**Let’s Look at….How I organize for the New Year ** {1.12.2022}

January 12, 2022 / 4 Comments

Hello Everyone! I can’t believe it’s already the second Wednesday of the New Year, 2022! I’ve got a fun little link-up post for you. I’m linking up with Shay from MixandMatchMama and Erika from ALittleBitofEverything and talking about how I organize and prepare for the New Year.

I feel like I have to start the new month/year with getting a new calendar for our home and writing everything down that is scheduled. We are each a different color. Joey is blue, Addison is purple, and I’m pink. Anything for all of us, or just in general, is in black. 

I also have a Life Planner by Erin Condren that I use to keep my school/work self organized. I also color coordinate in it too! 

 

Once I get all my Christmas things down, in January, I feel like I need to do a deep clean of all my shelves, tables, and the areas I couldn’t reach, to clean, while it was decorated with Christmas things. I also try to wipe a cloth along the top of my door & window frames and on top of mirrors and light fixtures. 

I like to try to think of exciting things to save for throughout the year. So, each month, I always start with setting our budget. We follow Dave Ramsey’s Envelope System and have for probably 8 years. We have paid off so much debt and saved lots of money doing this. It’s just great because it puts accountability on every dollar. So you’re not just blowing your money. You see exactly what you’re spending. A budget can help you decide where you should be spending your money and where you should be saving it. Knowing where your money goes, helps you stay organized by allowing you to see the big picture before you take on more.   

If you’re interested in saving and paying off debt, I would recommend reading any of his books. The Total Money Makeover

Do you guys Meal Plan for your week? The Month? I usually just meal plan for the week and try to keep things in mind for the following weeks. I use a lot of different things to decide on what to cook. I use some family cookbooks, Pioneer Woman Cookbooks, Trisha Yearwood Cookbooks, Six Sisters Cookbook, different websites, and Pinterest. Which Joey doesn’t like when I try recipes on Pinterest. He would rather I stick to the family recipes that he says are tried and true. Haha! 

If you’re not meal planning, I’d highly recommend taking the time to do so. It takes a little bit of time, but once it’s done, you only have to go to the store like once a week. 

Another thing we do, we usually get big bulk items at Costco once or twice a month. We tend to grab a big bag of Frozen Chicken breasts, a big thing of Ground Beef that I divide and keep in the freezer until I need it, a big pack of Pork Chops that I also divide and place in the freezer, as well as a couple packs of bacon. 

Organize one room at a time. While the idea of organizing your whole home may be too daunting, you can do it if you take your time. Start with one area that is really bothering you and spend just 10 minutes a day in that room organizing it. Pretty soon you will realize how far you’ve come and your whole house will be organized before you know it. If you really hate organizing, set a timer. It will really help, and I always enjoy playing music. A little jam session is always fun! 

That’s it for today. What do you guys do to help organize for the New Year? I can’t wait to read about some of your recommendations. 🙂

xo

Thank you to Amazon and Shopstyle for sponsoring this post! This post contains affiliate links.

4 Comments

  • Joanne

    January 12, 2022 at 1:59 pm

    I didn’t write a post to join in today but I too like to start with a new calendar and I write in all the birthdays, events, and appointments for the year. I do monthly meal planning and yet still end up grocery shopping twice a week as I just can not seem to keep fresh fruits and veggies in the house. This year I’m hoping to organize our laundry room. I LOVE organizing but it seems like a job to get my family on board and to keep that system going year round… so I don’t just dive in but really stop and think about what is an easy system that everyone will be okay with. (Usually I search a lot on Pinterest for inspiration first).

    • alisonhughes

      January 13, 2022 at 12:30 am

      Wow, Joanne! That all sounds great! It is very difficult to get the whole family on board. I tend to do it all around here too. Thank you for the comment, and I hope you’re having a great Wednesday! 🙂

  • Jodi

    January 13, 2022 at 1:05 am

    I’ve been following your blog for a little while now and just love it. I really need to get organized too. Love how you do a different color for everyone. How come I never thought of that? Thanks for all the inspiration!
    BTW……January 16th is a very special day around here too. My son Joey is turning 13 Sunday. How can that be?
    Happy Birthday to your Joey too……:)