Do you have a million ideas swirling around your head at any given time?  Do you tell yourself you'll remember that thing you need to do, but then forget before the day is even over?  Do you see that same little imperfection or incomplete project every time you walk into the room but never seem to find the time to get it taken care of?  If you answered yes to even one of these questions, I'm here with a simple idea to help!

​Track your home projects room by room.  It's so simple it's hard to believe it would work, but just give it a try. 

• Decide on Paper or Digital

The first step is to determine how you prefer to track your home projects.  If you are a paper person, you can have fun selecting a binder or notebook, dividers, and a nice pen or pencil.  But if you prefer digital, you can use a tool like Evernote to easily get organized with a new digital notebook and notes.  The benefit of a digital version is that it can be accessed on your phone and is more portable.

• Define your areas

Make a quick list of all the rooms or areas in your home.  Make sure to include garage, barn, deck, yard, basement, etc. Now, create a section in your notebook for each area.  You may want to group some together if it makes sense.  For example, I combined deck and yard into one section.  

If you go the Evernote route like I did, create a notebook titled Home Projects and then create a note for each room/area.  Insert a checklist so that when you are done, you can simply click to check the item off!

• Do a walk through, and write it all down

With your new notebook, take a walk through your home, and take a good look around each space.  Make a checklist of all the things you want to do in each room's notebook section.   Include little items like "replace the light bulb above the kitchen sink" or "get a new air freshener" to bigger projects like "clean out the refrigerator" or "wash the baseboards."  You can include ideas or daydreams, too, like "get new carpet in the living room" or "rearrange the bedroom furniture."    You should indicate if something is a  "now" project or a "future" project.  If you're using paper, you could highlight or star the future projects.  If you're using digital, you could change the font color or put an * in front of them.

Once you have all of the to do's out of your head and into your notebook, you will waste less of your time trying to remember what you wanted to do and can spend more time getting things done!  (Getting things out of your head is great for more than just home projects - read a Brain Dump How -To for more info!)

• Start a shopping list/wish list

This is where you are going to record what you need (or want) to purchase.  If it's as easy as a light bulb, you likely aren't going to have to do much research or shopping around, but if it's a new light fixture or paint color, you may want to keep track of some websites, photos, or paint swatches.  This is why I like digital - because it's easy to insert a link or a photo.  I prefer to keep my shopping list in the section for each room, but if you'd rather, you could make one master shopping list.

• Add to your lists

Now when you are in your bedroom and notice a scuff on the wall that you think would probably come off pretty easily with magic eraser, just add it to your bedroom list!  In the past you would have noticed it and thought to yourself that you should probably write that down somewhere, but when you left the room, you likely forgot and then never got around to it!

The analogy of the eye chart gives me a little comfort.  The standard of 20/20 is not perfect - it's average.  In our daily lives, we are pushed to perfection and it seems being average is not good enough.  All of us have been using the phrase 'hindsight is 20/20' to mean that when we look back we can see perfectly what we should have done.  I'm really happy to re-frame the expression to mean that when I look back, I'll have a better idea of what was actually happening or how things could have gone better, but I don't have to expect my view to be perfect - just better than it was when I was right in the middle of the experience.  

I want to appreciate the year 2020 for what it was, what it gave me,  and what it taught me.  But I think the most powerful part of 2020 was what it WASN'T.  Recognizing what we missed, what disappointed us, and what we regret can teach us so much about how to live in the future. 

An exercise I do every year is to ask myself some simple questions about the past year and then some similar questions about the upcoming year.  I then look at the themes I see through these answers to help narrow my focus for the next year.  Finally, I set goals around those areas of focus to help me be successful. ,

This year I tweaked the questions a little bit, and I also asked my kids these same questions and shared some of my answers with them (though this is a very personal exercise, and you should't feel the need to share your answers with anyone unless you want to!)   These questions led to a great discussion with my kids, and helped me solidify even more what I wanted to focus on in 2021.  Try it out!

About 2020
1. What made you feel proud or successful this year?
2. What made you happy this year?
3. What caused you stress this year?
4. What are you disappointed you did not do this year?
5. What did you do this year that you regret?

