I found this IKEA tool in the kids' section, but it's been a game-changer for my productivity

When I first saw IKEA's new kid-friendly collection, I was very much focused on how would fit in with my kids' habits. But, there's one product I've found myself revisiting for another purpose. Not only is the IIKEA HUMLESJÖN timer with suction cup a great way to get my kids to brush their teeth, but it's actually a really handy tool to encourage my own speedy decluttering tasks.

Even better? It'll cost you just under $5. So, while getting arduous kid tasks out the way is one thing, how about making decluttering in short, sharp bursts that little bit more fun? That's right, I've suggested that cleaning can actually be an amusing task, if you give yourself a time limit.

Working against the sand inside the timer, there's actually a surprising amount of tasks around the home you can get done. It's almost getting to the point I need to buy a second timer just for me. Here's how it's changed my productivity for the better – and how it can work for you, too.

IKEA HUMLESJÖN timer with suction cup: $4.99 at IKEA

Eye-catching and adding a splash of color to your bathroom is one thing, but how about its simplicity at timing your day-to-day activities? In 70-90 seconds, the sand passes through giving you a fun way to encourage your kids to brush their teeth. And it's also a fun way to time yourself in those small decluttering tasks you just keep putting off.

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How to use it

There's so many decluttering tasks around the house that we just keep putting off. It doesn't matter that they'll literally only take a few minutes of your time, it's all just a bit much.

Instead of them being quickly completed, we end up dragging them out for ages, doing them bit by bit or not even starting them at all. So, using a tool like the IKEA HUMLESJÖEN timer gives you a hard deadline to blitz through that to-do list. And here's the tasks I've found I can easily complete with just one or two turns of the sand.

1. Sort out a messy drawer

At first glance, a messy drawer is definitely one of those decluttering tasks I look at and think: "I'll come back to that later." Bit by bit, it gets so much worse. Turns out, it doesn't really take any time at all if you make it a bit of a race.

After setting my timer to spill its sand, I pulled everything out of the drawer. Then, I sorted through the pile as keep, bin, relocate, or donate.

It took another turn of the timer to place the things I wanted back into the drawer in a more orderly fashion and then another turn of the timer to move the things that weren't going to live in the drawer anymore to their new home. In total, it took about 5 minutes, or in IKEA timer talker, three runs.

2. Pick up dirty clothes

A much quicker task was to grab my laundry basket and run through the house picking up any dirty clothes that had been discarded the night before (or longer, if I dare to admit it). Doing this task every day, much like brushing your teeth, made the process quicker each time and I can't believe I haven't just got on with it before.

3. Tidy out your bag

My bag goes through phases of extremely messy (and usually covered in crumbs) and quite tidy. Right now, I'm somewhere in the middle, so I set the timer and whizzed through it in about two turns of the timer. If I didn't use the timer, I imagine I would've just stared at my bag, thrown some more litter in there and carried on my way.

4. Throw away empty products

Another really easy task that's easy to ignore is discarding those empty bottles from products around the home. Whether it's the used shampoo bottle or empty hand wash in the bathroom, if we don't plan to go to the bin, it sometimes doesn't happen.

It may even get to the point that these empty bottles are taking up space in our cupboards. So, I ran around with a cardboard box ready to go into the recycling bin and picked them all up in just one run of the timer.

5. Sort old mail and paperwork

This can feel like a longer task and it will be if you've got a lot of mail and old paperwork. What I suggest for this is to use the timer to sort it into piles and use it again to start sorting through smaller piles. If you divide the decluttering task into smaller, micro bites, it'll be easier to tackle it, but the timer can still be totally relevant.

I used one timer to divide my mail from paperwork. Another to sort the paperwork into monthly piles and another to reorganize and file it away. For mail, it was a little easier, recycling what I didn't need and filing away what I did.

And all before my kids needed to use the timer for brushing their teeth before bed.

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