Why I Swear By the Ten Minute Tidy

Read time: 4-5 minutes

Ever heard of the ten minute tidy?

The daily tidy is one of the most realistic and beneficial organizing habits I know {I practice this myself} and if I could give you only one piece of advice after organizing your space, this would be it.

This small daily habit is a recommendation for anybody, wherever you are at in the process of getting your home in order, but it is especially wonderful for those who have put in the time and hard work of truly going through a deep & thorough organization.

The idea is simple: set a timer for ten minutes and spend that time resetting a space in your home.

Not because ten minutes will magically solve all your organizing challenges. It won't.

But because ten minutes is realistic and ten minutes can be all you need to stay on track and keep your systems running smoothly.

More than once I have made it through multiple spaces in my home in that ten minutes because doing it daily {or most days} keeps things under control.

One thing I've noticed after working with organizing clients is that maintaining an organized home rarely comes down to having more time. Many think that this is the culprit, that pesky clock that only gives us 24 hours.

In fact, I think one of the biggest misconceptions about organization is that people need large blocks of time to stay on top of their homes.

The secret isn't more time.

It's creating small habits that prevent things from becoming overwhelming in the first place.

It's setting up systems & creating homes for your items and then committing to tidying up and putting them where they belong.

One of the many reasons I love the Ten Minute Tidy is because it works during your busy seasons too. You don't need a free afternoon, motivation, or a detailed plan before you begin. Some days you'll stop when the timer goes off, and other days you'll keep going because you've built momentum. Both are fantastic.

Once you form the habit and start to tidy daily, it will become almost second nature and you'll find yourself tidying throughout the day instead of just dumping everything into a pile or onto the nearest counter. These small actions will accumulate and a few minutes here and there adds up.

The goal isn't to finish or clear everything.

The goal is to simply make progress and take a step towards preventing overwhelm.

A common challenge I see after completed organizing projects is that people spend their time {and often money} creating working systems, but they never build a habit of maintaining them.

The mail gets set on the counter day after day.

The items that belong in that labeled bin upstairs collect on the landing.

The things that don't belong in a room slowly start accumulating in corners and on surfaces.

None of these things are major problems on their own. But over time, they become piles upon piles. And decisions upon decisions.

And those piles eventually require hours of your attention to sort through, put away, and reset.

The Ten Minute Tidy helps prevent that cycle.

Instead of spending hours catching up and feeling completely overwhelmed and frustrated doing it, you're spending a few minutes maintaining the systems you've already worked so hard to create.

I think a lot of people underestimate the power of small actions because we're constantly shown dramatic transformations online. This can make us feel like progress only counts when it's big.

Real life usually looks different.

Real life is clearing the kitchen counter before bed.

Putting away the load of laundry.

Returning shoes from your hectic day to your closet.

Resetting the drop zone.

None of these tasks are particularly exciting on their own, but together they create a home that feels consistently maintained and easier to live in.

Consistency matters more than motivation. Motivation comes and goes. Small habits carry us through our day to day moments.

At the end of the day, most of us don't need more time or a bigger house. We need simple systems that work for us and realistic habits to maintain those systems.

Ten minutes may not seem like much, but ten minutes on repeat every day can completely change how your home functions and feels.

Trust me and start there.