Tag Archives: Countdown

Complete Pantry Clean Out

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We’re into week 3 of the BWP Holiday Preparation Countdown. With Thanksgiving approaching, its time to clean out the pantry. A clean and organized food storage space not only ensures that you have all the right ingredients on hand for the big day, but it also makes it easier to find and get to everything when you need it. Here is a scalable strategy for cleaning out wherever you store your food, one shelf at a time.

If you want full access to the planning workbook that these tips are based off of, hop on over to my Ko-fi page. Sign up for my one of my monthly subscriptions and for less than the cost of a pizza you can get access to the weekly planning PDFs, detailed exercises, themed checklists, and so much more. 

Not sure that you are ready to commit to the countdown subscription? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter today and I’ll give you the first few intro pages and my monthly layouts for FREE. Subscribe in the pop up or over on my Subscribe page.

Cleaning Considerations

Before you dive in there are a few things to consider.

Where do you keep your food?

If you have a large pantry, this might be easy. Also think if you have food items stored in closets, cupboards, spice racks, freezers, on counters, or even other rooms like a garage. If you keep emergency food supplies, its a good time to check on them as well.

How much time do you have?

If you have no time constraints then you can tackle this all at once as a large project. Otherwise, make things easier by breaking your decluttering into multiple smaller chunks. Do just one shelf or type of food at a time and get easy bits done when you have a few minutes and save other areas for when you have a dedicated hour. If you have 15 minutes, you have enough time to do the cereals, 30 minutes might be enough time to do the baking goods. With this method, you can avoid tackling more than you can handle and skip creating an overwhelming mess that just wastes time and creates stress.

What are your problem areas?

You probably already know which self is a problem. Its crammed with too many things. You cant easily reach the sugar when you need it. You can never find the right seasoning and end up buying duplicates. Whatever you pantry problems are during the rest of the year, they get amplified when trying to cook under pressure for guests. Take some time before you begin to both prioritize where you focus first and decide what needs to change as you go.

thanksgiving table setting
Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.com

Start Your Clean Out

Now that you are prepared, you can start to go through the pantry and remove things that are expired or you won’t use and get rid of them to make room for your holiday menu items. Be sure to monitor your time available. Also balance what you most need decluttered (for the upcoming meals) with what would have the most impact (the messiest/problem areas).

Use this method on each of your food storage areas, breaking them into big or small chunks. After you finish one small chunk, move on to another if you have time and energy or come back later to do more. Repeat this method on each area,.

Strategize

Determine what area/item type you will be focusing on. Take out only what you can handle in the time available. Grab a notepad and a pen, a trash bag or bin, a duster and or rag, and pick somewhere like a table or a box to keep the items corralled as you are cleaning. Think about any “decorative” elements like shelf or drawer liners, labels, storage bins, can organizers that you might want to utilize. You don’t have to use any but they can save space and keep things tidy longer when used effectively.

Toss

Check expiration dates. Keep a note pad handy and immediately add it to your shopping list if it’s something you will need/use. Now’s also the time to be honest with your self. Ask if you will actually use it. It sat there long enough to get old so will you really use it if you replace it? Likewise, just because something isn’t expired and will keep doesn’t mean you will eat it. If you won’t, consider passing it to someone who will or donating it to a food bank if appropriate.

Wipe

While your shelf is clear, dust or white it down. Scrub off any residue, add or replace shelf liners. Look at your items. Do they need dusting or cleaning. Are there any drips that need to be wiped up?

Put Away

Now put pack the things you will be keeping. If you have something that doesn’t belong back on that shelf, but you haven’t cleaned that shelf so its not ready to put back in its new home, you might keep it in a temporary bin. Now is the time to deploy any organizers, make sure things are organized in the way you want them, and assess if you have any improvements to make either now or when you tackle a future shelf. Make a note so you remember for later.

Restock

Once you’ve finished with an area, like say the canned beans, take stock of what you still have on hand and what you’ll need for your upcoming menus. Also consider what you regularly use. Add items to your grocery list so you can restock.

