You know how it is when you are in the mood to do something, you want to go ahead and do it. Well, the same is true for organizing a space. When you’re in the mood to get something organized it’s best to take advantage of that positive energy and dive right in.
Since I am a professional organizer, I am often asked what the best place is to begin organizing. My clients want to start organizing, they are motivated, but don’t know where to start or how hard it will be to get it done. Does this ever happen to you?
My friend and business partner, Jonda Beattie, and I developed a card game to make organizing fun and easy for clients and everyone else. The game is called: Organize Your Home 10 Minutes at a Time. This card game addresses the problem of where to start since the cards have tasks in most common areas of the home.
Easy to use
This colorful easy to use 52 card deck of cards includes a guide to walk you through how to use them to effectively and to organize most of the common areas of your home 10 minutes at a time.
Common areas
The remaining 50 individual cards are dedicated to areas common in most homes. The cards address these individual areas:
- Family Room/Dining Area
- Bedroom
- Bathroom
- Closets
- Kitchen
- Office
- Laundry
Each card outlines 4 to 6 simple steps to complete one small task in a 10-minute time span. As an added bonus, each card has a note or suggestion about the targeted area at the bottom of the card.
The top of the card has the name of the room. The task is identified. Then all you have to do is follow the step-by-step instructions to complete the task in 10 minutes or less.
What are you in the mood to organize?
Whether you are in the mood to organize your kitchen, bathroom, or bedroom or any other room in your home, we break it down shelf-by-shelf and area by area within each room, so you don’t feel like you have to organize the entire room at one time. That would be overwhelming!
If you don’t know where you want to start, spread the cards out face down and pick a card. The card will tell you where to start. If you don’t like that idea, pick a different card.
What’s next?
Once you have your card in hand, go to that room or area, and follow the step-by-step directions on the card.
It’s as simple as that.
When you have finished the task, take a few minutes to celebrate your accomplishment.
If you’re still in the mood to organize, pick another card. Quite often the wonderful feeling of success carries forward and motivates us to do more. Since it takes only 10 short minutes to complete the task you may want to keep on organizing.
What are the benefits?
The biggest benefit is that you organize one small space at a time completely.
Often when people decide to organize a space, they tackle too big a task. They may walk into a messy room and decide to spend the day organizing the whole room. After a couple of hours, they look around and feel defeated because two hours have passed by and the room is still disorganized. They have not accomplished what they set out to do.
This deck of cards breaks down large spaces into small, measurable tasks.
It’s so much more rewarding to accomplish a small task and then have the option to move on to another small task than to feel defeated by the enormity of trying to organize an entire room in one day.
Another benefit from using the cards is that they help you maintain spots in your home that you may not think about organizing, like the top shelf in the coat closet. Things lurk in the back of that top shelf because it doesn’t occur to us to tackle that spot.
Staying organized and knowing what you have in your home in all those hard to reach out of the way spots is another fabulous benefit you receive when you use this terrific deck of cards.
In Conclusion
This first of its kind deck of cards: Organize Your Home 10 Minutes at a Time allows people to play a game with themselves and get organized. So, if you’re in the mood to do some organizing why not pick a card, any card, and get started!
Diane N. Quintana is a Certified Professional Organizer® ,a Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization®, Master Trainer and owner of DNQ Solutions, LLC and co-owner of Release●Repurpose●Reorganize, LLC based in Atlanta, Georgia. She specializes in residential and home-office organizing and in working with people affected by ADD, Hoarding, and chronic disorganization. Diane and Jonda Beattie are the best-selling authors of: Filled Up and Overflowing.
These cards are beautiful! A zillion years ago, I used to use index cards based on the Sidetracked Home Executives book’s plan, but these are much more motivating than my homemade ones.
These cards are so creative, and you know I liked them because I blogged about them (and you and Jonda) a few weeks ago! People get inspiration in different ways, and I think cards help gamify the process much more than books or anything we can do online. It’s short, it’s concrete, and it gets the work done! I’m really impressed with the two of you inventing these cards, and you explained their use really well!
I like the cards. It is similar to a subscription service I recently launched. I think a lot of people just need a little guidance as to where to start and what to do when organizing a space. You make it fun!
Clever idea! I wish I had thought of it!
This is a fun, smart and creative way to organize!! 10 minutes slots of time. That’s the way to go.
Where do you sell these? Can you find them on Amazon? I would definitely sell these in my Instagram and Amazon shop. I think they would sell out in a jiffy!
I’m all for breaking it down into small do-able steps! This goes for any project, really.
I love it! Great idea. What an awesome gift for family members! I’m going to buy them for our home and maybe some family members. =)
Diane- I LOVE this idea and the organizing card game you and Jonda created together! It’s brilliant! Getting started is often the hardest part. And also, often we think we have to spend hours organizing. But a lot can be accomplished in a short time. It’s the jumpstart we need to get on a roll. I wish you the best of success with this product. It looks like a winner to me.
How great is this? What a creative idea!! I love it. I can see that this would be an easy way to keep yourself accountable and moving forward on your organizing projects!