Start Spring Cleaning with Bullet Journals First!

When you hear the phrase ‘Spring Cleaning’, what images and thoughts come to mind? Do you instantly feel motivated and productive, ready to tackle all of the strange cleaning projects you have around the house? Or do you feel a sense of dread over the number of projects you’ll likely procrastinate on? Well, regardless of which category you fall into, setting up your spring cleaning with bullet journals first can make the process much easier.

I’ve found that since I started keeping a bullet journal, the entire spring cleaning process seems less daunting than it used to be. One, I’m able to monitor the tasks that get done. Or, don’t get done, because life sometimes gets in the way!

Two, I feel more interested in learning about time management since starting my bullet journal.

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Why Bullet Journals are Perfect for Spring Cleaning

It’s wonderfully easy and creative to use bullet journals to monitor and track your spring cleaning tasks.

If you have a lot of unusual projects to complete around the house, you can make a ‘Spring Cleaning’ tracker highlighting all of the different plans you have for cleaning projects. One, this helps you remember what tasks you need to do. Additionally, this also helps you remember which tasks you completed (and when you finished them!).

I use trackers for just about any task in my bullet journal; if you’d like to know how to set up a perfect tracker, take a peek at this excellent post right here!

Bullet Journal Ideas | Lots of terrific inspiration on how to use your bullet journal to organize for spring cleaning! Learn how to prepare ahead of time and get tons of ideas and inspiration perfect for prepping your bujo to clean! Even get some inspiration on how to ‘spring clean’ your cleaning routine with more bullet journal layouts that are great for chores and projects year round!

Gorgeous cleaning tracker from Patti at @as_a_rye on Instagram!

Beyond trackers, bullet journals are also a useful place to help you set and maintain a cleaning structure. For instance, you can be more efficient with cleaning by keeping a similar pace to your projects, despite the different rooms and varying tasks you’ll have to complete.

Using Your Bujo to Prepare

There are so many terrific bullet journal spreads to create when setting up your spring cleaning task list! Here are some that others have made to help you get prepared for the big task ahead!

Spring Cleaning Preparation Spreads

The first question to address when setting up for spring cleaning with bullet journals is: What tasks do you plan on tackling this year?

Creating various collections for spring cleaning can help you simplify this process immediately.

Bullet Journal Ideas | Lots of terrific inspiration on how to use your bullet journal to organize for spring cleaning! Learn how to prepare ahead of time and get tons of ideas and inspiration perfect for prepping your bujo to clean! Even get some inspiration on how to ‘spring clean’ your cleaning routine with more bullet journal layouts that are great for chores and projects year round!

This tracker above is one I created personally that helps you separate from room and task. My goal is to only hit a few big projects per room to avoid getting overwhelmed.

Products Used: Leuchtturm1917 Dot Grid Notebook, Tombow Dual Brush Pens

Bullet Journal Ideas | Lots of terrific inspiration on how to use your bullet journal to organize for spring cleaning! Learn how to prepare ahead of time and get tons of ideas and inspiration perfect for prepping your bujo to clean! Even get some inspiration on how to ‘spring clean’ your cleaning routine with more bullet journal layouts that are great for chores and projects year round!

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/195695546288824794/

Of course, you can’t beat an old-fashioned list of tasks that need to be complete! I even love how this list has the creator organizing her Erin Condren supplies! Isn’t that neat?

Bullet Journal Ideas | Lots of terrific inspiration on how to use your bullet journal to organize for spring cleaning! Learn how to prepare ahead of time and get tons of ideas and inspiration perfect for prepping your bujo to clean! Even get some inspiration on how to ‘spring clean’ your cleaning routine with more bullet journal layouts that are great for chores and projects year round!

Megan at Page Flutter makes spring cleaning look easy!

I love this beautiful tracker that easily sorts out the different tasks in each room! My friend Megan wrote a beautiful post all about spring cleaning with bullet journals, so check out her perspective and read it here!

Break Down Larger Tasks

Another unique way you can set up spring cleaning with bullet journals is to break down the major tasks into smaller, more simple tasks.

For instance, how can you break down the task of cleaning the garage? Alone it seems like a very large and overwhelming project.

