I'm a busy working mom and desperately needed help with clutter. A professional organizer gave me 3 crucial tips.

• I'm a mom of three and work full-time, and being organized doesn't come naturally to me.
• A professional organizer changed the way I clean.
• I figured out my "why" for cleaning, and now I clean in short bursts instead of all at once.

I'm not naturally organized. Between working full-time, raising three kids and a dog, and living in a smaller house, my space often looks…lived-in.

Recently, my pantry — a small closet space — tipped from messy to overwhelming. I reached out to my professional organizing friend, Blanka Molnar, from Your Sorted Space, and sent her an embarrassing photo of it.

"Help!" I said. "This space is my demise."

Molnar wrote back: "Your pantry is definitely giving up lessons."

I appreciated her honesty. We scheduled a call to help me rethink how I organize my entire space. These are the three main lessons I took away.

Organizing isn't about buying more bins — it's a mindset shift

Before buying more organizing tools, Molnar asks her clients a simple question: What is your "why" for organizing in the first place? Is it because you're overwhelmed? Can't find things? Trying to bring calm to your home? Knowing your "why" helps keep you focused when the process gets tedious.

She also recommends working in short bursts of 15 to 20 minutes. Set a timer and commit.

Even five minutes of focused organizing dedicated to one corner of your house can make a big difference, Molnar encourages.

I am the queen of getting distracted while cleaning, so this advice has been helpful for me to implement. This weekend, I tackled our book nook in 20 minutes and the coffee corner in five minutes. Done. Next up: my bathroom drawers.

And then there's the hard truth that bins won't save you if you have too much stuff. Molnar recommends the one-in-one-out rule. This means if you buy a new shirt, another one has to go. It helps restrain from impulsive buying, she says, and focus on needs rather than wants.

I tested this with kitchen towels. The new ones came in, and the stained ones became rags. No guilt, no clutter.

Molnar also says it's a good idea to keep a bin full of things that are leaving the house. I already had one of these, but recently moved it to the back of my car. That way, whenever I'm near a thrift or consignment shop, I can drop it off as an errand add-on versus thinking I'll get to it later.

Create drop zones and enforce better habits

Molnar suggests creating intentional "drop zones" near entry points using hooks, baskets, and designated spaces.

The problem for me is that we already have those. My family just tends to ignore them, creating a shoe-and-backpack avalanche.

In my case, it wasn't about adding more systems but about reinforcing what I'd already created. I started building better habits with my kids, including that shoes go immediately into the bin and backpacks get hung up. So far, I've got them to do it about 25% of the time, but they're improving.

Make your pantry space work for your needs

My pantry's biggest issue was visibility. It's deep, so anything pushed to the back tends to disappear.

Molnar suggested Lazy Susans and clear, stackable bins. I already owned these, but wasn't utilizing them to their full potential. So, this weekend, I tackled my pantry with new gusto. I pulled the Lazy Susans forward, refilled the bins, and purged what we weren't eating. She also says it's best to organize each shelf by a category (i.e. breakfast, lunch, dinner), so I created dedicated shelves organized by baking supplies, dinner, and snacks, which immediately made things easier to find. The snacks go on the lowest shelf so the kids can reach them.

It's not perfect, but it is functional, and I can finally see what I have.

I asked Molnar how often she reorganizes her pantry, and she says once a month.

That's why mine looked so awful — I hadn't done it in a long time. I'm learning that organizing isn't a one-time fix. I need to start thinking about daily organizing in purposeful, focused bursts because it's the difference between a space that stresses me out and one that functions well.