HOME ORGANIZATION: 30-Minute Organization Projects

30-Minute Organization Projects

With more than 30 years of experience as the storage and organization experts, we've come up with some creative solutions for saving precious space and time.

We also love to hear from customers like you about how you stay organized.

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Do you have just 30 minutes that you can devote to one area of your home? You’ll be surprised at how much you can accomplish in this short period of time! Below are some of our favorite quick home organization projects that you can do in just 30 minutes that will really make a difference!

Create a family communication center

Organize the “hub” of your home to gain maximum efficiencies for your family. Set up a family communication center in an area where the “stuff” piles up, either in the kitchen or near the most-often used entryway. Include a calendar to keep track of everyone’s activities, color-coded by family member. A magnetic bulletin board hold notes, photos and lists. Incorporate a multi-pocket sorter to organize incoming mail for everyone in the household. Don’t forget an outgoing basket to hold books or videos that need to be returned, or receipts needed to pick-up dry cleaning. Choose from a multitude of styles and finishes for space-saving solutions to get your family organized.

Organize your junk drawer

Everyone has one. Junk drawers hold all of life’s little necessities and are often crammed to the max. Dedicate just 30 minutes to organizing one drawer and you’ll be amazed at the sense of accomplishment you’ll gain! To get started, pull all of the contents out and decide what stays and what goes. Not sure? If you have a junk drawer in the kitchen, it should only hold the items you use when you’re in the kitchen. If necessary, set up a drawer or even a decorative box in another room (like a bathroom or home office) to hold “necessities” that are generally used in those rooms. Choose from drawer organizers in a variety of sizes and materials to make space for items that belong.

Set up a cleaning station

When you’re in the midst of cleaning, you don’t want to waste time digging for the window spray deep in your lower cabinets. Create a customized cleaning station on a garage or pantry door or mounted to a wall in a laundry room to store all of your supplies and keep them easily accessible. As an added bonus, you’ll end up with more space in your lower cabinets for items like extra trash bags or a recycling bin.

Make a project box for kids

Kids love to be where the action is, so create a portable project box that they can fill with art and craft supplies and take to any room in the home. Include items like construction paper, crayons and a notepad that can keep your kids engaged while you tend to things that need to be done around the house. It’s also a great solution for keeping kids entertained while traveling. Choose a container with handles for easy portability and use smaller containers inside to create compartments.

Keep your arts and crafts organized

Do you love to be crafty but just don’t have enough space to do it? Look for storage space in unsuspected places...in a spare closet, under a bed or in the corner of a bedroom. By identifying a specific area in your home to house all of your craft-related supplies — even if you don’t have the luxury of a full room — you’ll be able to keep the rest of your home neat and tidy.

Store and protect cherished memories

From treasured family photos to irreplaceable children’s artwork, families generate a lot of special memories that need to be protected. Dedicate several minutes at a time to go through your photos and organize them by date or occasion. Choose attractive boxes or binders to which you can add pages to store them. Go through your child’s artwork with your child and choose the ones that mean the most that you’ll keep.

Revamp your magazine storage

For many of us, between the magazines we subscribe to and the catalogs we order from, periodicals can quickly pile up in our homes! Take a few minutes to set up an organization system for your favorite titles. Commit to storing only the most recent issues (six months is a good guideline) and recycle the rest. If there’s a certain story you want to keep beyond the six-month period, tear that page out and file it...there’s no need to keep the entire issue.

Organize your media

Keep your family’s favorite movies and music within easy reach on an entertainment center or bookshelf in the den. Others that are used less regularly can be stored in another area or on a higher shelf. When organizing media, decide what you really want to keep, and donate items you don’t to create more space.