About 2021
1. What would your fantasy self accomplish next year?
2. If your wildest dreams came true next year, what would happen?
3. If money were no object, what would you do next year?
4. If you didn't care what others thought, what would you do next year?
5. What are some key things you want to avoid next year?

If you are looking for support in setting goals and achieving them in 2021, check out the accountability group I lead called Achieve!  The next session starts in mid-January.  Spots are limited, so if you are interested, please reach out for more information!

​Sometimes you need a quick win to get you in the organizing groove.  Organizing your bedside table gives you a lot of bang for your buck!  A clean and organized bedside table can do wonders for your mood because it's one of the last things you see before you go to sleep and one of the first things you see when you wake up.  This is also the reason, they have a tendency to get messy since we are usually tired when we are near them. ​

• Completely clear top and drawers and clean

Start by clearing everything off the top and all shelves and drawers.  I recommend putting everything on your bed because then you won't be able to go to sleep until the project is finished!  When the table is cleared, give it a good dusting and wipe down the inside of the drawers. 
​

• Refill drawers with purpose

Purchase or repurpose some sort of organizer in the drawer.  This can be anything from a silverware organizer, to any type of small open-top boxes.  Look through what you took out of the drawer and only put back in what is essential and trash or relocate the rest.  Thing I like to keep in my drawers are chapstick, pain reliever, lotion, headphones, a flashlight/book lamp, journal and pen, book, etc.  If you are low on dresser space, and have an extra drawer in a bedside table, you could consider it overflow and use it for something like your socks!  

• Keep the top simple

Now for the top.  The rule of thumb here is minimalism!  Place only what you need and use daily on the top of the table.  Mine has a lamp, my Google mini speaker, a coaster, a small bowl for jewelry that I may take off while I'm in bed, and tissues.  This gives clear space to put a book I'm reading and my glasses. 

• Maintain!

Now protect that bedside table and it's pristine condition!  Take a look at your end product and remember how it makes you feel to have things clean and organized and commit to a quick edit of this space weekly.  Take empty cups to the kitchen, throw away any trash that's accumulated, put away jewelry you may have removed before bed, and rearrange the drawer to put items back in their proper spot.  This process will take you less than 5 minutes but give you a big sense of order!   

It's easy to go down a rabbit hole of gloom, doom, and woe is me because of all that has happened in 2020. Never has there been a better time to learn to see the glass half full, find the silver lining, and look for the good in everything (no matter how small that may be!)

​In the midst of everything going on in our 2020 world, we need somewhere to escape.  Make your home that sanctuary!  The definition of sanctuary is "a place of refuge or safety."  Our homes can literally keep us safe from the pandemic, but more than that, they can provide us a sense of calm and control that it's hard to find out in the world. ​

​Rearrange and Repurpose
​We all had to adapt our homes to fit our new needs like working from home and housing virtual students while still keeping them comfortable for regular living. For a while, my husband used TV trays to hold his laptop in the living room, but soon we realized that was a frustration for everyone.  We set up a small table in our bedroom and moved a comfortable chair there.  This allowed him to have a workstation that he didn't have to tear down each evening and kept our living room for family time.  

Virtual school was another challenge many of us had to overcome.  I wrote about some ideas to get organized for e-learning without completely overtaking the house in a previous post.  There were times this year that we had the entire family working/learning at home, so that meant I had to get really creative about my workspace which used to be in the living room.  I was able to repurpose my craft area into an office.  I found a cable to connect the TV I watch while I do crafts to my laptop for a second monitor, I reused an old cart to store all my sewing supplies to make room for my computer on the counter, and I got a new power strip to I could leave my power cord plugged in so setting up each day was quick.  I now have a dedicated space to work that I can leave at the end of my work day.  This is one of the key parts of work from home productivity!

Removing frustrations and reducing the amount of time spent in set up and tear down mode were the things our family was able to accomplish by rearranging and repurposing items in our home.  Working from home is now seamless and, though our kids are back at school for now, if they need to learn from home again, it won't be a burden or impact our common living space.  What can you rearrange today to help make your home fit your current situation?  Do you have a space or an item you can repurpose to help remove a frustration?