Organizing projects don’t have to be big or expensive to make a big impact on your life!  Here are three examples of 30-minute projects that will make you smile every time you look in the medicine cabinet, watch a DVD or open your closet door.

Project #1 The Medicine Cabinet.

Invest 30 minutes in cleaning out your medicine cabinet, and you will help every member of your household every day.

1. Grab a pen and paper to jot down items needing replacement; a garbage bag and a small bag to collect your recycling.
2. Clear the counter so you have room to lay stuff out, or lay a towel on the floor.  Take everything out of the cabinet and spread it out.
3. A quick review of expiration dates make organizing the medicine cabinet easier.  Look at each item in your medicine cabinet and determine if the item has expired….
   1. Based on the manufacturer’s suggestion, like medications, first-aid items, or used make-up; or
   2. Based on your personal or lifestyle preferences:  You can let go of items like styling products that didn’t work as advertised, or items for certain distant times of our lives, like the baby nail clippers or the green nail polish that looked great on my teenage niece but not on me!
4. Duplicates weigh us down. Don’t store multiples of the same product in the small space.  Keep one on hand, and store the rest elsewhere to free up space.  A basket in our linen closet holds un-opened items.  We keep one of everything in the cabinet, and go to the new un-opened items when we run out of the first.
5. Group the stuff you use every day onto its own shelf or basket, categorize the rest and corral it in containers.

Project #2 The DVD Collection

Spend 30 minutes organizing your DVD collection, and it presents a great visual image!

1. Collect all your DVDs and cases from all over your house.
2. Alphabetize the cases by movie title, then put loose DVDs in their cases.
3. Review them all and purge the ones that no one watches anymore.  My little niece and our public library receive most of the DVDs my boys have outgrown.
4. Assign a home for your DVDs.  Leave them in alphabetical order, or group them by category (like action or TV series on DVD) or by viewer (like storing the DVDs my youngest son watches on the lowest, easiest-to-reach shelf).
5. As we receive new DVDs, we review what we have and purge what can go.

Project # 3 The Gift Wrap / Storage Closet

This one really makes me smile.  I worked on this project last week, and it took closer to an hour, since I had to break down and remove the cardboard, plus $40 and a quick trip to Home Depot.  But it’s worth it!

1. I have a closet in the basement which holds holiday decorations, gifts, gift bags and wrap, and lots of empty boxes for storage and mailing.  It required attention after the holidays, and when I saw this great idea on Command.com, I made the project a priority for January!
2. I cleared boxes, keeping 10 small ones for shipping, and collapsed and recycled the rest (a lot!!).
3. I stored our extra gifts for giving in two boxes on the shelf above, one each for Christmas and every day gifts.
4. I pulled out the Christmas wrap, ribbons and bags, and stored it all in a separate extra-large Ziploc bag.
5. I installed Command hooks and hung small dowels across them to hold my ribbon and favorite gift wrap.  Also hanging on the command hooks are clear freezer bags holding my tape, scissors and pens.
6. I also bought new supports for an old un-used shelf, and installed the supports and shelf in the space as a permanent work space for wrapping small items and staging gifts before giving.  Below are the before and after pictures!  The white laundry basket in both pictures holds our extra gift bags, divided into categories like “baby”, “wedding”, and “birthday”.

The bonus project:  Lego display space (above right).

I have three sons and ridiculous amounts of Lego.  Most are assembled, and storage space is tight.  When inventorying the work room for the closet project, I found these shelf tracks and supports, but no shelves.  On the Home Depot trip to purchase items for the closet project, I also picked up replacement shelves in sizes to match the supports we already have.  10 minutes of installation and $20 for 3 shelves, and we have 9 more linear feet of Lego display space (and a little less clutter on the Lego table!).  Woo hoo!!

So, what areas of your home could use 30 minutes of your time?  Any investment in Organizing will reap big rewards!