
“There’s memory clutter, which reminds you of an important person, achievement, or event from your past. I think memory clutter often gathers in the homes of people with some degree of depression. And then there’s “I might need it one day clutter, in which people hang on to stuff in anticipation of an imagined future. Among these folks, I’ve noticed a recurring theme of anxiety…Maybe it’s possible that the stuff we own and obsess over is the physical manifestation of the mental health issues that challenge our minds.”
~ Peter Walsh
January brings a wonderful energy of renewal to the beginning of this new year.
It’s the perfect time for cleaning up your home and office, for clearing clutter, and moving things back to simplicity and flow.
Now is the time to go through your home, room by room, drawer by drawer. If it’s broken, if you don’t know what it is anymore, if it has lain there neglected for years, let it go. If it doesn’t fit, let it go.
All of that stuff accumulated in the corners of your life, shoved into deep recesses in cupboards or under the bed? All of that old energy bogs you down and hampers the ease of new energy and opportunity coming to you. It adds to your stress. It weighs you down.
Let it go.
“By handling each sentimental item and deciding what to discard, you process your past. If you just stow these things away in a drawer or cardboard box, before you realise it, your past will become a weight that holds you back and keeps you from living in the here and now.”
~ Marie Kondō
Same with your business. Review each idea, each product or service. Review all of those books on the shelf, and files on the computer. Sort through the emails and old email files.
Will this take time?
Yes.
It might take all month…
Is it worth it?
Yes.
Hold a garage sale. Put your surplus items for sale online or give them to charity. Recycle. Clear it all out.

January is also a great time for spring-cleaning your mind. Let go of old patterns and worries that no longer serve you. Let go of outmoded fears and anxieties. Let go of self-sabotage. Open yourself to new opportunities and possibilities. Get all the ideas in your head down on paper. Journalling is a great tool for that. So is my Year of ME Planner – 2016.
Do a detox or lighten your diet. Get your body moving. (That will be easy with all of this cleaning!)
Leave the past in the past. There’s plenty of time ahead for planning and projects and all of the good stuff. Let’s start from clean. Let’s start from space to think and create and breathe.
Let’s match this new-energy year with a new-energy life!

Unrelated, but thought of you when I stumbled upon this link today. If you have not seen this, thought it might be of interest. http://www.lyme-beevenom.com/
January has been a month of cleaning out and throwing out stuff here because Natasha is a clean freak, she doesn’t do mess so she has been cleaning out stuff
I’m combining my declutter with my local Pay-It-Forward FaceBook group – double happiness and good karma 🙂
I did a mega clean just before Christmas, and it was catharsis and liberation defined! Today I was supposed to go to yoga, but couldn’t find my yoga pants, so it’s going to be a day of cleaning out my wardrobe, finding said yoga pants and donating my unwanted/unneeded stuff to charity 🙂
Thank you again Nicole. Your posts always seem to inspire action. I have reblogged this post.
This is so timely Nicole as today was allocated as my first Declutter Day for the year!
Just love today’s post I feel energized just reading it
Many thanks
Margot ❤️