How To Create The Best Monthly Reset Routine For You

A monthly reset routine is just what you need for a great start to a brand-new month.

You may be having a rough month or a rather lovely one. Regardless of how it is going, at the end of every month, it’s important to reflect and set ourselves up for success in the upcoming month. And a monthly reset routine will do just that for you!

Having a monthly reset routine helps you get out of any kind of rut and gets your life back in order. It’ll allow you to be more intentional about your monthly plans, goals, and daily life.

If you’ve been wondering about how to have a reset day on a monthly basis, you’ve come to the right place! Now let’s get started.

How To Create A Monthly Reset Routine

Why You Need A Monthly Reset Routine

Benefits of Having A Monthly Reset Routine

Theme-Specific Monthly Reset Routines

Create The Best Monthly Reset Routine For You

Why You Need A Monthly Reset Routine

So what is a reset routine and why do you need a monthly reset routine?

A monthly reset routine is sort of like a scheduled monthly check-in with yourself and your life. It’s an ‘allocated’ day or weekend in a month for you to see how you are doing.

It is a system that helps you reflect on how your month has been and evaluate what’s been working for you, and how you want to progress into the next month.

It is also when you tackle tasks that would simplify and better your life if done at least once a month. Mundane organizational tasks that we usually postpone such as organizing the wardrobe, budgeting for the month ahead, replenishing the pantry.

Having a monthly reset routine will give you clarity and a fresh start at the beginning of each month while helping you keep tabs on your life. Let’s break down the benefits.

Benefits of Having A Monthly Reset Routine

There are many benefits to having a monthly reset routine, here are a few.

It gives you an opportunity to make improvements to your daily lives
It improves your productivity by tackling a group of tasks at one go
It is a great way to check-in with yourself and become more self aware
It will help you keep track of your habits and goals
It will help you refocus your attention on feeling positive for the upcoming month

Theme-Specific Monthly Reset Routines

If you prefer to approach certain tasks at once (i.e. task batching), you may find it quite fun to have monthly reset routines that evolve around a specific focus.

If you’re a mother like me, having a home focused monthly reset is very beneficial. Or if you work from home, you may find it useful to have a home office reset.

Well, it really boils down to creating a monthly reset routine that meets your needs. You may pick a theme, have a few differently themed resets in a month, or have a holistic reset routine that encompasses a little bit of each focus area. It’s honestly up to you.

For example, I have a detailed health focused reset every quarter of the year, and a household reset every month alongside a holistic reset that covers key areas of my life.

Create The Best Monthly Reset Routine For You

A monthly reset routine isn’t hard to come up with but it does take quite a bit of planning and strategizing. You will need to devise a routine that you know will help you create a sense of calmness and clarity as you move into a new month.

Don’t panic, I have created a step-by-step monthly reset checklist to get you started! However, bear in mind that this is your very own routine and you want to be super intentional about it.

Step 1: Determine Areas You Want To Focus On

Before you start creating your routine, have a think about the areas you want to really prioritize during a monthly reset. Here are some reset day ideas for you to consider.

House: This area would cover home organization tasks, any home maintenance tasks or life admin tasks
Health: Health would include a review of your overall physical, mental and emotional health, any doctor visits, reviewing prescriptions or supplements.
Family: This area focuses on family activities, date nights, school drop-offs, etc.
Finance: Finance encompasses budgeting, paying bills, debt management, investments, savings and basically everything under the money umbrella.
Work : If you work for yourself (like I do) or just love being on top of your ‘work game’, then it is great to review your progress monthly.
Personal Goals: This would be where you track your progress and any other tasks related to achieving your personal goals.

As I mentioned before this, you could focus on having a holistic reset routine that has a little of every key area in your life or you could have one or more themed reset routines.

I’d recommend applying a more holistic approach regularly as I feel you’ll be giving each area of life a bit of love and retrospection every month. And if there are areas you’d like to deep dive into, go ahead and pick a date for that reset too!

Step 2: Set A Day For Your Monthly Reset Routine

Setting a date for your monthly reset routine is a crucial step in creating a routine that you can commit to and one that is sustainable in the long run.

It doesn’t matter if you do it at the beginning of a new month or on the last weekend of the month, just as long as it’s a day that you’re willing to commit to. I personally do a Sunday reset routine weekly and typically do a weekend reset monthly.

All you’ve got to do is pick a day or weekend that works for you and schedule it in your calendar.

Step 3: Create A Brain Dump List

A ‘brain dump’ is a productivity method that helps you declutter your thoughts by writing down everything that comes to mind within a particular topic.

I think of this as a self-awareness activity that familiarizes you with all the things you’d like to and need to do every month. This list may include things like chores, your goals, important dates, anything that is bothering you.

