How to start the new year right

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As December is coming to an end, we see the New Year inch closer and closer. As with every year, we are all full of hope, excitement, new goals, and new beginnings. We are so excited to leave the person we were this year behind us and finally be the person we so badly want to be.

Most of the time we don’t go through with what we had envisioned, and when the end of the year hits, you have the same feeling and goals as the year before.  In order to achieve our goals and become the person we want to be, we must make a change.

We can’t expect to lose ten pounds for example if we stop eating junk food for one week. We need to put in consistent action. Keep reading to learn how to make this new year, this new decade the time where you are growing, prospering, and living your best life.

Throw out items that no longer defines you

Clothing

First thing first, out with the old, in with the new. In order to welcome the new you, you must throw out what you no longer want to be. If you are so excited to leave the old you, or at least the parts you want to change in the past, then you must do a detox. This can be from friends, items that bring in negative energy, items that no longer serve a purpose, etc.

As the year is coming to an end you don’t have a lot of time to declutter, so you best get moving. If you want to start the year being more organized it isn’t magically going to happen. Don’t hire someone to clean your house, that’s cheating!

Start with the space you spend the most time in. If you still live with your parents, then score! you only have your bedroom to worry about. Look at your clothes and see which ones no longer fit, which ones are no longer you, and which ones are worthy enough to start the new decade with you.

The same goes for your shoes. It doesn’t matter how cute those heels are, but if you haven’t worn them in a few years, chances are you are not going to wear them again. Look at your running shoes, do they still offer some support? Are your white tennis shoes yellow now? Yea… throw them away.

Accessories

Take a look at your jewelry as well. A lot of the times we gravitate towards the same earring, necklaces, and bracelets. Look for the jewelry that has turned colors, for the earring that are missing their pair, for the jewelry you can’t remember why you bought. Only keep what you actually wear, no matter how cute they are.

Next, take out your purses and check to see if any of them have holes or are simply too worn out. Maybe you still have some nice purses that you can donate if you no longer see yourself wearing them. This applies to any other accessories you may, have such as scarves, belts, mittens, etc.

Undergarments

DO NOT forget about your bra’s and underwear. Bras are meant to keep are breast up and secure. We don’t just put them on because we feel we have to, so try on all your bra’s and see which ones no longer fit.

It is said that 80% of women don’t wear the appropriate bra size. If you are not sure what your bra size is, then check this article out to see what your bra size is.

You might have worn your favorite bra too much that the strap has become too loose. Maybe you lost some weight so the cup size is a little too big, or you might have gained a few pounds causing you to go up a size. Whatever reason it may be, if they don’t fit you as they should then get rid of them, they aren’t doing you any favors.

Next is your underwear. Do any of them have holes, stains, maybe they fit too tight or too loose? You only deserve the best underwear, so get rid of any and all underwear that aren’t worthy.

Makeup/ skincare products

The next thing is to take out all of your makeup and skincare products and put them out on display. Check to see if any makeup that you have is expired. If you want to know the life expectancy of your makeup then read this article.

You may have some empty makeup or skincare containers empty or almost empty that you can discard. Look at all of your foundations, concealers, bronzers, pretty much everything you put on your face and get rid of any of that you don’t like, or never wear. Even if it was super expensive.

What is the difference if it’s in your trash or in your makeup/ skincare bag? You are still not using it, it’s still money that you will never get back. Perhaps there is a friend, coworker, family member that can use it. Only keep what makes you look like the best version of yourself.

If you have finally discovered your skin type and have many skincare items that aren’t for your skin, then get rid of those too. You don’t need to have dozens of skincare products to take care of your face.

You can read my blog post on how to simplify your skincare routine here. If you still aren’t sure what your skin type is, then you can sign up to my newsletter on the right so I can send the easy little test I took to find out what my skin type is.

Technically this isn’t makeup but look through your dozens of smelly lotions/ body sprays/ perfumes that you have but never wear. There might be some that are expired as well. Anything else that you aren’t using then get rid of it. Keep the smells you want others to associate with you.

