Decluttering is so much easier with a clear plan in place. Rather than picking at random what space to work on when you have some spare time, wouldn't it be nice if you had a list to work through from top to bottom? And instead of procrastinating for weeks and months between your decluttering sessions, wouldn't it be nice to already have it on your calendar?
That's what this Annual Decluttering Plan will give you:
an order to tackle things in & a schedule to help you keep to your goals.
So with no further procrastination (I'm sure you've done enough of that already):
The Step-by-Step Process for How to Make Your
Custom Annual Decluttering Plan:
Before you can make a useful plan you will actually stick to, you have to figure out what you want. Get out a notebook or a new doc on your computer and write the answers to the following questions:
What are your big home and life goals for the next 1-5 years? Moving? Remodeling? Kids off to college? New job? Baby on the way? Really think through what will be happening soon in your life that you may need to prep your house for.
What needs to change about your house to adjust for the upcoming changes?
What are your major clutter issues?
What areas of your house are underutilized?
What areas of your house are not functional anymore?
What areas of your home stress you out?
Want to park your car in the garage?
Want to use X room for a new purpose? E.g. Want your guest room crammed with clutter to become your new office or workout space?
Not inviting guests over? What parts of your home are causing that?
What does your ideal home look like?
How do you want to feel in your home?
Now that you've brainstormed a bit, write out the goals for decluttering your home. This list can be long or short. The idea is just to write out ALL you want to change and accomplish. Be specific with each goal but don't cut out any goals yet.
Here's an example of 3 goals:
"My decluttering goals are to (1) clear the garage so I can park the car and easily find yard equipment, tools, & outdoor gear; (2) purge and reorganize the dining room so I feel good inviting people over for dinner; and (3) declutter my closet so I know anything I pull out is something I love and will fit."
You will be much more successful in accomplishing your goals if you know WHY you want to accomplish them. You can come up with some specific why's for specific goals (like "I want to declutter the garage and park my car in it because I'm tired of worrying about someone side swiping my car.), but I encourage you to also come up with an overall why that ties those specific why's together such as, "I want to feel at peace in my home so I can stop spreading stress to those around me."
Write your overall why somewhere you will see it often. Use this as a mantra to encourage you to stick to your Annual Decluttering Plan throughout the year.
If you have more than 12 easy goals (1 each month, e.g. wardrobe or small room) or 4 big goals (one every 2-4 months, e.g. garage or big rooms/categories), then you'll need to narrow your list down for this year. Think about your why and what's most important to you and narrow down your list to your top goals that are doable in the next 12 months.
Keep the list of goals you are NOT prioritizing somewhere safe so you can revisit it next year or this year if you get through everything.
Now that you know what you want to accomplish this year, it's time to figure out by when you will get these done and in what order. For clearing the garage, perhaps you want to get your car inside by next winter. Make your deadline something like November 1st to give yourself extra cushion before the snow comes.
As you come up with deadlines, make sure to spread them out over the year so you are completing one project at a time. Consider the "12 easy goals" and "4 big goals" timelines I mentioned in step 3. Make sure your deadlines are realistic and give you buffer room to take breaks, vacations, holidays, hectic weeks, etc. However also make sure you aren't spreading them out way too much so that you aren't pushing yourself to accomplish your goals.
Write out your goals for this year in chronological order with their deadlines. It may also make sense at this stage to split some of your big goals into smaller ones.
Here's an example based on the 3 goals mentioned in step 1:
1. Declutter my closet so I know anything I pull out is something I love and will fit by February 1st.
2. Finish purging and reorganizing the dining room by April 1st and have a my birthday party with guests at my place on April 20th.
3. Clear the main part of the garage and park the car inside by September 1st.
4. Finish organizing the garage so I can easily find yard equipment, tools, & outdoor gear by November 1st.
Now that your goals have deadlines, it's time to make your goals happen! Look at the first goal and think about how much total time it will take to accomplish it. How many hours? Then figure out where you can fit those hours into your schedule between now and the deadline. Block off those times for decluttering on your calendar.
I recommend you over estimate how long it will take, and then on top of that add an extra 2 hour session in somewhere in case you do have to cancel on yourself.
Now that they're on your calendar, make sure to keep them. Set yourself reminders on your phone or in your planner. Ask someone to keep you accountable or even declutter with you. Do whatever you need to do to stick to your plan.
You are bound to have over or underestimated your ability to get these goals done on this time frame, so every month or quarter, revisit your decluttering goals and calendar and make adjustments. Miss a deadline? Set a new, more realistic one. Finish early? Start tackling the next project.
This is not a one and done. You have to keep this plan working for you.
A few caveats:
- You can create this plan ANY TIME during the year. No need to wait for January 1st.
- This specific process is for decluttering and organizing your home. However you can use the general framework to declutter your business / office, declutter your digital life, or accomplish any other project based goal you have.
- If you live with multiple people, this is a great activity to do together. Involve your significant other, kids, and/or roommates, even if they won't be doing a lot of the decluttering work with you, it's good to get everyone on the same page and share your goals. And who knows, you might even get someone on board for helping declutter who wasn't interested before.
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Feel overwhelmed by this planning process and just want to know where to start? Read my blog series on what order to declutter your house in!
Want one-on-one help with creating your annual plan? Not sure your plan is realistic? Unsure of your why? Contact me and we can schedule a coaching session to optimize your Annual Decluttering Plan. Even if you don't want to commit to coaching long term, I would LOVE to help you get you started on the path to conquering your clutter with this planning process.
Comment below the goal/space you are going to conquer first!
BONUS: Here are a few free templates for making your plan. Use these on your phone lock screen, computer, or print them out to help you stick to you plan.
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