Your New, Improved Weekly Organizing Routine

As stress management expert Elizabeth Scott, M.S. writes "clutter stresses, order soothes."

Clutter can also cost you money and time: Money because if you don't know where things are you may buy duplicates, and time because you are probably spending way too much time searching for things in your home.

This guide will ease you into decluttering on a more regular basis. I personally like to walk aimlessly around my home decluttering, but pros advise you to concentrate your time in one place - a room, a corner of a room, a zone -- to be more effective.

Great. I’m sold, but if decluttering my home is so important, why am I spending only 15 minutes?  Why not 30? Or an hour?

Because 30 minutes is more of a commitment and 15 minutes is easy peasey.

I chose 15 minutes because 15 minutes is so doable each and every day. Picture yourself sitting at work at 2p.m. thinking about decluttering your kitchen for 30 minutes that evening. You’re exhausted. Now picture yourself imagining 15 minutes of decluttering.  Much more pleasant.

When you have the time, I have a list of 30 minute and weekend organizing projects.

What do I need?  I don’t want to buy anything (or maybe I do)?

You’re in luck because you likely already own these 5 items that will help you declutter your home, and if you don’t--or you just wanna upgrade--they are all very budget-friendly and readily available.

How to Get Started

I developed the Weekly Organizing Routine. This routine will take you through your home to declutter one space at a time for 15 minutes a day.  I focused on the most high-traffic areas: bathroom, bedroom, closet, entryway, and kitchen. We also add in time for laundry, meal planning and meal prep.

We also tackle meal planning and laundry every 3-4 days. You can follow the routine right here:  WeeklyOrganizingRoutine. Jump in no matter what day of the week it is and just get started.

Here’s what my home was like each week before I instituted this Weekly Organizing Routine:  

• My house started out fairly organized.  
• My entryway and launchpad were organized; my kitchen counters were clear.
• My meal plan set.
• There was no clutter in my bathroom and my clothes hung neatly in my closet.

Then, slowly, as the week wore on, my home would fall further and further into disarray: Some clothes were strewn about in the bedroom, laundry piled up in the living room, and my meal plan was thrown the window out for take-out Chipotle or delivery food.

That’s why I created this weekly organizing routine. Instead of marathon cleaning/organizing sessions on the weekend which would be negated by Tuesday, I do a little bit each day. This constant upkeep works well for me. It's not what the experts recommend, but if it works for me, it may work for you too. 

What It Is

A list of tasks you need to get done every week paired up with a day in which it makes sense to schedule this task.

In short: it's a schedule, and there's also some flexibility baked in: you can focus on one room a day, or you can double (or triple) up to give yourself some days off.

This routine not a full-home organization or a full home cleaning. These are light decluttering and upkeep projects you can do after (or before) a long day at the office.  I have a list of 30 minute projects and weekend projects for when you have more time.

Tools

You probably already have everything you need to in your home: a waste basket, a recycling bin or bag, a timer.

Once A Day

Here are the three things you need to do every day as part of the weekly organizing routine.

• 5 minutes: Clear kitchen counter clutter, bathroom vanity clutter and coffee table clutter. This simply means sweeping these areas for clutter and putting everything back in its place.  or tossing it--a lot of clutter is really trash masquerading as clutter.
• 5 minutes: . My launch pad is a tray where I keep keys, cell phones, outgoing and incoming mail
• 5 minutes: Clear clothes clutter from rooms that your clothing simply doesn’t belong in, like the bathroom, living and kitchen (just me?).  Either put it back into the  Don’t worry about the bedroom every day. We’ll do that on Days 2 and 5.

If you have someone in your household who doesn’t like leftovers, remind them that they are free to cook as well. :)

Kitchen.

We're hitting the kitchen for the second time this week because it's such a high-traffic area (in fact, if you have the time I recommend decluttering your kitchen every day).

The second time around may be a bit easier than the first because you've already been through your cabinets, refrigerator and pantry and have swept over the counter tops and table. This time, spend a little extra time on the area that tends to be the most troublesome. Maybe that’s your coffee station, the area around your sink, or your cabinets or pantry.

Laundry.

Bring whatever clothing needs cleaning in the bedroom directly to the laundry room and do a few loads of laundry. If you, like me, live in an apartment building and don't have laundry in your home, use this time to schedule a trip to the laundry room or laundry mat. Will you do it over the weekend? Will you go one night next week?  Plan ahead so it gets done. 

Laundry.

Another laundry day. We've built in laundry 2-3 times a week to this routine so it's not overwhelming on Saturdays, but, this may be the only day you can get it done. If it's your laundry day, try to pair it up with something enjoyable like reading a magazine, a book, or the weekend newspaper. You could also spend time doing your meal plan and grocery list for the next few days. 

Next Steps

Did this routine work for you? Do you need to adjust days/projects? If it did, great. Keep going and each week you'll find you're doing less and less decluttering.

If you need to adjust -- do! The whole point of this routine is not to be too rigid, just make sure you're putting in 15/30 minutes a day to decluttering, you're tackling your mail and not letting your laundry pile up for too long. 

Now that you've completed the Weekly Organizing Routine, you may enjoy the Organize Your Home Weekly E-Course. It's a free and easy-to-follow weekly course to help you really organize your home: Sign Up.