Of course, you will not make a lot of decluttering progress in only 5 minutes. However, if you do 5 minutes a day for a week, that's 35 minutes. If you do 5 min a day for a month that's 2 and a half hours. And if you do 5 min a day for a year, that's 28 hours of decluttering. Plus the best part is... it's not even hard.
To get the most out of this 5 minutes a day, I recommend two things: First, make it a habit, and second, make it effective.
~ Make It a Habit ~
To make it a habit, the easiest way is to attach it to another habit you already do daily. For example, when you put down your keys after getting home from work, set a timer and declutter for 5 minutes. The keys being set down will become a trigger to remind you to set your timer and get decluttering. This example is good because it is very specific and happens only once a day. Make sure your trigger is specific and only happens once a day. SIDE NOTE: If you want to learn more about habit-forming, I highly recommend you read Atomic Habits by James Clear.
~ Make It Effective~
Now, once your 5 min timer is set, make sure you actually complete something rather than just looking around for 5 min wondering where to start. Pick up the closest piece of clutter (anything out of place) and deal with it until it is 100% complete.
By 100% complete, I mean don't just put it away. First, decide if it belongs in your life. Second, do the thing the object requires. And third, put the item away. Here is an example for if it is a broken watch. First, decide if it is worth fixing. Do you need or love it? If not, throw it away. If you decide to keep it, don't put it in your junk drawer with other broken things, fix it right now. Then you can put it away where you will actually remember to wear it. Of course, if an item is an obvious keeper and doesn't need anything done to it (fixing, filing, uploading, planning, etc.), just put it away. But really think through those three steps. If you like this idea and want a more thorough process to follow, check out The Four P's of Decluttering that is based on this idea.
Some day's you may decide to continue to work on something after your 5 min is up (like you decide to finish fixing the watch because you're almost done), and that is encouraged. Just choose one item at a time and then deal with it until it is 100% done, and if the timer still hasn't gone off, pick up the next piece of clutter.
If you don't have a cluttered house, just adjust this process so you pick up the closest item. It doesn't have to seem like clutter. Just spend a few minutes considering each item around you and decide if it still belongs in your life.
Let me know in the comments if you have a daily decluttering habit (or if you are going to try and start now).
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