Basic Rule of Organizing

I have noticed over the years that if I follow this simple rule of organizing, I can generally keep my house clean and organized without too much effort.

The rule is this: If it takes less than a minute to do, you need to do it right then.

Here are a few examples of this:

1. Undressing - when you undress and your clothes are not going in the hamper, you need to hang them up. Hanging up your clothes takes less than a minute. So don't put your clothes on the floor or chair. Hang them up.

2. Bringing in the mail - It takes less than a minute to sort your mail so do it as you are walking into the house. Don't put the mail in a pile to get to later. Do it right then. Don't start piles that take less than a minute to sort through.

3. Cleaning up the kitchen while you are cooking - this is a big one for me because I can cook a big meal and literally have no clean up work to do afterward. While I am cooking or making the meal, I put the items away back in the refrigerator or pantry as I am cooking the meal.

4. Car organization - a lot of reasons people have disorganized cars is because they just don't think of their cars as much as their homes yet clutter can grow rapidly in the car. The one minute rule really applies when you are going from your car into your house. Be sure to clean our your car of trash or stuff that need to go from your car to your house. If it takes one minute to do it is well worth the effort to do it right then.

Always remember the rule of one. You will be much more organized and clean if you do.