BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Organization What can you do with five minutes?

Many people think they need a big block of time to get organized. I think that's simply false. I believe you can get organized even if you have just five minutes to spare. I recently wrote about this here, Get Organized in Five Minutes

Five minute blocks of time really add up. What do you do when you just have a few minutes? I keep a list of mini projects handy so I don't even have to think about what to do. I just take a quick peek and off I go. It feels good to make the most of those little bits of time that would otherwise be frittered away. Plus, it's super painless. Five minutes a few times a day is so much better than dedicating an hour on a weekend, when I would much rather be relaxing.

Those are awesome ideas Kelly Jayne, thank you for sharing those!

Today I swapped two of my side by side under-bed clothes drawers. The right hand one is blocked by the "cat footstool" - how the cat gets up and down off the bed. But the right hand drawer is the one I went into far more often. So finally I moved the items around and it makes much more sense now!

Great article! I've had this approach lately and it really is less daunting than trying to tackle a big project (or mess!) for hours. One of the things I did recently in 5 minutes or so was to sort the paper on my desk into categories: mail (the type that comes in regular envelopes), 8 x 12 papers, big notebooks, little notebooks and magazines. I didn't take time to worry about what it was, but rather just focused on these quick categories. It had amassed into a big pile and now it's in nice stacks that will be less intimidating to deal with when I have about 30 minutes to spare.

I know a mom who has 5 minute drills at the end of the day before their dad gets home - she puts on a catchy tune and then she and the kids run around picking up whatever they can in one room for 5 minutes. Sounded like fun, actually! lol

That is great, Donna, that you were able to organize your paper into bite-sized pieces! That can really be such an enormous help.

I do the same thing - I put a stack of paper by the futon. When we're watching a TV show, while Bob fast forwards through the commercial I sort the mail. That way it gets done and uses "waste time".

My dining room table is in the middle of the house and stuff gets dumped there fast. I'm always devoting 5 minute blocks of time to trying to clear the pile.

I try to find one thing to organize or clean every time I finish in the bathroom. Since I go several times a day, that means i get several five minute cleaning tasks done each day! it's starting to add up.

Great article, KellyJayne! I will use these ideas to help me get organized.

I have a few white boards up in my studio and i just added a nice list of five minute items to it. It's nice to be able to glance at that.

That is a great idea Jilly. That was even if you are a bit sleepy or sluggy you can still glance at the board and check something off.