Elias’ Home Clean + Organize
I LOVE January for so many reasons! I know it’s probably not many people’s favorite month especially coming right after the holidays. However, January represents a fresh start to the new year filled with goal setting & cleaning for my personal life and business.
For the last 4 years, I have created a process to refresh all areas of my home. I’ve basically taken my skill set of cleaning and organizing closets and applied that to my entire home. I’ve shared some of this journey in the past, so I want to invite you to follow this year’s progression. Also, I’m sharing my method below so if you are wanting to do something similar with your home you have a roadmap.
APPROACH: I start with the previous year’s list and then I prioritize based on what makes sense for the current year. For example, last year we started with cleaning out our kitchen. I normally wouldn’t start with such a large project, but we were painting our kitchen cabinets, so we needed to move everything out anyway. This year we are painting our media room so we will start with cleaning out this space first. I also like to layer in smaller spaces (i.e. junk drawer, cookbooks) to keep things moving along when I don’t feel like I have the mental capacity to work on a large space. Also, for the larger spaces in your house, I like to list out specific areas so I don’t feel overwhelmed and can break up this area into multiple days. It’s a bit of mental game I play with myself, but it helps me feel like I’m moving closer to my goal.
SCHEDULE: Then I pencil in dates to hold me accountability to keep the needle moving forward. I tend to be more aggressive on what I schedule for January & February mainly because we are home much more. Also, over the years (actually just last year) I’ve become more realistic on the time frame to accomplish all of this. In the years past I have aimed to finish everything in 2 months. Last year it took me 6 months. It probably would have gone much faster if I had a family that loved this project as much as I do, but let’s be honest most people don’t enjoy the process of cleaning out & organizing. Scheduling also helps because I get overwhelmed in that I’m anxious to do every space RIGHT NOW. This schedule slooooowwws my role and keeps me from getting burned out quickly.
DON’T FORGET: There are spaces that I include on my list that you wouldn’t normally consider as part of cleaning out your home. For example, mine are Photos on my phone, Wine/Liquor cabinet, Emails, & Refrigerator. If you are someone that craves order and organization, you will find that these spaces also need regular maintenance and often get forgotten. It’s easy to do when it’s hard to keep up with everything else in our house.
INVOLVE: Share your plan with your family and get their buy in. This can be challenging as I mentioned before most people don’t enjoy this process. However, it’s important that the rest of the family gets on board and helps with the process. Every year I hope that my kids have a better attitude with this process. We shall see how this year goes.
HAPPY cleaning & organizing friends!!!
with LOVE & grace,
Elizabeth