Christmas has been and gone in a flash, months of saving to ensure we had enough to buy gifts and nice food and then all of a sudden, it’s over with. It is now time to get myself back together, ready for the new year ahead. I firstly get myself organised by planning a full day of cleaning the house and getting the Christmas decorations down (usually 1st Jan) GOODBYE DUST! Once that has all been safely packed away ready for next Christmas I get out my trusty notebook and I make lists. Lists are my favourite things, I own so many notebooks I could open up my own stationery store. I make lists for cleaning, shopping, events, meals etc. This is my secret to keeping on top of everything that needs to be done. I sit and make a list of important dates, hospital appointments etc and I sit down for the next hour and mark these into the various calendars around the house. I print off important school dates and pin these to the fridge so they are always on view.
Clearing out the house ready for the New Year aheadWe always have a good clear out a few times a year donating our unwanted items to the local charity shop, for this I always start with clothing. Empty out the wardrobe and anything that I haven’t worn in the last year, I donate ( as long as it doesn’t have any special meanings) I clear out the boys clothes that are too small ( they do grow quick don’t they!) The toy boxes get a good clear out too, donating any unwanted toys, toys that are no longer age appropriate. I have a good idea of what they boys love and what they don’t play with so we would rather the toys went to families who will appreciate them more. We own a lot of books, we read quite often and we all prefer the good old fashioned book than the kindle. I like to donate my books so someone else can enjoy them. I always clear the boys books with them because they do have so many that are firm favourites. Another great way to clear some space is to rummage through the kitchen cupboards, donate unwanted food that has been sat there for months, get rid of those pans you have never used and get yourself into the reduce,reuse, recycle mindframe. I am planning to decorate the house so I don’t want to overload it with the items we packed away to put the Christmas decorations up. So I will have a nice decluttered home.
For 2019 one of my resolutions is to spend as little as possible. We as a species over spend on things we simply don’t need, and while yes it is nice to splurge out and treat ourselves, our planet also needs to recover from the crippling waste we produce as humans.In 2019 I want to save money so we can put it to good use in 2020, buy a piece of land and open up an animal haven for unwanted animals, especially farm animals. So to be successful, I aim to meal plan and only buy what we need for a months worth of breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts & snacks plus the other household things we will need. We could do with a few new furniture items, I have decided I want to buy second hand and reuse a perfectly good piece of furniture that still has plenty of life left, instead of buying new. Not only saving us money but saving something from landfill. I hope to reduce our plastic waste by doing all of the above too and recycle and biodegrade as much as we can.
I would love to be able to grow some of our own food but the only thing we have been successful with over the last year was some herbs that we ended up taking inside after the storms. We did plant strawberries, cabbages, carrots, and tomatoes last year but we ended up losing most of them when we had a really bad storm. Which saw the boys running around the farm chasing tomato plants. Mice feasted on strawberries and the rabbits had a dinner party with the cabbages! So for 2019 we have decided not plant any fruit or veg but instead plant a butterfly and bee friendly garden.
So my top tips for getting yourself back on track for a new year ahead is:
Make Lists
Declutter
Write your goals for the year
Have a fantastic year!