I feel it and I know you do too. That decluttering and planning energy is starting to bubble up but who has time to deal with that? No one. We're all stuck in this purgatory of sorts where Thanksgiving is done but there's a lul until the December holiday that you celebrate. So I'm sharing best practices to harness that energy, use it for good, but all delay doing anything about it, for just a little bit.
Decluttering
You are waiting for all your purchases to arrive. You know what people are getting or even yourself and you want to purge the old. But wait! If you purge toys now, what will they play with until Christmas (this will be my example because that's the holiday I celebrate)? I recommend starting a slash pocket for decluttering alone. This way in the future you will remember what you brain told you to declutter. You have too much going on right now and there will be time for decluttering in the last week of the year. However around the 22nd or 23rd you may wanna get a little head start. It would be fun to reward your kids for their efforts too. If you are in the Productive Home Solution, you can find certificates for the kids and it's just a fun spin on the tasks. They want to make room for the things they asked for too.
Planning
You already are experiencing that dreaming energy of what could be for 2026. Your brain is begging for a new planner and expressing dreams for 2026. In episode 681, I shared the 4 ways I will plan from now to the end of the year, and that first step is dreaming. So go ahead, make a slash pocket just for goals, then write down what comes to mind on index cards, place in your Sunday Basket for safe keeping till you have the time and energy. The time will be Planning Day because they match up to when planning energy is high for most people.
Power of the Sunday Basket@
The Sunday Basket in general is for capturing ideas when your brain has them so when you have time and energy you can do what your brain wanted you to do. In the Holiday Blitz Planning Day we divided the Sunday Basket into three Sunday Baskets®. We we delaying some ideas into the New Year Basket®, we had holiday ideas, and then one remained our weekly use Sunday Basket®. You always get a workbook that has some planner components and gets you in the planning mindset.
Finally, you get to do the planning that was brewing in early December. On December 29th at noon (CST), you will once again reorganize your Sunday Baskets® for new purposes. Planning Day Prep is first and you will clean out your weekly Sunday Basket® for a fresh start for the new year. This is when you take notes and "guides" about your family holidays and file that slash pocket back into the Household Operations Binder. This day is for filling in the workbook with the "ground work" information that will support you completing the workbook during Planning Day, go through that planning slash pocket you created, relabeling your slash pockets, and labeling your tear pads.
Now you are prepped and ready for Planning Day on December 31st at 10 am (CST). You will spend 4 hours planning the next 4 months. It's time, you have the time and the energy has been bubbling this whole time, go nuts, plan away. Remember that planning slash pocket? Now you get to decide what you take action on that your brain wanted you to remember. You will plug in your goals, play with routines you want to establish to support your goals, as well as plan around your family and work responsibilities. My childhood ritual was to get a new planner in December, May and August. I just loved leaving old objectives in the past, dreaming of what I could be, I could do, and what did I want? And now I get to teach you how to do the same for you and your house.
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