Organizing Calendar Solutions!
If you are looking for an organizing schedule that is easy to follow, then this article on how to use an organizing calendar to streamline your home.
A calendar is a great way to approach how to organize every room in your home one day at a time.
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Baby steps. That is my answer to anything difficult or overwhelming.
- If you need to pay down a credit card, make a monthly payment plan your budget can handle.
- If you need to lose weight, break it down into monthly mini-goals.
- If you have a project for work, divide it into weekly checklists.
And if you have a room to declutter, break it down into 10-minute chunks that can be easily woven throughout your busy day.
This is my secret weapon. The best approach to anything that is big or overwhelming. And you know what? It works like an absolute charm.
So much so, in fact, it is the entire message behind our site, Declutter in Minutes. I know you have heard people say before. You can declutter your entire home in a weekend!! Not only is this statement misleading, but I do not recommend it.
Can you declutter an area in a messy room in a weekend? Absolutely. An entire home? That is not going to happen.
When you are looking to clean out your home so you can organize it into one you love, fast is just not going to work. Rushing through the letting go process will only leave you with a temporarily tidy room. And before you know it, you will have clutter showing back up in no time.
If you remove the clutter slowly and intentionally, you will learn to see your thing differently. What you’ll see are simply things. Items you have in your home that you use to help you and your family get through your day.
These are not treasures that you cannot let go of, but useful items- things you need but not necessarily love.
And that is why baby steps are so life-changing. When you can take a large job like decluttering a room and break it down into small steps, ones you can work on slowly throughout the month, you will begin to change your view of your things.
Partner this with a few life-changing, clutter-free habits, and what you have is a plan that you can use to transform your entire home.
You may not have many clutter-free habits now; actually, you may not have any, but as you begin sorting through the stuff, you will magically begin forming them all on your own.
Clutter-Free Habits:
- Instead of kicking shoes off anywhere, you put them onto the shoe shelf in the entryway.
- Instead of putting your dirty glass in the sink, you put it into the dishwasher.
- Instead of tossing the mail onto the table, you instead put it into the mail basket you have sitting on your kitchen counter.
I call these clutter habits, and they can single handily transform your entire home.
Is there anything I can declutter in 30 days?
Absolutely! Any room in your home can be decluttered in 30 days. A month is enough time to:
- Get through the clutter on the floor.
- Work through the clutter on any open surfaces.
- Remove extra stuff from any shelves, cabinets, or walls.
And no matter how small or large a room is, you should be able to complete it from start to finish in one month.
Declutter and Organizing Calendar
A few years ago, I came up with an idea. I had already gone through the process of decluttering my entire home room by room; so I knew just how hard it was to stay focused without burning out. I had to really work every single day to keep my head in the game, so I didn’t give up before the job was completely done.
Lucky for me, I love making and following to-do lists. And I knew that if I wanted to get this done once and for all, I was going to need a killer list.
A room by room decluttering checklist that I could follow without thinking.
D/M PRO TIP: Every time you declutter, be sure to dress the part. From head to toe. Have an outfit that you wear whenever you are decluttering. A T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Call this your uniform. Get into the habit of wearing this every time you work.
As you do, you will feel a switch flip over in your mind, telling yourself you are all business. This mental shift will help you stay focused, which can be incredibly helpful when making some of those emotional decisions.
Sure it took me a while to make that list. I literally needed to be in each room looking around at all the things I needed to do and write them down one by one because I wanted this list to be thorough. I needed it to hit all the spots. And to do that, I needed to be in each and every space.
Time-consuming? Yes. Game-changing? You better believe it.
I firmly believe that without that list, I would never have been able to declutter my home and then organize it to where it is today.
Now, I realize you might not have time to sit down for a weekend, just making a room-by-room decluttering checklist. And that’s okay. Actually, you might just be in panic mode. You may be ready to get moving right now, today…but you are also worried if you don’t start fast, you will lose your mojo.
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A few years ago, I created a tool that is changing lives one room at a time. This is what I call my Decluttering and Organizing Calendar, my room-by-room printable guide to decluttering and organizing your home.
Call it your 30-day decluttering challenge for each month that you can print out and have all ready to go.
Remember, this is more than just a decluttering calendar, this is a room-by-room guide. A roadmap of sorts. One that is meant to instill new habits as you go along so you never EVER have to do this again.
How to use the Decluttering and Organizing Calendar
These tips are not only for the calendar but for any time you are working on a big project like this. Let’s break them down one by one.
Step #1. Focus on one room at a time.
Each month deals with just one room. One space in your home. Try to keep your focus there the entire time so you can see progress happen as the weeks go on. When you are tempted to move around things only get worse instead of better. By working in one room from start to finish, you might just find this a litter easier than you may realize.
Step #2. Work on habits as you go.
As you are working, look for habits you can use routinely to keep your home neater and more organized going forward. These are important and something you do not want to skip over. Remember, we are not just removing the clutter and things, but we are learning how to see our things differently. This is the key to keeping a room clutter-free.
Step #3. Devote time every day to decluttering.
Most of the tasks on the decluttering and organizing calendar can be completed in just a few minutes each day. Make a mental goal to work when you can so you don’t risk upsetting your busy schedule. 10-20 minutes before work or even before bed can be all you need to make amazing progress.
#4. Dress the part.
Remember the trick here is to treat this like a job and with most jobs you need a uniform. That means dressing all the way to your feet. Don’t giggle, this is more important than you might think. By putting on sneakers, you are telling your mind you mean business and to get ready to focus.
More Decluttering Resources:
Step #5. Have a distraction.
This is by far my very best decluttering tip. Have a mental distraction. I like to listen to an audiobook or a favorite playlist. This not only helps to keep me moving more quickly but helps keep those thoughts out of my head. You know, the ones.
- I can’t get rid of this size four dress I wore a decade ago. I might lose that weight and wear it again!
- I don’t want to throw out this chipped coffee mug. I may need it someday!
- I can’t toss these tablets of paper that only have a few sheets left on them. I might need paper!
Step #6. Check it off as you go.
This is another often overlooked tip that can move mountains. When you check a task off of a list, any list, it really does something to your motivation. It tells your head you are making progress, and that, in turn, drives you to do a little bit more. Go that extra step, those extra few minutes, so that you can check off one more thing from your organizing calendar. And when you do this often, you can make progress with your stuff.
D/M PRO TIP: Love the calendar and don’t want to ruin it by checking things off. Put it into a page protector and use a marker to check each day off as you complete them. Progress is a huge motivator!
Step #7. Keep it front and center.
Out of sight is definitely out of mind and not something we need or want when decluttering. Put your calendar where you will see it daily. This will be your mental nudge reminding you to complete your daily task before you call it a night.
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D/M PRO TIP: Afraid seeing the calendar will not be enough? Set a reminder on your phone. This takes just seconds to set up but can mean the difference between finally doing this and giving up as you have done so many times before. The more tools you can use, the more progress you will make. Call these tools your “team.” And take each of them seriously as they play their part.
Baby steps. Such a small set of words can have such a huge impact. Impact that can help you remove the mess once and for all.
Use these tips and organizing calendar to guide you through creating a home that is clutter-free, organized, and easy to keep that way!