How does your pantry look now? Did you like this method?   Find me on Instagram as @betterwithaplan to share your panty clean out progress.

Want to know how this fits into the bigger prep plan to get your whole house decluttered, decorated, and clean for the Holidays? Sign up for a Ko-fi subscription to get the full 8 week planning workbook with all the exercises, checklists, and week-by-week plan to getting stuff done and stressing less this holiday season.

How to Define Your Core Values

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How well do you know yourself? Like really know yourself?

Today I want to dive into core values, what they are, and how you can find yours. In future posts, I’ll show you how you can use this knowledge to help you plan better, especially for the holidays.

If you want full access to the planning workbook that these tips are based off of, hop on over to my Ko-fi page. Sign up for my one of my monthly subscriptions and for less than the cost of a pizza you can get access to the weekly planning PDFs, detailed exercises, themed checklists, and so much more. 

Not sure that you are ready to commit to the countdown subscription? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter today and I’ll give you the first few intro pages and my monthly layouts for FREE. Subscribe in the pop up or over on my Subscribe page.

For a limited time only, subscribe to the newsletter or donate any amount to my Ko-fi page and I’ll also toss in the full first week—5 more content-filled pages—so that you can see for yourselves just how valuable this countdown will be.

WHAT ARE CORE VALUES?

Each of us has attitudes toward the world around us and general beliefs that drive our daily interactions. They guide our behaviors and are the reasons we give for many of our actions.

But did you know that many of these attitudes and beliefs may actually change over time? Life experiences and social norms have proven to have impacts not only on our behaviors but can even change one’s beliefs.

This is especially true for beliefs that implicitly inform your biases, the ways you quickly perceive and judge the world around you. Things like ones beliefs or attitudes toward gender roles, party politics, race and skin tone, sexuality, and body weight are just a few examples. Think back on the things you believed in when you were in high school. Has anything you used to believe in changed over time?

That said, there are also your underlying foundational beliefs, the things we call Core Values. These are deeper than attitudes and beliefs and are unlikely to change. Core values are the things that are central to who you are and who you want to be. And they can be described as both the desirable ways you want to behave (like being loving or honest) and desirable end states (like being financially secure or well-read).

Drilling down to your true core values can be a challenging task, as it requires honest introspection and at times, some uncomfortable naval-gazing. However, if you are willing to put in the effort to know yourself better, I trust you will find it ultimately rewarding.

DEFINING YOUR CORE VALUES

When you are clear about your core values, it is easier to make decisions. You will have a compass by which to decide if something is aligned with who you are and who you want to be, or not. With this clarity, you will be able to direct your attention to things that have meaning and purpose for you.

To start drilling down on your core values, you will first want to cast a wide net. Look at lists of core values, like the ones below, or generate your own. Either way you will want to make a list of any values that resonate with you.

To help, you can ask yourself some questions to help identify additional values:

  • Who are your role models?
    • What qualities do you admire about them?
    • Do they have certain behaviors that you’d like to emulate?
  • Which values feel most like you?
    • What do you do, or would you do, absent any external pressures or influences?
    • Or conversely, what doesn’t feel like you, or makes you feel wrong or ashamed?
  • When faced a dilemma, what would inspire you to act?
    • What would cause you to risk something big, like your car or home, to protect?
    • Can you think of a situation where you took a stand, even if it wasn’t popular?

While it may be easy for you to articulate some values right away, I also encourage you to take some time to sit with them. Mull them over, think about them in other scenarios. Do they still hold up if you change the circumstances? Consider asking friends and family for input. They may have noticed something about your that you haven’t admitted to yourself or can confirm what you already suspect.

Once you have your list, you are ready for the next step.

GROUPING SIMILAR VALUES

If you’ve written down everything that rings true to you, you probably have some words that overlap or are similar. You may start to see some themes or categories to you values. At this point, I want you to start grouping them together in any way that is logical for you.

For example, when I did this exercise, I had several values that I was able to group. I combined lifelong learning, knowledge seeking, curiousness, well-read and open-mindedness together because for me, they were all part of the same belief.

