Sort your life out in 30-minute chunks: how to make the most of a Power Half Hour

The Guardian

17-05-2025

Any day now I am going to do a complete wardrobe reorganisation and then make tons of money selling my old clothes on Vinted. Also, learn Spanish. Go through the 10,000 photos on my phone, print out the nice ones of the kids and put them in nice frames, and create one of those charming gallery walls. Definitely get into meditating and journalling. Should probably write a will? I'm all set. I'm just waiting for, say, a clear week to magically appear in my diary and I'll get started.
The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.
Except, the penny is starting to drop that those pristine, blank diary pages are never going to happen. Life doesn't work like that. And anyway, say a week off did magically appear, which it isn't going to, wouldn't it make more sense to go on holiday than sit on the floor sorting jumpers? If I had even half a day off, surely it would be a shame to waste it on dull jobs when I could, maybe, go to the cinema on my own – or get the train to Paris for lunch?
But, half an hour? That I can do. And I reckon you can, too. Half an hour is doable after having supper and loading the dishwasher, and you can still get an early night. Half an hour during baby nap time, and you might still get to sit down with a cup of tea. Plus you can change your life in half an hour. Obviously, you can't learn an entire language or redecorate a room, but by breaking your challenges into half-hour chunks an impossible to-do list becomes possible. Making a start on changing the things you want to change is very powerful. And 30 minutes is a realistic time period over which you can maintain energy for jobs that would be too mind-numbing to commit a whole day to. Instead of imagining you are going to spring clean the whole house, take 30 minutes to tackle that one drawer of doom in the kitchen – the one with a pencil case that was left behind on a playdate four years ago, packets of dog worming tablets and keys that have lost their labels.
Thirty minutes is all you need to point yourself in a new direction. One drawer, one fitness session, one lasagne, one window box at a time. True, you could start watching a new box set instead. But if you want to feel like a superhero, try a power half-hour. Jess Cartner-Morley, fashion editor
Let's start with your shoes. You will need: a roll of those transparent sandwich/food bags; a shoe brush; Magic Eraser sponges, the kind that get grubby marks off walls and cost about a fiver; a good podcast; a cup of tea. Gather all your shoes and sweep out the cupboard. The scuffed ballet flats that look like you fished them off the train tracks can go. And nobody needs more than one spare pair of trainers. Clean up the shoes you are keeping, then put aside anything that needs resoling or reheeling. Store the ones you are keeping in pairs in the bags: that way you can stack them to save space without anything getting dirty, and when you come to pack for a holiday you'll thank yourself as you can put them straight into your case in their bags. Put them back with out-of-season shoes or boots at the back/bottom of the cupboard. Then put a bag by the front door for shoes to go to the charity shop/recycling centre and the cobblers. Shut the cupboard door. Marvel at efficiency and general excellence of self. Can be adapted for: your underwear drawer, or your jumpers, or the hallway coat rack that has become a dumping ground. JCM
Not all power half-hours happen at home. Do you find it hard to get your bearings in a secondhand shop? I hear you. There is a whole generation of women, like me, who grew up in the era of fast fashion, who don't have the shopping skills necessary to successfully navigate charity and vintage shops. Half an hour spent learning the ropes will give you confidence to shop preloved. Choose one store – this could fit into a lunch hour if there is one near where you work – and spend 30 minutes getting your eye in. Don't try to flick through every piece on every rail – you will just get bored and disheartened. Instead, have a think about colours or prints that you like: leopard, or monochrome stripes, or pink – whatever makes you happy. Scan the room for those. When you spot something, pull it out, and if the style appeals, look at the fabric next, not the brand name. Quality fabric is what makes the difference between old clothes that still look great and old clothes that look past their best. If stumped, head to the rail of men's shirts: a faded, good quality cotton shirt in a classic blue or a banker stripe is a great secondhand find that will look original and chic with a pair of jeans. So long as it's roomy, you don't need to be too precise about the fit, so with the aid of a mirror you can avoid the changing room and check the size just by holding it up against you. JCM
I have unashamedly stolen this idea from the Milan apartment of designer JJ Martin. I went for dinner there once and fell in love with her bathroom, which she had decorated with her collection of vintage necklaces. If there's one thing more pleasing than a project that makes your home look nicer for nothing, it's a project that makes your home look nicer for nothing and creates extra storage. You need a box of brass wall tacks and a hammer. Allowing the space of a piece of A4 for each one, tap in three tacks for each necklace in a triangle shape – one at the top, and the others below and two inches either side, so that when you hang the necklace it takes on roughly the shape it would around your neck. If you want to get fancy, have a look on eBay for some empty vintage picture frames, which you can stick to the wall with Command Strips without damaging your paintwork. As an added bonus, you will be inspired to actually wear the necklaces that are currently tangled in your jewellery box. JCM
