The new year is an ideal time for a new start. Why don’t you refresh your living space and realign your life? When you declutter, you clear out physical, mental, and emotional spaces. Where do you begin? Start with these five action steps that will help you declutter and get a great start to a new year.
1. Start With Your Living Space
Your home reflects your state of mind. It also influences that. Take things one room at a time. Get comfortable and start sorting your things into categories:
- Keep
- Donate
- Sell
- Trash
Before you decide to keep something, be honest with yourself. Does it genuinely make you happy to own it, or do you use it? If the answer is no, it’s time to let it go. Dig into your drawers, closets, and storage areas. These are the places where “stuff” tends to accumulate. As you finish each room, do something nice for yourself to celebrate a small victory. When you declutter your home, you’ll find your space is more relaxing, and you can better focus on your goals for the year ahead.
2. Do a Digital Purge
Most of us spend a lot of time in our digital spaces. These can become as overwhelming as our physical spaces when they are full of emails, files, and apps. Start with your laptop. Delete old files, organize the icons on your desktop, and unsubscribe from emails that you don’t read anymore. You can use tools to help you categorize and archive your messages. Imagine how nice it will feel to get your inbox down to zero.
Now, move to your phone. Get rid of all those apps you installed and never use. Figure out how you want your home screen organized, and get that done next. Then purge old photos or find better storage options for what you want to keep. This is a great time to download apps that will genuinely serve you. Everybody needs a good notetaking app, something for motivation, and a few things for a great social life. Check out this great bisexual dating app.
3. Pare Down Your Schedule
A cluttered schedule can lead to burnout. Take a look at your schedule and find the obligations or activities that just don’t work for you. Are these things adding something good to your life, or just draining your energy? What about scheduling time for hobbies, relaxation, and loved ones? These things should be scheduled as priorities, not penciled in when you have nothing else to do. Declutter your schedule so you can focus on the things that count.
4. Yes! Declutter Your Relationships Too
The people you spend time with can really have a profound impact on your well-being. Take an inventory of your relationships with friends, family, and acquaintances. Think about the connections that leave you feeling good and which ones leave you emotionally drained. No, you don’t have to cut ties in most cases, though that is an option. What you can do is set boundaries or reduce the time you’re willing to spend with people who are exhausting to you. Think in terms of quality time over quantity time when it comes to the people you keep in your circle.
5. Clean Up Your Finances
Start the year with a financial audit. This will help you clear out that overwhelming financial clutter and bring you some peace of mind. Start with your bank accounts. Are those working for you? Could you consolidate accounts or move to a fully online banking option?
Next, tackle your credit cards. Is it time to move your balances to one card to simplify things or look into a debt consolidation loan? If you have a good payment history, you might be able to transfer your balances to a lower-interest card and work through your debt even faster.
What about your subscriptions? Are you paying for streaming services you don’t watch or a gym membership you never use? Cancel those too!
Finally, put up some financial safeguards. Freeze your credit if you don’t plan to make any major purchases any time soon. Check with your credit reporting agencies, it’s easy to get that done, and you can review your credit reports while you’re at it.
Breathe Easier in The New Year
Make a commitment to get more organized and kick clutter out of your life. You’ll give yourself the gift of less stress and more time to dedicate to things that make you happy.
This is a submitted article
