January Cleaning

Now if you're all like me and you tend to keep your Christmas decorations up too long, this is the post for you. I used to find myself waiting for Spring to really start cleaning things out in preparation for warmer weather. But just because it's -30 below outside, doesn't mean you can't do some things around the house to make it feel fresh. 

Clean out your Christmas Decorations 

I tend to hold onto these for too long. I truthfully while writing this, still had my Christmas tree up. I like that warm comforting feeling of Christmas and winter decorations, but tend to forget that winter decorations doesn't always need to include tinsel. 

Make sure to pack away all ornaments carefully. We have the tendency to throw things into a box, but take care to wrap up more delicate items and try and organize them for next year. January is also a great time for Christmas decoration shopping. Make sure to pack these alongside the old ornaments. It's great, because you'll be able to open your decorations box in November and find new and fresh decorations.

Clean out the Closets

This one is tedious, but sometimes extremely necessary. I always get shoes at Christmas. It's a time honoured tradition to take a trip down to my friend Steve Madden and purchase a pair of boots each year. What I struggle to do though is get rid of anything in my existing shoes closet. The same goes for new clothes. I'm not the type of person to get many new clothes at Christmas time, but it's a great opportunity to go through your closet again and take a look at what you haven't worn yet for winter (and can get rid of), and what pieces just aren't cutting it anymore.

Clean out the Stress

I love being able to take a second and write down all of my thoughts, problems, responsibilities and chores plaguing me that I haven't done. It's surprising when it gets out onto a piece of paper how manageable it is to tackle the list. Or, at least come up with a game-plan for tackling the to-dos. When you have everything up in your head, it's hard to map things out and realize how easy it is to tackle a few of them, and makes it seem a lot less stressful. I find the best way to do this is put lots of stick note lists around the house for writing down something when I need it.

How do you clean out your life in January?

- E