Your Top 4 New Year’s Organizing Resolutions Guaranteed to Get Your Home in Order From a Professional Organizer
New Year’s is when many people make promises to themselves to keep throughout the year. It can be as simple as giving up an unhealthy habit, all the way up to changing your entire lifestyle. Families are more often setting goals to get their homes in tip-top shape and to maintain that cleanliness.
However, another notable aspect of New Year’s resolutions is that many people break them. Here are some cleanliness habits you can try in the new year and, most importantly, how you can stick to them.
New Year’s organizing resolutions tend to fall into two categories: wildly ambitious or quickly forgotten. When it comes to your home, the goal isn’t perfection—it’s progress you can actually maintain. Instead of overhauling your entire house in one weekend, new years organizing resolutions work best when they’re rooted in realistic habits and repeatable systems. The right approach helps busy families create order without burnout, guilt, or the inevitable January crash.
Setting and Keeping your New Year’s Organizing Resolutions
The new year is a fresh start. While not much has actually changed, it’s an excellent metaphorical reset. That momentum can instill positive changes as you reflect on what you want to improve and aim to grow. Being optimistic that you can succeed fuels your motivation to reach your goal, while giving yourself that structure makes your year a bit clearer.
However, while just over 45% of American adults planned on holding themselves to three promises, the average length that one resolution lasts is 3.74 months. Only 8% of respondents keep them for a month, while 22% last two and three months, respectively. Past the three-month mark, the percentages only dwindle. This phenomenon is so common that some calendars call the second Friday in January “Quitter’s Day” or label January 17 as “Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day.”
Why do people ditch their goals so fast? One expert says it’s because they go too hard too fast or set targets they later realize are unrealistic. Taking small, achievable steps, tracking them and adjusting your resolutions to life changes are the best ways to keep them year-round.
4 New Year’s Organizing Resolutions for Your Home
Taking on your resolution for the year with others is another excellent way to make it more achievable. Here are four New Year’s organizing resolutions busy families can use to keep their homes put together long after January 1.
Sort Seasonal Pieces Each Quarter
At the official turn of each season, go through closets, cabinets and storage spaces for items that are no longer necessary in the new season. Having a dedicated time to switch out and declutter holiday decor, sports equipment, seasonal wear and more every quarter can help your space feel a lot less full. If you start seeing things each quarter that you never end up using — like a niche appliance or a winter coat — add them to the “donate” pile.
By centering this task around the seasonal changes, you disperse it enough to avoid feeling drained and make a small family tradition.
Tidy the House for 15 Minutes Every Night
For this resolution, everyone takes 15 minutes before bed to put away a bit of clutter. Small children can stow their toys away and older ones may put their gaming consoles or clothes in their places, while adults spend some time sprucing up the kitchen or another common area. This way, everyone plays a part in creating a more enjoyable space for all and fostering cleanliness habits.
Plus, this nightly routine can help you find common pain points in your home. There may be an intricate lamp that needs dusting too often, or the little ones’ toy box might be more of a tripping hazard than you thought. Carpets need more frequent maintenance than hardwood, too, so you may decide to make a larger home change to ease your family’s regular cleanups.
Reset One Room per Month
Develop a 12-month schedule for deep cleaning each room in your space at the beginning of the year. January might be the kitchen, February could be the bathroom, March can be the attic, and so on. Younger kids may benefit from having a monthly cleaning dedicated to their rooms, allowing them to learn how to do it themselves. Then, once they get older, you can all dedicate one month to your respective rooms.
By breaking down large tasks over a month, cleaning your entire home becomes much easier. For instance, Americans buy groceries once a week on average, so by spending around 30 days thoroughly organizing your kitchen, you can better determine which ingredients and foods your family actually uses versus what ends up being leftover.
Institute the “One In, One Out” Policy
This tidiness strategy doesn’t have a distinct timeline. The “one in, one out” style of decluttering is part of the “organizational triangle” created by professional organizer Andrew Mellen. You can apply the first concept — every item should have a home — with the monthly reset strategy, ensuring that everything in each room has a designated place. The second concept of grouping similar objects can also be helpful. However, the third one is where things get more actionable.
Every time someone in your household decides to buy something, you must donate or throw away something that’s already in your house. Ideally, the items will be related — for example, if your partner wants an air fryer, it’s time to get rid of the popcorn maker you never touch. This resolution helps you declutter your place and keep it that way.
Keeping Your Home Clean by Next New Year’s
New Year’s resolutions are easy to break because people try to change their entire lives in only a few months. The better way to tackle those massive changes is to break them up over a long while to make them manageable. With these four ideas, even busy families can make their homes a little more organized.
The reason most New Year's organizing resolutions fail isn’t lack of motivation—it’s unrealistic expectations. The most successful new year's organizing resolutions don’t demand instant transformation; they build steady momentum over time. By breaking organization into seasonal, monthly, and daily habits, your home stays functional long after January ends. Small, intentional changes today are what lead to a calmer, more organized home by next New Year’s—and beyond.
