5 Things You Can Do in 5 Minutes to Get Organized

“Ugh, I don’t have time to get organized.”

“I don’t know where to start.”

“It’s too overwhelming so I’ll just donate all of my clothes and then I’ll have nothing to wear”

Ok, I’m not lying; the last one is a direct quote from a client I heard the morning I was writing this. It’s a bit extreme but I’m sure we’ve all felt this way at some point.

The good news is you don’t have to commit to some huge project in order to see progress. You can start with just 5 minutes and I guarantee you’ll get something accomplished. Part of why I do is breaking the organization project into some small, digestible tasks that aren’t overwhelming. Call it project management for your home! 🙂

So here are 5 things you can do in 5 minutes to get organized. You can do them so quickly it won’t even feel like work but you’ll feel calm, collected, and in control!

1. Clean out  your car while you are pumping gas.
   • Throw away the trash and shake out the floor mats. Bonus points for cleaning the windshield. You were just sitting there reading Instagram so you might as well get some physical activity instead.
2. Clean out your pen/pencil container.
   • How many times have you reached for a pen to write something down and it doesn’t work? Yet why do you put it back in the container? Toss in the trash any that aren’t working and sharpen any dull pencils while you’re at it.
3. Clean out your purse.
   • Throw away the trash, file receipts where they need to go, take out anything that doesn’t belong. Do you need 5 lipsticks and glosses? Do you have a pen that works in there? Are you really going to eat that crumbled granola bar?
4. Put bills in order in your wallet.
   • I learned this the hard way back in my waitressing days when I had to make change for customers out of my own pocket. It‘s very easy to drop a bill or confuse a $5 for a $20 when they are all crumpled together. Plus knowing what you have is one of my tenets of organization. 🙂
5. Tackle a pile of papers.
   • Pick a pile, any pile! Whether it’s a stack of catalogs, mail, receipts, whatever, just spend 5 minutes going through and figuring out where the papers go. If nothing else, throw away any trash that was in the pile. I guarantee when you get started you’ll want to finish.

See, that wasn’t so bad. Most of the time when you get started on one task, momentum takes over and you can continue on to accomplish another. Even if that doesn’t happen, you’ve only committed to 5 minutes and you can do anything for 5 minutes!

If you’re interested in more organizing tips like these or want to learn more about how I can make your life easier, please visit my website Neatsmart or follow me on Instagram (neatsmartcmp).

Happy organizing, y’all!