Daily Deeds
This collection of suggestions should be used in a way that works for you. Pick a few tasks that are priorities for your home on a daily basis, or do them all! If you stick to the numbers we suggest, you can take care of everything mentioned here in just over an hour a day:

• Toss Trash: Take 3-5 minutes to get rid of 3-5 things. The fridge, your pantry, closets, the garage or basement are all good places to do this.

• Put Things Away: Pick up 3-5 things in your immediate area and put them where they belong in 3-5 minutes. For example: laundry, toys, paperwork, mail, jewelry or shoes. If you find something that doesn’t have a place, use our basket idea below to collect orphaned items to be sorted out later.

• Sort Emails: When you’re taking care of bills online, shopping or just browsing, stop and take 3-5 minutes to read, answer and/or delete 3-5 emails before you shut down to help keep your inbox organized.

• Do a Surface Reorganization: Take 3-5 minutes every day to clear or reorganize one surface. For example: the kitchen counter, your desk, the entryway table, your dresser or the coffee table.

• Find Time to Focus: When you’re feeling flustered, take 3-5 minutes to make a list to help prioritize the top 3-5 things you need to do. Or just relax, sit down and take a deep breath. Taking a few moments to put everything in perspective will help you be more productive in the long run.

• Do a Quick Clean: Choose one item or area that often gets overlooked and give it a quick clean for 3-5 minutes. For example: the toaster oven, the top of the fridge or a bookcase, the inside of the microwave or the coffee maker.

• Use a Basket: Keep a basket in 3 high traffic areas of your home (living room, kitchen, entryways or office) to collect orphaned odds n’ ends that need to be put away. Sort items in the baskets once a week for 3-5 minutes or rotate the responsibility through your family members.

Start Helpful Habits
Keep your surroundings orderly on an everyday basis. Take 3-5 minutes a day to get into these good habits and you’ll really feel the clutter of daily life begin to melt away:

• Make the bed. Beginning your day by making the bed will make your room look and feel neater, and it sets you up for sticking to good habits all day long. Plus, you reap the rewards when it’s time to snuggle up at night. For more beautiful bed-making tips, read Four Steps to a Beautiful Bed.

• Sort your mail. Instead of setting mail aside for later, do a quick sort as soon as you pick it up. You don’t need to take action immediately, simply throw away junk, pass along any mail belonging to other members of the household and place the pieces you do need to answer in an inbox on your desk or counter. Use a basket or rack to collect magazines or catalogs you want to look through later.

• Straighten up your entryway. Make coming and going a delightful experience for everyone who visits your home by keeping clutter from piling up in the entryway. It may just mean putting shoes in a rack or cleaning off your entry table, but it will make a big difference and a great first impression on family and guests.

• Clean out your purse. After just one day, your purse may be littered with receipts and your lip-gloss may have gone missing at the bottom. Taking a few minutes at night to de-clutter your bag can help keep it from getting messier in the long run and prepare you for the next day. For more purse organization ideas, read Organization On the Go.

• File papers. Instead of letting papers pile up on your desk, take 3-5 minutes to file 3-5 pieces where they belong or start a new file if need-be. This way, the next time you sit down to do some work or pay bills, you’ll have a clean, inviting surface to start with.

By creating small daily cleaning and organizing routines and sticking to new habits, you’ll have more time to enjoy a clean home and relaxing moments.