Planning Tools and Systems: Foundations of an Organized Home

Last week, we kicked off The Organize & Refine Your Home Challenge by conducting a bit of decluttering prep work.

How did that go?

We are building our home refinement foundation throughout the first month of The Challenge.This week’s focus is on planning tools and systems.

“When are we going to start sorting and purging our stuff?” you ask. In due time…I promise!

During my time as a professional organizer, I came to realize that the clutter in my clients’ homes was often a reflection of the clutter that they were struggling to sift through in their head (what we organizers call “mind clutter” or “mental clutter”).

Planning Tools & Systems

So one of the things we need to nail down before we begin digging into the “stuff clutter” is our system for managing the mental clutter.

Our system will include three major planning tools:

• a calendar
• a task management tool
• a weekly planning appointment.

{If you’ve already got these tools in place and they’re working well for you, skip ahead to the weekly assignment and complete any outstanding tasks.}

Planning Tool #1: Calendar

In this day and age, trying to keep it all in your head is a recipe for disaster.

As I wrote about previously, this is one of the primary causes of mental clutter, yet it can be easily remedied by getting into the habit of using a calendar/planner for documenting every appointment and occasion that has a date/time associated with it.

Not only should you use your calendar for scheduling appointments with other people, I am a HUGE believer that you should schedule appointments with yourself as well!

Paper Calendar or Calendar App?

This always seems to be the question!

And the answer is simple. Use whatever you feel most comfortable with and what you are most likely to use consistently.

With that being said, I can’t help but share my love for Google Calendar. Here are the things I love about it:

First and foremost, I’m able to set up separate calendars (I’ve got one for each family member & my business). I use color-coding to identify each calendar and integrate them all into a single master calendar that can be shared with my husband (and my kids when they get older).

The calendar syncs to my phone and my iPad, which enables me to access and update it from my computer or any of my devices (a huge benefit when you’re on the go as much as I am).

Check out my schedule for this coming Saturday (1/16). See the all-day swim meet?

When I click on that event, Google calendar enables me to store all kinds of detailed information about the swim meet (warm-up time, location, and which session each of my kids will participate in).

I love the fact that I can embed all of the details about an event directly in the calendar.

Best of all, since my calendar lives on the cloud, I never have to worry about leaving it somewhere and losing the valuable information that lives within it!

Digital solutions generally work best for me, but if you gravitate towards paper solutions, no worries!

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There are some amazing paper calendars and more comprehensive paper planner systems on the market. If you don’t already have one that you love, check out some of these popular choices:

• Simplified Planner by Emily Ley
• The Living Well Planner
• The Erin Condren Planner

For some of you, a no-frills yearly calendar that you can pick up at the local office supply store will work just fine.

But if you’re the type of person who appreciates the “pretty” and might be more motivated to use a calendar/planner consistently if it appeals to your aesthetic sense, then go ahead and give yourself permission to splurge on your calendar.

Planning Tool #2: A Task Management Tool

So many of us waste precious brainpower attempting to remember all of the To Do’s that need to be completed in all areas of our life. Whether it’s “bring home milk” or “write a novel”, it’s critical to have some way of capturing our To Dos in order to free up our brains for more important functions.

A task management tool is anything you use to capture your To-Do list outside of your head. Once again, you’ll need to determine if you’re more comfortable with a digital solution or a paper solution.

Digital Task Management Tools

If you’re in the market for a digital task management tool, check out this summary of best digital planning tools and apps . I’ve tried several of the ones mentioned in that review, and you pretty much can’t go wrong with any of them.

The one I use is Trello.

Trello enables me to break down my master task list into various categories using boards. 

Here’s a peek at my home-related To-Do list broken down by category:

Many of the digital task management apps enable you to prioritize tasks, assign due dates, and estimate the amount of time it will take to complete the task.

Like digital calendar apps, one of the huge advantages of a digital To-Do list is that you can access it and modify it across all of your devices on the go.

Paper Task Management Tools

For the paper folks, you can choose to capture your master To Do list on something as simple as a legal pad, or use one of the fancier planners mentioned above to serve as both your scheduling and task management tool.

There’s also an endless universe of cute (and free) To-Do List printables available online (you can grab my free To Do List printable here). Or spend a few minutes online to find one that has a layout that works with the way your brain naturally categorizes tasks.

Planning Tool #3: Your Planning Appointment

One habit that I strongly urge you to develop this year is to establish a weekly planning appointment (Sunday evening is a time that works well for this).

Schedule this appointment on your calendar and use the time to map out a blueprint for your week, which includes your appointments, and the tasks from your master to do list that need to get done. I also find it helpful to tackle meal planning for the week.

Organize & Refine Your Home Challenge: This Week’s Assignment:

1. Select a paper planner or calendar app for housing your master calendar
2. Select a task management tool (paper or app) for keeping your master To Do list
3. Conduct a “brain dump” session and create your master To Do list (divide tasks into categories)
4. Set up your calendar for the year (enter appointments, events, birthdays and recurring tasks)
5. Set up a recurring weekly planning appointment in your calendar

Once you’ve completed your assignment, it’s time to tackle the other three foundations of an organized home, if you haven’t done so already:

• Complete your decluttering prep work
• Create your household command center
• Create your household drop zone

Oh, and be sure to share your planning tools on Instagram and tag me @refined_rooms (use the hashtag #ORGANIZEANDREFINECHALLENGE). 

Let’s inspire and support one another!

This post is part of the Organize and Refine Your Home Challenge

More Planning Resources and Tips

• Printables for Organizing Home & Life: The Ultimate Organizing Printables Vault
• Printable Monthly Calendars and Daily Planner
• Holiday Planning Printables: My Early Christmas Gift to You!
• 3 Awesome Home Renovation Planner Tools