Got stuff? December is a month of joy, connection, and other wonderful things, but it’s also often a month of excess, especially when it comes to stuff.
If you are looking around your home today and thinking, “Where did all this stuff come from?” you are not alone. From presents to bargain shopping, decorations and impulse buys, your month of accumulating may overshadow your year of simplifying. Or at least that’s how it feels.
While you could take time to figure out how this happened and grieve the simpler days, the best way to get back on track is to take action. Why wait for January and continue to binge spend, eat, drink and accumulate? Instead, start small and dedicate five minutes to simplicity right now.
Take Five Minutes and …
Sort your stuff. You don’t have to hold onto things for months to know if it’s right for you. You know. Take five minutes and sort through your gifts and purchases. What do you love and want to keep? What can be returned? What can be donated?
Clean out your fridge. You might not be able to do a deep clean in five minutes, but you can dump the sweets and the fatty treats you purchased for the holidays. The buffet doesn’t have to last until the end of the year. Send leftovers into the office or down the drain.
Choose love. You can rework or start your love list for the new year in five minutes.
Be inspired. My book, Mini-missions for Simplicity is less than a dollar until the end of the year. Download it now and read in January to strengthen your commitment to live with less stuff and more purpose.
Unsubscribe. Instead of deleting the promotional emails coming from your recent shopping excursions, unsubscribe.
Share real gifts. Download the uncopyrighted image I made for you and give it to your friends as a reminder of what you truly want to give and receive all year long.
Donate five things. In five minutes, you can pull five things out of your closet to donate. How many winter coats do you really need?
The end of the year is exactly the right time to practice a life of purpose. That doesn’t mean a week of suffering or deprivation. It’s exactly the opposite. Wake up each morning hopeful instead of hung over, excited instead of regretful, and begin to welcome the promise of a brand new year.
Hi Courtney, although I’m still in holiday mode I’m very open to taking action to make 2013 a year of more simplicity. Writing a love list (and incorporating a reading list on my blog) will be perfect to get me started. Thanks for the inspiration 🙂
Claire, A reading list is great inspiration for you and your readers. I know it really helped me to read more last year.
Thank you for your list!
Today, I will take five minutes to recycle the empty bottles and plastic bags sitting on my counters. Or take five minutes and recycle the stack of receipts and paper sitting on my desk.
Better yet, take five minutes to opt for paperless billing to reduce the amount of paper coming to the house in the first place.
Thanks!
Aly
Awesome Aly!
Doing a lot of soul searching this Christmas. We kept it simple because I had surgery. Everything everyone received was perfect amount and will be used. I am purging slowly and have my love list for 2013 ready to go. Thanks for the reminder.
Heather, Health issues always seem to put things in perspective. I hope you are recovering gently and feeling well.
I love the idea of 5 minute simplicity tasks. At the moment, I’m involved in a whirlwind of clean and simplifying so it’s more like 5 hours at a shot. 🙂 Both work perfectly.
What nice ideas! I love the idea of a love list (that’s kind of a redundant sentence, isn’t it?) I’ve made some drastic changes within the past couple of weeks, and that sounds like a great way to keep focus. 🙂
Hi, Courtney!
Very timely post today! We are the in process of a major declutter at our house. I’m tired of closets full of stuff and holding on to things just because someone gave it to me. My mom has given us a lot of knick knacks, decorative items, and dolls for my DD (who is now a teen and has never, ever liked dolls, because they look creepy to her). I’m getting rid of as much stuff as I can, but it’s hard, because I don’t want to hurt her feelings.
We’re excited about the changes we’re going to make in the new year as a family: make better use of our time so that we can spend more time as a family, do better with our budgeting, and spending time together outside enjoying each other’s company. In 2007, our motto was “Our Year of Change”, because we wanted to move and we did! I’m still trying to come up with a motto for 2013, but it’s a work in progress right now.
Off to get more boxes ready for Goodwill! Have a great day!
loved the idea of finding 5 things to donate in 5 min…going to implement this.thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the suggestion of unsubscribing from shopping site lists. You’re right…they added up over the holidays and before I knew it, I was considering buying things b/c of the “great deals” that appeared in my inbox! LOL! Done!
I am spending 5 minutes per day getting a grip on my finances. This is something I always avoided in the past. Now, with my goal of simplifying, I realize personal finances can also benefit from the same head on, “deal with it” approach.
Thank you for the continuing inspiration to get my life in order.
I recently moved from a 20 year home accumulation to an RV in an RV resort. Talk about downsizing! I need all the help I can get from your great suggestions.
What a great list. I love the idea of accomplishing something in just five minutes. We’ve been doing daily ‘ten minute tidy sessions’ upstairs and down and they really do make a difference.
The idea of spending five minutes inside the slightly scary fridge is so much better than the overwhelming thought of tackling the whole project at once. Thanks for all the simplicity inspiration! 🙂