Okay, rules might be strong. Preferred guidelines might be more applicable. Strongly preferred. Yet if you look at organized households, most abide by some version of the following guidelines.
Spend 20 minutes a day organizing. This does not mean 20 consecutive minutes in a row. Yet if a task takes you less than a minute to complete and you do 20 or more of those per day, you have spent 20 minutes organizing in a day.
For example, putting a dirty dish in the dishwasher. It takes less than a minute, right? Yet if you simply put your dirty dishes in the sink, it would add up to a more sizable task that you may or may not feel like doing toward the end of the day. The lesson here is if it takes a minute or less, just do it.
Always leaving a room with something in hand can also immeasurably reduce clutter. Be it a t-shirt, coffee mug, toy, etc. If you’re leaving the room and heading near a place where you can put that item in its proper place, just do it.
Developing a system for your mail can also drastically make an impact. Stop forming piles on the dining room table. Open each piece of mail as you receive it and then either recycle or file.
Speaking of filing, why file paper if you don’t have to? Our printers and smartphones now all have scanners. Receipts, invitations, insurance documents, and other important paperwork can all be scanned. Take a few minutes every weekend to scan and save everything, then toss the paperwork in the recycling.
Courtesy of retired Admiral William McRaven, author retired Admiral William H. McRaven, author of “Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life . . . and Maybe the World,” make your bed before you do anything else. It’s a small accomplishment, but one, nonetheless. It will make you feel better as you leave the house and as you return.
Cleaning out your fridge on a weekly basis is another guideline that should be established as a rule. Leftovers become science projects if left there too long. You should probably plan this activity the night before the trash collector comes.