Try to group related values into buckets. This will help you clarify what your value and give you less total values to work with. Once you have a shorter list, I want you to prioritize them to your top 3-5 individual or groups of values. Keep only your strongest held values on the list.

One way to help you refine that is to try pitting them against one another. You could consider if you would give up one for another. Or, if you could live in a world where only one existed, which would it be. For example, if honest and financial security are vying for a place on your list, would you rather be honest but lack financial security or be financially secure at the cost of your honesty.

If you can answer questions like this and be true to how you really feel, you will know where you stand. See why this can be a challenge? At the end, you should have 3-5 values or value groups in order of importance to you.

MAKING YOUR VALUES ACTIONABLE

Now is the creative part. You need to take these from the conceptual to the actionable. For each value left on you list you will want to turn it into an action statement.

Choose a statement that best exemplifies how you want to demonstrate this value.

If you choose Freedom, how would that manifest for you? Do you mean you speak your mind without self-censorship, you seek opportunities to be your own boss, or you spend your time on things that bring you joy?

Or take Stability. Does that take the form of being consistent with your choices, pursuing a career with better benefits and stable hours, or choosing a well paying job and pursuing your creativity as hobbies.

Sometimes through this process, you may find that values you grouped together actually represent two related but fundamentally different value principals for you. And that’s ok. Revisit your groupings or, heck, go back to the full list if you need to. Drop values off and add them in. Do more than 5 or have only two, its up to you.

At the end of it you will have your own set of personal value statements, literally words to live by.

Let me give you a solid pat on the back for getting this far. The hard part is behind you. Join me on Instagram as @betterwithaplan to get help with core values, share ones you’ve come up with, or give me feedback on how this exercise worked for you. And please check back on the blog next week to dive deeper into how to apply these to your holiday planning, goal setting and decision making.

How well do you know yourself? How to find your core values
How to define your core values
Week 2 Plan More Stress Less BWP Holiday Preparation Countdown

7 Simple Steps For Less Clutter by the Holidays

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This is the first week in my Plan More, Stress Less Holiday Preparation Countdown Series. In it I will give you 7 simple steps for dealing with the clutter as we countdown our way to the holidays.

Stay tuned over the next 8 weeks. We will dive into ways that planning can help you have less stress during this holiday season. You’ll learn a bunch of neat tips and tricks you can actually use to get ready for the upcoming holidays

If you want full access to the planning workbook that these tips are based off of, hop on over to my Ko-fi page. Sign up for my one of my monthly subscriptions to get access to the weekly planning PDFs, detailed exercises, themed checklists, and so much more.

Not sure that you are ready to commit to the countdown subscription? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter and I’ll give you the first few intro pages and my monthly layouts for FREE. Subscribe in the pop up or over on my Subscribe page.

For a limited time only, subscribe to the newsletter or donate any amount to my Ko-fi page and I’ll also toss in the full first week—5 more content-filled pages—so that you can see for yourselves just how valuable this countdown will be.

Each week of this Countdown I’ll be highlight strategies, tips, or techniques here on the blog. They will help you prepare for the holidays, get your home clean and in order, and start thinking about what the season means to you.

Since this is our first week, I want to start with my top strategy for taking things from cluttered to clean in just 60 minutes.

Goal: Prep for Holidays. Objective: Less Clutter.

If you’ve been following my blog, I’ve been sharing a method for breaking down big goals into smaller manageable pieces. Or if you missed it, check it out here or this one too. Using those methods, I’ve defined our overall goal to be prepared for the upcoming holiday season.The specific objective we’re working on is to have less clutter.

Preparing for the holidays, any holiday, is a BIG goal. Lots of moving pieces, lots of decisions, lots of stress. And you have to fit all this on top of your everyday life too.

Why Focus on Clutter?

Clutter is insidious. It pops up on every surface. No sooner do you clean than someone walks by and sets something down. The clutter starts building up again.

