The end of the year is fast approaching, which means it’s time to prep for the new year. As you begin setting new resolutions for yourself, pause for a moment. Before you get carried away mapping out your entire next year with new goals, fresh ideas, and a refreshing sense of purpose, you need to clean up your current state of being.
Cleaning is not reserved solely for springtime. Use the end of the year as a transition to clean up your life before the new year kicks off. Now is the perfect time to clean out anything bogging you down or getting in the way of you and your goals in the new year.
Here are a few things to purge at the end of the year:
1) Spruce up your email inbox.
It’s hard to say what’s more overwhelming for a young professional trying to be successful at work than an email inbox overflowing with unread, unanswered, and/or dated emails.
Pour yourself a drink, sit in front of your favorite Netflix show, and spend a few hours cleaning out your inbox. Trash expired email coupon codes, irrelevant conversations, and anything that no longer pertains to you and your work. If you want to function effectively in your job, you need an inbox that is relevant and organized.
Unsubscribe from subscriptions as they come through your inbox if it’s no longer serving you.
Pro-tip: Create folders in your inbox to organize your emails based on topic and priority. Rather than keeping hundreds (or thousands) of emails in your main inbox, moving emails to their appropriate folders is bound to keep you organized and efficient.
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2) Ditch anything expired.
Are you guilty of keeping expired food in your pantry and/or hanging dated coupons on your refrigerator? We’ve all been there. It stinks to dig through your freezer only to find your hidden pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is past its recommended expiration date.
Take time to go through your kitchen and any clipped coupons to ditch expired goods and offerings. There’s no good reason to keep expired discounts and food past its prime. Ditching anything expired is a great way to purge the old to make room for the new.
And if you have anything you know you aren’t going to use but isn’t expired, consider donating it. Many shelters and soup kitchens are accepting donations year-round.
This also goes for beauty products and body care products as well. These products also have expiration dates. And are you really going to finish some of that stuff sitting in your shower? Clear out anything that’s old. Consider donating products to Project Beauty Share as you clear out your stuff.
3) Donate your unused clothing.
If your closet is filled with pants that no longer fit you and tops that do not bring you joy, it’s time to purge your clothes.
Gather all of your gently worn clothing that you’re ready to part with and donate it all to a local charity. This is a great way to make room for new clothing in your closet. Plus, you’ll also be helping out those in need.
This is also a great time to go through your linen closet. Donate old towels to animal shelters and blankets and coats in good condition to shelters.
4) Sell or donate “stuff” you no longer need.
We all have old technology, books we no longer read, and furniture we’re ready to retire. Consider donating or selling the stuff around your house that you don’t need or want.
Donating is a great choice because you’re helping others out, but selling your stuff is equally as justifiable. I personally sold an old camera, laptop, and tablet on Ebay and ended up making a good amount of money back.
It’s great to purge the stuff around your house that you don’t use to clear out space and maybe even put some money back in your pocket.
5) Clean out your clutter.
Whether it’s your desk buried in dated papers, your wallet overflowing with old receipts, your purse or bag full of junk, or even your car littered with trash, declutter. It’s time to purge those small spots around your home that tend to accumulate junk year-round.
Clutter bogs us down, making us overwhelmed and unproductive. Purge the junk surrounding you. Toss out old receipts, take the trash out, empty your purse or bag, and start over. When we’re on the go it’s easy to leave takeout trash in our car or keep receipts in our bag. But over time, that clutter accumulates. Take this time to clear it all out and purge the junk. You’ll want to begin the new year with clean surroundings.
Before kicking off the new year with a host of resolutions, it is essential to enter the new year with a clean, blank slate. Use some (or all) of these tips to start your new year on the right foot. Applying these methods of purging to your life is bound to get you moving in the right direction for an organized and efficient year ahead. Good luck!
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About the Author
Rachael is a University of Southern Maine graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and a minor in Sociology. She remotely works full-time as a Senior Content Marketing Specialist for Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. In her leisure time, Rachael enjoys traveling with her husband, finding the next Netflix series to binge, and taking too many photos of her dogs Jax and Kai. Rachael is obsessed with chapstick, favors the Oxford comma, and is a proud Mainer. You'll likely find her exploring New England + beyond.