When we hear "March" we start to dream about Spring, and Spring equal, well… Spring Cleaning :-) If you have followed my monthly checklist from January on you are already ahead with your Spring Cleaning and this month we will continue with the Organizing and maintenance of your home. NOTE – Days are not all numbered by actual date so you may pick and choose based on the amount of time you have on a specific day. Some tasks will take longer than others, so I left some blank days at the end. You may copy/paste this into a blank document and print so you can have it handy and check mark the tasks already accomplished. Day 1 – Microwave – If you haven’t cleaned it properly in a little while use the boiling water and lemon technique, you can watch videos on YouTube about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdFxcfH-05w Day 2 – Room Clutter – A way to address that clutter is to have 1 place (in each room if necessary) to collect random stuff that needs to be returned to its proper home. If you have multiple floors place a basket at the bottom/top of stairs to collect stuff that belongs to another floor. This is your task for today! Return this clutter to its proper home. Day 3 – Linens/towels – Go through your linens and towels, and get rid of what is old, yellowed, stained, damaged or it is not a full set. You should only keep what looks and feels good, it will improve your mood, it is not a good feeling having to dry your face with an old, stained and rough towel. Pamper yourself, you deserve it. It is better to have less but good quality, than lots of lesser quality. Day 4 – Bed and Mattress – In the old days people used sunlight to sanitize their beds, linens and even rugs. When did you flip your mattress last? It is recommended you do it 1-2 times a year. While you are at it, vacuum under the bed, bed frame, corner and crevices. You will sleep better tonight. Day 5 – Feng Shui – Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese art of arranging objects and space in an environment to achieve harmony and balance, one of the rules of Feng Shui is to eliminate clutter. More small tips to create a good energy flow in your home can be found all over the internet, try to apply what you can. Day 6 – Dishwasher – Once in a while your dishwasher needs maintenance as well. Read your manufacturer instructions, there should be a cycle for it, or look up videos online. An alternative is to buy a product made to specifically clean/sanitize your dishwasher, AFFRESH dishwasher cleaner is one example. Day 7 – TO-DO Basket – If you have space close to your door that would be the ideal spot, if not place it where it is easy to see on the way out. This is a basket to collect things you will need to take care of while outside. Packages to return, items for dry cleaning, pharmacy prescription pickup, anything borrowed and in need of return, donation bags, or anything that needs to go OUT, or taken care of while you are OUT. Having to see these things will motivate you to take care of them. If you hide them you will forget. Day 8 – Car Emergency Kit – Every vehicle should have an emergency supply kit. Kits should be checked every 6 months, expired items should be replaced. For a list of what your kit should include check this link to the National Safety Council website. ttps://www.nsc.org/home-safety/safety-topics/emergency-preparedness/car-kit Day 9 – First Aid Kit – You should have one in your car and one at home, in the even of an emergency it will be a quick grab, rather than having to search multiple locations for the items needed. Keep it well stocked and check every 6 months for expired items. Check online for items needed in a Kit. Day 10 – Declutter/Donate – The focus for today is to find items you no longer need but are still useful and Give Back. Find out if there are still Coat drives in your community, maybe Food drives for families in need or Homeless shelters/animal shelter you can donate to. If there’s a DSW nearby donate your gently used unwanted shoes, they will be redirected to Soles4Souls. Here is a link with more info: https://www.dsw.com/en/us/content/soles4souls?cm_xm=philanthropylp-20210402-editoriallist-d-soles4soulslp-dswgivesshoedonation-2 Day 11 – Give Back Box – To continue with our decluttering and donating, here is another option to make an impact and donate to a good cause while making space in your home. Give Back Box is a non profit that allows you to donate gently used items for a good cause with Free shipping and give every carboard box a second life by REUSING them. So you are doing double-Good. If you want to read more here is the link: https://www.givebackbox.com/works Day 12 – Window Treatments – Dust all your blinds thoroughly, if they are light enough take them down and wash them in the tub, especially the kitchen ones, they need more than dusting. I know there are gadgets out there but a simple kitchen tong with a microfiber cloth wrapped around will do the trick. