Tackle a single one-hour organizing project each weekend, such as a drawer, shelf, cabinet, closet, or box. Don’t attempt a huge task, such as an entire bedroom. Break it down into manageable bite-sized chunks. When it’s time to begin, don’t just dump everything out on the floor. You’ll run out of time and steam and shove everything back in, only to be more disorganized than before. Instead, get five sturdy boxes.

1. The Put Away box contains items that are out of place and go somewhere else.
2. The Give Away box is for items that are in good repair that you no longer want or use to give to charity or sell.
3. Use the Store Away box for items that are going to be used again in a reasonable amount of time but not regularly.
4. The Toss box contains items that are broken, old, worn, or in bad repair.
5. And the Belongs Here box contains items that will go back into the area you’re organizing.

Then take one item out at a time and put it into the appropriate box. If you’re going to organize for 1 hour, set a timer for 50 minutes. When it buzzes, use the last few minutes of your organizing session to put items away, put the charity items in the car, throw out the trash, and put boxes into storage.