Clutterfree is more than a project, it is also a process.
It is one thing to declutter your home one time. But keeping it clutterfree requires healthy habits going forward.
One of the most simple and effective rules for getting your life under control and keeping your home clutterfree is the “one-minute rule” introduced by Gretchen Rubin.
Complete any task that can be finished in one minute immediately.
Followed consistently, this rule will make an amazing difference in your home and life. It has for me. Here’s a list of places where you can begin implementing this rule right away—I call them one-minute clutterfree habits.
21 One-Minute Clutterfree Habits
These micro-habits will definitely help keep your home clutterfree.
1. Make Your Bed
First thing, right away, as soon as you get up.
2. Put away your coat and shoes.
Also scarves and gloves and hats. In the coat closet where they belong.
3. Recycle the junk mail.
In fact, I throw it into the recycle bin in the garage and don’t even let it enter my home.
4. Put clean dishes away.
Don’t leave them out—on the counter, in the sink, or the dishwasher.
5. Don’t leave clothes on the floor or furniture.
Dirty clothes in the laundry pile. Clean clothes back in the closet/drawer.
6. Put away your keys and change.
Wherever your drop-zone is (ours is a drawer), use it always. Bonus: You’ll always know where your keys are. :)
7. Don’t leave out your bathroom toiletries.
In the morning after getting ready and at night before going to bed. Twice/day. Keep your bathroom counter clear.
8. Put kids’ school items away.
Teach/Show your kids where their backpacks belong and get them trained early.
9. Empty the car entirely when you arrive home.
Whatever you brought into the car that day, take out when you return home. You’ll love driving a clutterfree vehicle!
10. Wash your snack dishes/cups immediately.
Pots and pans can take longer than one minute. But the bowl you used for ice cream won’t. Wash snack dishes quickly with a dishwand.
11. Store those kitchen appliances.
Toaster, coffee pot, blender… store them all out of sight (even if you use them every day). Trust me, you’ll love it.
12. Pick up toys.
There is no age too early to teach your children how to clean up after themselves.
13. Tear down cardboard boxes.
Even if you’re going to keep them, flatten and free up space.
14. Put away the remote controls.
Don’t leave remote controls scattered all over the living room. Put them back where they belong after each use.
15. Return chargers and cords to drawers.
Especially if you charge electronics in shared spaces.
16. Fold your blanket after use.
Wadded up on the couch or folded nicely? Choose folded every time.
17. Empty full trash cans/bins.
Someone has to take out the trash. If the bin is full, remember the “one-minute” rule and get it done.
18. Return reading materials to their designated home.
Magazines, newspapers, books, Sudoku, whatever.
19. Throw out any expired leftovers/food.
Clear up the space in your fridge or pantry.
20. Put away your tools.
You know who you are…
21. File those papers.
Few things clutter a room quicker than piles of paper.
Followed consistently, these micro-habits will make an amazing difference in your home. And who doesn’t love a clutterfree home?
About Joshua Becker
I didn’t know these were things to note, these are things I do all the time. You mean to tell me that people don’t bring in everything from their cars each time they get out? Seriously, following these tasks was how I was brought up and the norm for me. Now I’m mostly surprised that other people don’t do these things, but I’m telling ya, you should do these things – it makes me happy for sure!
I can tick off most of this list. However, the kitchen is my creative space and I like to have my appliances at hand. Each one has its designated spot. Small appliances are stored in cupboards. As this room is not open-plan, it doesn’t appear cluttered.
What to do with ongoing projects that are too difficult to tidy each time? We don’t have a designated “project room” so the kitchen table becomes a project table. I procrastinate some projects like photo sorting (thousands!!), puzzles, file cabinet decluttering, etc because I love the look of a clean table and only accomplish those task that are easily tidied at the end of the day. Any ideas/suggestions?
If they can fit, try baskets or tubs or you can designate bookshelf space or even under bed tubs. You can also use a mat or tray to move things out of the way if you have small items. We have large mats and a big puzzle mat that can be rolled up. I have small shoebox sized bins and large cube bins that store things out of sight. It is lovely! If you are in the middle of a huge project, consider just cleaning it up before dinner or using a portable folding table instead of the kitchen table. It can fold up and be stored when not in use and moved out of the way as needed.
# 5 alludes to this, but my big thing is Hang Up Your Clothes. (I do always.) It was a tough habit to develop, but once ingrained, you can’t to back again.