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezx_0brpHss If you have curtains, proceed as you usually do to clean them. Day 13 – National check your Batteries Day – this year is March 13th. Celebrate this day by learning about how to maintain and care for your smoke, carbon monoxide, random alarms, remotes and other electronics like baby monitors etc. Remember your smoke alarm should be replaced every 10 yrs. Day 14 – Facebook Clean up Day – Fun and easy activity for today. Your goal is to clean up as much as possible, unfriend people you never interact with, maybe you don’t even know who they are! Leave groups you joined a gazillion years ago and never visit, maybe your interests changed. Streamline and clean your Facebook account by removing anything you no longer need, unfollow pages that make you feel like you are not up to par or make you feel unaccomplished, or those with lots of click bait. Day 15 – Light Fixtures – While it is easier to dust/clean floor and table lamps, ceiling fixtures are often forgotten. The task for today is to take care of those, including fans if you have ceiling ones. If your floor lamps need maintenance try to get that done as well. Day 16 – Spice cabinet – Collect all your spices, wipe clean if needed, consolidate if you have doubles especially if they are both ½ full. Check for signs of aging, since they usually do not have expiration date, but after a while they are no longer fresh and fragrant. Discard what you no longer use. Return the ones you keep in the cabinet in an orderly fashion, either on a lazy Susan, a bin, or however you store them. If you are cooking tomorrow it will be a breeze to find what you need. Day 17 – Saint Patrick’s Day – If you celebrate it dig out all your Grandma recipes. Day 18 – Cooking Utensils – How many spatulas does one need? Some people have way more than they need. Go through your utensils and discard what is old, burnt, stained, melted (yes I found melted spatulas) and keep only what you actually use, for example if you lack space a garlic press is not necessary, you can use a knife. Ideally all your cooking utensils should be in 1 location. Day 19 – Tupperware – If you have lots of them what you need to do first is match containers with lids and discard the rest. If they are plastic check for stains and wear and tear, plastic ones should be replaced after a while. Even better transition to glass ones, they can go in the freezer, over and microwave with no problem. Also remember plastic in not earth friendly :-( Day 20/21/22 – Clean Out your Closet Week! Every year we celebrate National Clean out your Closet Week on the 3rd week of March. You observe this day by taking on 1 closet per day, maybe 2 if they are small, depending on how many you have you may need more than 3 days. The process is the same for all, EMPTY the closet, clean the shelves, vacuum the floor, go through items and discard what needs to go, return items possibly in categories in your closet. Try to be honest and ask yourself when was the last time you used an item, if you didn’t even know it was there, you did not miss it, let it go. Day 23 – Clean out your Social Media – Let’s alternate from physical labor to mental work. How many social media platforms are you on? Chances are at least 3. Time to clean out a bit. Go through the list of friends and unfriend those you don’t even know in person and never interact with, unfollow pages that you lost interest in, leave groups you never visit, by removing what is no longer relevant the focus will be on what you are actually interested in and probably enjoy. Try to keep the focus on what really pertain to you Today not 3 years ago Day 24 – Clean out your phone – Since we addressed Social Media cleanup, we might as well continue with your phone, you use it everyday for multiple reasons, but how often do you perform maintenance on it? Check through your text messages and delete obsolete ones, do the same with emails, clean your spam folders as well, and what about pictures? How many are stored on your phone? Move to alternate storage and keep only those that are important, no need to have multiples of the same 2 people in similar poses, just keep the best. GOAL is to reduce the amount of stuff on your phone. Day 25 – Pots and Pans – Take them all out and check for damage, burned ones have to go, non-stick pans with damaged coating have to go, they are not safe to use, pots with broken handles or without lid can be discarded as well. You can use pans without lids but pots not so much. Try to really think about what you use on a regular basis. Those rarely used can be stored in harder to reach places. The rest of the month is for you to catch up with whatever tasks you left incomplete as some may require more than 1 day. If anything try to get your Clean out your Closets Week done, closets can accumulate huge amounts of clutter and dust! Spring is near and so is allergy season, dust will just make it worse.
Most of all try to have fun with it if you can, play music if it helps!! Happy Organizing. NOTE – Days are not numbered by actual date so you may pick and choose based on the amount of time you have on a specific day. Some tasks will take longer than others, so adjust accordingly, I also left some blank days at the end to complete unfinished tasks. You may also copy/paste this into a blank document and print so you can have it handy and check mark the tasks already accomplished. Day 1 – Keys – Either you have family members that often lose their keys or not, it is a good practice to keep copies of ALL your important keys (whatever they may be). Think about anything else other than the obvious house keys; car, shed, safe, parent’s home etc. Have a ring with all your copies clearly labeled so you don’t have to guess. Should you misplace any key it will save you time. If you use one of the copies remember to make another one and replace it on the ring, immediately. Day 2 – Clean your toaster and toaster oven day. You may need them for V Day breakfast. Make sure you open the crumbs tray and use a brush in corners to get all debris out. Day 3 – Valentine’s Day Prep – Depending on how you celebrate create a checklist with To-Do items like:
Day 4/5 – Master Closet – This will probably require more than 1 day so plan it over a weekend.
