I admit that claiming 10 minute tidy can be an ultimate transformation is well… bold. And quite honestly I am okay with that. I know the difference and space this has made in my life and I want to give that to you.

Who is this for?

Anyone who is willing to pick up after themselves and/or other people. Get the kids involved. Get other adults in the house involved. The nice thing is we are only talking about 10 minute tidy.

When do we do a 10 minute tidy?

I like the idea of a 10 minute tidy at any transition period. After every meal. Before leaving the house. At bedtime. I know when we are running out the door with toddlers the thought of spending 10 minutes picking up sounds ridiculous. It is worth it to come home manageable space.

What happens during the 10 minutes?

At first you might spend the whole 10 minutes picking up trash. Or collecting laundry and dishes. That is a perfect place to start. Overtime (and not even a long time) you will find that you can pick up all trash, laundry and dishes with time to spare.

Advanced 10 minute tidy includes returning items to their destination and spending the last two minutes relaxing on purpose.

What don’t we do during the 10 minute tidy?

Items that take longer than 30 seconds to put away are not the focus during this time. That ornament that should go in the bin in the back of the closet…. its not your time.

We do not wash dishes (unless this is a post meal tidy… if so… PLEASE just wash up those dishes). If we are talking a plate and a fork that just needs to go in the dishwasher without any further attention? I will give you a pass.

There is no toilet or bathtub cleaning. If there was a major toddler situation going on handle it but that is not actually part of the tidy.

Do not vacuum, sweep, or dust. These items are harder to do if you haven’t already picked up and just take away from the job at hand.

Laundry? Oh this is so tempting to me. I cannot even help myself. When you get to advanced tidy skills you should assess this for yourself and report back.

Keys to making this work

When picking up as a household during transition periods is just something we do then it stops being such a chore. A 2 year old can clear their dishes and scrape food into the trash. They can manage bringing their own dirty laundry to the appropriate spot. And they are often too good at throwing things away, maybe not always knowing which things to throw away.

Have low expectations at first. 10 minutes is not a long time when you are starting out. We are going to stop picking up at 10 minutes regardless of how much more there is to be done. Let the kids go back to what they have going on… let the other adults go back to what they have going on. If you really want to keep going…. wash some dishes or clean a toilet.

How does this make a difference?

The biggest impact made with the 10 minute tidy is a mindset change. We become the household the picks up laundry, doesn’t leave trash around, picks up dishes. We become the household that works together to complete tasks.

We begin to see where the pain points are in the process. Things like the toddler can’t reach the laundry basket. Or we keep the trash can in a locked cupboard and nobody wants to take the extra step to unlock it.

The 10 minute tidy makes it easier to do the work when you are ready. It is easy to put a load of laundry in the washer when all the dirty laundry is together. It is easier to do the dishes when the first step isn’t scouring the house for dishes. It is easier to sweep or vacuum where there isn’t stuff all over the floor.