New Year, New Me? Every year many of us set goals and targets for the New Year. This year, I filled my ‘Goals for 2020’ diary with familiar-looking resolutions.
- Lose weight
- Learn a new skill or hobby
- Lose more weight
- Read one book a month
- Lose even more weight
- Travel more
My New Year’s resolutions are always centred around getting fit and losing weight. I try to go to the gym three times a week or stick to a strict diet. But I’ll be the first to admit that after four gym sessions and a second week of not indulging in any takeaways on a Friday night, my hopes and dreams of achieving this so-called perfect body usually come to an end.
This year I want to set myself more attainable goals. Goals that can help my mental well-being, reduce my stress levels and allow me to sleep better at night. The great news is that it does not involve toiling away at the gym or giving up cake. It simply entails keeping my house clean.
In this blog, I have come up with 5 cleaning resolutions that we can all incorporate into our lives in order to achieve these goals. You will be surprised by the positive impact these tips will have on your well-being.
1. Remove clutter
Looking around your house, what do you see? An overflowing closet? A crowded storage room? A bathroom full of products that you haven’t used since buying them? If so, you may have a clutter problem.
It is very hard to clean a messy house if it is full of things that you never use. So while it might be hard to get rid of the bicycle in the basement that you haven’t used since buying it in a Yard Sale in 2015, it’s time for it to go.
In terms of cleaning wardrobes, people often mistake this for a seasonal thing but if you maintain and wipe your shelves weekly, this can help to preserve your clothing better and make them look more presentable.
2. Create a cleaning schedule
Similar to creating a gym schedule, why not create a schedule for cleaning? I know that I can stick to a cleaning schedule but I am less confident about my gym schedule!
Everyone should get involved in cleaning and believe it or not it can be quite fun. If you have children, include them! Everyone needs to learn basic cleaning skills at some point and cleaning can be a great way of bonding with the family.
Talk to your family and decide on tasks that should be done on a weekly basis and remind them that the time they help you save around the house, could be spent doing outside activities.
3. Get your kitchen in order
For many people, the kitchen is one of the most important rooms in the home. It is where meals are prepared and essentially the centre of each family’s day-to-day life.
A kitchen extension and creating a brand new, modern kitchen may not be at the top of your list of priorities this year but there are a few things that can be done to modernize the appearance of your kitchen.
Having clear space in the kitchen creates the illusion of an open kitchen plan. Clear countertops can be achieved by creating shelves for special kitchen gadgets and blenders. Not only will this give you more space for cooking but it will also make your kitchen look bigger and cleaner.
Organising your kitchen by category would also make life a lot easier. Organise all canned goods, baking goods and herbs and spices into separate areas and while you’re at it, throw away any items that you know you won’t be using. An organised kitchen is what we are aiming for in 2020!
4. Clean as you cook
It’s important to have a clean kitchen but it is even more important to keep your kitchen clean. Cleaning while you cook is certainly something that can help with this. Clean up spills right away, wash as you go and only start cooking when you have a clear space. Doing all of these things will make life so much easier and remove the frustration we have all faced after finishing a delicious meal then realising that you’ve left the kitchen in a state.
5. Buy less, clutter less, donate more
We live in a world where fast fashion has replaced throw away culture when it comes to clothes. The destructive and terrifying bushfires in Australia have shown that we all need to try our best to do something about climate change.
According to committee chairwoman Mary Creagh, if we continue to buy and throw away clothes at the rate that we currently do, clothes “will account for more than a quarter of our total impact on climate change by 2050”.
We need to buy less and stop cluttering our homes. Donating clothes that you no longer wear and buying fewer items is a good way to help contribute to preserving the planet.
While New Year’s cleaning resolutions are often overlooked, this resolution shows how decluttering resolutions can have a positive impact on wider society.