While January 1st is really just an ordinary day, not unlike April 4th or November 20th, we give it a lot of power and meaning. New Years Day, the opportunity to change. I like to lean into this shared sense of turning over a new leaf to focus on the 3 Rs of the new year: review, revise, reset. Take stock of how you live from day to day. Is it working? Take a moment and think about it. As an organizer, I am constantly looking around to see what I can do better. After doing the 3 Rs myself, I came up with a few areas in my life that need a little change:
Storage is my biggest challenge because I live in an apartment. We downsized about 5 years ago and I am always looking for places to put things (and more importantly a place to actually find them when I need them). Truth be told, I still have too much stuff, so I have started to go through all the cabinets and closets, one at a time, and take out what I have not used in the 5 years we have lived here. I am a big proponent of recycling and reuse. There are many sites available to either sell or donate*, and it is comforting to know that someone else will be able to use what I no longer need or want. So that’s the first step in organizing; to get rid of extra stuff and strategically put away what you want to keep.
The stack of mail and papers that keeps piling up. I try to sort the mail as soon as I get it. Junk mail goes right into a basket for recycling. Bills and things I have to look at go into another basket on my desk. Once a week, I sit and go through the basket on my desk. I either pay, respond to, shred or file everything I look at. A little time consuming, but done every week, minimizes the pile, and helps me find what I am looking for later.
The above problem applies to my digital inbox, but I’m not as disciplined in my solution, I have way too many emails! I want to delete and unsubscribe from the ones I don’t want, and file the ones that I need to locate in the future. This will take more than a minute, but at least you are sitting down (not too strenuous) and you can enjoy listening to music or a podcast while you do it. I have allocated a few hours for this, but the problem is that if you don’t do it all within a few days, the emails keep piling up. If possible, try to do this every time you sit in front of your computer. You won’t always have time for this, but once you put the work in at the beginning, it should be easier to keep up with. There are tools out there that can help bulk unsubscribe from irrelevant emails and it’s definitely worth taking a look at. This may be a work in progress.
Personally, I have to be better at these tasks. I really feel that keeping on top of things and not letting too many things get out of hand, will help keep us organized and in turn, will keep us less stressed. And, that is my reset goal for 2024 - Less Stress. I think it is going to be a doozy of a year, and I hope to keep above the fray and do better. My wish for everyone is Less Stress and a calm 2024.
If you need assistance with hitting the reset button, contact me at Living Simple, www.livingsimple.info for a consultation. Together we can get a handle on whatever task you need help with, be more organized and have less stress.
* Greendrop Gogreendrop.com, 914Cares 914cares.org, Salvation Army Satruck.org