Continue with the rest of your house. If you have things in your house that you borrowed, now is the time to give them back. If you have anything that brings you bad memories, even if it’s super useful, get rid of it. You don’t need that negativity in your house.

Any items in your house that don’t serve a purpose, or don’t represent you can go in the trash, or be donated. What I mean by “doesn’t represent you” is for example if you have a grandfather clock, but your house is modern, then that clock doesn’t scream your name. I hope that makes sense.

Now is also the time to look for anything that is broken, worn out, ripped, too old to properly function, etc. You only deserve the best, so only keep the best. We all need towels to dry ourselves, but if we wouldn’t show our friend that particular towel, then buy yourself a new one.

Social media detox

We all want to be in the loop of what is going on, but if you have any apps on your phone that you don’t frequent then delete them. Free up some space for other things. If you are trying to achieve something big, then maybe also delete certain apps to keep you focused.

Now, look at those social media apps you do go on. Delete any people that make you feel bad about yourself. Sometimes seeing people doing better than us can bring us anxiety we don’t need. Just because they look like they love their life it doesn’t mean their life is perfect. We only post what we want others to see.

Delete people or accounts that you don’t care to see what they have posted. Don’t get so hung up on the number of people you follow or follow you. If you want to follow more people or accounts to have more to see on your feed, then follow accounts that inspire you or teach you something instead.

Hang on to your phone because we are not done yet. Look at your contacts. I am sure there are dozens of numbers you never call or text. In fact, you may have forgotten who some people are. You can delete “girl from math class.” Chances are you are never going to text her again. Look at any apps you never use and save the photos on your phone to free up space.

Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, with so many streaming services it’s hard to choose just one, so sometimes we have 2 or 3 or 4… There are those streaming services we always seem to gravitate towards to, so stop wasting money and cancel any of those services you don’t go on. Speaking of saving money, maybe you can go halfsies with your BFF on some accounts.

Time to look at your computer/ tablet. Delete your trash folder, the things you have downloaded, anything you have saved that you will never need. That confirmation number you saved from the time you bought concert tickets online can be deleted. Any papers from your GE classes can also hit the trash. Clean computer = clean start.

Make amends

Okay, now that you have cleaned up your space from trash, negativity, and things that simply aren’t you for the new year, it’s time to come to peace. If there is someone in your life that you have hurt be the bigger person, own up to what you did and apologize. This new year don’t be petty and do what you know needs to be done.

If someone owes you an apology, don’t hang on to that. Try to leave the past behind you, just simply don’t let them back in. Most importantly If you have any “friends” who always make you feel bad or simply are bad influences, then leave those behind too.

This year focus on having friends who show you love, who motivate you, inspire you, who you always have a good time with. Even if it means not having any friends for a while. It’s better to have no friends than sucky ones who suck all of your energy. Go look for those friends you know you deserve.

Plan it out to make your new year’s resolution stick

Now that you have gotten rid of anything and everything that you don’t want to bring with you this new year, it’s time to plan out how it is you are going to better ourselves. What are your new year’s resolutions? HOW is the new you going to happen?

If your new year’s resolution is to eat healthier, get rid of any junk food you no longer want to eat. Then go shopping and stock your fridge and cabinets with healthy food so you prevent moments of weakness.

If your new year’s resolution is to exercise more, perhaps buy some cute workout clothes to get you inspires. Buy some running shoes to get you ready for your morning runs. Or go buy yourself a gym membership, whatever you prefer.

If you want to learn about investing your money look for some courses, you want to take. Go buy some good investing books. Whatever it is, prepare before the new year begins so you can start right away.

When will you make it happen?

You have the stuff, now when are you going to make it happen? So you bought your cute workout clothes, but did you plan out when you will be working out.

Before you write it down have a clear picture of what your goal really means. What do you mean you want to be fit? Make clear goals, such as I want to lose 10 pounds, and not just that you want to lose weight. How are you going to make it happen? How are you going to track your success?

