New Years Resolutions
I love New Year's Day. It's the ultimate fresh start - new planner, new calendar, and a whole new opportunity to become a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSON. Each year I spend time on my New Year's Resolutions and decide that this will be the year I will get 50 pounds thinner, do yoga on the daily, never eat sweets or drink wine again and always have just the appropriate amount of frustration at the small stuff. Unsurprisingly, none of these resolutions have proven to be successful. Shocking, I know. The resolutions that I have been most successful with over time are the ones that are measurable and realistic. Ones not based in fantasy, but small changes that take effort but aren't so hard that I will give up before I make any progress.
One of the most common resolutions is to get organized - whether that includes decluttering, creating a system for the stuff (or the people) in your life or finally tackling the drawer/room/closet/entire house that makes you cringe whenever you see it. Scientifically speaking, excess clutter is visually stressful and increases anxiety, so organizing and decluttering is definitely a resolution that increases your happiness and satisfaction. If this is you, here are a few tips to get you started.
1. Everything in your house needs a HOME. That means everything - every file, every toy, everything. As it comes into your house, it needs to find a place where it will live and can go back to whenever it isn't in use. Not having a real "home" for everything is the #1 reason people get clutter. If you can't find a home for it, maybe it's time to reconsider bringing it inside in the first place!
2. Five minutes a day keeps clutter at bay! It sounds cheesy, but it's true. Spending just five minutes a day putting things back will massively reduce clutter in your home, and you won't have to start with tidying before you clean your home. Plus, it's just nice to wake up to a house that is tidy instead of feeling like you are starting your day behind.
3. Follow the 1 Minute Rule: this is more of a life tip than a strict organization tip, but the 1 Minute Rule says that if a task can be handled in a minute or less, you should just do it now. For example, if you come in to your house, it takes less than a minute to hang up your coat in the closet rather than on the chair, so hang it now (coats belong in closets not on chairs, tell my husband!). Sort your mail and recycling as you pick it up instead of adding it to a pile. Unsubscribe to that email newsletter that you don't want now instead of putting it off. These little tasks can really cause stress as they add up, and handling them now will increase your productivity and your happiness.
Getting organized is truly more of a lifestyle than it is a project, and even if it doesn't come naturally, you can absolutely learn how to be an Organized Person. If organization in any form is part of your New Year's Resolutions, I would love to be the person who helps you achieve it. Now who can teach me to be a no-sweets-eating, yoga-perfecting, no-small-stuff-sweating thin person?
