I don’t believe in the whole, “New year, new me” bullshit, so if you’re the same way, this one’s for you. I do however, like to start the year with a fresh outlook, and better organization, even if I’m sad to bid another Christmas and year adieu. Let’s face it, at this time of year, the days are short as fuck, the weather in Colorado is cold and miserable, and for many personal reasons, I’ve never enjoyed the first couple of months of the new year. As I became a mom though, I’ve tried to lean into the thought of a “fresh start.” So here are my tips for bringing in the new year with a clean, more organized slate, without all of the corny health and wellness bullshit!

Clean and organize your mother fucking house:

My friends tease me since I take EVERYTHING related to Christmas down on December 26th. Part of it is because I decorate for Christmas mid-November since it takes me a full five days to get our house decorated from top to bottom. (If you’ve followed me or know me, you know that I go all out for the holidays!) That means that by the time Christmas hits, I am overwhelmed and even slightly claustrophobic. So it’s almost therapeutic to take everything down, deep-clean, and start the new year de-cluttered and more organized.

The other part of why I take decorations down so fast, if we are being really honest here, is because I get the post-holiday blues. The let-down of all of it coming to an end for another year hurts my soul – especially as my kids get older. There’s so much time and effort that go into making the holidays special for my family, and then it all just…ends. But I digress!

The other tip that I follow through the year, is “one in, one out” when it comes to clothing. If I buy 5 new items, then I pull 5 out to donate to Good Will. So there’s never a need to buy more hangers, because I’m always getting rid of the same amount of shit!

Once my house is clean and back to it’s normal decor, it just seems….bigger. And I feel less anxiety like the walls are closing in on me. After all the decor is up and the house is clean, I light some candles, open all the drapes, and just enjoy the calm. If you are looking for good Christmas decor organization, I just buy the huge red and green bins at Target! They always have different colored bins for different holidays to make things easy. I store all of our holiday bins in one closet in our basement.

While I personally love to clean, (it’s how I get rid of a lot of emotions and energy as bad as that is,) if you don’t love to do it yourself, I have a few tips. First, take one level of your house at a time, or if it’s really bad, just focus on one room per day. Don’t over-extend yourself or you’ll run out of steam and never get back into it! Declutter first, toss the dirty laundry in, collect and wash the dirty dishes, etc. Then work on dusting or any other deep cleaning you need to do in order to feel brand new. Sometimes my house won’t be dusted for months but looks clean just by me vacuuming and mopping the hard-wood floors!

I start my cleaning ritual with our finished basement and work my way up floor by floor. Then, I put on my apple music and get to work. I also like to use “fun” cleaning supplies that have floral or even holiday scents to them. Mrs. Meyers has a great trio here, and I also love this citrus and spice scented muti-purpose cleaner. Dumb, I know, but it’s the little things that make cleaning more fun. I also love using these microfiber cloths to dust any wooden furniture, and follow up all my cleaning by lighting some Bath and Body Works 3-wick candles.

Put your organization skills to the test by tackling, drawers, cabinets, or your pantry!

I may be clean, but even I have junk drawers full of pens, chargers, batteries, hair ties, and random shit. I use the new year as an opportunity to tackle the worst of them. You don’t need to re-organize every damn drawer, cabinet, or closet. But pick a couple of the roughest ones and start there.

For our family, the pantry and fridge are usually the first things to go to pot. I have various items that I can’t live without to keep them organized. First off are these spice drawers. I have a few, (I cook a LOT and use a lot of spices) and I love them! They come with pre-printed labels as well as blank ones. I use my blank ones for holiday sprinkles and more obscure spices. I also have these that I organize jars of condiments on so I can easily see what I need to grab when cooking.

This wire rack is great to organize all of my canned goods. And I have two of these lazy Susans for baking supplies like vanilla, baking powder, larger containers of sea salt, etc. I use the other two in my bathroom for hand sanitizer and hand soap “backstock” since I tend to buy that shit in bulk from Bath and Body Works when it’s on sale.

Lastly, I make our pantry user-friendly and more organized so that my kids can grab their own snacks and lunch-packing items. The entire bottom shelf is lined with containers like these, and these alongside juice boxes and fizzy water. I have one container for seaweed, (both my kids love this seaweed), one for mini bags of chips, one for bags of goldfish, one for apple sauce and fruit cups, one for snack-sized beef jerky sticks and bags of beef jerky, and one for sweets like cupcakes, Rice Krispie treats, and cookies. And I love this one for skinnier items like granola bars and fruit snacks.

If you’re looking for good drawer organization, I love the basic bitch containers like these, especially to organize things like my kids’ art supplies, batteries, etc. I also use them for my baking/hosting supplies like birthday candles, mini chalk signs, cupcake liners, you get the gist. You can also use them in your bathroom for toothbrushes, hair bands, make-up, whatever floats your boat. For under my bathroom sink, I have two of these. I use one for hair care products, and one for body care products.

Organize your thoughts!

I am not saying that now you need to fucking journal or take up transcendental meditation. But you can do some more tangible things. For instance, when I am spiraling or stressed out, my favorite thing to do is turn on music or a podcast.

My Podcast Recommendations:

Check out Arielle Lorre’s (hers is called The Blonde Files,) if you like listening to interviews with doctors, surgeons, and things about general health and well-being. She’s a recovering addict and is married to Chuck Lorre (creator of Two and Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, etc.) Some of her episodes are more medical and some are more fun with celebrity hairstylists or facialists as her guests.

If you want funny, I love Smartless with Jason Bateman, Sean P. Hayes, and Will Arnette. I also love Blocks, hosted by Neal Brennan. (One of the creators of The Chapelle Show.) He has different comedians on every week and they tackle what “blocks” they have, whether it’s addiction, anxiety, depression, etc. It sounds dark as fuck, but I promise it’s very enlightening. And keep in mind that the guests are all hilarious comedians.

If you’re not into podcasts, pop in some earbuds and jam out to your favorite music. Or scrapbook, journal, or read. If you like to read at night, I love this amber reading light. It doesn’t blind you and you don’t have to get out of bed to turn it off! Whatever it is that you enjoy to decompress, dive deep into that.

Wellness tips for the lazy bitch

Lastly, you can pick up some healthy habits for the new year that don’t involve eating only raw veggies, running ten miles a day, or trying some wild diet. When I am cleaning the kitchen or prepping lunches, I love wearing eye-masks. When vacuuming, I’ll put on foot cream and fuzzy socks. I also love coffee so drinking it out of a fun mug is great. It’s all about the little details. Or just make your coffee extra bougie! (I just bought this espresso machine and love it!) Interestingly enough, I find that I drink more water when it’s out of a huge tumbler. Of course I am a basic bitch who loves a good Stanley, but any larger tumbler will do! I don’t know if it’s the straw or the giant ass tumbler, but it helps you drink more water!

You don’t need to start the new year acting like a brand new person or being overly restrictive or strict. Just going into it with better organization, a decently clean space, and a steady mind helps take care of the rest. If you’re more into physical wellness tips though, check out my blog here. As always, thanks for reading!