Prevent clutter by working the following tasks into your daily routine until they become a habit. I’ve focused on the areas that will make the biggest “instant” improvement in five minutes or less.

EARLY AM

1) Get a load of laundry started.

If you have enough dirty clothes for a load, get them into the washer first thing in the morning. Move them to the dryer when they are finished.

Reduces pile-up of laundry and complaints from your child that her favorite jeans have been in the pile for a week.

2) Make your bed.

There is nothing that can neaten a large space in 2-3 minutes like making a bed.

The room feels cleaner. You paid a lot of money for that pretty comforter. Enjoy it the way it was intended to look, which is not wadded on the floor.

A special thanks to my mother for adding this tip to the list. Apparently you are never too old to have your mother remind you to make your bed.

AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING

3) Take care of incoming mail immediately.

Trash/recycle the junk mail, and put the rest in the appropriate places (bills to pay, “to-do box”, magazine rack, “to-be-filed” basket, etc.). Do not place any of it on the counter.

Prevents paper clutter from accumulating around the house and bills from getting lost.

4) Fold and put away laundry.

Find a few spare minutes to fold and put away the load of laundry you did this morning. If you did more than one today, you are ahead of the game! Congratulations!

Prevents the laundry room from having piles of clean laundry as well as keeps it from being used as a dressing room.

EVENING

5) Kitchen cleanup

After dinner, take the time to wash all the dishes and run the dishwasher if it’s full. Wipe down the counters, cabinets, and appliances quickly.

Keeps the kitchen clean and the silverware drawer stocked. There’s nothing worse than eating your cereal with a fork!

6) Kitchen counter cleanup.

The counter tends to be a “drop-off” spot during the day. Take all items back to their assigned places. The counter is for food, snacks, etc., not paper clutter.

Keeps the kitchen area neat and orderly.

7) Nightly toy pick-up.

If you have kids, toys tend to make their way around the house quickly during the day. Get everyone involved with a quick 5-minute pickup to put everything back in its place.

Keeps living room/toy room organized and clutter-free. Say “good-bye” to the pain of stubbing your toe on a Barbie car or the shock of stepping on a Lego in a sleepy morning daze.

I like to wake up in the morning with my house in order. Mentally, it puts me in a better mood because I am not slapped in the face with things that need to be done on the way to making my coffee. I also find I am more productive during the day when the house is free of clutter.

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Want a great feeling of accomplishment for the day that won’t take more than five minutes?

How is your junk drawer looking these days?

After getting stabbed in the finger by a stray thumbtack, I spent a few minutes straightening my kitchen junk drawer today.  It wasn’t horrible but warranted a quick cleanup.

I found a few buried treasures under the pencils that didn’t belong in the drawer. My kids tend to throw stuff they consider “junk” in the drawer and hope I don’t notice.

Dump the contents of the drawer on a table or in a box and wipe out the drawer and the containers with a cloth.  Set your containers back in the drawer and place all the items back in a sorted manner.

Drawer organizers are great for holding little things like thumbtacks, paper clips, etc.  If you find a few items that don’t belong in the drawer, take them to their appropriate places.

In five minutes you will have a neat, organized drawer again.

Wow what a difference

I received these before and after pictures from a wonderful lady who will remain anonymous. Look at the difference between the before and after pictures. Impressive! Great job!

What do you do with the stack of recipes you want to try?

You know…that pile of paper you ripped out of magazines, printed from online, or a friend emailed you. Mine were just stuck in a file and forgotten about until I found a great solution.

Easily organize them into your own custom cookbook

You will need:

• one 1.5″ 3-ring binder (wide)
• a set of tabs (wide)
• some clear sheet protectors

Label your tabs in the categories you like (Main Dishes, Sides, Desserts, Breads…etc). Now slip your recipes into the sheet protectors and place them behind the category they fit in. Don’t forget you can use the front and back (two recipes per page if they are only a page long).

Now you have your own “Try-It” Cookbook that is ready to be used. You can add and take out recipes at anytime, so it is a constantly evolving cookbook. If your family gives the thumbs down on one, just toss it.

I like to add a note at the top of the recipe if there is something I would do differently next time or a star if we really liked it. You could even add a tab for “Family Favorites” and move the recipe into this category if it is a “hit”.

I use a “Special Occasions” tab for fun, crafty cooking ideas, for example, how to make snowmen out of marshmallows and candies, the awesome Jell-O Pudding Halloween haunted graveyard instructions, cake decorating ideas, etc.

Now those recipes you want to try are organized and easily accessible the next time you plan your meals. I have been using mine a lot since I put it together, and my family is thrilled to have new meals to try out.