Just ten minutes - seven mini tidying up projects for more order in life

Created: 12/30/2022, 8:30 am

By: Anna Heyers

Sometimes the effort involved in tidying up seems so great that you can hardly pull yourself together.

However, if you invest ten minutes, you can already achieve great effects.

There are many areas in the home where a lot of small things quickly accumulate.

They make entire rooms look downright messy.

To prevent this from happening again in the future, you can stick to the ten-minute rule.

The aim here is to devote yourself to one area for ten minutes and to get it in shape.

If you do this regularly, you no longer have to worry about any visitors.

Of course, an upcoming visit can also be a motivation.

1. Clean up the hallway

Shoes, post, bags, keys – almost everything that you had in your hand or with you when you came home is unloaded and left lying around in the hallway.

Now it's time to put everything in its place - or even to find new places.

Clever hallway furnishings may also be required here.

Shoes in the shoe rack or under the bench, bags and jackets in the cloakroom, keys in the bowl on the dresser or on the key board.

When you come home now, everything has its own place - even if you have to get used to it yourself.

This will get easier over time.

Divide the apartment into small sections for more motivation

Tidying up the whole apartment can take a lot of time and energy - and the motivation is gone.

If you divide the chaos, for example into individual rooms or areas and set yourself a certain amount of time for this, it may take longer overall.

However, the smaller units are also more manageable and the motivation does not go away so quickly.

Tip: A timer or stopwatch is a great help to keep track of the time.

2. The bed in the bedroom

Simply changing the bed linen already provides a whole new feeling of living.

And while you're at it, you can also tidy up and put away the laundry lying around and put small things in the appropriate places.

Is there still time?

Then wipe the bed frame and bedside table with a feather duster, and good night can come.

You can find everything to do with household and garden tips in the regular living newsletter from our partner Merkur.de.

3. Remove laundry immediately

It can be so simple, even if everyday life often looks different: when the washed laundry is dry, it should be removed immediately and put away in the closet or chest of drawers.

If you only use the stand all the time, you always have an eye on it - and that always seems a bit unfinished, whether you like it or not.

But pay attention to where the laundry is hung out to dry, as there is a risk of mold in some rooms.

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4. Clear and put away the dishes

Regardless of whether you wash by hand with a sponge and brush or use a dishwasher: a similar principle should apply here as with laundry.

If the dishes are clean and dry (dishwasher), they should be placed in the appropriate cupboards and drawers.

When you wash dishes by hand, you still have to dry them off – but the entire kitchen looks tidier and larger afterwards.

5. Clean out drawers

Do you also have one (or even more) drawers with things?

For example, there are forgotten letters, rubber bands, a screwdriver, cables and maybe even a knife lying around.

In addition, some stuff whose function you may not remember anymore, dried up pencils and, and, and.

Let's be honest: Most of these things are hardly used anymore.

So now it's time to clear out this drawer in the next ten minutes and see if there's anything important underneath.

If not, is there room again – maybe for gloves or small umbrellas?

Drawers like these are found in most homes: full of junk and notes, with pens, rubber bands and batteries.

It's worth clearing out here.

© xKathleenxFinlayx/Imago

6. Bathroom: get to the cosmetics

Take a look in your bathroom cabinets and shelves and ask yourself whether certain deodorants, shampoos or creams are still being used.

Anything that is as good as empty is best placed in front and used up.

Anything that no longer meets the current taste can be disposed of (used cosmetic products) or given away (perhaps to friends or family members).

By the way: Sorting out also applies to the medicine cabinet, but it gets its own ten minutes.

Be careful, expired medication should not end up in the toilet or in the household waste.

And prescription drugs should not be passed on to others either.

7. Refrigerator from the inside

Admittedly, from the outside, the interior of the refrigerator is hardly disturbing.

However, if food is left in it, leaks or is poorly packaged, this can lead to unpleasant odours.

For this reason, you should take ten minutes to check the inside.

Is everything still durable and well sealed, where is it moldy?

Does something have to be used up soon?

If there is still some time, you can also wipe out the fridge with vinegar water.

This helps against bad odors and keeps bacteria in check.