We’ll start with clutter because with less clutter it is easier to clean, simpler to decorate, and better for your wellbeing. And who doesn’t want that?

Why Only 60 Minutes?

Not because you can get it all done in an hour, that’s for sure. Unless you’ve mastered the minimalist approach to living, you probably have more clutter than time.

What you need is a time-saving strategy. One that is short enough you can fit it into your evening but structured enough to actually make an impact.

That’s why 60 minutes. You’ll only tackle part of the overall problem at a time. It’ll be enough to see a difference but not enough to overwhelm you. Repeat a few times a week in trouble spots to see the best results.

What is the Strategy for Less Clutter?

You’ve probably heard of this approach, or something like it, under various names. I just call it Tidying Up. The way I’ve structured it there are 7 steps that break down the 60 minutes in a specific way and purpose. It also works on the concept that everything in your home having have a place.

If you haven’t made places for each type of thing you are decluttering, plan a little extra time to put things away. Or keep a ”homeless items” bin to keep things corralled until you make time to make them a home. Then schedule a specific time to do that so it doesn’t just make the clutter worse.

To use this strategy, I recommend you pick a room or a certain part of a room, like the office desk. If things are really messy you can even just start with part of it to start with. Now pick your spot and follow the steps below.

Gather Your Supplies

Before you begin, you’ll want to gather your supplies. You will need trash bags to gather trash and recyclables. Also, some sort of bin, basket or box — I generally snag a laundry basket — to corral things that don’t belong. Additionally, you will need a duster, some cleaning wipes, and/or a damp rag suitable for the type of surfaces you are decluttering. And finally, you will want to decide how you want to manage your time. Use your phone, your trusty kitchen timer, or a curated music playlist with 5 minute long songs like this Classic Rock playlist on Spotify.

Toss Trash & Recyclables

Set the timer for 10 minutes/2 songs. This is where you go through the space quickly focusing only on gathering up any trash or recyclables. When you are done set them to the side but still accessible, in case you come across any more trash as you go.

Think About Purpose & Function

Reset the timer for 10 minutes/2 songs. Look at the space and think about its purpose. Is everything in the right place, does it serve a function there, or would it be better somewhere else?

If you cleaning your desk, are the pens and pencils you always use within arms reach? What is in arms reach and does it need to be there?

You could spend a lot of time planning this out so don’t get too bogged down with it.

Sort into Piles

Reset timer for 15 minutes/3 songs. Start sorting the clutter, separating out things that don’t belong or that are not properly in their home. Rather than try to put everything away right now, just start putting things into piles.

If an item doesn’t belong in this space, set it in your box/bin/laundry basket and move on. You will deal with this later.

Put the Piles Away

Reset the timer for 10 minutes/2 songs. Now put the piles away, accounting for the function and purpose of the space that you thought about earlier.

Try to organize as you go. But if it this looks like it will take too long, prioritize putting things back over having them be perfectly organized. You can come back to that later if needed.

Deal with the Other Stuff

Reset the timer for 10 minutes/2 songs. Now it time to deal with the laundry basket stuff. If you know where it belongs, go put it there. Doesn’t have a home yet? See if you can make one and if not, add this to your to do list for later. Keep it in the ”homeless items” area temporarily.

Clean and Enjoy Less Clutter

In the last 5 minutes/final song, dust/wipe down your freshly decluttered space. Then put away your cleaning supplies and take out the trash and recyclables. Finally, take a break and reward yourself with a glass of water, a cup of tea or something else that makes you feel good. You deserve it!

What’s next

That’s all there is to it. If there was too much clutter or you have other areas that you need to do, you’ll just repeat the steps. Make this into a regular habit and you’ll find that it will not only get easier but also will take lest time to complete.

Did you like this strategy? Want to know how this fits into the plan to get your whole house decluttered, decorated, and clean for the Holidays? Sign up for a Ko-fi subscription to get the full 8 week planning workbook with all the exercises, checklists, and week-by-week plan to getting stuff done and stressing less this holiday season.

7 steps for less clutter