Some 15-60 Minute Cleaning & Organizing Jobs to Use as a Distraction

🇺🇸You know, should you need one today🇺🇸

I'm about to head out to vote in my first California election, which I am queerly excited about! I've only ever lived in blue states so it shouldn't be that thrilling to me but it's a fun milestone after a lifetime on the East Coast, and I don't mind letting on that, in general, I get jazzed about voting.

A lot of people (on both sides of the aisle!) have mentioned to me recently that they're suffering from horrible election anxiety and, as a person who is made up entirely of anxiety, I get it. That inescapable feeling of dread and doom is just awful and, unfortunately, I'm here to tell you that the antidote is to get up and do something, anything, that will distract you. It's very annoying that that's true, especially the part where you have to GET UP! But it is true (it has something to do with, like, short-circuiting the wires that are getting crossed in your brain) and it's my (literal) job to suggest some quick and relatively easy cleaning and/or organizing tasks that you can bang out today instead of spiraling.

So, instead of putting a lot of energy into worrying about something that, truthfully, you cannot control beyond doing your civic duty and casting your vote, consider directing that energy into one or two of these pretty painless short-form tasks that will make you feel a lot better about the state of your home, if not the state of the country. 

Cleaning Jobbies That Take ~ 15-30 Minutes

Food Storage Container Purge & Management

I am a jar hoarder, which I've talked about before, and because I recognize my affliction I put guardrails in place so that you don't find my very clean corpse buried under a pile of tiny Bonne Maman jam jars (what, by the way, are we doing with these? I need ideas!) The best thing I do to keep my food storage container situation under control is to have one (1) specific spot where jars and other food storage pieces live. The other thing I do that helps is to be RUTHLESS about disposing of warped, stained, mismatched, etc etc etc pieces so they don't become clutter.

Perhaps your food storage container situation is out of control! Today would be a great day to go take care of that. Here's a method: 

• Gather all your food storage containers from wherever they may dwell, and assess the collection in its entirety. 

• Sort containers into like-groups, such as by size or by shape.

• Match the lids to their containers.

Purge any containers that meet the following criteria, either by recycling them or by repurposing them for use in places like basements, garages, workshops, craft rooms, etc. to corral tiny things like nails, cords, coins, crafting supplies, etc.

• Containers missing their lids.

• Stray lids.

• Stained, warped, cracked, or split containers.

• Containers you just never use.

Clean Out the Fridge

Has it been a minute since you've cleaned out your fridge? Today is a great day to do so because the end-of-the-year holidays I no longer acknowledge are almost upon us and you'll need room for groceries and oversized poultry and casserole dishes. (National Clean Out Your Fridge Day is November 15, btw, so you'll be getting a jump on things if you do it today instead!)

Hand Wash Your Bras

I mean, I haven't worn an actual bra in years but I understand that there are still some people who do! Why not take 15 minutes to show them some love and … support.

I'm sorry I absolutely could not keep myself from doing that to you! Mean of Jolie!! This is already a hard enough day without me being such a … boob about things!!! (I'm howling, I'm so sorry, here’s a link to an old bra washing article I did for ELLE.)

Wash Your Makeup Brushes

The thing that's such a pain about cleaning makeup brushes is that they require drying time which requires planning and foresight. Other than that, washing makeup brushes is a cinch.

I was about to write out instructions and then I was like, "I have definitely written about this 10,000 times already, I can probably just give The People a link." And yep, I wrote about it for BHG last year, here's a link!

A Self-Care Reset Routine

Today would be a fantastic day to treat yourself to a reset! I changed my sheets, because I figured it would be a nice thing to get into a fresh bed tonight. But maybe you want to do a quick clean in your bathroom, instead? Sure thing, here's my 10-minute bathroom routine. Is the living room reflecting your stress? Fold your couch blanket, chop your pillows, straighten up the end and coffee tables. Turn off the TV if you're anxious! Put on music instead!! Disconnect the entire internet if you must!!! You do not need to torment yourself, today — your duty is to vote full stop. Watching 10,000 hours of cable news is not a requirement of good citizenship.

Cleaning Jobbies That Take ~ 30-60 Minutes

Purge Unders, Camis, Socks, Tights, Leggings

Doing a closet or dresser purge can be so daunting, but I find breaking the task up by clothing type makes it so so so much easier to manage. And, for me at least, the easiest type of clothing to purge are what I think of as the undonatables: Underwear, socks, camisoles and tank tops, tights, leggings, maybe even PJs (though I think people get more attached to their PJs, so.) Weeding through old socks and such is pretty low stakes — they aren't likely to hold sentimental value, and so we have an easier time letting go of them. Go forth and eliminate some socks from your life!

Clean and Organize Your Desk

The four steps to a clean and organized desk are, in this order:

Step 1: Throw out trash 
Step 2: File and organize papers 
Step 3: Get desk accessories and supplies under control
Step 4: Wipe all surfaces with all-purpose cleaner

Do these today! Or at some date in the future.

Polish and Dust Framed Items

This is a very focused task, which is the hard part, that is also very easy, which is, um, the easy part. Here's what to do: Grab a bottle of glass cleaner and two microfiber cloths OR a microfiber cloth and some paper towels. Use one cloth to dust the tops of frames, and the other+some glass cleaner to polish glass encasements. Do this for framed items on the wall and for picture frames on stands. There are more of these in your home than you think. Possibly a podcast to accompany this task??

Clean and Style a Bookshelf

This newsletter is brought to you by my bookshelf, which I puttered over and started dusting this morning after I filed my BHG column (laundry sanitizer explainer!) for the week. I do not love dusting my bookshelf! Tedious work. But I wanted something futzy to do and it felt like just the right futzy task for the moment, and while was dusting I thought, "You know, I bet The People would like some ideas of futzy tasks that will give their eyeballs a break from all those hideous electoral maps!"

And here we are :)

What would you add to this list? Do you have any routines or chores you do when anxiety is taking over? Let us know in the comments and, um, also I was serious about those tiny Bonne Maman jars, I need to find a purpose for them by December 31 or else!