. So, recycle and get rid of them right now.
Day 7: Go through your coat closet and remove items you don’t wear.
If you have more than one person using this coat closet, you can label (affiliate) the hangers by color coding them. Check out this post for an easy way to do this. HOW TO EASILY ORGANIZE FAMILY COATS IN A COAT CLOSET
Day 8: Go through your medicine cabinet and remove expired and unused items.
Visit our other "small items to organize" challenge: 29 DAYS SMALL ITEMS BIG CLUTTER CHALLENGE.
Day 9: Go through Freezer
This organizing task takes 15 minutes. Go through your freezer and move up the items hidden at the bottom.
Going through and moving items that were pushed in the back or to the bottom will help remind you of what you have and give you ideas on what to make next. Visit our post called: HOW TO ORGANIZE A FREEZER LIKE A PRO.
Day 10: Go through your desk drawer.
Desk drawers can get cluttered quickly. The next task will help you organize this area. Having drawer organizers (affiliate) will help keep items in the proper place when you close and open the drawer. Things move around consistently in drawers if you do not have them in small bins. Below is one I found on Amazon (affiliate) (affiliate).
Drawer Organizers Set 25 pcs clear
Buy Now →(affiliate)
Check out 30 Desk Items To Throw Away For A Tidy Space from our sister site, Sabrina's Admin Services.
Day 11: Go through the brushes in your bathroom and remove them.
Brushes are just one item to go through. Visit our other posts below, which will help you clear the clutter in the bathroom.
Day 12: Now, go through your mail daily and recycle all the junk mail.
Make it a point to go through the mail that comes in and place it directly in the recycling bin (affiliate) or shredder (affiliate). We share a post about organizing mail called 4 WAYS TO ORGANIZE INCOMING PAPER MAIL. Feel free to visit it and get tips.
Day 13: Now, sit down and write down the tasks you need to get done today.
Planning your day will help determine your direction and what you need to complete. Making a list is critical for a productive day. Prioritize the list after you make it by adding a number next to the list—1 for most important tasks to 5 for least important. Then, go ahead and plan out the to-do list, check off the tasks you completed. Keep this list around even after the 15th day to keep going with organizing your life.
Day 14: Move the food from the back of your pantry to the front of the pantry.
Pantry (affiliate) clear-out doesn't take long, but we tend to make it a bigger task in our heads. For more inspiration, visit our other pantry (affiliate) posts below.
Lastly, on Day 15, clear clutter from the living area of your home.
This area is where you and your family spend most of the day. Some examples are the living room, coffee table (affiliate), dining room table, foyer or mudroom, and kitchen. Doing some tidying up will give you the power to tackle the larger areas.
THE POWER OF BEING NEAT AND TIPS ON STAYING NEAT AFTER ORGANIZING
Enjoy! You will quickly get through your decluttered spaces when you do one daily task. Here is an image for you to share and use.
After doing these 15 organizing tasks that take 15 minutes, you should see a big impact in your home and life. Let me know how you do. I would love to hear from you.
Visit our other challenges here to help you take action in your life. We have done the planning for you!
Please note these are affiliate links through Amazon (affiliate), and I will earn affiliate fees if you decide to purchase at no additional cost.
Katherine Macey says
I love meal planning! Making decisions about food goes MUCH better when I'm not hungry. I love how this list accomplishes a lot by breaking it up into smaller, more manageable chunks!
Linda Samuels says
It's amazing what can happen when we devote small blocks of time to our projects and goals. Organizing can feel daunting when we think of working on everything. But when you break things done into small, manageable time slots (like 15 minutes a day for 15 days,) it's undeniable how much can be accomplished. And with such a short window to work, it prevents overwhelm and promotes success. Some movement is better than none, and it builds momentum to do more.
Janet Scheisl says
Small adds up to big changes! Great tips Sabrina! I'm still working on the meal planning for a week. I procrastinate on this one.
Julie Bestry says
I love small projects, because they give such a satisfying sense of completion with little effort. I'll admit, I'm lazy, so I am better (for the most part) at avoiding letting things pile up, so there's never anything in the car (when I'm not in it) except driving glasses and a car charger; the utensil drawer is only silverware and chopsticks. On the other hand, I'd rather eat my own elbow than meal plan, but it's a much smaller deal for a singleton.
I love the way you showed the amazing return on one's time investment. Great post!
Seana Turner says
Hooray for small projects!
I think we sometimes feel that we have to have a huge chunk of time to make progress. Obviously, to clear out a giant attic or garage, or tackle a room with items piled from floor to ceiling, some serious time will be required.
However, sometimes paying attention to the "little things" can empower us and make us build confidence to go after the larger spaces. Great ideas!
Sabrina Quairoli says
I totally agree, Seana!
Diane N Quintana says
All great tasks, Sabrina! I love the way you totaled the time to show that at the end of 15 days the person will have done many hours of work - all in short, easy to manage bites of time.
Lisa Gessert says
Love this Sabrina, I am a big advocate of purging and decluttering, breaking these tasks down helps quite a bit!
Sabrina Quairoli says
I love them too! Thanks for stopping by and commenting/sharing! Check out my collection here.