I agree and heartily endorse all the tips here, except the toaster thing. That one always stops me in my tracks, and I suspect is the most controversial. Not all of us have the kind of storage that makes storing all our kitchen appliances feasible. My counter holds a one-cup coffee maker, a Kitchenaid mixer, a breadbox, a food processor, a knife block, and yes, a toaster. My cat iron cookware lives nested on one of my stove burner — possible because the stove has five burners. My kitchen is tiny, and has almost no wall space. An island is out of the question. I use a rolling butcher block cart for much of my prep work. It also holds my Instant Pot and a container of dish towels. The important takeaway here, I believe, is to keep the counters and appliances clean, and the sink empty. A clean kitchen inspires me to cook, and so does a clean refrigerator and stove. Other than the toaster thing, the suggestions are all winners.
Great info! I started making my bed after an article from Martha Stewart years ago and has makes you start your day in a positive mood that you already have accomplished something.
I love the one minute rules.
I also have a 5 minute rule I got from a friend so many years ago To get you started cleaning a room or any task really, start a timer for 5 min and see how much you can get done. The motivation kicks in and keeps you motivated to keep going!
My dad always said, “If you can do it in a minute, do it now.” So turning off lights, putting things away, etc. was a habit for me from an early age. Always a good reminder!
I have been very motivated to clean and declutter. It’s a great feeling to have a clean/clutter-free home. A little daily effort and the results are great!
Here’s my habit: Whenever you walk from one room to another, take one thing with you that belongs to the room where you’re going!
I do all of this as well as try to work on a project at least one per week. If anyone walks into my house they ask when I am moving as they think everything must be packed away. Clutter free is stress free for me.
This sounds lovely!! I am working on it slowly.
I am literally in tears because, even though I do most of these things, my family members (one adult, one older teenager), do none of them, even though they know the clutter and mess stress me out. I am so beyond frustrated. My dad was a pack rat, bordering on hoarder, who I took care of for 13 yrs. Heaven help me if I tried to straighten up or throw anything away. So now I live with two people who do the same thing. I own the house, so it’s not like I can move out and live by myself…
I am living a similar situation and feel your pain. It is so hard to live with people who actively sabotage your every efforts for having a tidy space. A more practical approach that has worked somewhat for my family is to examine the common habits that they have, and create an organizational system around that. For example, I have shelves for shoes and a coat rack directly next to the front door even though there isn’t a closet there. Other people might have a family capable of walking a few feet to a hall closet, but not mine. I also got an amazing tip from a friend about a stupid thing that was seriously stressing me out – hand towels. She told me that she safety pinned hers so they were attached and couldn’t be pulled off and left on the counter. Now my kitchen and bathroom hand towels are all safety pinned so that my husband and teenage son CAN’T just pull them off and leave them on the counter. It’s a small win, but so worthwhile! Hope this is helfpul.
My expansion on number 3 junk mail. If you get your mail at a group box, just sort the junk in an instant and drop back into the delivery slot. The post office will recycle it, I hope!
I taught my kids and husband long ago to put their things away. If they didn’t I got a box put their things that had been left on the floor table etc and packed it away. Didn’t matter what it was. When they started asking where it was I said where did you leave it? Is that where it belongs? Guess the “maid” got rid of it because she was tired of picking it up. It works!
I’d like to air my bed out permanently by keeping the covers all thrown to the middle. For allergies.
For our home I agree with all of these except the toaster. We have a toaster oven we use multiple times a day and no place to store it other than the counter. Our kitchen is very small and has already been de-cluttered and organized to where I don’t have to move one thing to get to another. Putting the toaster away would mean having to move things to get to it. That being said, everything else in the kitchen that has a home gets put away right away. The toaster oven sits against a wall and we just shift it a few inches back in place as soon as we are done with it.
I wanted to mention a site called Catalog Choice that helps get you off mailing lists. (I am not affiliated with it other than as a user.) It has really helped reduce the amount of junk mail and catalogs that used to just end up in our recycling bin anyway.
I recently flattened my boxes because I was having my dehumidifier worked on and wanted area clear for workers. I have a utility table set up in garage and boxes fit under table and garage looks much neater.
I like the new one about masks. I have two containers on top of washer that leads to garage. One with clean masks, one used. All used masks near by so I can add to wash when I do a bit water load. Stay
Thanks for another great article.
I find that time is my biggest concern in getting things done – thinking of how long something takes (which is almost always quite a short period of time) helps me to do tasks.
