10 Minute Organizing Tasks

Sometimes all you need is ten minutes.

I tell my boys often,"Just give mommy ten minutes, then we can play."
It is a great amount of time to get focused and complete a small task.

I found this great list of ten organizing tasks that
will take 10-minutes to complete each:


1. Clean out your medicine cabinet. Get rid of old makeup, expired medicine and toiletries you haven't used in months (umm ...... years?).


2. Weed out 10 file folders. Invest just one minute or less per file folder. Get rid of anything outdated or no longer useful.

3. Clear off your desk. Take everything off your desk and clear the surface, even if you have to temporarily put everything on the floor in categorized piles (i.e. paper, supplies, electronic media, etc.). Once you can see your desk, you'll have a surface on which to begin organizing everything you just removed from it.

4. Delete, delete, delete. For the next 10 minutes, delete as many messages as you can from your email inbox. This includes forwarded jokes, unsolicited messages and email you can simply read and chuck.

5. Organize a drawer. Whether it's your junk drawer, a drawer in your bedroom dresser or a desk drawer, spend 10 minutes emptying out the junk, and arranging it so that similar items are being stored together.

6. Make a task basket. Gather 20 index cards and write one 10-minute cleaning task on each. Put these cards in a basket. Each day, draw a card from the basket and perform the task.

7. Tidy up. It's OK if you don't have time for a deep cleaning session. But 10 minutes is plenty to do some light dusting, wipe off a surface or vacuum up some crumbs.

8. Hunt and gather. Walk around your house with an empty clothes basket in hand. Put anything that is not in its proper home, in the basket. Spend another 10 minutes today, or tomorrow, putting everything back where it belongs.

9. Make a Donation Box. Simply get a large cardboard box and label it 'Donation Box.' Every chance you get, place items that are in good condition, but you no longer use, inside the box. When it's full, call your local charity to come pick it up, or drop it off if they don't offer a pick-up service.

10. Make a chore chart. Everyone living in your home over the age of 2 should share the household chores (husbands included). Make a chart listing the chores and the family members responsible for each chore. Be sure young children are given age appropriate chores, and reward everyone at the end of the week to keep them motivated!

What did you get done in 10 minutes?