Getting Ready for the New Year
So can you believe it's already a new year?! I certainly can't. To say time flies is an understatement. Although I'm sad to see another year end, I am honestly happy for a new dawn and all the adventures a new year will bring. Following some reflection, for many people a new year means, “out with the old and in with the new”. If this is you, one of your goals for the new year may be to declutter and begin the new year more organized. Here are a few areas of your home you can declutter relatively easily.
Plastic Shopping Bags Do you keep all the shopping bags you get when you unpack your groceries from the grocery store? While there are valuable ways to reuse these bags, having more bags than you could ever use is not an efficient use of your space. I have seen people hoard so many plastic bags that they take up an entire cabinet and are sometimes overflowing their ‘designated area’.
My advice instead is to have a small container in which you can store a few plastic bags. With just a little effort, you can create a simple DIY idea for plastic bags storage.
For the rest of plastic bags, simply recycle them at your local grocery store - most have bins where you can drop used bags.
Food Containers The holidays are over and you can't find some of your food containers. Or maybe you have too many and it's always hard to find what you need because of the clutter.
Take inventory of your Tupperware drawer or cabinet and throw out broken items, as well as any pieces missing lids, or lids with no bottom. This will remove much of the junk and hopefully leave you with pieces you can use. Neatly repack what you have back the space.
Ill-fitting clothing Ok. I can already hear it - .“...I know it doesn't fit me now, but I plan to get back into the gym in January and I'll probably lose 30lbs, so it'll fit then" - Sigh. We all (myself included) hold on to some items of clothing for sentimental reasons or because we absolutely loved it. In many cases they don't fit, or are out of style.
My advice is to take an objective stance and toss all the pieces which are very worn or have holes. Sell or donate anything else which doesn't fit but is still beautiful. Odds are when you do get back to that ideal body size you will want a whole new wardrobe to match your new body anyway, so no need to keep items which aren't fitting now. For pieces which hold sentimental value, choose either to a)Take a picture and hold on to the memory, then donate it; b)hand it down to a child or relative who can enjoy it now; or c) If the piece is extremely special then keep it and store safely.
Makeup Did you know most makeup expire within 12 months of it being opened. If you have makeup but don't wear it regularly, you may fall into the trap of using the same eye shadow palette for a couple years.
Take some time to go through your makeup collection, tossing anything which is expired or has been there too long.
Paper/Magazines Do you have a pile of magazines or newspapers hidden somewhere in your home? Well unless you plan to re-purpose it, I would say get rid of it. There may have been articles in it which you liked, but the thing is, everything is now digital, so it is easy to search and find almost anything previously printed and related stories online. Cut out any article clippings you absolutely must save and keep them in a scrapbook. Then recycle the rest of those papers!
I hope these simple tips will get you started to a more organized year!
