I Tried the 10-10 Decluttering Method, and It’s the Easiest Way to Squeeze Tidying Up into a Busy Week
There’s a certain kind of mess that isn’t dramatic enough to demand immediate attention but also never quite disappears. It just lurks in the background, slowly building up.
I have a few of those clutter hot spots in my apartment: my kitchen junk drawer, full of spare screws and lost chargers long adrift from their original home. My closet, stuffed with T-shirts I haven’t worn in 10 years and dresses I’ll never have an occasion for. And my bathroom vanity, crowded with serums and mascaras that are surely past their expiration dates.
Cleaning them out never feels like a priority. Every day, I open a drawer or pass a shelf and give it a longing look. If only I had the time! Too bad, so sad. Gotta run and ignore that mess for another day.
When I started hearing about the 10-10 decluttering method, a trick that supposedly helps you chip away at clutter in just a few minutes, I was curious. Cleaning can sometimes feel like an overwhelming chore that requires an entire Saturday (probably Sunday too). But what if I treated it differently? If I tackled small messes as part of my daily routine, squeezing in a quick reset here and there, would it actually be easier to manage?
I had to give it a try. If nothing else, I was hoping for a little extra closet space. Here’s how it all went down—and whether you should add it to your organizing arsenal too.
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What is the 10-10 method?
The 10-10 decluttering method is exactly what it sounds like: You set a timer for 10 minutes and remove at least 10 items from a single space. It’s really simple, no need for complicated categories or color-coded bins, and you don’t have to spend hours organizing everything.
The idea is to create a clear starting point. Ten minutes is short enough that it doesn’t feel intimidating, and choosing 10 items gives you a concrete goal instead of the vague instruction to “declutter.”
You can stop whenever the timer goes off, or you can keep going if you’re feeling motivated. But the beauty of the system is that you don’t have to; even one short round can make a difference.
Some people also use a slightly more ambitious variation called the 10-10-100 challenge, in which you repeat the 10-minute, 10-item process until you’ve removed 100 items total. For my test, though, I stuck with the simpler version.
How does the 10-10 method work?
The 10-10 decluttering method is effective because it gets rid of two major things that stop us from cleaning up: not having enough time and being too indecisive.
Rather than trying to tackle a whole room at once, which can be a pretty overwhelming task, you can focus on just one small area and give it a quick burst of attention. This way, you can make some real progress without feeling like you’re in over your head. By breaking it down into smaller, more manageable chunks, you can get started right away and see some tangible results, rather than putting it off until “someday” when you might have more time or energy.
Here’s the approach I followed:
- Pick something specific that you want to focus on, like a messy drawer, a cluttered shelf or even your packed pantry. It could be the kitchen counter, which always seems to have stuff piled up on it, or that one chair in your bedroom that inevitably transforms into a clothes rack.
- Set a timer for 10 minutes.
- Get rid of 10 things from that area. You can toss them, give them away or move them to where they’re really supposed to be.
- Once the timer’s up, finish up fast: Collect all donations in a bag, then grab the trash and take it out.
You can do a 10-10 decluttering session as often as you like. Just taking a few minutes out of my lunch break or setting aside a bit of time after work is enough. And even if I do it only a few times a week, it still makes a big difference—and faster than I thought it would.
What happened when I tried the 10-10 decluttering method?
The 10-10 decluttering method really made tidying up feel like a breeze, and it was simple to squeeze into my daily routine. I didn’t wait for the mythical “perfect moment” to clean. I just used any spare 10 minutes I had to tackle small, messy areas.
In three 10-minute sessions, I tackled the problem areas of my home: my bathroom vanity, my closet and my kitchen junk drawer. Each round was small, but when I looked at the bigger picture, I could tell it was starting to make a real difference.
Here’s how it played out.
Bathroom vanity
When I tell you I’ve been putting off cleaning my vanity for years, I mean it. There were products in there with expiration dates I don’t dare disclose. When was the last time they touched my skin? Who can say.
It didn’t even take me the full 10 minutes to find 10 things to toss. Between nearly empty bottles and expired products, I actually said goodbye to 16 items in one go.
Already, the space feels calmer.
Closet
My closet was a little trickier.
The timer helped me move faster than I normally would, but it also forced some snap decisions I might have otherwise lingered over. Didn’t I still look cool in the T-shirt from my college roommate’s friend’s band? A pink, fringey skirt I wore once to Mardi Gras clashed with pretty much everything else in my wardrobe … but what if I go to another Chappell Roan concert someday? And can you really have too many oversized button-ups?
These are the kinds of internal debates that usually convince me to keep everything. It’s also how I end up cramming my dresser drawers so full that the particle board starts to protest.
On the 10-minute timer, though, I didn’t have the luxury of overthinking. Does it spark joy? Can I immediately imagine an outfit for it? More than one outfit? No, no and no. Straight to the donation pile.
Before I knew it, the timer was up and my closet had breathing room I hadn’t seen in years.
Give me a couple weeks, and I’ll probably fill it again.
Kitchen junk drawer
The junk drawer was the challenge I doubted I could overcome in 10 minutes. It’s a graveyard for wandering objects. Furniture parts, mystery cords and tools that lost their purpose long ago all live there together in darkness, only seeing daylight when a new item is hastily shoved inside.
Originally, the drawer was supposed to be helpful, a home for miscellaneous things so I could find them when I needed them. Over time, though, it became something closer to chaos.
With 10 minutes on the clock, I hoped to at least make a dent.
I can’t report that this was a total victory. There are still strange screws in there and chargers I’m afraid to throw away. But I did uncover user guides for gadgets I don’t even own anymore, half-dead batteries and a box of spilled thumbtacks that made the process feel like a dangerous game of Operation, among other things.
Now the drawer is 10 items lighter. And the next time I have 10 minutes to spare, I’ll chip away at it again. Maybe someday we’ll get back to that intended purpose.
So will I keep using the 10-10 method?
Yes, this quick cleaning hack is definitely entering my decluttering toolbox.
For me, the biggest benefit was how manageable it felt. The 10-10 decluttering method didn’t magically organize my entire house in an evening, but it did lower the barrier to starting, which is often the hardest part. It gave me a clear end point, so I knew I wouldn’t feel pressure to keep going until every drawer is perfect.
Ten minutes helped me clear out expired makeup, part with clothes I hadn’t worn in years and finally make a dent in the jumble of my junk drawer. None of those tasks felt overwhelming once I broke them into smaller bursts.
If I keep chipping away like this, the progress will probably add up faster than I think. Maybe someday I’ll even graduate to the 10-10-100 challenge.
But honestly? For now, I’m just enjoying the small victory of opening my vanity drawer without wondering if anything in there is old enough to vote.
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Sources:
- Washy Wash on TikTok: “Declutter 10 Items in 10 Minutes: Transform Your Wardrobe”
- Be More with Less: “The 10-10-100 Decluttering Challenge: 10 Spaces, 10 Minutes, 100 Things”
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