Day 6 – Annual Check-up – Set up doctor and dentist annual check-up for your family if you haven’t done so, if not possible at this time mark on your calendar the date when to address it. Day 7 – Check your vacuum filter. When was the last time you did maintenance on your vacuum? Each model is different but they all require maintenance. Read your vacuum manual (or look it up online) for proper maintenance. Some models of Dyson vacuums for example have a filter that requires washing. Day 8 – Organize your kitchen Junk Drawer. Take everything out, assess: does it belong here? If not re-home with like items. We all have junk drawers but it doesn’t mean they have to be messy. Use drawer organizers to keep items with like items, and to prevent mixing with others. Day 9 – Jewelry – Do you have lots of costume jewelry? Seasonal or event jewelry? Are the sets together, are your earrings in pairs or orphans? Gather all your jewelry and organize it however it makes sense to you, summer jewelry, work jewelry, special events etc. Find a place to store it all together and a small dish or box for everyday or often used jewelry to drop off at the end of the day. Day 10 – Couch – When did you last treat your couch to a good vacuuming? Remove all pillows, seats etc. and deep vacuum, surprises always awaits! Vacuum the armrests and back of the couch, move it and vacuum the entire area underneath. Vacuum each pillow and seat and place back. Good Job!! If you like use some fabric freshener for a clean scent. Day 11 – Medicine – If you haven’t tackled your bathroom organization yet, or keep them in the kitchen, go through your medicine and supplements and check for expiration dates, if something need to be refilled call your doc/pharmacy and get it refilled right away. Day 12 – Old magazines/newspapers/books – We all have things we mean to read “eventually” accumulating in various corners. Time to weed them out. Go through those piles and be honest with yourself, how long have you been saving them? Can you find a similar read online? Recycle as much as possible. And how about that book ½ read and never finished? Can you donate it? If you ever decide to read it one day just grab it from the library. Make sure to place what you keep near an area where you read. Day 13 – Descale your Coffee Maker. Did you know your coffee machine can grow mold, bacteria and accumulate mineral build up. Depending on the type you use follow instructions on it’s manual or find online. Maintaining your coffee maker will not only give you better tasting coffee but extend its life. What a great way to start your Valentine's day tomorrow! Day 14 – Happy Valentine’s Day! Today is also National Clean out your computer day. As the title suggest it implies weeding out what you no longer need. If you tend to save too many photos on your pc try to move them to an external drive, flash drive or cloud storage. Go through your files and clean out what is outdated, a duplicate or can be accessed on the web without need to store. You goal is to delete at least 20 files. You may postpone this task to the end and use one of your free days if you are celebrating V Day. :-) Day 15 – Car Maintenance – Time to declutter and vacuum the inside of your car, change your air freshener if you use one. Remove all junk and organize what you keep in your car by giving it a “home” to reside. Make sure you have your "car and registration" as well ;-) Day 16 – If you have time clean the outside of your car or schedule time for a car wash and oil change? Does your car need a tune up as well? Day 17 – Today is National Random Act of Kindness Day it may not have anything to do with organizing but you may take a break today and do something to brighten up someone’s day. Help an elderly neighbor, call a lonely relative, send a card to someone who doesn’t expect it, or just buy a warm meal for a homeless person. Today it is not about you. ADD PHOTO! Day 18 – Old Files/statements – Discard 1 year worth of old credit card statements or bills. You don’t need to keep them if they are paid and there is nothing related to tax returns. Shred what contains sensitive information. Day 19 – Kids Backpacks – Go through your child backpack and remove clutter, damaged, dirty items and replace with new, check if you need to replenish supplies, and check folders for forgotten permission slips or other important papers. Return items in an organized fashion. Repeat for other children. Day 20 – School Supplies – While replenishing your kids backpacks take notice if any supplies are low, there is still almost ½ year worth of school so make a list and replenish any supplies as needed. Day 21 – Washer/Dryer Maintenance. If you have never done maintenance on your washer/dryer now it would be a good time. Some people limit that to removing the lint from the filter in their dryers. More detailed maintenance will prolong the life of your appliances and save you money on repairs. There are plenty videos online that show you how to perform maintenance depending on your appliance. The maker of your appliance may have instructions as well. Lastly there are also products you can purchase. Day 22 – February 22 is National walking the Dog Day so take the time to enjoy a leisurely walk with your four legged friend. Exercise and fresh air will do both of you good. While we are on the dog subject before you go out find some time to Organize your doggie supplies. Do you have a home for them? If not think of one.
