5 Ways to Start a Year of Less
The holiday season can bring a lot of excess. Gifts, food, decorations, and distant “gathering”, the holidays are a whirlwind. After everything is cleaned up, we stuff even more things into crammed closets and drawers. In a world of more, more, more, having less can be peaceful.
Whether it’s physically decluttering your house or clearing up your schedule, having less distractions can help you focus on what’s important. If you’re too busy moving your stuff to vacuum and dust around, or maintaining all your stuff, there’s less time to enjoy your favorite hobby or hang out with your kids. Create the space to live in the present. Here are 5 ways to start a year of less.
Closet Clean Out
I read recently that the average person buys 65 items of clothing a year. That’s a new shirt or pair of pants every few days. Crazy, right? Now, I’m sure if you’re working at home due to COVID, you’re rotating the same comfy clothes day in and day out. But take a good look and be honest.
Remove any clothes that don’t fit you. Holding onto your skinny clothes only serves as a reminder that you’re not happy with the way you look. That’s a crappy reminder every time you open your closet. If you want a motivator for getting healthier and losing weight then promise yourself new clothes when you reach your target weight.
Remove any clothes that are torn, broken, stained. If they can be repaired, be honest with yourself. Will you really take it to a tailor? Or will you repair it yourself? If yes, then awesome, put it somewhere visible as a reminder to get it fixed. If no, then send it to textile recycling. I usually drop off torn clothes to H&M for textile recycling but I’m not sure they still accept clothes due to COVID. If they don’t, search “textile recycling” near you and give the places a call to see how they work under COVID.
Remove any clothes that aren’t your style. Maybe you have a leather jacket that you bought because it looked cool. But after a few months of not being worn, you realized you’re not a leather jacket kind of person. If you’re not going to realistically wear the item when things go back to normal, donate it. Let it be worn and loved by someone else. If you’re thinking “but I paid so much money for it!”. It’s okay, let go of the guilt. By holding onto it you’re still paying for it…but now with guilt!
The clothes in your closet that are never worn but you’re holding onto for some reason are taking up valuable real estate in your house and in your mind.
Simplified Bathroom Routine
Go through your bathroom and see what you actually need. We learn a morning routine early in life and stick to it out of habit. I used to have a dedicated face wash, face toner, and mouth wash. I stopped using all of these products. Instead, I wash my face with a bar of soap and just brush and floss my teeth.
The more we can simplify our routines, the less stuff we have to buy, the less time we have to waste using the stuff, and the less waste we create!
Digital Decluttering
Just because there’s an app for everything, doesn’t mean you need to download it! How long does it take to find the app that you need? Does it take forever? Consider deleting the ones you don’t use.
By keeping your apps down to a minimal number it not only makes it easier to find the ones you need, it keeps you from mindlessly scrolling on your phone when you can be doing better things.
While you’re at it, clear out your email inbox and your files in the cloud. By decluttering your digital space, you won’t get caught off guard with an annoying “storage capacity full” message right when you’re in the middle of something.
Reclaiming Time
I have a hard time with “time clutter”. Some days it seems like every 30 minute block of time is spoken for. Between my day job, my volunteer job, this blog, and my kids, there’s not enough time to enjoy life and just chill out.
So, I’ve started saying “no”. Anything that doesn’t 100% align with my either my goals for 2021 or doesn’t increase joy in the moment, doesn’t get put on the to-do list. The more we can let go of the busyness, the more we can reclaim the present.
Do I Really Need This?
Now that you’ve cleared everything, you need a plan to keep things from getting cluttered again. Whenever there’s a void, life seems to rush in to fill it up. Set up some rules or boundaries to prevent clutter.
The #1 thing that’s had an impact on my clutter and plastic footprint has been a single question: “Do I Really Need This?”. This prevents clothes that aren’t perfect for you from entering your closet. This question stops superfluous beauty products from cluttering your bathroom drawers. This stops your cloud storage from filling up. This stops your days from being filled with the busyness that leaves you no more fulfilled than the day before.
By buying less, consuming less, doing less, we create the space for more of what matters–being present in the moment and cultivating the relationships with those we love.
What do you think? Can you take one or all five of these steps to start a year of less?
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