I tried Dilly Carter's 15-minute tidy challenge, and it has revolutionised the way I deal with mess in my home

This quick yet effective method has made even the messiest of cupboards a breeze to tidy and organise

picture of Dily Carter and a messy open drawer
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Now and then, I look around my home and realise just how many drawers, cupboards, and shelves are existing in utter chaos. Which is why I was more than up for the challenge when I saw organising expert Dilly Carter's genius method for tidying.

I would say I've mastered the art of decluttering my home, and would go as far as to say that I'm great at keeping up with it. However, there's no denying how easy it is to let the odd spot in your home fall into disarray and become a dumping ground for random items.

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Dilly Carter's 15-minute tidy challenge

Unfortunately, I don't have Dilly Carter as a best friend, so she won't be coming over to demonstrate her tidying skills anytime. However, we all have the next best thing, which is her social media, full of genius advice.

I swear by expert cleaning hacks to make my home look its best, and I trust Dilly to keep me organised – after using her genius storage measuring method. I'm still using her storage space-saving hack. So when I spotted her advice on the 15-minute tidy, I knew my saviour had arrived.

I chose to test out the method with my kitchen utensil drawer, which is jam-packed full with just about every eating and cooking tool you can think of. It's utter mayhem in there, and it needs to be sorted out.

picture of my kitchen drawer with messy utensils

(Image credit: Emily Smith)

I know, I know it's an utter horror show in there, but I promise I know how to organise a kitchen. All I need is some motivation to get the job done.

"Let's bring back the dolly dash and give yourself 15 minutes," starts Dolly. "Empty as much as you can out of the space, take out any random items that don’t belong, as random objects make your cupboard look messy. So keep things to as few like-for-like categories as possible."

Removing things from the drawer first was a fantastic first step. I ended up finding things in there that really didn't need to be, and removing them gave me so much more room to organise what I wanted to keep.

picture of tidy utensil drawer with compartments

(Image credit: Emily Smith)

Even if you're not organising your kitchen drawers like me, this method is perfect for mug cupboards, t-shirt drawers and bathroom cabinets.

"Top tip for putting things back: grouping categories, everything in height order, with the tallest to the smallest. If, like Sasha, you only have one cupboard for glass and china, can you split the cupboard into two halves rather than mix china and glass?" explains Dilly.

"Can you utilise the space under the cupboard for hanging space if you have glasses that don’t fit? Order your items from the most used at the bottom to the least used at the top," she adds.

Now that I have another fantastic home organisation idea under my belt, I look forward to much less clutter and even less cupboard chaos.

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Want to try some more of Dilly's ingenious tidying solutions? She recently shared her spring home refresh tips, perfect for bringing some fresh energy into your home and starting the new season on a good foot.

Emily Smith
Digital lifestyle writer

Emily joined woman&home as a staff writer after finishing her MA in Magazine Journalism from City University in 2023. After writing various health and news content, she now specialises in lifestyle, covering unique cleaning hacks, gardening how-tos, and everything to help your houseplants thrive.

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