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On January 1 for the past couple of years, I’ve posted a list of 12 organizing habits to cultivate —one for every month of the year. There’s one essential reason why: we become our habits.
Our habits shape our identities. If your goal is to become an organized person, your habits need to reflect that.
Many people who set a goal to be organized work their way through a 30-decluttering challenge in January. No doubt, decluttering has an impact. But the impact only lasts briefly if no changes are made to day-to-day life.
For example, say you work all through January to declutter and organize papers. By the end of the month, papers are respectively filed and shredded and everything is how you want it.
But because no habits were developed, by the end of March, piles of papers are growing on surfaces, and you’re back at square one.
Cultivating habits are the key to becoming organized.
To cultivate organizing habits, it takes small daily decisions and actions to be organized.
In this post, I’ll suggest 12 organizing habits to develop this New Year to become an organized person.
January: Make the bed every morning
Admiral William McRaven, in a commencement speech, explained why making your bed is one of the most important things you’ll do.
He explained that completing this small task will motivate you to accomplish more and more. If at the end of the day, you’ve accomplished nothing else, at least your bed is made.
Watch this section of the speech here to get motivated.
Another reason to make your bed? It instantly transforms your bedroom from disorderly to tidy.
February: Put away your shoes, bag, & keys immediately when you come home.
It’s easy to run behind when shoes, bags, and keys are missing. That’s why I make every effort I can to put things away as soon as I get home.
This habit requires a strategic setup before it will work. For example, install hooks by the entrances as convenient places to hang items and add storage for shoes.
March: Have no dirty dishes in the sink when you go to bed.
A sink full of dirty dishes first thing in the morning automatically puts the rest of the day behind. In my opinion, starting the day like this is the worst.
Prevent pile-ups by washing dishes and loading the dishwasher after each meal. Once you’re done loading the dishwasher after the last meal of the day, put in the soap and set it to run!
April: Plan your meals every week.
Set aside one day each week to decide what you’ll have for each meal. (I like to plan months of meals at once so that I don’t have to do it as often.) Batching these decisions in one session is more productive than trying to decide each day.
This is a great habit to cultivate if you have a goal to eat healthier or save money on eating out this year.
To set yourself up for success with this habit, use a Meal Master List, or a list of meals that you make often. It’s easier to work from a list than starting from scratch every time.
May: Plan your week on Friday.
Planning the week ahead ensures that time is used wisely. Instead of letting the day happen, each day is used constructively and with purpose.
There are many posts on this blog about time management (including this free planning guide). But the key here is to plan on Friday.
Yes, many people say to plan on Sunday. But I’ve found that when I plan the next week on Friday I can enjoy the full weekend. It’s been a game-changer.
June: Empty the dishwasher every morning.
To empty the dishwasher in the morning, it takes remembering to set the dishwasher to run the night before. For this habit, use habit stacking, or pairing new habits with current ones.
For example, after loading the dishwasher from your March habit, put in the soap and start or delay-start the dishwasher. Then in the morning, unload the dishwasher while you wait for your coffee to brew.
July: Recycle junk mail before setting it down in a pile.
Here’s how I support this habit: I sort the mail as I return to my house. Any ads are put in the bin next to my garage door. Any junk mail that needs to be shredded is shredded immediately …ok, it’s set on the shredder to be done on my admin day.
One thing that doesn’t need a place in your house is junk mail!
August: Keep all the paper in one place in your home.
This is, by far, the best way to prevent paper clutter. Instead of leaving papers on different surfaces while deciding what to do, put them all in one place.
Set up an Actionable Paper Hub where all the papers are collected. Then file, take action, shred, or recycle them once each week.
Learn more about this simple system in this post >>>
September: Put dirty laundry in the hamper.
Dirty laundry ends up in weird places. Make sure the hampers you have are in seen and convenient places.
Again, use habit stacking to enforce this habit. For instance, make picking up the dirty clothes part of the before-bed ritual.
October: Clear and wipe the kitchen counters every night.
Take 3 minutes every evening before shutting out the lights to clear any clutter from the kitchen counters. Put items back in their rightful places, throw away trash, and spray and wipe the counter.
Now you’re ready to begin tomorrow!
November: Spend 10 minutes putting things away each night (the kids help).
Now that you’re in the habit of picking up the kitchen each night, get the kids’ help to do the rest of the house!
Set a 10-minute timer, assign each person an area to tidy, and go! Having everyone do this at the same time should hopefully avoid altercations.
December: If a task takes less than a minute, do it immediately.
Out of everything you can do this year, this habit will save you the most time in the long run. Taking one minute of decisive action will save future frustration.
For example, taking an old mug of coffee to the kitchen instead of leaving it on the desk will save from future spills or having to constantly rearrange the desk.
The small actions you take now will have your future self thanking you later.
Organizing habits take time
It’s hard to break bad habits and develop good ones. That’s why I recommend focusing on one habit per month.
To learn more about habit development, I highly recommend reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. It was one of the most insightful books I’ve ever read.
Get a printable checklist of these organizing habits in the 10-Minute Tidy Habit Tracker here >>>
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