Tips for keeping your house in order
HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR HOUSE AND PECK AWAY AT THE TO-DO LIST

It's the time of year when we all think about what we should be doing around the house.

Everyone's time is valuable, so here are some things you can do in 15 minutes, 30 minutes or an hour. We also list the bare-minimum chores for those who are living on their own for the first time or those who are truly time-pressed.

Add your own items to this checklist, and work at them as the months go by. You can end 2008 with a home that's cleaner, brighter and better organized than when the year began. That will be worth celebrating!

IN 15 MINUTES YOU CAN...

• Flip the mattress.
• Dust the fan blades.
• Wipe fingerprints off doors and door frames (use a damp cloth and a spray cleaner; if you've got serious grime, try a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser).
• Go through the linen closet and pick out the worn but still usable towels and washcloths. If they're still in pretty decent shape, a shelter may welcome them. If they're on the ragged side, animal shelters, pet boutiques and vets may be glad to have them for bathing animals.
• Clean out one drawer.
• Clean the top of the refrigerator.
• Dust that hard-to-reach shelf.
• Clean out ceiling light fixtures. Dump the dead insect bodies and wash and dry the fixtures.

IN 30 MINUTES YOU CAN...

• Roll out the refrigerator, vacuum the coils and clean the floor under it.
• Roll out the stove and clean beside, behind and under it. (You'll be amazed.)
• Get a battery checker and test the batteries in all of your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, flashlights and other battery-powered devices. If they're still good, good. If not, replace them.
• Make a dent in that ugly chore you keep avoiding: cleaning the mold and mildew in the shower stall; cleaning and lubricating the rollers on sliding doors; scrubbing and resealing grout in tile floors.

IN AN HOUR YOU CAN...

• Sweep the garage.
• Wash the car, or take it to the car wash.
• Clean out and reorganize your overloaded computer files (wear out that "delete" button). At the end of an hour, stop. You can come back another time and do more.
• Walk through the house and gather up all the magazines and catalogs. Decide which to throw, which to pass on (to friends, nursing homes, doctor's office, hair salon), which you're going to read. Pick up some magazine organizers at the big-box office-supply stores to keep them sorted. Cancel subscriptions to magazines you no longer read.

INVENTORY TIME

• Review the cleaning supplies you have (which are probably under the kitchen sink, in the garage, in the laundry room and in the bathroom). Set aside those you don't use. Replace what you're about to run out of. If you've got three partial bottles of glass cleaner and four bottles of countertop spray, commit to using them up before you buy more. If you're constantly running out of something (dishwasher detergent, for example), stockpile a year's supply.
• Do the same thing for other household staples: coffee filters, napkins, toothpaste, first-aid supplies, stationery items, stamps.

WORK ON A PHOTO FINISH

• Get out those shoe boxes full of photos. Spend an hour identifying them, throwing out duplicates and bad shots.
• Put those images on CDs so you can share them, e-mail them, make cards, calendars, etc. One such source: www.scanmyphotos.com . You pay $100 for a prepaid box into which you stuff as many photos as you can. They scan them onto a CD for you and return the photos.
• Are there photos you've been promising to share? Take them to a photo store or the photo department at your local drugstore, discount store or grocery, and have the prints made. (This costs as little as 15 cents a print.) Or, if you've got the photos online, spend an hour e-mailing them to the recipients.

IN THE CAR

• Clean it out. Get rid of the trash, juice boxes, fast-food wrappers. Clean out the glove box.
• If your maps are more than two years old, replace them.
• Put together an emergency kit in a box or canvas bag: flashlight, flares, flat-fixer, change and a few small bills, pen, pad, a couple of envelopes, first-aid items, hand sanitizer or wipes, roll of paper towels.
• Replace worn wiper blades.
• Look at stores that sell organizing supplies, auto parts and office supplies for organizers that can keep papers, files, samples, sports gear and whatever else you're hauling around in place and out of your way.
• When was the last time you checked the oil and topped up the window-washer fluid?
• Get new floor mats, a license plate frame and a good cup holder.

SORT, SHARPEN, SPRUCE UP

• Sort through the videos/DVDs (or have those who watch them do this). Get rid of the ones no one watches any longer.
• Write on. Throw out pencil stubs and the pens that no longer write. If your pencil jar is jammed full, pull some out and give them away (shelters, senior centers, or your church might be glad to have them).
• Where would it be useful to have a hook, a screw or a nail to hang something up? In the garage, the back hall, the front closet, a child's room? Get out a hammer or a drill-driver and solve this problem now.
• Where do you need a duplicate: another pair of scissors, a ruler, a screwdriver, a set of measuring spoons? Get them and end those constant trips to the other end of the house.
• Do you know where your fire extinguisher is? Do you have a fire extinguisher? Do you know how to use it? Do what you need to do so you can answer "yes" to all these questions

AROUND THE HOUSE

• Hose down the front of the house to get rid of spiderwebs, mud daubers, dead insects and general dust and grime. Clean out the porch light fixture and make sure the light works. Replace the welcome mat. If the flowers are dead, leggy or otherwise spent, replace them. Polish the door knocker and the brass numerals; replace the numbers if necessary.
• Is your bathroom sink draining slowly? Remove the pop-up stopper and clean away the hair and gunk that has accumulated on it. If this doesn't solve your problem, you may need a plunger, a snake, a chemical drain cleaner or the baking soda-vinegar-boiling water trick.
• Wash the windows. OK, wash one window, or the windows in one room. Work your way through the house over the next few weeks.
• Do you know how your house works? Learn how to shut off the power, gas and water for the entire house and how to shut off the water at each sink. Label the breakers in your electrical box.
• Learn how to unplug your garage door from its electrical source and how to lock it, and know how to open the door manually when the power is out.
• What if you locked yourself out of your house? Give a key to a neighbor; keep another at work (unlabeled, please).

ABOUT THE KIDS

• Weed out the clothes they've outgrown or won't wear and pass them on to another child.
• Ditto with the toys, games and books they've outgrown or lost interest in.
• Provide open clothes hampers and open baskets or boxes for toy storage. Kids won't lift lids.

AT THE BARE MINIMUM

For the time-strangled among you, here's the bare minimum to ward off a health department citation and keep your mother happy:
• Make your bed every day.
• Vacuum and dust once a week.
• Do your laundry once a week.
• Change the sheets weekly.
• Mop the kitchen floor once a week.
• Take out the garbage as often as it needs it (if you can smell it, you're overdue). Ditto on emptying the wastebaskets and removing the pile of newspapers.
• Clean the bathroom once a week: Swish out the toilet, wipe down the sink and vanity top, clean the mirror. Mop the floor. If you're a tub bather, clean the tub. The shower? Wipe it down with a squeegee every day.
• Wash the dishes every day. Wipe the countertops and the cooktop.
• Hang up your clothes.

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