Happy New Year and Welcome to 2016! I hope your holiday season was joyous and healthy, and you’re all set to take on 2016 and RECLAIM YOUR HOME! Are you the kind of person whose ready for just such a challenge? You tell me:
- Are you tired of feeling like you’re always behind on keeping up on the spaces in your home?
- Do you feel like you’re losing things, or buying things multiple times because you’ve forgotten what you own or where you put it?
- Are you wasting money on things like late fees because you’re not paying your bills on time… because you lost that bill?
- How about time? Are you wasting time looking for lost items, or fumbling through routines that just aren’t working?
- Is the state of your home just plain making you feel bad, or creating stress in your relationships?
- Have you found yourself saying, “Enough is enough! I have to get a handle on all of this, once and for all?”
- Are you able to dream about a way to make real changes in your home and your life, and see what you can truly achieve in the next 16 weeks?
If you said yes to any (all?) of those items, then read on to learn about the Challenge, how it’s different this year than in the past, and one EXCITING NEW CHANGE for how to participate this year!
Last year’s very popular 15 in 15 in ’15 Challenge — where we let go of 15 items a week, in a different assignment over 15 weeks, I know made a difference for so many of you! I heard great feedback about how happy people were to have a plan to know where to start, how to approach difficult decisions, and to keep on track with the rest of Clever Girl Nation.
For 2016, I thought we needed to ramp up the Challenge a bit this year. We’ll still go after some of the problem areas we all have to revisit every year, but there will be some categories, too. It’s still going to be a weekly challenge (only 16 weeks, for 2016) but there will be a few things different this year:
1. There will be 2 levels to achieve in each week. Tackling Level 1 is the easy one. Tackling Level 2 is great for those of you who get Level 1 done quickly, or have tackled it in the past and feel good about where you are.
2. The challenges will be grouped by weeks, so you’ll be staying in one area for a few weeks, then moving onto some place new. Each week won’t be a COMPLETE surprise as to WHERE we’ll be working. This year, I’m telling you in advance the general area we’ll be working in:
WEEK 1-3: In The Kitchen
WEEK 4-6: Clothing and Accessories
WEEK 7-8: Bathroom and Linen Closet
WEEK 9: Okay, this one I’m keeping a surprise…
WEEK 10-12: Dining Room, Living Room and Entertaining Items
WEEK 13-16: Things We Tend To Collect
3. You can participate this year, and share your successes and challenges with others, in a brand new, Clever Girl Organizing Challenge Facebook Group! The Group is open to all, but is a Closed Privacy Group, which means that your friends can see that you’ve joined it, but they cannot see your posts unless they are also friends in the group. Please come join and share in the fun! I can’t wait to see before and after photos, or hearing the tips you have to share with each other. I’ll still post all the weekly challenges in the Clever Girl Organizing page, open to everyone, and of course, if you receive the email of my newsletter, you’ll get them whenever they post. But I love being able to add another way to reach you all and interact with you all this year!
Sounds great, doesn’t it?
Are you getting excited? I know I am!
So, today is January 1, and the new challenge starts on Monday, January 4th. What should you do this weekend?
1. Start getting your systems ready. Make sure you’ve got some donation boxes ready for your discarded items, and think about where you’ll keep them as the Challenge moves on. We’ll be working together until mid-April, so you’ll probably be dropping them off (or getting them picked up) a few times. Get a system in place of what they’ll go in, where you’ll keep it, how often and to where you’ll bring them, so that it’s just routine in a short amount of time.
2. Give some thought to WHEN you’ll do the Challenge assignments. New assignments will come out on Mondays, so you’ll have all week and weekend ahead to work on them. Do you think you’ll be a “do it in one session” kind of person? Will you work better in the mornings or the evenings or on the weekend? Can you carve out a set period of time each week as an appointment to yourself?
3. Head on over to Facebook and join our group! Introduce yourself, let us know what you’re struggling with, and what you’re hoping to get out of the Challenge!
Happy New Year! Let’s all make 2016 the best one yet!
I love the way you’ve added a second level – this provides something for everyone!
That’s my hope, Janet!! There’s a lot to cover in 16 weeks, and the levels also help get a lot of content in. Thanks for checking it out!