The 10-Minute Tidying Strategy That Will Save You Hours of Cleaning and Organizing

Taking care of a house is a full-time job (right, Captain Obvious.) But how do you go from always cleaning up to more time to do what’s important? The secret is in what I like to call the 10-Minute Tidy.

What if instead of leaving all the tasks for “later,” you started doing them sooner? As in, before things start to get chaotic? 

I’ve never been able to handle being surrounded by clutter. It’s incredibly hard for me to concentrate when there’s a mess around me or when I know there’s something to clean up. 

A cluttered space causes a cluttered mind. 

As a work from home mom, I struggle with this. Despite the benefits of working from home, the constant urge to clean up is not one of them. Distractions, not just by my kid, but all the housework are one of my biggest challenges.

The house is never going to be completely clean when everybody’s at home. But that doesn’t mean it always has to be an overwhelming, hot mess either.

You can make your house tidier in under an hour a day by using the 10-Minute Tidy.

What’s a 10-Minute Tidy Up?

I started doing this without realizing it when I would sit in my office putting together reports while my daughter went wild in her playroom. I’d focus on what needed to get done until it got done. Once I finished, I’d come out and tidy up the house for 10 minutes or so.

I do this repeatedly every couple of hours –in the morning after breakfast, mid-morning after doing some work, after lunch, and again in the afternoon before quiet time.

The Benefits of a 10-Minute Tidy.

For one, after sitting there for hours, running around the house to do things gets me moving. I traveled to the home office last year and it was brutal to have to sit in meetings for hours without getting up and moving. A 10-Minute Tidy is good for your health.

Secondly, a 10-Minute Tidy Up prevents stress throughout the day. It’s like a pick-me-up for my brain. I declutter my house, I declutter my brain. For me, these two things go hand-in-hand.

What I do during a Tidy.

My tidy ups usually go like this: I’ll announce to my daughter that she needs to pick up the toys she’s not playing with while I clean up the rest of the house. (It feels like a team effort this way.) I’ll do dishes, vacuum crumbs off the floor, wipe counters, throw in a load of laundry, and pick up and put away stray items I see around the house.

I don’t do all of these things in one single tidy up. It usually happens during different tidy up sessions throughout the day.

How to start doing a 10-Minute Tidy.

One way to get into the habit of cleaning up throughout the day is to set a timer. I’m a fan of the Pomodoro technique (25 minutes of focus, 5-minute break), but setting a timer to go off every hour or two can get you into the habit.

Or you can gauge your tidy up based on how you’re feeling. If you’re beginning to feel like things are getting out of control, spend 10 minutes tidying up.

Got a planner that you use religiously? Or maybe a digital calendar? Pencil it (or enter it in) every couple of hours so you have more motivation to do it.

The 10-Minute Tidy Up is one of my secrets to always having a clean and organized house. Just spending 10 minutes every couple of hours prevents me from feeling overwhelmed, from having a cluttered mind, and from spending hours cleaning up at the end of every day.

Download this free checklist with tasks to do during your 10-Minute Tidy.