+ Free Printable February Calendar

Inspiration for this month |

• Declutter paper piles
• Fall in love with a writing project
• Have a writing date for Valentines

Ask the KonMari Joy-question

January is often the month of decluttering but despite the efforts, I often find that what I never get to is the piles of paper. That is why I decided to ask the KonMari joy-question regarding all my writing-related paper stacks and binders this February.

The right way according to Marie Kondo is to gather all things paper-related but this gets too overwhelming for me. I also have done a lot of other writings which range from blogposts to essays and papers for university but that is for another declutter session. For this session, I concentrated only on my piles of paper on creative writing.

I relax when I declutter and one of the great benefits is that it brings me clarity. That is also why I thought my papers were more or less in order. I have put them in binders by category but I have come to realize that every time I wanted to take a look at an old project, for example, I forgot where I put the binder. I had to look through cabinets, drawers, and bookcases. One of the objectives of this process was to keep it all in the same bookcase. 

I am so happy that I started February with a declutter session. Here is how I went about it.

3 Steps to declutter writing papers

Here are the 3 steps to get clarity of all creative writing-related papers in the house.

• Step 1

  During the previous week, I gathered the binders filled with anything writing-related. Most of it was sorted out but I still had a stack of papers in a drawer and an old dresser in the attic.

  Action step | Get all your binders and folders and paper stacks out

• Step 2

  On Sunday I sorted the papers according to category. My categories were dormant writing projects, active writing projects, advice, and notes on writing, and papers from writing groups mine and others. Then I assigned new binders for each category and separate ones for active writing projects.

  Action step | Select your categories and start sorting out and declutter the piles of paper

• Step 3

  Finally, I put it all in the same bookcase. Now knowing that I can easily find each slice of paper that I love.

  Action step | Choose the space to keep it all stored

If you want to try this out for yourself put it in the calendar, for example, the one I share at the end of this post. One of the benefits from the above exercise could be that you reconnect to the exact writing project you would like to have a writing date with. Add this appointment with yourself to the calendar as well. And because it is February what better day to have a date with your inner writer than on Valentines’.

Action step | Print out the monthly download for February and schedule a declutter session and also a writing date with a project you love.

(For best result print A4 without border).

Happy Writing

writingdates