Organizing a home can be a life-changing experience. It can create a more functional and peaceful living space. It can also reduce stress, save time, and improves everyones well-being.
But, the time it takes to organize a home can vary much depending on things such as the size of the home, the amount of items, and how long it has been since the last deep organization session.
For everyone curious about how much time it might take to tackle to organize an entire home, we’ve created this guide to estimate the hours required for each area.
We’ll break down the most common areas in the average American home and estimate how many hours you can expect to spend organizing each.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the idea of organizing your home, remember that the process doesn’t have to happen all at once. Start small, take it room by room, and focus on creating spaces that work for your lifestyle in order of priority.
“The organizing process doesn’t have to happen all at once”
Why Does Organizing Take So Long?
When thinking about organizing, it’s tempting to picture a quick tidy-up session. Yet, home organizing is much more than putting things away. It's an emotional and physical process that involves throwing away, evaluating what you need, and assigning a place for every item. That's not all, it needs to last.
From kitchen to garage organization is a thoughtful process that requires effort and intention. In some areas, like garages and home offices, the scope of the work can be even larger due to the types and amount of items stored there.
For example, a garage often serves as a dumping area for all sorts of things: tools, sports gear, holiday decorations, and sometimes even items that haven’t been used in years.
In different way, a home office can clutter in paperwork and files that need to be sorted, shredded, and filed. These tasks are time-consuming but critical for creating a truly functional space.
Organizing is not about moving items around—you're designing order. Each item you pick up requires a choice: Does it stay or go? If it stays, where should it live? If it goes, should it go to donations, the recycling center, or tossed out?
These decisions add up, turn-ing what might seem like a simple task into a longer process. And that’s not even considering the time it takes to clean, or install shelving and other systems.
How to Break It Down: Area by Area
Instead of trying to organize the entire house in one day, it’s best to break down the process by area. Here's a guide to help you estimate how long it might take to organize different parts of your home:
This table gives you a range of time you’ll need to organize each area of your home, from a minimum to a maximum, along with an average estimate. Now, let’s break down each space a little more.
Area | Min Hours | Max Hours | Average Hours |
Kitchen | 10 | 15 | 12.5 |
Closet | 6 | 10 | 8 |
Garage | 15 | 25 | 20 |
Home Office | 8 | 12 | 10 |
Bathroom | 3 | 6 | 4.5 |
Living Room | 4 | 8 | 6 |
Laundry Room | 3 | 5 | 4 |
Total Hours | 49 | 81 | 65 |
Average time needed to organize a Home by Areas
1. Kitchen
Average Labor Hours: 10–15 hours
Why It Takes This Long:
The kitchen is one of the most complex spaces to organize because it’s used daily and has so many different types of items to manage. From food storage to cookware and small appliances, every inch of cabinet and drawer space needs to be used efficiently. Kitchens often accumulate expired foods, mismatched containers, and gadgets that may no longer serve a purpose. Taking the time to thoroughly sort through everything, clean out cabinets, and implement an organization system that makes sense for your cooking and eating habits takes about 10 to 15 hours.
Activities:
Decluttering expired or unused food items
Sorting cookware, utensils, and gadgets
Cleaning and organizing pantry shelves
Implementing storage solutions for cabinets and drawers
Labeling pantry items for easy access
Reorganizing frequently used areas (countertops, coffee stations, etc.)
2. Closet
Average Labor Hours: 6–10 hours
Why It Takes This Long:
Closets are famous for clutter. Between seasonal clothes, accessories, shoes, and even storage items like old photo albums or keepsakes, the closet can become an overwhelming space. Organizing a closet involves sorting through clothes, deciding what to keep and what to donate or discard, and then arranging it in a way that makes it easy to maintain. Depending on the size of the closet and how many items you have, it can take anywhere from 6 to 10 hours to fully organize it.
