If you’ve seen any lifestyle media recently, you’d know that “KonMari” is the hot trend in tidying-up. Though, this process can take a lot more time than anticipated. We talked to a local Professional Organizer who shared her top decluttering tips that take 10 minutes or less!

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Decluttering is all the rage in lifestyle news this spring season. There are many physical, emotional and energetic benefits to purging your home of old clothes and unused stuff. We connected with Kara Desmond, a Professional Organizer and founder of the local business Utterly Uncluttered.

You’ll be surprised how clearing up the “small stuff” can make a big difference in how your home feels. Kara has shared some of the best areas to tackle first as you begin your journey into a home that’s sustainably and beautifully clutter-free.

Plus, these tips take 10 minutes or less, so you can spend your weekend outside enjoying the fresh spring air.  

1. Paper, Paper, Paper!

It’s hard to feel like you have your clutter under control when there is paper…everywhere! “Set aside 10 minutes to take a walk around your home and collect all of your miscellaneous papers and put them into one pile,” Kara advised. “Then sort them into three groups: TAKE ACTION, FILE AWAY, and TOSS.” Paper clutter is more manageable when it’s all in one place and you know exactly what you are supposed to do with it.

2. Make a Sweet Spot for Spices.

So, you found a great new pasta recipe that you can’t wait to make for dinner tonight. You head out to the grocery store and come home, only to realize you already have three jars of parsley sitting in your cupboard! If only you could see what was hiding in that cupboard.

Kara encouraged, “Take 10 minutes and pull out all of your spices. Throw away any expired spices.” (Yes, they expire, and most have dates listed on them.) Within minutes, you’ll clear up a bunch of valuable “real estate” in the cupboard and you’ll have a clear inventory on what spices you have.

3. Tackle the Travel-Size Toiletries.

Just like spices, many toiletries expire, too. For being so small, these mini-bottles also take up a ton of space and tend to live in our homes for years without ever being looked at or used again.  

“Take a quick 10 minutes and collect all of your travel-size toiletry bottles,” Kara shared. “Look at the back of the item to see if you can spot an image of a jar that states the ‘best before’ date of the product. It will read something to the effect of 12M or 24M. If it’s expired or no longer smells good, toss or recycle it!” You can then designate a small bin or travel kit to store the items you keep.

4. Cords here, cords there, cords everywhere!

Electronics can be a tricky thing to keep tidy. “Grab a small, clear plastic bin with a lid and do a 10-minute walk around your house to collect any spare cords, chargers, earbuds, and small miscellaneous electronic items lying around,” Kara offered. “Designate this bin as your family’s ‘Electronics’ bin. You get bonus points if you put a label on the bin!” Kara shared that when something is labeled and has an official “home,” the odds increase that the items will continue to be put away.

5. Never Get Hit with a Tupperware Avalanche Again!

Mismatched lids and containers make it difficult to find the size you’re looking for. In the spirit of doing a quick 10-minute clean-up, Kara recommends to, “Remove all of your food storage containers and lids and lay them out on your counter, sorting them by brand and size.”  You’ll then want to discard any containers or lids that are cracked, don’t have a match, or are no longer being used. Kara added, “Stack all matching containers together, and separately stack matching lids together.” This saves space and makes it easy to see what you have.

Try out these 10-minute Tips first and notice the shift you’ll feel in your home. Our creative team at The Weekender loves to feature #MichiganMade businesses. To learn more about Kara and her services, you can visit UtterlyUncluttered.com or follow @utterlyuncluttered on Instagram.