Tips For Starting The Year On A Clean Slate

Over a week into the new year and it seems like everyone’s mindset of bettering themselves is going strong. It’s kind of nice o have the encouragement of a new year in January when it can be so cold and gloomy because without that push from the calendar I don’t think my internal motivation would be enough. I like to think of myself as pretty motivated but just like with anything else, it can come and go. When thinking about posts that could be beneficial to share with y’all as the new year kicked off I started to think about some simple solutions to start fresh. Many times, people become discouraged with their resolutions because they are attempting to change everything all at once. Just the thought of that is overwhelming. So instead, I came up with 5 ideas of things that you can do to feel good about the start of 2018 and start the year on a clean slate. The beauty of these things is that each task can be done separately of one another while still helping you to feel good about yourself.

1. Commit To Only Buying The Essentials For A Month.

One thing that I think many of us can agree on after the holiday season is that our wallets seem to be one of the only thing “thinning out”when a dessert table is readily available alongside delicious homemade meals. Giving gifts is something I truly enjoy so I tend to spend a little bit more on each gift to make sure it is something that the recipient will LOVE.

With both Christmas and my birthday in December, I am fortunate enough to get some of the items I’ve placed on my personal wish list to enjoy in the coming months. With that in mind, I’m trying to start off January appreciating those items and committing to only buying the essentials this month. One task on my 101 in 1001 list is to not shop for a month. Well, I’ve chosen this month to give that a go, and I think that now is a wonderful time to try that out in order to save some money. It has already led me to be more conscious about my purchase and stick solely to essentials like groceries. If I want a cup of coffee from Starbucks or can’t get past the cutest on sale sweater then I better have a gift card ready, otherwise it’s not happening.

I haven’t felt like this has been a huge adjustment, but I am definitely glad I am giving it a try. Hopefully it will lead me to have a save, not spend mindset for the month and year to come as well. And, while everyone starts trying to slim down other areas of their lives I don’t think they’d argue with their wallet getting a little bit fuller.

2. Unsubscribe To Unwanted Emails.

Why this has been on my to-do list for forever and hasn’t actually been accomplished is so silly. Anyone else end up with close to 30 emails a day solely from online retailers promoting their new arrivals and sales? I get at least that number and spend a bit of time each day deleting the emails only to have new ones from the company in my inbox the next day. Instead of deleting them lately I’ve been opening them, scrolling to the bottom of the email, and hitting unsubscribe from all of those that don’t actually benefit me. I think this will also help with the no shopping this month since I won’t be seeing all the cute new arrivals that would be fun to buy so it’s a win, win.

It’s also ridiculous to me to think about the fact that I’m getting many of these promotional emails on both my personal email account and my blog account. The emails from companies that I actually want o see all are going to remain on the same account so that I’m not spending time deleting from both accounts. Unroll.me is a site that does a lot of this work for you if you don’t want to have to deal with doing it yourself! Talk about a clean slate with an inbox full of only useful emails!

3. Choose An Area To Organize Each Week.

Organizing is therapeutic to me. When I am feeling overwhelmed, I can’t work unless my space is organized. It has been funny how much more organized and clean I’ve become now that I’ve started to pay for my own space. Organization is a goal for many people in the new year, but it can be a hard task to tackle all at once. Instead of making a broad goal of organizing your whole space for 2018 it is so much more realistic to break this goal into smaller more manageable tasks. For me, that has included choosing something to organize each week.

So far, I’ve tackled our pantry (and freezer) and the dresser drawers in my room. Cleaning my portion of the pantry definitely made me more excited to buy groceries but also encouraged me to keep in mind what I already had. The only hard part is this is a shared space so just because I’ve chosen to organize my portion doesn’t mean that my roommates will choose to do theirs which is fine. So, while the overall pantry may not seem organized it makes me feel better about my space.

My dresser drawers were the other area I’ve tackled. I chose to take everything out of my drawers before even unpacking from Christmas break. I folded up everything and put it back in which made unpacking a lot easier. Up next I should be tackling my closet and bathroom cabinets. With both of these areas I suspect these will take a bit longer since I will need to be deciding what to keep and what to donate. Tackling these things one task at a time makes the organization more enjoyable, and I’m hoping it will keep me in the mindset to keep things organized all throughout the year.

4. Wake Up 5 Minutes Earlier To Plan For Your Day.

Waking up earlier is not something most people enjoy. But, if there is ever a time when you can try to encourage someone to do that it is at the start of the New Year. My first alarm goes off at 5:00 on weekday mornings but sometimes I don’t get out of bed till 5:15 (oops). I’m making an effort to hit snooze less which has given me a bit more time in the morning. With that time I think about the different tasks I need to accomplish for the day and write them down. This extra time also allows me to not feel rushed which leads to a less stressful start to my day (and fewer coffee spills). Waking up a couple minutes earlier is a simple solution for starting each day out fresh which will hopefully help you to feel like your year is off to a smoother start.

5. Switch to Safer Products.

This is the cleanest of these tips and my personal favorite. Some of you may have heard of Beautycounter before but if you haven’t I am thrilled to introduce it to you. First, let’s start with why safer products are necessary. I’ve never been the type of person who is overly committed to buying organic or being overly health conscious. While yes, many of the decisions I make for myself show that I try to make healthy choices I like the mindset of everything in moderation.

When I heard about Beautycounter a number of years ago I began to add some of their products to my skin care and makeup repertoire. This was because I had heard positive things about some of these products and thought I’d give them a try for myself. They worked for me for what I wanted and I kept going back to the brand when shopping for products before even really educating myself on the benefits that came with using this brand. As I’ve learned even more about their education first philosophy I’ve switched more and more of my skincare routine to Beautycounter products.

The video below explains the importance of companies like this and their efforts to inform others.

Now, I’m not having to sacrifice safe skincare and makeup for the products performance since Beautycounter products work well for my needs and for my health. I look forward to sharing more about these products in the year to come. If you have any questions about Beautycounter, my slow transition to this line, and how you can start your year on a clean slate with Beautcounter I would be more than happy to help out in any way I can if this is a way you’d like to start your year on a clean slate. If you’re interested in shopping with my you can do that here: https://www.beautycounter.com/dorothywalton.

I’d love to hear the ways you’re starting your year on a clean slate!

Hi, I'm Dorothy

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Tips For Starting The Year On A Clean Slate

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Hi, I'm Dorothy

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