Bullet Journal Ideas | Lots of terrific inspiration on how to use your bullet journal to organize for spring cleaning! Learn how to prepare ahead of time and get tons of ideas and inspiration perfect for prepping your bujo to clean! Even get some inspiration on how to ‘spring clean’ your cleaning routine with more bullet journal layouts that are great for chores and projects year round!

Source: Christina at @christina77star on Instagram!
Chore break down by assigning each task to a specific day of the week or month!

But if you break it all down into 7 different, smaller projects, you’ll find that you can complete the chore in smaller chunks over the course of many days. If you’d like to break down these tasks in your bullet journal, you’d put the larger task on top, and break the task into smaller parts below.

Big Project- Cleaning the Garage

Break It Down:

  1. Sweep Garage Floor
  2. Get Rid of Five Boxes of Stuff
  3. Organize Tools
  4. Optimize Storage
  5. Perform Maintenance on Garage Equipment

Additionally, you can break down general chores by assigning specific days to tackle certain projects. The image above is a great example of how you can implement this type of cleaning schedule!

Keep the Clean Habit Going

When you think of spring cleaning, how do you envision the task carried out?

Do you imagine it as a little bit of work spread out over days, weeks, or even months? Or do you believe that it’s doing a lot of challenging work in a short amount of time?

Bullet Journal Ideas | Lots of terrific inspiration on how to use your bullet journal to organize for spring cleaning! Learn how to prepare ahead of time and get tons of ideas and inspiration perfect for prepping your bujo to clean! Even get some inspiration on how to ‘spring clean’ your cleaning routine with more bullet journal layouts that are great for chores and projects year round!

The Konmari method is a great way toward organizing your house in small steps!
Created by Helen at @journalwithpurpose on Instagram

While doing unusual house cleaning tasks can seem like a daunting chore, it’s hard to get motivated to do a lot of really big things over the course of a Saturday. I mean, let’s get real! You’d MUCH rather be outside enjoying the warm weather, right?

So how can you keep the cleaning habit strong this spring?

1- Don’t Expect Perfection

Perfectionism is the ultimate killer of habits. If you believe that you are always going to adhere to your new cleaning routine or that your cleaning will go the way you want, you’ll likely run into trouble down the road.

Life isn’t predictable. Between plan changes and unexpected situations, what you set up in your bullet journal may not all happen. That’s ok! Allow for plenty of time and make sure to create ‘free space’ in your bullet journal, just in case you need to move your project time.

2- Start Small

People mean well when developing new habits, yet many seem to make one particular mistake that leads to failure.

People do too much at once.

When you rely on your ‘desire’ and ‘motivation’ to do big chores, at some point, that desire is going to run out. And because your task is too large and overwhelming, you’re no longer going to feel like doing it anymore. This is a big issue that people with a ‘Type B Personality‘ struggle with.

When setting up for spring cleaning with bullet journals, make sure to start with smaller tasks to get into the habit of working on your chores regularly.

3- Track Your Progress

Trackers for cleaning can serve two separate purposes. For instance, If you aren’t good at cleaning consistently in small chunks, creating a tracker to monitor the dates you DO clean at least gives you an idea of when and what tasks are completed.

Bullet Journal Ideas | Lots of terrific inspiration on how to use your bullet journal to organize for spring cleaning! Learn how to prepare ahead of time and get tons of ideas and inspiration perfect for prepping your bujo to clean! Even get some inspiration on how to ‘spring clean’ your cleaning routine with more bullet journal layouts that are great for chores and projects year round!

Beautiful cleaning tracker from Sandy at @abulletandsomelines on Instagram

Or, if you are a bit more structured and complete tasks consistently, a bullet journal tracker can serve as a reminder for what tasks need to be done on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis.

4- Do a Little Every Day

Doing a little every day to clean can help reduce the time for larger chores down the road.

What are simple ways that you can spend a minute to slightly improve your clutter?

  • Clean small stains as they occur.
  • Remove lint from the dryer after each dry cycle.
  • Rinse dishes after you’re done using them.
  • Put dirty clothes in the hamper immediately after removing them.
  • Hang up clothes that you wore but aren’t dirty enough to wash.
  • By taking the time to make your room even one percent better than before, you’re reducing the amount of time it takes to complete the bigger tasks later on.

