Deep breath my mama friends … the New Year is upon us!
Since the 1st I’ve felt really cliche setting my annual goals, making lists of projects I want to accomplish, and starting a new “diet.” Sometimes it feels like there is a lot of weight put on January – to start off strong and become a new, better person. I’ve decided it’s ok though. There is nothing wrong with getting organized and aiming high for this month and the months to come … as long as I plan everything with a dose of grace since I’m juggling two little ones too!
Clutter has been one of my nemesis lately. So, of course, 2015 is going to be my year of use it or lose it!
Decluttering is something I can involve the kids in and something we can easily focus on all year long. My current plan is to pick a room or two each week and give it a little decluttering love. In 2015, we’re going to strive to be clutter free! With this “system” we should be able to rotate through the house each month, therefore, never letting any room to get too far away from us.
I’m writing this late on January 4th and already I’ve jumped around my list and tackled some projects like organizing the pantry, kitchen storage container cupboard, PlayDoh drawer, utensil/junk drawer, kid craft space, laundry room shelves, and our garage storage racks. The Christmas decor is packed up too! It’s been a productive few days!
Here’s the breakdown I plan to use as we work through our decluttering over the next 30 days. Feel free to follow along and comment with your own ideas for becoming clutter free!
Day 1 | Kitchen Cupboards … move items you don’t use often towards higher shelves and pull items you no longer need to donate
Day 2 | Food Storage … sort the pantry, toss expired food, and jot down some meal plan ideas using things you already have
Day 3 | Fridge … pull everything out, clean the shelves, toss expired food and again, meal plan 🙂
Day 4 | Dining Room … we have a bookcase in our dining room I use for storage and it needs an overhaul. No one needs 10 tablecloths.
Day 5 | Breakfast nook … another storage dresser that needs to birth a large donate pile
Day 6 | Living room … coffee table, end tables and kid’s toy baskets
Day 7, 8, 9| Office … so much to do here — cleansing the bookshelf and desk space, digging into files and purging unneeded paperwork, sorting supplies, a few years ago I bought a Costco pack of staples and let’s face it, I don’t use staples that often — gone!
Day 10 | Laundry Room … I have a basket of laundry “supplies” that seem to be an abyss
Day 11, 12 | Linen Closet … this is a two day project for me, one day to pull everything out and sort and another to fold, label and replace
Day 13 | Bathrooms … I think I can tackle all the bathroom’s drawers in one day, we’ll see 🙂
Day 14 | Master Bedroom … nightstands, under the bed, dresser top
Day 15 | Master Closet, His … yep, I’m giving a whole day to organized my hubby’s side of the closet
Day 16 | Master Closet, Her … and a day just for me!
Day 17 | Kid #1 Closet … I dread this project, pulling sizes and assessing what we really need to hold on versus what I can tag and sell at an upcoming consignment sale
Day 18 | Kid #1 Bedroom … lots of toys and knick knacks to sort through
Day 19 | Kid #2 Closet … ditto
Day 20 | Kid #2 Bedroom … ditto
Day 21, 22 | Playroom … the post Christmas explosion is upon us, I really should have done a pre-sort in early December, but I didn’t so now I’m left with two (maybe three) days of matching up sets and finding the balance of less is more
Day 23 | Outside … I’m watching for a non-rainy day to sweep the outdoors for spare planters, toys, and yard items we don’t necessarily need
Day 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 | Garage … I’ve got a chest freezer, bins of items I haven’t yet unpacked from our move (that happened two years again, gasp!) and more to assess, organize and most of all MOVE OUT. With it being so cold I’m giving myself a week to work through it since I’ll have to plan little spurts of time to avoid freezing the kids and I. Oh, and side note, when I do stuff in the garage I let the kids draw with chalk on the floor to keep them occupied, they love it 🙂
Day 29, 30 | Remember how I talked about grace with this and all other new year’s goals? Yep, every mama needs some flex days with a household clutter free project!
Faith
Tuesday 31st of March 2015
You are fantastic at planning. Love everything about your plan and I'm going to follow along with you. Greets, Storage Dalston Ltd.