It’s that time of year again when that clean slate desire is in the air and people are motivated to purge and organize their homes.

They buy the bins; say they’ll do it this weekend and daydream what their spaces will look like when they’re done.

The weekend comes, they jump right in, become overwhelmed and then mentally check out an hour later.  They call it quits for the day but resolve to doing it next weekend. 

Sound familiar?

Finishing an organizing project takes more than just containers and saying you’re going to do it.  You need a plan.  Without a plan, even just a simple one, it’s easy to get stuck, sidetracked and overwhelmed.

Here’s some tips to create a project plan so you can finish your projects once and for all.

Tip #1 Create a goal.  When you start with a goal in mind, it’s easier to create tasks to accomplish those goals.  For example, converting an office into a baby’s room, adding exercise equipment to the garage or creating space in your kitchen.

Tip #2 Forward think and backwards plan.  Now that you have forward thought to come up with your goal now think backwards to determine the action steps.  Have an if/then conversation with yourself.  For example, “If I want to put the Peloton in the garage, then I have to move the tires.”  Continue working backwards till you find the easiest step to start with.

Tip #3 Write it down.  Keeping visual track of the action steps will enable you to spend less time thinking and more time working once you’ve gotten started.  I recommend Franklin Planner, Basecamp or Trello for project tracking.

Tip #4 Schedule a specific time.  Instead of saying you will do it this weekend, look for a specific time frame, for example 10-2 and add it to your calendar.  The more specific you are, the better the chances you will do it.

Tip #5 Prioritize.  As much as everyone wants to get it done right away, you just can’t.  Look at your list of action steps and prioritize which ones need to happen first. 

Having a plan in place before you get started is the best way to ensure you will actually finish what you set out to do.  By following your plan, you’ll have that clean slate feeling before you know it.  And it feels glorious!

Listen: https://momstown365.com/episodes/tracy-paye-plan-your-way-to-getting-organized