Why should you spring clean your life?
Winter Mess.
Throughout the winter, it’s easy to just let things pile up.
This can be seen physically, with clutter and messes. It can also be mental or spiritual as well. Although they might appear different at first, they are all very similar in that they have the potential to make you feel terrible!
By actively going through your life every few months, the process helps to prevent a huge mess that can seem more overwhelming than before. If this goes unchecked, then the negativity and mess itself will swallow you whole. This is even harder to break free from. For some reason, during winter it becomes abundantly clear that throwing something to the side of the room is acceptable. This clutter (Winter Mess) can soon become home décor and it needs to be stopped!
The reason why we get this way, even when we are careful, is because I find negative thoughts and extra clutter act like sticky velcro. Everything sticks to it and it gets bigger and bigger. It snowballs into something very scary.
This doesn’t always need to be a big overhaul and fortunately, if done on a quarterly or even bi-annually it rarely will become overwhelming.
Why take a week?
Because frankly, all good things take time.
If you’re a serious go-getter, then you can try to do it all in one day. But a word of warning, you might get discouraged and quit half-way through. You see, I say this not only out of love for you, but also out of experience! I’ve been known to leave something half done and not feel the least bit inspired to go back and fix it. (I’m not going to let Winter Mess win!)
Not elegant. Not exciting. And definitely not something I would want you to fall into because every time I looked at it, it made me just a little more angry and disappointed in myself.
Give yourself the time that you need. It may be more than a week too. Especially if you’ve never done this before! There might be a lot to do.
Take it easy and slow and don’t look too far into the future. Just focus at the task at hand.
You will feel ten times lighter after this, I promise!
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Ways to Spring Clean Your Life – What we will be doing this week
Before I begin, a week is just a nice timeframe, but it doesn’t need to be. It can be longer or shorter. Especially if you’ve done this before, this might be familiar. There may be parts in your life where you are constantly editing, but you’ve abandoned others.
What we are going over this week:
Day 1: Goals
Day 2: Clutter
Day 3: Closet/ Wardrobe
Day 4: Meals + Diet
Day 5: Improvement
Day 6: “Me time”
Day 7: Edit relationships
List of the Top Ways to Spring Clean Your Life
1) Create the fitness routine that you will do.
It doesn’t make sense for anyone to tell you to walk, run, do yoga, hit the gym or try air Pilates if you don’t genuinely enjoy it. I’ve heard that the best exercise is the one you’ll do, and it’s for good reason! Just think how many times you’ve started something, knowing the health benefits and how it will improve your life, but quit shortly after?
I’m going to say that majority of you reading this will feel the same.
Regardless of health and lifestyle benefits, we want to do anything we find pleasurable. Seek out something you love.
The most important thing to remember is that you need to move every single day.
I prefer walking over anything else, but I’ve done a little yoga. I prefer to use yoga for stretching then sweating. To also include, just like other parts in life — it’s evolving. You might love tennis in a year but the thought now makes you cringe. Always keep an open mind.
2) The internet can suck up a lot of time.
Most of us use the internet is used every day and it’s so easy to get sucked into reading or watching something that offers little to no value.
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other platforms are made specifically to waste time and be on it for hours. It takes great discipline to limit yourself.
The best remedy is to allocate yourself some time, especially if it is time you do enjoy, and then stick to it. At first it might feel hard, almost like you’re punishing yourself, but it’s actually the opposite.
When you are using the internet for entertainment or educational purposes, then you are not being used by it!
Allow yourself freedom on it, but be strict with yourself. You will get so much more done when you aren’t subjecting yourself to negativity that often plagues the internet.
3) Budgeting is what gives you peace of mind.
Even though money isn’t everything and can’t bring you happiness, it does relieve pressure.
For so many of us, the stress is real. Whether we think of the future (and trying to figure out when you can retire) to the present day (paying all the bills), money is always on your mind. (It is very helpful to have a budgeting planner like this!)
One amazing way to spring clean your life is to create a budget and make everything have a place to go. This also helps you become more aware if you are overspending on anything. Keeping track of your finances also makes it easier to save money.
You don’t need to wait until you have something to buy or pay back. You can start right now with it!
It really does take the guess work out of saving and spending and makes your life that much more peaceful. Plus you’re able to live within your means and not stretching yourself too thin! A very elegant trait
4) Find your talents and hobbies
Everyone is good at something.
Hobbies don’t have to be something that brings you money. Sadly, in today’s world, if it isn’t worth money then it’s not worth your time and I beg to disagree.
Hobbies are what people do to feel inspired and fulfilled.
It’s a magical feeling to go from nothing and build or make something with your own two hands!
This is part of spring cleaning your life because it prevents you from being bored and reverting back to old habits that were most likely not the best. Keeping busy also helps you feel productive which will spill into other parts of your life.
These talents don’t need to be big or extravagant. They can simply be cooking, baking, gardening, crafting and you can take it a step further and have your talents be beneficial to others!
Spring Clean Your Life – Inspirational Quote
“It’s time for a spring cleaning of your thoughts, it’s time to stop to just existing it’s time to start living.” Steve Maraboli
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200 Ways of an Elegant Woman – similar to the 101 Ways of an Elegant Woman post, with 100 MORE tips and explanations on all 200 ways.
Setting New Year’s Resolutions – and Actually Doing Them– great for any time of the year and wanting to achieve goals to make them your reality
Beginner’s Guide to Elegance– my FREE introductory eBook to help you live your best life
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