Worrying about what you are going to wear to a party or wedding in the future is a waste of headspace and can spoil that feeling of pleasurable anticipation. Instead of a frantic half-hour wardrobe crisis on the day, have a calm half-hour styling session now. Shut the door, put some music on, let the room get messy until you find the outfit you want to wear. Check it for marks or falling down hems, then figure out the all important details: the right bra, socks, coat. Bonus points if you can decide on jewellery, too. Take a full‑length mirror selfie as an aide-memoire. JCM
A few times a week, in the half-hour before I go to sleep, I slip into a ritual that feels relaxing and helpful – a 30-minute beauty blitz. It starts with my face: a careful rotation between retinol and a nourishing face oil each night keeps my skin looking fresh. Then comes the red-light mask, casting an eerie glow as it delivers its circulation-boosting benefits to my face – and the helmet version I use for scalp health, too. As all of this works its magic, I layer on the extras: a foot mask with urea for softening hard skin; a heavy hand cream and cuticle oil to combat the effects of hand-washing and the cold; a deep-conditioning overnight hair mask; and a castor oil pack applied to my stomach, which is said to help with digestive issues. Mouth tape goes on last, a controversial trick that I believe helps me with nasal breathing and better sleep. Throughout it all, a podcast plays – something soothing and engaging but not too gripping. The rhythm of voices keeps me company as I move through each step, hands busy, mind unwinding. By the time I'm done, I also feel cocooned and primed for rest. The next morning, I unmask – literally and figuratively – emerging just that bit fresher.Anita Bhagwandas, beauty journalist and author of Ugly
If you're still lugging around a proper wallet or purse, give it a clearout and see if you could travel a bit lighter. As well as getting rid of ancient receipts and expired vouchers, you could reduce the plastic by digitising your loyalty cards – you'll need a smartphone to do so. Some banks, such as NatWest, let you put them all in one place on their platform. The Google/Apple wallet is another option. You will typically need to download the retailer's app and add the loyalty card from there. Or if you don't have Google Wallet or Apple Pay, you may as well just use the retailer's app – the advantage of that is you will often see discount vouchers when you go to open your loyalty card details. As a backup, it's worth still carrying around the plastic versions of the main ones that get you discounts (Tesco or Sainsbury's Nectar card, for example) as you don't want a dead battery to cost you money. Some gift cards can also be added to digital wallets, so it's worth going through any left over from Christmas.
Hilary Osborne, money and consumer editor
Perhaps you've been meaning to set up a regular savings account, you have money languishing in an instant access account, or a fixed-term deal has just ended. If so, you could be earning just 0.25%, when it's possible to earn almost 20 times that elsewhere.
Start with best-buy tables – websites like Moneyfacts and the Private Office offer lists of the best deals. Make sure you are seeing accounts from across the market, regardless of whether the site is getting commission – on Moneyfacts you need to sort by 'rate' rather than provider links first; the Private Office automatically shows everything. How much interest you can earn will depend on a range of factors, including whether you can get hold of your cash instantly and how much you have to put away. Focus on the accounts that suit your needs. See what your bank is offering, too – sometimes there are higher rates for customers with particular current accounts. Don't be put off by having too many choices: any move to a better rate is worthwhile.
Once you've chosen, you can apply. This might be directly through the best-buys website, or you may need to go to the provider. The best rates are typically for accounts operated online, so you won't have to leave your home. First, read the small print – there should be a summary sheet explaining the account details and a sheet of T&Cs. Look out for restrictions around withdrawing your money, or adding money to the account later. Even if you're new to a provider, you might not need to provide any ID to get started; instead, it might verify you using a credit referencing agency – but don't worry, this won't affect your credit score. Once you're up and running, you can pay in your money and look forward to better returns; 30 minutes well spent. HO
Gardening is, for the most part, a joyful practice despite – or perhaps because of – being made up of a series of repetitive tasks. I can find myself absorbed in certain jobs for hours. I'll happily disappear into the rhythm of seed sowing and lose track of how much time I've spent hunched over a bench, rattling seeds out of paper packets into my compost-encrusted hands.
