Habits Worth Keeping

It is New Year’s Eve and everyone is thinking about habits they want to kick - smoking, drinking, junk food, etc..  My personal bad habit is procrastination.  Speaking of that, I am working on a year in review post that I will not finish before the end of the year.  In the meantime, here are a few of my good habits that I’ve either cultivated this year or had for several years.  Either way, they are habits worth hanging on to.

Wear your way through a closet cleanout – About midway through each season, I start wearing my way through my closet.  The goal is to wear every item (clothes, shoes, accessories) in the closet at least once.  Because I rotate the worn items through my closet, it is easy to identify what I have not worn at the end of the season.  Those items are automatically put into the donate pile.  I like this method because it is easier for those of us who are time strapped.  You don’t have to go through your entire wardrobe at once.  It evolves over the season. 

Justify your (stuff’s) existence – Sometimes you just need to pull stuff out of the cabinet and/or closet and figure out what’s there and why you are keeping it.  I love this game whenever I get annoyed that I can’t find what I want or can’t get to it easily.  That’s my signal that it’s time for a mini clean out session.

Eat the Elephant One Bite at a Time – In any large project, it is easy to get overwhelmed.  I try to break projects up into smaller pieces (bites) to make it through.  Can’t imagine tackling a whole room or closet?  Pick a small manageable part to start with.  This is an easy way to see progress which is ultimately what you need to stay motivated through to the end.

Give (and Ask For) Gifts of Experiences – Last year I asked my mother to give my daughter a zoo membership for her birthday.  We have been to the zoo a lot in the past six months and will pick back up again when the weather warms a bit.  A gift of experience is so much better than a gift of plastic junk that will be played with, left in the floor, stepped on and then forgotten.  Experiences are remembered long after the toys are gone.

Create Systems That Work – I love systems and I use them to keep us organized with everything we need. During the summer months, we have a pool bag that stays by the door.  In it is everything we need to take for a quick trip to the pool.  No searching for sunscreen or swim goggles as everything stays in the bag.  I also have a toiletry bag that is ready for travel without even a glance – a relic from the days when I traveled a lot for work.  We have a system for my daughter's school stuff.  I’m always on the lookout for ways to add more of these systems to our life.

Watch Hoarding reality shows – This is a new one but I find that watching an episode of Hoarders is just the kick that I need to get motivated to clean something up or throw some stuff out.  Sometimes it is only a quick pick up of a room or a cleaning out a drawer but it does the trick.  If I watch it with my husband, then he gets the clean up fever too.  We should have this as required viewing about a week before family comes to town.

Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!