How to use the 1-3-5 rule to organize your home

As a professional organizer, I always perk up when someone mentions the words “declutter,” “organize,” or “clean up” in a conversation about productivity. That’s because I know how closely organization and productivity are connected, and that it’s not always an easy concept to grasp. And I get it—it seems silly to invest time and energy into creating a Pinterest-perfect pantry with matching containers and fancy labels when you have an overflowing inbox, an overbooked calendar, and looming deadlines.

But home organization is less about perfection (or the illusion of it) and more about having systems that work, not overcrowding space, and putting things back where they belong. It’s about creating habits and prioritizing effectively, and that’s exactly what many productivity books, podcast hosts, coaches, and gurus teach.

The 1-3-5 rule is a tried and tested, valuable productivity technique that’s often used in the workplace—but it can be used just as well to manage clutter in your home! Even if you’re already familiar with the method in the workplace, learn how to apply it to your personal space to make order a realistic goal.

What is the 1-3-5 rule?

While it’s hard to say exactly where this “rule” came from, it’s commonly used in the corporate world to improve time and project management. This method requires you to divide your tasks into one of three categories: large, medium, and small. From there, you should aim to get a certain amount done in each category per day. Using the 1-3-5 rule, your ideal day might look like this:

• First, complete a large task that requires most of your energy and concentration.
• Next, work on three medium-sized tasks that need to be done but are not as difficult or time-consuming as the first.
• Finally, tick off five small tasks that require little time and concentration.

It’s said that completing tasks in the 1-3-5 structure is the key to a successful and productive day for most people. The one big task moves things along at a peak time of the day, the three medium tasks become easier after the first one is completed, and the five small tasks can be quickly crossed off the list when energy levels start to drop. This ensures that you accomplish everything you set out to do in a given day while maximizing your attention span. And more importantly, it forces you to prioritize your goals and put your time and energy into the things that really matter.

How to apply the 1-3-5 rule to home organization

Because decluttering and organizing involves tasks of varying sizes and complexity, it’s actually quite simple to apply the 1-3-5 rule to getting your home in order. The first step is always to identify your priorities. Spending time labeling snacks in the pantry when you can never find what you’re looking for may seem low on the list. On the other hand, if you constantly misplace your keys (and are late for work because of it), know there’s a time-sensitive document buried somewhere in that pile of paper, or you need to turn the guest room into a nursery before your due date, you now have concrete goals to work on. It’s up to you to decide whether putting up a key hook in the entryway, sorting and organizing paperwork, and cleaning and setting up a space for your upcoming newborn falls into the “small,” “medium,” or “large” task basket.

Before I show you an example of breaking down organizing tasks using the 1-3-5 rule, I want to offer a few caveats. First, some home projects are so big that it would be unreasonable to expect you to be able to complete them in one day (let alone three medium and five small tasks after that). For example, it took me, my organizing team, and a few days to clean out and organize garages that had been neglected for decades. If a room gets messy over time, don’t expect to be able to snap your fingers and get everything back in order in one day. Instead, you can break a big organizing project down into smaller steps and still apply the 1-3-5 rule.

The second caveat – and this one applies to applying the 1-3-5 rule in any area – is that it’s OK to be flexible with your goals depending on what life throws at you. You might want to switch your closet from winter to spring this weekend, but if a late-season snowstorm is forecast for your area, you can postpone that big task and focus on another one that day. The idea is to keep your goals in mind and tackle them in the best order.

How to use the 1-3-5 rule to declutter

Remember that something others consider medium may seem small to you, and vice versa. The more you use the 1-3-5 method for organizing your home, the better you’ll be at determining the size of your tasks in relation to how you do them. And the more organized you are, the faster you’ll get things done (cleaning out the junk drawer, for example, can be downgraded from large to medium and then to small after you’ve done it a few times).

If you were to spend a day decluttering your home and organizing your space using the 1-3-5 rule, it might look something like this:

A big task: Sort, declutter and reorganize the pantry.

Three medium tasks: Take care of the mail, throw away old cosmetic products, set up a storage area for everyday items.

Five small tasks: Clear out trash from your purse, put away a stack of towels, empty the colander, pick up dog or baby toys from the floor, and organize the spice jars alphabetically.

How to apply the 1-3-5 rule to a larger project

For a generally large project, like cleaning out a cluttered garage, try scheduling several days for the task, assigning large, medium, and small tasks to each day. Here’s an example for the first day:

A big task: Remove the contents from half of the garage and sort them into categories (e.g. sports equipment, tools, garden, etc.).

Three medium tasks: Go through the categories to decide if you want to keep or donate the items, load the car with donations and drop them off at your local donation center.

Five small tasks: Sweep the empty half of the garage, wipe down shelves and empty containers, store reduced categories in containers, label containers, take out trash

Repeat the process the next day with new large, medium and small tasks until you reach your goal of an organized space.