But there are other jobs demanding a gardener's attention that are far less compelling, and there's no better example than the miserable task of getting rid of the perpetually reproducing bramble. It's a prickly, painful and sisyphean task that is satisfying to make a dent in, but makes for a miserable all-day chore. Unwelcome plants – bindweed, couch grass, docks – will always outgrow our efforts to keep them in check, so a better approach to dealing with them is setting aside 30 minutes at least once a week to get as much weeding done as possible. That way, you feel like you are getting on top of it without being worn down by it, and you can quickly return to the tasks that make gardening a pleasure.Claire Ratinon, gardening columnist
You can easily do this at home using just a TRX band (available for about £20). It incorporates compound exercises which work more than one muscle group at a time for pull (which is good for your posture, working back and biceps), push (works chest and triceps), legs (glutes, quad and hamstrings) and core. If you do the routine below at a reasonable pace, it'll improve strength while giving you a cardio workout, exercising your heart and lungs.Door pull-ups (pull)
Attach a TRX band to the top of a closed door. Step away from the door and, holding the band's handles, slowly lean back until your arms are extended, before pulling yourself up to the starting position. The stronger you are, the more parallel to the floor you will be able to get (you can lengthen the bands as your strength improves.) Aim for three sets of 10-15 reps.Press-up (push)
Begin in the high plank position with your hands a little wider than your shoulders. Engage your core and keep your elbows tucked into your torso while lowering your chest towards the ground. Push the floor away from you until you are back in a high plank. If this is too hard, begin in a kneeling plank position. Aim for three sets of 10-15 reps.
Lunges (legs)
Holding something for balance if necessary, stand with your feet together before stepping your left leg backwards so that your right foot is flat and your left is on your toes. Drop your left knee to the floor without lurching forwards or backwards, before returning to an upright position. Now alternate legs. Aim for three sets of 10 reps on each leg.Shoulder touch plank (abs)
Begin in a plank position. Using your right arm, tap your left shoulder, bracing your core so that your torso doesn't rock. Now alternate, touching your right shoulder with your left arm. Aim for three sets of 10-15 touches.
Repeat the above as many times as you can in 30 minutes, taking a 90-second rest between each round.Nick Finney, personal trainer
Have you connected with your freezer recently? I mean really connected, sat down on the floor, taken a deep breath and had a long hard look inside? Cruel necessity (ie, no longer being able to close the door) recently forced me into just such a step, and I cannot fully convey the profound satisfaction it's given me without slightly embarrassing myself. It's amazing how a quick audit can make you feel like a domestic goddess. Get everything out, sort it into categories (raw ingredients, cooked food, desserts), and make a list of everything you have – I find it helpful to keep this on a magnetic pad on the fridge door. Assuming your past self was generous enough to label everything, include dates too, so you know what needs eating. Chuck (or defrost for a Russian-roulette dining experience) anything unidentifiable or freezer-burnt, and put the rest back in its categories so you can locate the ice-cream in an emergency. Shut the door with confidence, smug in the knowledge that you probably don't need to go shopping again for a while – for frozen peas anyway.Felicity Cloake, food writer
Thirty minutes is enough time for a surface-level whiz around high-traffic areas in most homes. Blast your way through the most-used rooms, clearing away any visible piles of mess, plumping cushions and making everything look just put-together enough so you don't want to scream. If you have loads of out-of-place items, shove stray bits in a washing basket and return them to their rightful home as you go. This method is most effective if you pretend you have a visitor coming and want to get everything looking sharp for their arrival – or better yet, actually have a visitor coming for an extra kick up the bum. Unless you're superhuman, it's unlikely your entire home will look completely spotless afterwards, but it will look tidy enough on the surface, which is definitely better than nothing. Roo Day, author of Getting Sh*t Done (Ebury Press, £16.99)
For a more targeted clean of one area, you can give your kitchen a really decent blitz in half an hour. Wash up or unload and reload the dishwasher, scrub the sink, wipe down all the sides and any visible marks on your cupboard fronts (just the dirty spots – there's no point wasting time cleaning anything that already looks clean when you're against the clock). Depending on how messy the kitchen was to start with, you might even have time to clear the fridge of any out-of-date food and sauces that have been festering there. If you can fit in a quick vacuum and spray mop, then you've absolutely smashed it. RD