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Can you believe it’s already next year? I don’t know about you, but there are still lots of organization projects I wanted to tackle last year which I haven’t gotten around to yet. I am guessing that you are in the same situation. How do you get off to the right start this year? Create an organization calendar which will help you stay on target!

You can find a lot of great organization calendar templates online, or you can create your own organization calendar from scratch. Think about which projects are most important this year as you organize your home. If you are having a hard time prioritizing, ask yourself which projects would be easiest and which projects would make the biggest difference. These should be your high-priority projects. Why? The easy ones are the ones you are more likely to finish, and the ones that would make the biggest difference are the most important ones!

How you decide to structure your time when you get organized this year? That depends on how many projects you are going to tackle and how big they are. I recommend though that you break it down by week, by month, and maybe even by day. One of the biggest mistakes that a lot of people make when planning organization projects is not setting out a specific timeline to complete different tasks. If you just write in “spring – clean out closets,” and “summer – clean out kitchen,” you are not going to get very far, because you have not effectively structured your time!

Break down a big task like “clean out the kitchen” into smaller tasks, like “clean out the drawers” and “organize the pantry.” Choose specific weeks you will work on each. “1st week of June – organize the kitchen cupboard,” “2nd week of June – organize the kitchen drawers,” and so on.

Also plan your shopping runs this year for organizational supplies! You are not going to be able to accomplish any of your projects if you do not get the plastic organizer bins that you need. Write up a shopping list for each of your projects, and block out a day to head to the store or order online before you tackle each one. You don’t want to forget and then talk yourself out of a project on the basis that you still have not ordered the supplies yet. Excuses like that can build up forever. I do recommend though only shopping for one project at a time. Why? Extra plastic bins you didn’t use while working on previous projects can be transferred to your upcoming projects.

It can be hard to create new habits and actually commit to doing big organization projects around the home, but you will find it a lot easier if you actually write it all down. Doing this will help you to move forward without feeling overwhelmed, and it will also help you to hold yourself accountable for what you need to do. Next year at this time, you will have accomplished so much more than you did last year. An organizational calendar is one of the most helpful tools you can carry with you into 2015.