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How to Tidy Up Your House in Just 5 Minutes a Day

Plus a free printable to help you get organized!

By Jennifer Sheran, publisher Macaroni Kid McDonough, Stockbridge, Hampton, Locust Grove March 29, 2022

Over the last few years, minimalism has been a growing trend. Marie Kondo has sold millions of copies of her popular book The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up, which was turned into a TV show. The Home Edit girls went have us all searching for clear plastic containers of all shapes and sizes. With more time at home, people have sorted and discarded mountains of clothes, cleaned out garages, and eliminated items they no longer need. We went through a renovation and then house move so the past few years we have cleared away a lot of things we no longer need.

I am currently in the process of helping my parents clear out their home of 40 years to get ready to put it on the market. Oh I wish they had embraced the art of decluttering a long time ago. While it is fun to find an old paper I wrote in fourth grade or a card my now teen wrote to her grandpa when she was four, it is equally frustrating to find things that should have been discarded ages ago. Like travel pamphlets from the 1970s or boxes of old receipts. 

By simplifying your living space and creating systems to manage the flow of stuff you will have less stress and more time for things that matter most.

I understand the process of decluttering and daily tidying can feel overwhelming. If you're hoping to break the cycle of clutter and feeling overwhelmed, here are three tips and tricks that work for me, and I hope work for you!


1. Make it a daily habit

Once you've gone through your home as thoroughly as possible, then you can maintain your clutter-free lifestyle with just 5 minutes of maintenance each day. 

Create that habit by dedicating time daily to tidying your home. Even just five minutes a day will add up to real improvements in no time! Invest more time when you can. The key is to build a habit of tidying. You can do that by consistently setting a timer for 5  minutes and select one area to work on. 

What if you don't finish? Go back to that area during your next five minute session. Not sure where to start? 

Download our FREE printable chart to guide you through your home. 



2. Divide and conquer

When cleaning out any space, divide items into three categories: Trash, sell, and donate. 

  • Trash anything expired or broken beyond repair – without guilt!
  • Sell anything that has value and you're motivated enough to sell (but give yourself a deadline – and then donate if you haven't sold it!).
  • Donate items that would provide value to someone else.

Before you start your timer, grab a trash bag for the throw away items. Select an area for anything that is for sale to live in the interim. Designate a day and time every week to photograph each sale item and post them on online marketplaces. Finally, it also helps to have a donate bin that you can keep in an accessible space and toss things in at the end of your five-minute sessions. At the end of the week, make it a habit to run by your favorite thrift store. 


3. Ask hard questions

It's not going to be easy to get rid of a lot of things. You have to ask yourself the hard questions:

  • Does this item benefit my life? 
  • Does it still function as it should? 
  • Does it make me smile?
  • When was the last time I used this?
  • Do I have a real need for it again in the future? 
  • Do I have other items that already fulfill the same purpose?
  • If I was shopping RIGHT NOW, would I buy this item again? 
  • Does this item make my life more enjoyable or serve an important purpose?
  • Does someone else need this more than me?


You can use this time as a teachable moment by decluttering with your kids. Take turns picking the area to be straightened up. Go through the questions together. Help them think through decisions.

Keeping a clutter-free home doesn't to be an all-consuming project to be successful. Go through your things as thoroughly as possible to get started, but also know that taking just five minutes each day can add up to a significant amount of time over the course of a year. Use those five minutes to make small changes, and you'll soon experience life-changing benefits.