7 Ways to Start the Year on the Right Foot

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7 ways to start the year off on the right foot

7 Ways to Start the Year on the Right Foot – Life upgrades and small projects to start the year in the best way possible.

I think that it is fair to say that I have been easing my way into 2020. As each day passes, I am starting to realize that it is no longer holiday break. The decorations have been down since the day after Christmas, the kids went back to school last week, people are back work. I’ve been crawling into the new year at a glacial pace. 

I just didn’t want the holiday to end. The end of 2019 hit me like a brick wall. It was a doozy. We needed a break. It was lovely to spend hours on the couch watching movies and football and not getting out of pajamas all day. We had some snowy days and it was freezing and it was glorious.

I am determined to make 2020 less doozy-ish and there are a few things that I like to do to start my year on the right footing. Nothing hugely overwhelming but easy things that are really useful and that can make a huge impact on your life. 

I don’t buy into the whole “New Year New Me!”, organize every single spot in your home, or don’t spend a cent for a year. I had to take a break from Instagram over the holidays because I was starting to get innudated with messages that I needed a full life and body makeover, and guess what?

I don’t and neither do you. 

That being said, there are things that you can do that are simple and easy that can set you up for some good things in the upcoming year. 

7 ways to start the year off on the right foot

7 Ways to Start the Year on the Right Foot

Back-Up Images // I like to make a back up of my yearly catalog and start a new one for the new year. You can read more about my back up process here, but I like to start the year with two copies of my preview years catalog and a new one for the upcoming year. I also get my images together for my annual photo book.

Clean Out One Thing // There is always ONE thing in your home that drives you nuts but you put off cleaning it out because you think that it’s going to be a big deal. (Spoiler – it rarely is.) For me, it was my spice cabinet. Every time I opened it, jars fell on me and I would get so annoyed. I cleaned it out and it took me 15 minutes. Maybe

After that, it gave me a little push to clean out the cabinet next to it that one of my kids spilled honey in. Every time I went to get a bottle of Excedrin it was stuck in a puddle of honey. (It’s also fair to ask why the honey was next to the headache medicine.) It also took me no more than 15 minutes to clean and made a world of difference in my overall happiness when cooking dinner every night. 

Make your yearly appointments // Schedule your yearly doctor and dental appointments. Spend some time and schedule them all out for the whole year. Physicals, teeth cleanings, mammograms, everything. If you have the appointments made, you will actually go, and your health should be a priority. I put off getting a physical for more years than I’d like to admit, and I had a lot catching up to do. I won’t do that again. 

I went for my yearly mammogram and had a callback and had to go for a more advanced screening and ultrasound. While that call can scare the shit out of you, I am grateful that if there was an issue (thankfully, there isn’t) it would have been caught early.

Upgrade something // Upgrade something that you use every day or brings you a lot of happiness or joy. Or something that has been broken that you need to get a new one of. I cut my face once because I had a cracked phone screen for so long. How dumb is that?

Some things that come to mind – sheets and pillows (we spend almost half of our lives in bed, shouldn’t it be comfortable?), pajamas, headphones (go for the super comfortable noise-canceling you won’t regret it), coffeemaker, you get the idea. These things make for MAJOR life upgrades. 

Look at Your Subscriptions // Scroll your email or bank statements and take a hard look at the services and things you are subscribed to. Do you use them? Do you enjoy them? If you do, great. If not, unsubscribe and save yourself some scratch.

This goes for newsletters and emails, but also for things like Netflix, Hulu, courses, subscription boxes. It’s amazing how those things add up. 

Set up a rainy day fund // I started using an app called Digit. You can set savings goals and it automatically pulls small amounts from your bank account. I don’t even notice it, but I checked my app after using it for a few months and I had a few hundred dollars in there that came in really handy over the holidays. 

Add some green // Add some plants to your space. I do not have a green thumb but I have managed to keep quite a few plants alive (something I am very proud of) and I love the color and life they add to my home. My plant babies make me very happy. Not into plants? Buy yourself some flowers when you do your weekly grocery store run.

7 ways to start the year off on the right foot

Just a couple of ideas to get 2020 started on the right foot. How do you like to start a new year?

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