Best Monthly Reset Routine you need + checklist

Creating a monthly reset routine is a great habit to keep yourself organised and to keep focusing on those goals month after month.

Also as you keep doing a monthly reset you will find that it is actually how you reset your life.

As much as we want everything to happen fast and easily, we cannot reset our life in a day.

It takes intentional changes to be taken day after day and month after month.

But it’s not difficult at all. We all can follow this and have a more organised and stress-free life.

Today in this post, I have the best monthly reset routine, you can easily follow.

You can keep this checklist I have at the end of the post or write it down somewhere so that you can check it off every month as you complete this.

What is a monthly reset routine?

Table of Contents

A monthly reset routine is a routine you follow once every month to help you reset your life so that you can start afresh every month.

This should be done monthly because our goals and priorities change every month. Also what needs to get organised changes every month or needs to be re-organised every month.

Things either pile up or finish up and we need to reset it every month to start afresh.

Why keep a monthly reset routine?

At the start of the month, I take out my diary and do this monthly reset routine. I’ve found that doing this helps keep my life organized.

I come to know which area of my life needs my focus and where I am lagging behind.

It keeps me organised, and much better focused and also makes me want to be disciplined once I come to know exactly what I need to do.

In short, these are the benefits of keeping a monthly reset routine I’ve found to be true in my life:

A monthly reset routine keeps your life from getting organised
You become much more enthusiastic about starting a new month afresh
You get clear on your goals and your priorities
You become much more on-track than off-track
You are much more likely to stick to your goals if you have a reset routine
Your life becomes stress-free
You start knowing which area of your life needs your attention
Your life gets a reset

What should be included in a monthly reset?

Here are things that should be included in a monthly reset:

Self-reflection
Your goals
Your to-dos
Cleaning and organising
Decluttering
Finances
Self Care

But let’s get a little elaborate and know how you can create a monthly reset routine.

How to create a monthly reset routine

P.S some of these links are affiliate links. If you purchase from my link, I’ll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

1. Reflect on your previous month

This is the first thing you need to do- reflect on your previous month.

When I get started with my monthly reset routine, I always take out my diary and start with this one and reflect on my month.

An easy way to do this is to ask yourself-

What went well last month?
What didn’t do well last month?
How can I improve?

Then I always write down the things I am grateful for that happened in the last month.

Looking at my phone’s gallery makes it easy to do this.

I see all the events and things that took place since I love taking pictures of my happy moments, and then writing down my gratitude list.

I find that every month there are so many unique things that take place which otherwise would have gone unnoticed and I would start a new month without showing gratefulness.

But doing a monthly reset routine also gives me a chance to be grateful as I reflect on my previous month.

2. Set your goals for the month

Next, set your goals for the month.

What are some things you want to focus on? This might be something that didn’t go well in the last month or something that you have to refocus on every month.

But when you’re setting your goals, make sure that you’re setting your goals the right way.

Always set your goals not around the end result, but around your habits and what you can actually do.

Here is my podcast episode on how to set goals the right way.

For your monthly reset routine, when you set goals for the new month, set just 1-2 goals for different areas of your life and not more than that.

The 4 major areas of our life include

Work
Finance
Personal growth
Health & Self Care

Set just 1-2 goals for the major areas of your life and not more than that.

For each of your areas, ask yourself, ‘What do I want to practice this month?’ And focus on those.

Here are 60 good monthly goals ideas for all areas of your life

3. Create lists and habit trackers

Once you are clear on your goals and set your goals around what actions you need to take, create your lists for the month ahead.

Here are some lists to make to help you get organized.

If you are planning on sticking to new goals or new habits, create habit trackers and stick them in front of you.

This month I want to do Chloe Ting’s 21 days Shred Challenge and I will make a habit tracker for it so that I can tick it off each day.

P.S. If you are ready to give a try at working on yourself and changing your life, I have recently created a Special challenge/Guide for you to Change your Life in 7 days.

I think you’ll love it if you give it a try for 7 days and see what’s possible for you.

4. Set your planner

Next set out your planner or your calendar and schedule any meetings, events, or online talk you want to join for the month ahead.

This lets you know the deadlines and keep your anxieties at bay.