So take these simple ideas and put them in your bullet journal! Put it in a place where you can frequently remember to go over it. Make a tracker for these ‘little items’ so it becomes part of your daily routine.

Spring Clean Your Cleaning Routine

Maybe the idea of doing everything in spring makes you shudder, or maybe you want to start establishing better cleaning habits in general! Why not use spring cleaning with bullet journals as your opportunity to start building better cleaning habits year round?

And what better place than to store this information in a location you readily use!

Here are some awesome bullet journal spreads that help you organize your general cleaning schedule:

 Bullet Journal Ideas | Lots of terrific inspiration on how to use your bullet journal to organize for spring cleaning! Learn how to prepare ahead of time and get tons of ideas and inspiration perfect for prepping your bujo to clean! Even get some inspiration on how to ‘spring clean’ your cleaning routine with more bullet journal layouts that are great for chores and projects year round!

Source: Marie at @journalspiration on Instagram

This beautiful cleaning layout is super simple but is helpful in determining which tasks need to be complete in certain parts of the day, week, month, and year.

Bullet Journal Ideas | Lots of terrific inspiration on how to use your bullet journal to organize for spring cleaning! Learn how to prepare ahead of time and get tons of ideas and inspiration perfect for prepping your bujo to clean! Even get some inspiration on how to ‘spring clean’ your cleaning routine with more bullet journal layouts that are great for chores and projects year round!

Source: Micah at @my_blue_sky_design on Instagram

I really like this unique tracker because she’s able to track her progress for her tasks on a weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-annual, and annual basis. How inventive!

Bullet Journal Ideas | Lots of terrific inspiration on how to use your bullet journal to organize for spring cleaning! Learn how to prepare ahead of time and get tons of ideas and inspiration perfect for prepping your bujo to clean! Even get some inspiration on how to ‘spring clean’ your cleaning routine with more bullet journal layouts that are great for chores and projects year round!

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/380835712233318943/

This cool cleaning layout specifics the various tasks that need to be complete throughout each room in the house. I know it can be so challenging sometimes to remember all the chores to do, and this is a great reminder.

Set Up for Successful Spring Cleaning

Spring is the time of new beginnings and the perfect time to start establishing new habits and routines.

Whether you are taking advantage of spring cleaning with bullet journals to make your home spotless or setting up a cleaning schedule for the next year, your bullet journal will come in handy to help guide you through the process!

Bullet Journal Ideas | Lots of terrific inspiration on how to use your bullet journal to organize for spring cleaning! Learn how to prepare ahead of time and get tons of ideas and inspiration perfect for prepping your bujo to clean! Even get some inspiration on how to ‘spring clean’ your cleaning routine with more bullet journal layouts that are great for chores and projects year round!

Source: Jenn at @bulletgangsta on Instagram!

How are you setting up for spring cleaning with bullet journals in your own home? I’d love to hear about your trackers and collections in your own bullet journals.

If you have Instagram and post your bullet journal spreads for spring cleaning there, feel free to tag me on your newest cleaning spreads (or any bullet journal posts). If you use the hashtag #plannerpicturefeature on your Instagram posts, you may be featured on both Instagram reposts and future blog posts. Follow me at @planningmindfully to get started!

Until then,

 

 

 

If this helped you set up for spring cleaning,
help others by sharing on Pinterest!

Bullet Journal Ideas | Lots of terrific inspiration on how to use your bullet journal to organize for spring cleaning! Learn how to prepare ahead of time and get tons of ideas and inspiration perfect for prepping your bujo to clean! Even get some inspiration on how to ‘spring clean’ your cleaning routine with more bullet journal layouts that are great for chores and projects year round!

Bullet Journal Ideas | Lots of terrific inspiration on how to use your bullet journal to organize for spring cleaning! Learn how to prepare ahead of time and get tons of ideas and inspiration perfect for prepping your bujo to clean! Even get some inspiration on how to ‘spring clean’ your cleaning routine with more bullet journal layouts that are great for chores and projects year round!