Use My Year-End Reset and Start the New Year Fresh

How I review, reorganize, and purge so I can start the New Year fresh

Photo by Arina Krasnikova on Pexels

Aloha Lovelies,

I’m in the midst of a year-end reset, which involves reviewing, reorganizing, and purging items in my home and digital realm. 

I feel uplifted when I complete an area because I’ve reduced the excess and reorganized it for optimum usefulness, productivity, and aesthetics.

You can probably figure out how to reset yourself, but you may need inspiration to kickstart the project.

If so, let’s go!

The Reset Process

My reset process involves the following steps with slight variations depending on the space:

1. Empty all items into a clear space. For example, empty all closet items in the bedroom and put them on the bed. In the kitchen, empty all items from the cabinets (or one set of cabinets at a time) onto the kitchen counter. Use this approach so you won’t miss anything, and you’ll be able to see everything in context.

2. Once you have a pile gathered from a particular space, review each item and ask the relevant questions below. This will help you decide whether to keep an item or let it go. 

3. Sort your items into three piles: keep, not sure, donate, or trash.

4. When the first round is complete for a set of items, go through the “not sure” pile and make a final determination for each remaining piece. Then, place it in the keep, donate, or trash pile.

5. Clean the empty area. For example, if it’s a closet, wipe down the shelves and sweep or vacuum the floor.

6. Before you replace items, you can reorganize the space to work better for you. You could buy storage boxes, containers, baskets, or even a new piece of furniture for optimum organization. If you’re low on funds, you might be able to find what you need at a dollar store or reuse store.

7. Replace the “keep” items. If this works for you, organize them by category. For example, hang all the shirts together in your closet, then the dresses and pants in their groups. If your hangers are a mess, consider replacing them with a new set of identical hangers. It will make your closet look less cluttered.

If you have trouble with strict organization, that’s okay. Everyone has a different organizing style. You don’t have to be an extreme organizer like organizing expert Marie Kondo unless that’s your preferred style.

To determine your style, read The 4 Home Organizing Styles, Which One Fits You Best?

For example, you can use baskets or containers to group similar items, such as underwear, protein bars, or medicines. Use clear containers if you prefer to see everything and opaque containers if you like visual simplicity.

Each area might take an afternoon or a day to complete. You can start at the beginning of December and set aside time each weekend. Alternatively, the last week in December can be a great time to focus on a reset.

If the thought of doing every single room feels too much, reset one area in December and commit to resetting one new area per month starting in January of the new year.

Or do as much as you can. A partial reset will feel better than no reset at all.

The Reset Questions

The reset questions vary slightly from room to room. Choose from the following list as appropriate:

• Do I need this?

• Does it still fit?

• Is it in good shape? Look for holes, tears, or stains.

• Does it bring me joy? From Marie Kondo.

• Is it past the expiration date? For food, medicines, and the like.

• Is it a duplicate or triplicate? Do I have more than one?

• Have I used it in the past year?

Add your questions to the list.

I felt so good when I completed the reset in my home office!

Since I reset my closet frequently throughout the year, I didn’t need to do it again. But I will go through my bedside table.

I don’t need to reset my kitchen. My diet is straightforward. I only eat fresh foods, so I don’t have a large store of canned or packaged foods, and I don’t have many kitchen gadgets.

Next is my digital reset, which will involve removing unnecessary apps and files from my phone and desktop and decluttering my e-mail inbox. I’ve started by deleting contacts on my phone that I no longer need.

I can’t explain it, but I feel so good when the excess is gone. Since things are better organized now, I won’t lose time and energy looking for lost items. The new year can indeed be a fresh start.

What about you? Are you inspired to do a year-end reset? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

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Until Next Time

The rainy season started mid-October, but it’s been a relatively sunny December. Where I live in Hawaii, you never know from one day to the next whether it will be rain, shine, or wind.

Thanks for reading. I’m so grateful for your presence.

Much love to you. Wishing you well, always.

xo Sandra

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