better living in five minutes a day #11:organize your broom closet

Just outside Claire's bedroom is this skinny little broom closet. It houses our vacuum, a Swiffer, a mop, a broom, a bucket, some Pledge, some dusting rags, and a few other things.

Until about two weeks ago, I felt frustrated every time I opened it.  And then I spent about five minutes cleaning it out, and now sunshine and rainbows and happy little Smurfs spring forth when I go to get something out of it.

Not really. :) But it's so much better, and I don't feel crabby about it. And I thought to myself, "Self, why didn't you do this before? It only took five minutes."  (It actually got me going on this entire "better living in five minutes" kick.)  I have so many things like this in my house, where I spend hours each year being frustrated, when I could make things better in a few minutes.

(The can of Pledge was sitting in the living room when I took this photo.)

 

 

So here is assignment #11:

Organize your broom closet.

You may not have a dedicated broom closet or utility closet to tidy up today, so for the sake of this assignment let's just say that you're going to straighten up the area where you keep your vacuum cleaner. :)

Because we're doing this in five minutes, let's keep it fast and simple.

1. Take everything out of the broom closet.
2. Throw away or give away any cleaning products or tools you never use.
3. Wipe the shelf of the broom closet off with a wet rag or sponge.
4. Put everything back in it in an orderly fashion. :) Put the things you use most often towards the front.

Yay! You're done.  If you're inspired and want to turn this into a bigger project and have the world's greatest broom closet ever (here is an inspirational photo from Martha Stewart), check out the links that follow. (Alternately, just look at the pretty pictures to get inspired to start cleaning!)

(image from marthastewart.com)

• Organize Your Broom Closet (Real Simple)
• Organizing the Bottom of the Broom Closet (Chez Larsson)
• Tame the Broom Closet (Martha Stewart)
• Broom Closet Organizer (Martha Stewart)