Getting It Together

I am getting organized in different categories within my life before going into the new year.

This year has been a chaotic mess for me, but things are settling in and I am resetting myself before going into the new year. I have been taking sometime each day to organize a small part of my life and getting things ready for the new year.

Having followed this steps I have feel as though I have a clearer home, mind and technology.

So I am going to take a second and go over the different categories that I have gone through and set up for a smooth transition to the new year.

1. Home

There are smaller parts within the home but the overall category is where we are going to start. I have been taking my apartment section by section. I would recommend starting in the spaces you use the most often, such as the kitchen and bathroom.

For me personally I took everything out of my cabinets, wiped down the shelves and reorganized by products and cleared out expired foods. Then moved along to the counters and fridge to clean out and wipe everything down and sanitize it.

Once I completed the kitchen, I moved along to the bathroom and did a similar style of organizing and cleaning. Starting with the cabinets and checking products.

Doing a deep clean of the bathroom space is a good idea when you have your products cleared out. With them cleared out separate them into different categories. For myself I use small baskets to keep things together and separated. Making it easier to access the things I need on a daily basis.

Moving from these rooms, I cleaned out my back stock and cleaning cabinets. While you do not use these places everyday, they still need a reset every once in a while. This will allow you to see all of the product you have and what you need to repurchase.

I call this a top-up shop. This is your chance to reset your stock in food, cleaning and beauty products and be refilled and ready to take on the new year!

The final stages for my home are to clean the floors and surfaces throughout the home and give everything a fresh feeling.

2. Technology

Once, my surrounding area is nice and refreshed, restocked and reorganized I move onto my computer and phone. For this section I start with my email account. I take a moment to scroll through and archive important messages that I would like to keep on file and then go through and delete all messages from the past year.

Starting with a nice clear inbox. This is also a chance to cancel any email subscriptions you do not want to be attached to anymore. Once you have gone through those subscriptions take a chance to look through your subscription accounts and cancel any which you do not use regularly enough to be paying for them.

I have a number of photos and videos stored on my computer due to social media work for myself and my mother's business. The next step for myself is clearing them out. I will delete old shots or clips that I did not use or do not need, while moving edited images and other items onto external hard drives. This clears up storage on your computer making it run faster and will keep if from overheating.

The next step is your phone. Going through all photos and applications to clear up storage and to have a fresh feel to your phone will allow you to have faster access to you apps and things you need on the daily.

3. Mind

The next step for me is my mind. For this I have productive and self-care points. My first step in clearing my mind is making a large brain dump to do list. Getting everything I could possibly need to do out of my mind and on paper helps me see exactly what I need to be working on.

After it is all out of my brain I will separate it into priority sections. I do this method to really see what should take precedent, as well as what is a need and what is a want.

The next step is planning your week or month out. Whatever realistically works better for you. I like to do both, planning out what I can for the month but then honing in on my weekly plan to organize my goal points along with work items and personal items.

Once my mind is clear and organized I move onto the self-care aspects of resetting my mind. I take this opportunity to do a reset meditation and choose my new affirmations for the year. While choosing my affirmations is a new year item, meditation along with Journaling is a daily task that help me to calm my mind and center myself.

I have always dealt with anxiety and these things help my mind stay sorted and calm which lowers my panic and anxious feelings.

These are the three main categories that work through at the start of each year. I try to reevaluate every 3 months to see what is working and what is not in that moment and adjust to what works better in my life at that moment.

I hope this helps guide you in getting yourself organized and reset for the new year. Are there any things you do to prep for the new year that you think I should adopt and add into my routine? Let me know!