Organize Your Home in 15 Minutes!

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you get your home organized? 15 minutes at a time. Linda Queen author of The Queen of Clean Conquers Clutter suggest organizing in 15 minute segments.

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Only 15 Minutes?

15 minutes is all it takes to really get results. If you like, you can even use your kitchen timer to remind you—or release you, if you’re really resisting the idea.

So often we feel discouraged because a task seems overwhelming. This simple 15-minute rule lets you off the hook. You don’t have to eliminate your clutter all in one day. You can chip at it over time. Believe me, I’ve tried many ways to manage my day-to-day life, and this is the only one that works consistently.

Don’t be surprised if your 15 minutes slip away before you realize it! Then, if you like, you can reset the timer for another 15 minutes and tackle another drawer, shelf, closet, or box. It’s up to you! You never realized organizing could actually be fun, did you?

Linda offers a simple system to get your home and your life organized like never before in 5 steps:

Five Steps to Clutter Free Living!

1. Question the best possible use of a room, a closet, a drawer, your wallet…
2. Unpack all of your clutter to get a sense of what you have (and what you need to do with it)…
3. Evaluate each and every item you own…
4. Eliminate unwanted possessions without guilt or regrets…
5. Neaten up your belongings in their newly decluttered space. (The fun step!)

Take this test from Linda’s book.
Twenty Questions

Scoring: Never (1 point) Sometimes (2 points) Often (3 points)

1. Are you constantly running late?
2. Do you have trouble letting go of objects that have long outlived their use?
3. Are you using eyeliner and lipstick to write down messages because you can’t seem to find a pencil or pen in your drawers?
4. During the last six months, have you had to search for your car keys? [Once I found mine in a box of cereal]
5. Do you organize and reorganize, but always end up with the same amount of stuff?
6. Have you ever run the baby’s formula through the automatic coffee maker because the microwave is used for storage and you couldn’t find a pan?
7. Have you ever missed a doctor appointment or social engagement because you just plain “forgot” all about it?
8. Is your closet filled to the rafters with clothing and shoes? Does it contain clothes of all sizes?
9. How many times during the past year have you given unneeded items to charity?
10. Have you ever tucked in a pile of clothes because there is so much stuff on the bed you can’t tell if your child is in there or not?
11. Have you ever found an item you needed—after you’d purchased its replacement?
12. Do the kids think that everybody turns their underwear inside out on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday to get an extra day’s wear out of it?
13. Are there papers on your desk that you haven’t looked through for over a month?
14. Do your neighbors come to your house first every time there is a scavenger hunt?
15. When you start cleaning and organizing your house, do you tend to get sidetracked and start another project?
16. Do you generally know what time it is, or do you usually need to consult your watch?
17. Is your idea of clearing off the countertop sliding everything off it into the wastebasket or drawer?
18. Does your car sit outside because you need your garage for storage?
19. Are you able to shut all of your dresser drawers without clothes hanging out the sides?
20. Do you have to remove dirty pots and pans from your oven before you can use it?

20 to 35 Points

If you scored 20 to 35 points, you are indeed a royal organizer. Good for you! If you like organizing books (and you probably do) you can use this book to help you hone your best organizing instincts and make yourself the Queen of your own castle. You probably have a lot of the basics in use, so now’s the time to pay attention to the small organizing details you may previously have overlooked. Fine-tune your storage systems and banish clutter once and for all, and make sure you are spending enough time on evaluating and eliminating.

36 to 45 Points

If you scored 36 to 45 points, you fit into the largest group of clutter conquerors. Constantly trying to improve, you nevertheless feel like you are running on a treadmill as the clutter continues to grow…and grow…. You’re not part of the remedial organizing group, but you still have a ways to go to get your palace organized and clutter-free. Why don’t you start with the chapters that pertain to your biggest problems? You’ll make great strides if you really question and take stock of the areas you want to conquer—find out what’s not working before you come up with solutions. Take it in small stages and work through your clutter crisis area by area.

46 to 60 Points

If you scored 46 to 60 points, then, yes, let’s just say it—you have a clutter problem. A BIG ONE! But we’re not going to lock you in the dungeon and throw away the key (there probably wouldn’t be room for you, anyway).

Chances are you look at the clutter accumulating around you and feel defeated before you begin, and so haven’t begun. Until now. You need this book.

Select a small area to start your clutter busting so that you can step back and appreciate your efforts almost immediately. Once you begin and get a feel for conquering clutter (even in the smallest way), you’ll begin to believe in order again. Remember, it took time to collect all of that clutter, so it will take time to remove it. Read this book, eleviate and eliminate some of the stress that you deal with every day. And don’t get discouraged. Rome wasn’t organized in a day!