Activities:
Sorting clothes by season, type, and frequency of use
Removing unused or outdated items
Implementing shelving or hanger systems
Organizing shoes, bags, and accessories
Folding and storing off-season items
Creating a daily-accessible section for essentials
3. Garage
Average Labor Hours: 15–25 hours
Why It Takes This Long:
Garages are one of the biggest challenges when it comes to organizing, simply because they often become a catch-all for everything that doesn’t have a designated place in the home. Sorting through old tools, outdoor equipment, holiday decorations, and boxes of items that haven’t been touched in years takes time. Additionally, garages often require specific storage solutions such as shelving, hooks, and bins to create an efficient system that maximizes space. On average, you can expect to spend 15 to 25 hours organizing a garage, depending on how much stuff you have and how long it’s been since it was last organized.
Activities:
Sorting through old tools, hardware, and equipment
Decluttering unused or broken items
Categorizing sports gear, holiday decorations, and outdoor equipment
Creating storage zones (e.g., tool area, sports equipment, seasonal storage)
Implementing shelving, wall mounts, and storage bins
Ensuring frequently used items are easily accessible
4. Home Office
Average Labor Hours: 8–12 hours
Why It Takes This Long:
Home offices are another area that can quickly become chaotic, especially if paperwork and files haven’t been regularly maintained. Organizing a home office involves sorting through old documents, filing important papers, decluttering the workspace, and possibly even setting up new systems for digital files. This can take anywhere from 8 to 12 hours, depending on the volume of items to organize.
Activities:
Sorting and filing paperwork
Shredding old documents
Organizing office supplies
Reorganizing desk setup for efficiency
Managing and labeling cables
Digitizing documents and cleaning up digital files
5. Bathroom
Average Labor Hours: 3–6 hours
Why It Takes This Long:
Bathrooms are often smaller spaces, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get cluttered. Personal care products, towels, and cleaning supplies need to be sorted and stored in a way that makes sense for daily use. Decluttering unused products and finding storage solutions for cabinets, drawers, and counter space can take about 3 to 6 hours.
Activities:
Decluttering expired or unused personal care products
Organizing drawers and under-sink storage
Reorganizing linens and towels
Sorting makeup, toiletries, and skincare items
Implementing drawer dividers and cabinet storage solutions
6. Living Room
Average Labor Hours: 4–8 hours
Why It Takes This Long:
Living rooms are multi-functional spaces where families relax, entertain, and spend time together. Between entertainment centers, bookshelves, and possibly toys or games, organizing a living room requires thoughtful arrangement of items for both function and aesthetic appeal. Organizing a living room generally takes 4 to 8 hours.
Activities:
Decluttering and organizing entertainment areas
Sorting books, magazines, and media
Organizing toys and games (if applicable)
Rearranging furniture for flow and space
Creating storage solutions for remotes, blankets, and accessories
7. Laundry Room
Average Labor Hours: 3–5 hours
Why It Takes This Long:
Laundry rooms are often smaller, but they still require organization to make the daily routine of washing and folding clothes more efficient. Organizing laundry supplies, sorting linens, and creating a system for dirty laundry can take about 3 to 5 hours.
Activities:
Organizing laundry detergents and supplies
Sorting and decluttering linens or cleaning products
Adding shelving or bins for storage
Setting up a system for separating and processing laundry
Creating a folding or drying station
Making the Most of Your Organizing Time
Once you’ve broken down the time it takes to organize each area of your home, it’s easier to create a plan that works for you. You don’t have to tackle every area in one weekend. In fact, trying to do too much at once can be overwhelming and lead to burnout. Instead, approach your home organization project in stages. Prioritize the areas that will have the biggest impact on your daily life first. For many people, that might be the kitchen or home office, since those are used frequently.
When organizing, always remember that it’s not just about making the space look neat—it’s about creating a system that works for you. Organizing is an ongoing process. Once everything has its place, maintaining that order becomes much easier.
Need Help With Your Organizing Project?
Organizing a home can feel like a big undertaking, but it doesn’t have to be something you do alone. If you find yourself struggling to get started or need help along the way, consider reaching out to a professional organizer. We can help you evaluate your space, create a custom plan, and provide the hands-on support needed to transform your home. If you're interested in getting a personalized quote for your project, feel free to reach out.
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