Day 23 – Make a Vision Board – Sometimes visual help is a great motivator. If there is a home related project that will take multiple steps, for example organizing your living room, having a Vision board with examples, pictures and motivating quotes will help you achieve your goal. I will give you the rest of the month OFF so you can try and finish off anything that may be incomplete. Do your best to finish it all off so you can move on to next month Tasks with no extra baggage :-) Come back for March Checklist! Did you know there was such a thing? Apparently there is, and this year January 10 is National Clear Off Your Desk day, but you will have time until April 26 this year since that is National Get Organized Day. So are you ready to tackle them? From January to April there should be enough time to get everything in order and celebrate National Get Organized Day in style. If you have it in your budget you can hire a professional organizer to help you, even a virtual one if you are able to do the manual work yourself with guidance. Or you can go the DIY route and go at it on your own, if that is the case continue reading for tips on how to get a little done everyday and still meet the deadline :-) January is a good month to get organized, it’s a new year, new beginnings, time for resolutions, what better time to break bad habits, create new and better ones, and improve your life in general? Getting organized will give you a feeling of being in control and having accomplished something, I hear that all the time from my clients. But now here are a few tips to get you started, once you get moving it will get easier. Try not to put too much on your plate all at once, do a little everyday and you will get there. The Holidays are over, time to get your house back to normal. You can choose a slower pace and tackle one action per day or if you feel brave tackle multiple in one day and move faster. Day 1 – If you haven’t already, take down your Christmas tree and indoor decorations. Check for anything damaged. Organize by type, wrap fragile items, and store in appropriate containers, shoe boxed, Tupperware, whatever you have. Make sure you label everything for easy retrieval next year. Day 2 – Take down all Outdoor decorations if you have any, organize like with like, find suitable containers, boxes, label and store in suitable place. Day 3 – Gather all the wrapping/packaging materials, gift bags, bows etc. and organize for next year, separate kids themed from adults, and check for reusable items and discard damaged ones. While putting them away organize all your gift wrapping supplies by occasion if you have them. Day 4 – FOOD - If you shopped in bulk for Holidays related ingredients that you won’t use again until next year, check the expiration date. If it expires before the next Holiday season and you won’t use it until then, try to donate it to someone who will. Day 5 – Leftovers – If your fridge is still packed with leftovers, or treats you received from family and friends, try to use it, freeze it for future use, or donate it to someone who will enjoy it if you don’t. Don’t keep it “for later” that is just code for Never. Day 6 – Unwanted GIFTS – It happens to all of us, people mean well but sometimes they just read you wrong and you end up with a bunch of gifts you really don’t like, want, or need. Think about your options, re-gift to someone you know will want it, sell it, donate it to a needy person, good cause. Do not store unwanted gifts, they will be forgotten and when you move 10 years from now you will unearth it and it will be obsolete and useless to anyone. Give it away now while still worth it. Day 7 – GIFTS What about that mountain of gifts you do like and want to keep? These are all new things that will need a home. Your task today is to find them a HOME, and that should be with similar items. While at it if there are older versions, try to downsize, remove what is old and keep the new. Day 8 – Gift Cards and Digital cards are gifts that are often forgotten and/or lost, I find them everywhere, some have expiration dates so find a Home for these! If they have expiration dates mark them on your calendar to be reminded! If they are digital create a folder on your phone or PC so you can be reminded and access them all in one place. Day 9 – Did you get a 2022 Calendar? If not, get one and if yes, prep it. I keep an old fashioned paper calendar in my kitchen and use it all the time. Make sure you add all known and important Birthdays, Anniversaries, dates important to your family, and all known and/or recurring appointments you may have. Double check with your digital calendars and add any important dates. Day 10 – Taxes - Start gathering all your papers, documents, and statements related to 2021 Taxes and place in a folder so when April 15th comes around you have everything in one place and ready to go. Day 11 – Paper - This would be a good time to sort through any piles of mail/papers in any area of your home, you might discover a document needed for your tax folder. Go through as many