Find your flow and write freely. Spend as much time as you can here as this is primarily what will make up your reset routine.

If writing isn’t something you’re used to, try these journal prompts to get your started.

What are some tasks that you need to complete every month?
What are some things that you’d like to do in the upcoming month?
What are you doing for self care this month?
What were your wins (small & big) in the previous month?

Once you are done listing everything down, we’ll move on to the next part. And even if your brain dump is very long, don’t worry, not everything will make up your monthly reset checklist.

Step 4: Create A Categorized Monthly Checklist

Now, let’s turn your ‘brain dump’ into a lovely, organized monthly checklist that you can refer to every month.

This is that moment that you decide which of the things on your list need to be prioritized each month. Here you’ll weed out the tasks that need to be done more or less frequently than on a monthly basis.

P.S. If you notice that you have quite a few tasks that you’d like done on a more frequent or weekly basis, this is also a great time to create a weekly reset checklist.

While doing this task, you’ll probably revisit Step 1, where you determined the areas you wanted your reset to be focused on. Those ‘areas’ will be your category headers where you’ll section your task list accordingly.

As I have a more holistic reset, I focus on several categories on a monthly reset day routine which are household, self care, family, work and goals. My husband handles the household finance, so we do our financial reset together at the end of each month (you could also allocate certain categories to your partner).

I try to keep my list short & super focused for each category as I ideally would like to complete them all within the reset day. I’d say limit to at least 4 tasks per category and make sure these tasks do not take up too much time.

Once you’re happy with your monthly reset checklist, write it down or print it and keep it somewhere easily accessible. You could use Canva if you’d like to create a template that you can print out or Notion, if you want to manage your resets online.

Step 5: Set Up Monthly Tracking

If you intend on tracking certain habits or your progress on goals, checking on it once a month isn’t going to be enough.

I’d recommend having a simple tracking system in place for you to efficiently view how you have performed daily or weekly in a month.

An easy way to do this is to create a tracking page at the beginning of every month for your goals and habits in your journal or Notion. You could also use habit tracking apps like Habitify.

Step 6:Create A Monthly Reflection Practice

As you wrap up the month and prepare for a new one it’s important to make time for reflection.

It’s important to really understand how the month went, what are some things you’ve learnt, what has been working for you, what hasn’t been.

There are many ways in which you can reflect on the month. You could meditate, journal, track the way you feel each day of the month, or catch up with your coach.

Here you are going to create a monthly reflection practice that best suits you. So take some time now to really think about how you want to reflect on your month.

I personally have a wonderful reflection practice that I carry out at the end of every monthly reset day. I do a 10 minute candle-lit meditation followed by a journaling session.

Here is my list of journal prompts that I revisit each month.

What am I grateful for this month? List out 3 things.
How did this month go?
What was my biggest challenge this month?
What were my small (or big) wins?
What lessons did I learn?
What are 3 things I can do to make the upcoming month great?
What is 1 thing I can stop doing to make the upcoming month great?
What do I want to be more mindful of this coming month?

Step 7: Schedule In Important “Days” To Your Calendar

This is an important aspect of my personal monthly reset routine that I highly recommend. If you’re a busy gal like me and you find yourself never having enough time for yourself, start scheduling them in! It is life changing.

Every month I make sure I have a ‘life admin’ day, and a few “self care” and “slow” days as well as planned “family fun” days.

Life Admin Day: A life admin day is basically a day that you set aside to get to small tasks that you’ve been putting off. Tasks like clearing out your email or making appointments etc.

Self-care Day: I like to have at least two self care days a month, dedicated to a combo of

getting myself cleaned up (mani – pedi or waxing appointments),
taken care of (I like to get my spine aligned at chiro, or going for a massage),
Socializing (I work for myself, so I barely see anyone else, so it’s important to schedule in time with my friends and family)
Doing something fun (going to the movies, on date night or going for a yoga class, whatever seems fun)

Slow Days: These days are basically spent at a slow pace while prioritizing rest and being as unproductive as possible. As a mother, my weekends get quite full so its important to schedule in days like this at least once a week, to actually rest and slow down.

Family Fun Days: These are days dedicated to doing something fun and memorable as a family outside of our home. I feel like if I don’t schedule this in, I’d not be as motivated to leave the house for a fun time.

Step 8: Celebrate!

And there you have it! You’ve successfully created your monthly reset routine – you can now do it with ease each month.

A reset routine doesn’t have to be complicated or elaborate. The goal is to create a routine that works for you.

And remember, as each month is going to be different from the other, feel free to tweak your routine as you go.

To sum it all up, start by determining the areas you want to focus on, set a date or day on which you’ll carry out the routine, and you can start creating a checklist for you to get through every month.

Do you currently have a monthly reset routine that you love? Share your ideas for reset day below in the comments!