After you have a clear idea of what exactly your goal means and what steps you are going to take to make it happen, For example, work out 3 times a week for 1 hour, it’s time to schedule it in. This could be on your phone, google calendar, those big wall calendars like this one, or an agenda.

Write it down

Personally, I like to write things down, and agendas always gets me excited. I really like getting my agendas on bando. They are super cute, but a little on the pricy side. If you are on a budget then you can also find some cute one’s here.

We are all busy and have many things on our plate, so if we don’t consciously make time for it, it probably won’t happen. We also can’t plan too far ahead in case things change. Start by planning 1 week at a time.

Remember you don’t have to do all your goals every day, or for long. If you want to write more, you can start by writing 10 minutes a day or every other day. Baby steps are the key to success, you don’t want to burn out.

If in the past you have succeeded in sticking with your goals then don’t have too many goals this year no matter how much you swear this year will be different. Have 1-3 goals and once you have those down then you can incorporate more.

Don’t get so caught on the results that you lose motivation. Life happens and things get in the way, the important thing is to get back on the horse. So what if you only finished half of the book by the time you were supposed to finish reading the whole book. You read more than you would have if you wouldn’t have planned at all.

For the following week schedule accordingly and readjust your goals for that week. Instead of reading 3 chapters bring it down to two.

Vision Board

Sometimes planning our goal isn’t enough, sometimes we must see it every day to keep us hyped. If your goal is to be fit, but you are just feeling too unmotivated this morning to head to your workout, you would look at that picture on your vision board of a fit girl and imagine that it was you.

You would imagine having muscles, imagine feeling healthy, imagine being so happy you accomplished what you said you were going to do. That would serve you enough motivation to get out of bed and head to the gym.

Creating a vision board is not complicated at all. All you need is a poster board, a computer, a printer or magazines, and some glue. Open a new tab and search for pictures that represent what you want to accomplish, the feeling you want to have, maybe something physical you want.

If you want to buy a house by the end of the year then put a house on your vision board. Everyday picture yourself waking up in your house, decorating your house, having a good time in your future house.

Tell the world that it is already yours and it will be. You will be picking up more shifts at work, or maybe getting a second job to make this dream come true. It will stop being a dream and start being something you are working towards.

Look at your board whenever you can. In the morning after you wake up, stare at your vision board and start envisioning your new life. Do the same before you go to sleep do the same thing, maybe take a picture of your vision board and look at it throughout the day.

If you need more guidance on how to create your vision board, then click here for an easy guide, this one is a really good one too.

Track your year.

Before this year ends, make a list of where you are in life. Write everything down. Especially things you want to change for the following year.

If you want to lose weight next year then make a note of how much you weigh this year. Write down the name of your position at work and how much you get paid, write down how many times a week you eat out, etc. Lifehack has a really good article talking about the question you should ask yourself for this activity.

You can also track the smaller things. Simply by a jar like this one and every time something good happens you write it down in a piece of paper and insert the paper in the jar. You can do it once a week, or just anytime something good happened, make sure to write the date!

With so much chaos in the world, it’s sometimes hard to remember the good year we had. This is a good reminder that we all have a little bit of sunshine all the time.

It is also a really good way to look for the positive. Maybe you got let go from your job, but now you can finally go after that job you have been wanting.

With so many days in a year, we often forget what happened when this jar is also a really good tool to slow down a little bit and not make life a blur.

Make this year the year of success where you will actually start implementing your goals longer than the first 2 weeks. You deserve only the best, so respect your goals, your space, and your happiness by finally doing what you deserve. This won’t be easy, but it will be worth it. You. Got. This! Let me know how this works out for you!

Takeways

1. Look through your makeup/ skincare, clothing, phones, computers, and items throughout your house and throw away things that no longer represent you, bring bad memories, or hold you back

2. Start this year with nothing weighing you down. Make amends with anyone you have wrong.

3. Write down what your new year’s resolutions are. Plan how you will make it happen and schedule it in.

4. Make a vision board to manifest your goals.

5. Track your year. Buy a jar and anytime something good happens, write it down and put it in the jar. Read it at the end of the year.