Most of us don’t know exactly what needs to get done and by when and so the thing keeps bugging us in our minds.

This is because the mind likes to get things complete and know everything certain.

So when things are left unclear in the head, the mind keeps repeating and reminding us and we start feeling anxious.

This can be easily removed by setting up a monthly planner and knowing exactly what needs to be done and when.

Mark the dates and set out what you have to do or want to do and always stay on top of your game.

5. Clean and declutter

Next up, clean and declutter your spaces.

Every month there are inevitably many things that stack up that end up taking up our space.

Any physical space that is cluttered ends up also cluttering our mental space.

If you want to be anxiety free, you also need to be clutter-free.

Keep it a monthly reset routine to clean and declutter your spaces.

You can go slowly with this. You don’t have to do your monthly reset in a day. You can take 2-3 days also.

Here are some things you must clean and declutter every month:

wardrobe
purse
bag
fridge
Work table
Phone gallery
Laptop folders

6. Organize

Our entire life can get organised if we only start organising our days month after month.

And to organize your inner life, you only need to organize your outer life- that is your belongings and your time.

So organize what needs to get organised. It can be your table, your books, your kitchen, your wardrobe or anything.

Next also make sure to organize your day, that is create a daily routine that works for you.

If you already have a daily routine, then you can simply follow the same.

Otherwise, it is wise to create one that will help you anchor your life towards the direction of your dreams.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to organize your life and how to create a simple daily routine that sticks.

7. Choose a book/podcast to read and listen

Next, choose a book to read for the month.

Personally, I read at least two books every month because I like to read non-fiction in the morning for my morning read and fiction/novels/autobiographies for my evening and night read.

For this March month, I have chosen Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s way for my morning read and for the evening read, it is The Moveable Feast by Earnest Hemingway and The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.

Before this, I read the Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh and the Life of Rosa Parks.

You can also choose a podcast to listen to every month.

Here are some podcast recommendations

They’re all wonderful and here, I would also like to include my own podcast- Heart of Living which I released recently this January (2023).

I talk about all things mindfulness, creativity and intentional living where I share my own personal stories, tips and insights about various topics which I believe you will love.

Here is the link to listen on Spotify and to listen on Apple Podcasts.

8. Pay your bills and check your finances

Every month as you do a monthly reset, pay or schedule your bills.

I do this on the 1st and 15th of every month and keep a check on my finances.

I pay all my bills and for the bills, I am yet to pay, I keep a note of them.

I don’t have any debts and every month I do a budget of my income where I keep a certain percentage of my income for various things.

I always keep 10% of my income for investment (both from my main job’s salary and my blog income), 10% for travelling, 20% for my new home as I am building my own home, 5% for donation, and 5% for marriage every month.

The rest is for taxes, personal fun expenses, my pet’s expenses and others.

I keep a check on this every month in my phone notes and tick it off as I pay my bills and allot my income to these various things one by one.

This has simplified my finances and I am able to manage my money better.

9. Choose how you want to treat yourself

Lastly, choose how you want to treat yourself.

Most people don’t do this, but I believe one really has to be intentional with how one wants to practice self-care.

This makes self-care more doable in our daily life and we make sure that self-care is also included in our daily life.

How you choose to treat yourself might look different for different people.

We can choose to treat ourselves simply by being mindful, by being graceful in our bodily movements, or by deciding to take a bath every day, tidying ourselves up, deciding to always nourish our body with moisturizer and cream before going to bed, or buying yourself flowers every week or anything.

Ask yourself, what do you feel you need this month? Or what do you feel you need to practice this month?

And treat yourself to it.

So these were the 9 ways you can do a monthly reset.

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Lastly,

When to do a monthly reset?

You can do a monthly reset at the beginning of every month or at the end of every month. I personally do it right in the beginning because this gives me the feel of the new month and I feel like I am re-starting and re-setting everything for the month.

Set a date for your monthly reset and make sure you do them.

I guarantee that this will make your entire month much smoother, more productive, stress-free and much more vibrant.

Let me know in the comments if you want to give this a try!

Monthly reset routine checklist

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Hello, I'm Vishaka!

Best Monthly Reset Routine you need + checklist

What is a monthly reset routine?

Why keep a monthly reset routine?

What should be included in a monthly reset?