Organizing Your Home In 15 Minutes Or Less

Today, it’s all about organizing your home in 15 minutes or less. Are there some closets, kitchen cupboards, bedroom dressers, or other areas that could use some cleaning out? Are there personal things you want to do, like write notes to friends?

Here’s the deal, for me, I can’t look at the whole house or the garage and think “I need to get this house cleaned today!” Of course, I have a routine schedule for the toilets and bathroom and the kitchen, but there are times I want to just declutter.

Table of Contents

Organizing Your Home Plan

Do you ever feel like that? In order to accomplish this desire to declutter moment, I have to think it through. It doesn’t take much time, but for me, this is a necessity. I do a few things a week, and a few things a month.

Then I also have the yearly check the “stuff” moment when I realize I will never use that stuff and it’s time to let the stuff go. I’m not talking about extremely important documents, keepsakes, or heirlooms. But, I also want to reconnect with friends through notes and phone calls so I want to add these things to my list.

We need to start with a plan to tackle things we keep pushing aside. Start with one room or closet that needs the least amount of work. It may be your closet that may have clothes that you haven’t worn in years.

Some of our clothes, shirts, skirts, dresses, or shoes could be donated to your local thrift store so people who could really use them have them available for purchase at a greatly reduced price.

Maybe it’s your paper stuff that needs to be organized for your significant other to locate in an emergency. We all need to know where those important documents are if something should happen.

It’s a little frustrating when a wife, husband, partner, or parent dies suddenly and no one can locate some of the critical documents that are needed to help the family prepare for the future without them.

I knew a sweet young mother a few years ago that had no idea where her home mortgage was being serviced after her husband died unexpectedly at a very young age. She didn’t know the passwords for bank accounts, and she knew very little about the house expenses.

It was a learning curve for all those family and friends that had to step in and help her sort things out. Here’s my FREE printable document to get you started preparing your important papers to have in ONE binder stored in a safe place: Food Storage Moms FREE Printable Emergency Binder Download

Please be patient while this document loads because it’s a large file that is printable that will take a few minutes before you can print it. You should see it at the bottom of your computer screen on the left. Next, you click on the bar and you will see the document ready to print. If you have cardstock, that would be awesome.

Organizing Your Home in 15 Minutes

I decided to jot down a few things that I personally would like to nudge myself to get these things done in 15 minutes or less! Get a timer and set it for 15 minutes, I promise it works. I have one similar to this one: Sunbeam 61040 Timer, 60 minutes

Get a Timer

First, you take a piece of paper and write down the worst room in the house, or easiest cupboard to get done in 15 minutes. It may be other things you can get done in this amount of time that you’ve been putting off doing so. Let’s get started.

Write a quick note to a friend that you’ve been thinking about.
Gather your important documents and put them in one secure place.
Call someone who you haven’t talked to in months, maybe even years.
Go visit a neighbor and let them know you care about them.
Clean that kitchen utensil drawer.
Clean out the toaster.
Clean the refrigerator, this is a good one for me.
Look under the kitchen sink and throw out all the items you will never use, and then wipe it down.
Clean the outside of a few kitchen cabinets.
Take the dog for a walk, if you have one.
Get two bags, one 33-gallon clear one and another 33-gallon black one (empty your closet and start filling the bags that are past the donate stage and throw them out using the black bag. Fill the clear bag with clothes, purses, or shoes you no longer need and donate them.
Bake some cookies and take a batch to the homeless shelter (yes, this will take longer than 15 minutes, but it’s worth it, I promise).
Make a simple dinner for a single mom or elderly couple in your neighborhood.
Read a book you enjoy or will give you knowledge about something you have been thinking about.
Read my book with your family: Prepare Your Family for Survival: How to Be Ready for Any Emergency or Disaster Situation.
Help a neighbor rake a few leaves.
Organize all over-the-counter drugs you may have in the cupboard to stay on top of their expiration dates.
Organize the freezer.
Sweep the garage floor.
Wash your car.
Do nothing and enjoy your 15 minutes of silence (no electronics, TV, radio or computer).
Watch some documentaries on Netflix, if you have it (this takes an hour or more, but it’s all about knowledge).
Go to lunch with a friend.
Organize the hall closet.
Organize the junk drawer, seems like we all have one.
Make folders for your bills and keep them organized
When you get your mail, stand by the garbage can, discard the junk, shred the credit card letters you receive (not the bills), and never touch those items again,
Set up automatic payments on recurring bills, and simplify your life.
Dust the room that needs it the most. This is my least favorite cleaning job, so my husband gets it done.
Wipe down the floor moldings.
Wipe down the fans, if you have fans with lights in your home.
Wash your home windows, oh how I love clean windows with the sun shining through them.
Make a menu for the week.
Make a shopping list and shop the least amount of time you can and you won’t be tempted to buy stuff you really don’t need.
Make a plan to be prepared for the unexpected, you will need it, I promise.
Make sure you store water.
Store enough food for your family for a minimum of seven days to start with and keep adding to it, you will need it, trust me.
Rotate your food storage.

Final Word

Thanks for being prepared for the unexpected, may God bless you and your family. Be prepared and you can sleep at night knowing your family is ready for anything that may come your way.

Tips On Cleaning