The Year of Yes (also yes to decluttering and organizing your home) - Happy 2023

Happy New Year! As we open 2023 there is a feeling of new beginnings, leaving the past behind, and thinking of what goals we’d like to accomplish in the next year. This morning, I called my sister-in-law and we talked about how we celebrated NYE and about goals that were and weren’t met in 2022. My sister-in-law, with her very optimistic outlook told me, “Millie, this is going to be your year, it’s going to be your year of yes – saying yes to everything.” I didn’t really think much of our conversation and went about my day. One of the things on my daily to do list was to go to the gym (I think most of us have this on one of our first to do lists of the year!). As I was running on the treadmill, I was thinking about our conversation, and maybe it was the endorphins kicking in, but suddenly, a little wave of excitement came over me. I thought to myself, maybe I should say yes to more things…to new experiences, meeting new people, learning new things, and being more open to anything that comes my way.

In the spirit of a year of yes, it’s good to make room mentally and more importantly in our physical space. When we declutter and organize, there is a flow in our home that makes us feel more at ease and allows us to focus on other things rather than spending time looking for things or feeling that we are living in clutter and disorganization. It can be overwhelming to think about decluttering your whole home and sometimes it is hard to know where to start. If you’re working on your own, it’s good to start small and focus on one area. It could be the junk drawer in your kitchen, your shoes, or a toolbox.

Here are some basic tips on how to declutter and organize any area in your home:

1) Pick an area - decide on what area you want to work on and manage your expectations. You may not finish everything in one day but getting started is the first step!

2) Group like with like - once you’ve decided on an area, group like things together. For example, if you decide to work on the shoes in your closet, pull all the shoes out and group them by category – it can be general like winter or summer or you can have subcategories like boots, sneakers, sandals, and dress shoes. If you work on your junk drawer, take everything out and group into categories like pens/pencils, notepads, receipts, batteries, etc.

3) Know what you have - make sure and take out everything from the area you're working on. It’s important so you can see exactly what you have and not miss anything!

4) Decide on what you're keeping - now that you have everything grouped, it’s time to decide on what to keep, donate, and toss. Have trash bags handy, one for trash and the other for donations.

5) Organize - after decluttering, it’s time to organize. Put your “keep” items back in a way that makes the most sense to you. Things that you use the most often should be super accessible while things you use less can be less accessible.

6) Maintain - try to maintain the order that you just created for your home. Only bring things into the organized space that you really love and need and be aware of the things that you are not really using. These items could be future donate items!

I hope that these tips will help you get started on having an organized 2023 and more so a healthy, loving, and a great experience filled year of yes!