How to Create a Monthly Decluttering Project List

Learn how to create a monthly rotation of decluttering projects, plus download the free template to get started today!

When I was first married, I was messy. I had no house keeping skills because my mom never asked much of me in the way tending to things around the house. She nagged me about my room, but I could shrug that off on my way to volleyball and cheerleading practice.

My parents preferred I focus on my studies, and so with straight A’s, I headed off to college where the rooms were the size of postage stamps and I had only brought with me what little I needed to survive the semester.

However…

when I got married the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college, I didn’t bring much to the marriage beyond my clothing and our wedding gifts. I have zero skills, and it showed!

But…

it wasn’t until we had our first child, that it became obvious I had not learned how to manage a home because suddenly, there was an extra person with extra stuff and it took extra time to tend to his needs. And I had no idea how to balance it all.

After several moves and another baby, I was drowning in stuff and a lack of routine, and there began my quest to become a REAL homemaker – someone who knew HOW to make a home and not just make a mess.

You can read all about that journey in my book: Home Management for the Homeschool Mom.

One thing I learned during those early years was that decluttering was ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. And I finally learned to let go of things and create routines that incorporated decluttering.

But HOW I decluttered changed over the years.

When I was first learning, I would declutter just a bit every night.

Years later, I started a Room by Room declutter that worked really well for a number of years. I shared exactly how I did that in this post:

However, as children have moved out, and circumstances have changed around here (check out my podcast for more on that!), I’ve had to tweak this method just a bit, and that’s what this post is all about!

A Monthly Decluttering List

The method of decluttering I currently use relies on creating a month by month list of decluttering projects. It works super well for people who are busy with outside-the-house commitments and need more time to accomplish each decluttering task. You are giving yourself an entire month to focus on that room or project and then move on (no matter how far you get) to the next month, realizing that decluttering project will come back around again.

Now, I still like to declutter by room. It makes the most sense to my brain. However, as I’m sharing how this works, keep in mind that you don’t have to do this room by room. It can be project by project instead.

So for instance…

Say you have a closet full of stuff that needs to be gone through, organized, and tidied – THAT could be considered a “project” for your monthly project list. Got it? Good!

Let’s get started!

Step #1 – Brainstorm a Projects or Room List

Before you get started, you must brainstorm and write down either the rooms in your house or the decluttering projects you need to tackle.

Because I do my decluttering by room, my list looks like this:

• Living Room
• Dining Room
• Hallway (includes any closets in said hallway)
• Kitchen
• Guest Bathroom
• Laundry Room
• Upstairs Nook
• Linen Closet
• Guest Bedroom (used to be Meg’s room – as you’ll see in the example)
• Girls’ Bedroom
• Kids’ Bathroom
• Master Bedroom
• Master Bathroom
• Bunker (a storage room upstairs that the kids lovingly call the Bunker)
• Attic
• Basement Den (which is actually the boys’ bedroom)
• Meg’s new Bedroom (it says Melia’s Bedroom on the example because she used to have that room)
• Porches
• Shed
• Garage

Now, if you’re counting, that is 20 rooms. Obviously, that is NOT going to work with a yearly calendar that rotates through 12 months, but that’s ok because some of these projects are MUCH easier than others and can be combined into one month. And some of these rooms sort of “go together” and can be combined into one month.

Which brings me to step 2…

Step #2 – Combine, Schedule, and Cycle

Now that you have a list of rooms or projects, you need to decide what you can combine, where to put them on the schedule, and how often you will cycle through the projects.

I have chosen to combine several of my “rooms” together. The upstairs nook is a simple one and I combine it with the now guest bedroom and the kids’ bathroom.

You’ll also notice I have the deck and porches listed for a month when it isn’t freezing or blistering hot outside. Same with the shed in the backyard and the garage. No one wants to be working on those when it is 102 degrees!

Be strategic in how you combine and when you schedule!

Also be mindful of how often you think you need to cycle back through these projects/rooms. While you can certainly do “touch-ups” here and there, if the room is REALLY bad, you may need to put it into the rotation several times in a year. Personally, I don’t do this, but that’s because I don’t have any one place that is worse than another.

Here’s the example you all have been waiting for!

Step #3 – Be honest with yourself

I thought about leaving this step out, but it is actually the crux of making decluttering work. You have to be honest with yourself.

Decluttering is an ongoing mission. It is NOT a one and done. Thus the reason, these monthly decluttering projects come back around again.

Once you make peace with the fact that everything you own is trying to come undone on a daily basis and it is your job to sort, cull, and put it all back where it belongs, you will find that decluttering isn’t such an irritating task after all. It’s simply something that has to be done over and over again.

Now, for what you’ve really been reading this post for…

Example Decluttering Template

Here is my current Monthly Decluttering Template:

In addition to having this taped to my laundry room cupboard (that’s where my cleaning supplies are!), there are reminders on my phone that pop up each month! No excuses!

Free Downloadable Template

You can download the exact template I use with blank spaces you can edit yourself!

I’d also encourage you to check out all of my cleaning and decluttering posts in the Homemaking section of this website!

You’ve got this! Now go enjoy the journey!