New Year Declutter

Start the new year right by a new year declutter.

When we declutter our home, this has a positive effect on our mental health. As we set out our new year’s resolutions, a new year declutter is one of the best resolutions.

What to declutter

Following our other article ‘decluttering after Christmas’ gives you an insight on what to declutter straight after Christmas. 

A new year declutter deals with starting the new year right. This will help you stick to your resolution of keeping your home clutter free and organised.

Make a list

Look at the rooms or areas you want to tackle. 

Then ask yourself what is it you want to achieve?

Make a list of items that don’t serve a purpose or you couldn’t live without.

Those items can be small (cluttered fireplace mantle) or large items like single pieces of furniture.

Sometimes large pieces of furniture removed from a room can make all the difference.

Those items can then be recycled, sold or given away.

Re-arranging furniture in rooms

Rearranging rooms by moving furniture around can help with decluttering. 

Sometimes items won’t fit where you want them to go. 

This would be an ideal time to assess whether you actually need it or not.

It also helps when moving sideboards or units around, you can take the opportunity to go through them and dispose of any items you no longer use.

Set completion dates or goals.

Putting yourself under a time pressure can help you focus on the task at hand. 

Set realistic time goals, don’t over do it otherwise you will start to hate the process and see it as a chore.

(If you are suffering from a particularly cluttered house, don’t put yourself under a time pressure.)

Just focus on the small areas of decluttering and work up to the main areas.

Declutter regularly.

Decluttering regularly will help you keep decluttering to a simple 10 minute process. 

Dedicate a set time and day for this process.

If you are never busy at the weekend, give yourself some time for this process for each room. 

Not only will it make you feel good each week, staying clutter free week in week out is a good resolution throughout the entire year to stick to.

Psychologists reckon that if you persevere with a task for 3 weeks or more, it becomes a habit. But this habit only sticks beyond 3 weeks through ongoing commitment and determination.

Download habit tracker apps to your phone. These will help keep you on track.

And decluttering your home on a regular basis is a good habit to have and keeps you on track with your resolution.

Tell others about your new found resolution.

Telling loved ones and friends about your new resolution will help you stay on track because you have declared it openly with others. 

They will also provide you with the necessary support should you falter and will encourage you to keep going.

Your ongoing commitments

This is a good new years resolution to have generally. ‘Out with the old, in with the new’ as the saying goes. The break over Christmas should make you focus on what’s really important in life.

If you are so busy, you don’t have time to keep your house in order practically through decluttering, this should be a sign you need to slow down.

This is hard if you run a business or have an over demanding boss. A lot of the time the business or over demanding boss runs you.

You can defeat this by setting aside time to dedicate to important tasks only and this starts with you. 

Just like unmovable calendar appointments i.e. going on holiday, friends coming round to dinner or appointments with the doctors etc….

The tasks you set yourself should be like this, unmovable.

The whole essence of this article is based, for the majority of people, around time management.

We never seem to have enough time to do anything constructive or to make changes. 

It just seems as if we are swimming against the tide of life, hoping we are doing just enough to manage from one drama to the next.

Use online systems like Google Calendar, reminder or habit tracker apps to your phone to set your unmovable tasks, whether that be decluttering, managing your diary, or time with your family.

You will be surprised that simple little changes can have a big impact on your life going forward.