piles as you can today or break it down into multiple days. Discard junk mail, file inactive papers and have a place to keep ACTIVE papers, those that require an action. Day 12 – Home Care – Check your fire and carbon monoxide alarms and replace batteries if needed. Press and hold the test button on the smoke detector. If the sound is weak or non existent, replace your batteries. Change any light bulbs in your house that have burned out. Day 13 – Go through all your family winter gear, hats, scarves, gloves etc, check for damage, wear and tear, mismatched gloves, and what is now too small or old. If anything is still in decent condition donate, what is too worn you can place in those clothing donation bins, most just shred and reuse the fabric so it’s not wasted. Day 14 – Time to let go. The Goal for today is to go through your home and room by room find 3 items in each room to donate or trash, if you can find more all the better! Make a donation bag, and keep adding in the future until full. Day 15 – Linen Closet – Empty your linen closet, wipe the shelves, assess the contents. Are there items that do not belong? Re-home with similar items. Go through your linens/towels and identify worn, stained or damaged items to throw out. You might be able to donate to animal shelters, old pillows, blankets and sheets. If you have multiple sets and sizes of sheets, place the whole set neatly folded inside one of the pillowcases so it stays together. Day 16 – 17 - Tackle your bathroom. May need 1 or 2 days depending on size. On Day 1 empty and wipe your medicine cabinet, check for expired medicine, vitamins and even makeup. Get rid of products that look old, discolored or smells funny or have only a few drops of product. Wipe the containers if soiled, group like with like and return to the cabinet in organized clusters. If you feel maxed out come back next day or if you have energy continue on with your under the sink storage, (drawers or shelf) in the same manner as with the medicine cabinet. If the space is large try to find containers that stack to organize your supplies. Lastly remove as much as possible from counter/sink and store away. Day 18 – 20 - Kitchen - (multiple days required for kitchen, vary depending on size) following the same steps as for the bathroom tackle one cupboard at a time, or multiples if you can. Maybe do all your drawers one day, upper cabinets next day, and lower cabinets last day. Empty the area, wipe clean, assess contents, check for expiration dates, wipe containers if soiled, decant if packages are leaking like sugar, if you have multiples of any product see if you can relocate excess items in pantry. Keep often used items in easily accessible areas, and less often used up high, down low or in the back. Day 22 – Cables and cords – In every household I visit I encounter piles of tangled electronics cords, in multiple rooms, if that is your case gather them ALL and make it your goal for today to sort it all out. Grab some ziploc bags and one plastic bin and sort through your tangle, group I-phone/Mac cords, Android cords and chargers, PC and laptop/printer cables, appliances and other cords, have a ziploc bag for each type and label all bags, including earbuds/headphones. Discard what is obsolete and keep handy only those cords you actively use often. Possibly keep them near your charging station.
Day 23 – Emails – Your goal for today is to clear your Inbox, if you have multiple email addresses tackle one per day or as much as you can in one day. Your goal should be to delete at least 20 Emails in each, and you can repeat this as often as needed until your clean it out. Set aside ½ hour per day, play some music and clean it out! Day 24 – Flat surfaces – This includes counters, tables, desks, and even chairs. Flat surfaces accumulate clutter especially if items have no set home to be returned to. If the piles are large tackle one per day, if it’s doable do more. Clear out the surface entirely, sort through the clutter, discard what is not needed, re-home what does not belong and put back only what is used at that location. If it’s a dinnner table it should only have a centerpiece, if it’s a chair it should have nothing on it. Day 25 - Orphaned Socks – If like many people you have piles of unmatched socks in multiple locations, or bags full of them, gather everything and maybe get your kids involved and make it a game, who matches the most socks win! Or be creative and make mismatched funny pairs of socks. The goal is to go through all the mismatched socks, discard what has no hope of finding a match, or create a funny match. It’s also some time spent with kids if they are small it will be fun. These will be your tasks for January, come back in February and I will have another month worth of small tasks to get you on track. Happy Organizing!! |
AuthorHello, my name is Vicky and I am a Professional Organizer in NYC. I am passionate about anything related to organizing and most of all I fully believe in the benefits of it. Archives
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