If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know I’m not one of those super organized, “File all my knickers in style and colour” type of girls. If my knickers make it to the undies drawer, I call that a success! . Yes, I do teach people how to be organized but I like to think of it as “realistic organizing.” We have all seen those beautifully organized homes where not even the cat had a hair out of place and everything is filed according to the colour-co-ordinated home organization binder. . Seriously, who has time for that shit? . If you do and it works for you, well that’s great, carry on but for those of us in the real world…

Well… being a not-so-organized person, I have discovered that setting up systems and changing my mindset has made a huge difference at home, and since I work from home, it has knock on effects for work too! Double Wammie! . Now, I know that if I keep the place uncluttered I can actually vacuum the whole house in 10 minutes. Which is a whole lot better than 30 minutes when you hate cleaning as much as I do! . The same with dusting, if the decks are clear it is so much easier to whizz around with the duster. But I don’t want to talk about cleaning today, I want to share one of my BIG little tips about getting things under control, the 10 minute kaizen home organization tip that you need to implement! . It will be easy to find the thing you need to apply this too because…

Erm, yeah, right thanks Jo! Seriously, if you do this you will start to get a grip on things. . I’ll start with a real life example… I like wearing necklaces, fun, interesting necklaces. Non of the necklaces I own need to be kept in a safe! . I had been keeping them in a Muji clear storage box BUT every time I went to get one out I’d end up in a strop because they would be tangled together. Half the time I would give up on wearing the one I wanted because it would be knotted up with 3 others and I could be bothered to deal with it! . Ridiculous right? . The last time it happened, it was enough to push me over the edge!  I decided that the next time I was in town I’d find a solution. . I popped into the ¥100 store ($store), picked up some sticky backed hooks, set me back ¥216. Got home and stuck the hooks to the wall and…. . Voila! . My very own necklace gallery wall, using a bit of dead space in the walk in closet. (Rubbish lighting I’m afraid, it is the closet after all!)

The solution was so simple, it took me 10 minutes to actually implement it and yet I wasted so much time in the past swearing at the necklace box and all that was tangled in it! . So the trick is to pull yourself up when you are getting annoyed at something. It might be when you are trying to get the bloody frying pan out of the drawer or dodging a cascade of towels when you go to grab a clean one. Maybe it’s tripping up on the collection of shoes as you come home that drives you batty! . Each of these little ‘issues’ puts you in bad mood, you grumble internally and swear you’ll fix it ‘someday’ But there’s the thing, someday never happens! . This is so simple and obvious yet most of us don’t do it! Most of these little issues will take you 10 minutes to fix – yes you have 10 minutes because you are wasting 5 minutes every time the issue rears its ugly head. . Decide on a time and fix the problem, 9 times out of 10 it won’t need a major overhaul, just a tweak here or there. . Maybe switch the saucepan cupboards so the frying pan fits better or roll your towels instead of folding them. Have a quick clear out and throw out the shoes you no longer need, freeing up some space. . These 10-minute fixes will make you feel happier, you will give yourself a virtual pat on the back each time you use the frying pan/grab a towel or whatever and you will have a nice bruise on your leg from kicking yourself for not doing it sooner! . You know I’m all for accountability and getting shit done, so share in the comments or come over to Moms That Rock and share that one thing that has been driving you batty over the last couple of months and what are you going to do about it! . If this post resonates with you and you feel like you could do with more help in the organizing and de-cluttering department then check out Clear The Clutter, it’s just the thing you need! . .