I was excited to see that that these habits have been started without even thinking about it because I live having a tidy house.
Thank you Joshua for inspiration. I love the idea of flattening the cardboard boxes. This is the first time that I have read this in relation to minimalism. I am going straight away to flatten all of the cardboard boxes that I have saved for taking my surplus stuff to auction. It will free up a lot of space.
This is a wonderful list Joshua. We are currently staying with friends but when we had our home I/we did everything on this list.
I especially like junk mail not getting in the door. We kept a shredder in the garage, right by the door the entered into our home. Junk went there immediately.
I’ve always made my bed first thing in the morning. Doing it right away means, it’s done!! And the room always looks much better.
Filing away those papers is a big, and important one. Once I got this organized it was life changing for the better.
And I love the look of clean, uncluttered countertops. I put all those kitchen items hidden away. It looks so much cleaner, brighter and lighter. I can’t stand a sink full of dirty dishes either. This is something I’ve always taken care of right away. Rarely does so much as a coffee cup sit in the sink.
All of these things together makes life so much cleaner and nicer.
I used to keep a cute chalk board on a kitchen wall. Every week I wrote down the meals I was planning. This way none of those things in the fridge got forgotten when they were hidden behind other things in the fridge. It looked cute on the wall too.
Your bed should air for at least one hour after waking because we sweat at night. Don’t make allergies worse by making your bed first thing.
You can make your bed but then fold the linens neatly down to the bottom which will air out the bed and still have the bed looking made. I make my bed upon waking and pull the covers back neatly to the bottom so it can air out, and then all I need to do is pull the covers up after a shower or breakfast. My children have seen this so much that their way of making the bed is to make it and fold the bedding back down to the bottom of the bed neatly and leave it like that. :)
YES! I do this as well. We live in a high humidity area, and I like a well aired bed.
Thanks for the comment. I don’t struggle with allergies and think that airing out your bed is overrated. I much prefer to make it right away when I get up.
I’m retired so have the luxury of one coffee and while the second cup is brewing I can make the bed (everything is aired).
This is the best email I have received from you. Most of your emails are so long and wordy that I don’t have time to read them. I receive too many emails. ( I am decluttering my in-bin by ‘unsubscribing’ to many sites…not yours.) I would appreciate it if your decluttering suggestions could be changed from Tolstoy novels to Shakespeare sonnets At 76 years old, I am still in the process of downsizing. Thank you!
I’m wIth you! Nothing so freeing as a little downsizing.
Great ideas, Joshua.
Clean counters really do make a difference!! It’s really amazing how small steps make our homes more peaceful.
I never thought of this one:
“13. Tear down cardboard boxes.
Even if you’re going to keep them,
flatten and free up space.”
Great idea! Removes visual clutter!
Thanks for sharing.
I was surprised at how many of these I practice. Have to pick up after my husband, he’ll do it eventually but I don’t like things lying around. Since retirement I’ve made him a coffee set-up, much easier than spread around the cupboard.
I agree with everything on this list except the ‘make your bed: First thing, right away, as soon as you get up’ rule because your bed needs 15-30 minutes to air out.
Thanks for the comment. We make our bed right away and will continue to do so.
Same, if I didn’t make the bed straight away it wouldn’t get done!
As soon as I’m up, I pray, go to the bathroom, then make the bed, so it would have a few minutes to dry out I guess. But i’ve never bothered airing it specially and it hasn’t affected me at all :).
Great suggestions Josh, could you do a list for tiding up office desks.
I like to make the bed right away and also need to air it out because I’m a hot sleeper. So I do a combo of bot. As soon as I stand, I make the bed. Wait! There is more to it. I fluff the pillows, stand them up, pull up bedding to the top, and neatly fold it back down to the bottom of the bed. This leaves the top 2/3 of the bed exposed to air out which is more than if I just left it all a mess. The bed looks neat and “made” and inviting; so if for some reason I don’t get back to make it fully right away, the room appears cared for and neatly done up. After getting ready, I pull the covers up and neaten them so the bed is fully made. Voila! My children leave theirs in the made but turned back stage, probably because when I had the youngest, that was as far as I ever got for a while. ;)
I agree with the airing out of the bed necessity, body perspiration needs time to evaporate and its far more hygienic than broiling in your own bodily fluids the following evening.
I was thrilled to learn we already do most of the things on that list. A visiting friend once asked me if our house was always that tidy. :)
A fairly new one is put your used face mask in the laundry bin as soon as you remove it.