Decluttering in the New Year

How are you feeling about your surroundings in the New Year? Are you breathing easy, feeling cluttered, or indifferent?

Back in November, I was having a mom-to-mom chat with my friend Jess Bakken from The Back Porch Life and had an “Ah-Ha” moment when she pointed out something obvious. With all the clutter in my life, I hadn’t noticed. It wasn’t until this week when I saw a friend online chatting about this book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, that’s been in my “finish during this lifetime” pile that it all came together to help me take my first steps to tidying up in 2019.

On Wednesday, Jess gave a talk in our wellness group about reconnecting with family and friends over a meal, which furthered my urgency to make some changes. She talked about how we’ve gotten away from personal connection and how as mom she makes sure her family connects daily, even if over a quick meal. Here’s the cool part. Jess’ meals are made easier and tastier with the “flavor burst” of Young Living's Vitality oils, which leads us back to that conversation from November that I recall going something like this. 

Jess: “You realize you get a FREE oil every month in your Essential Rewards order that you can use to whip up easy meals for your family?”

Me: {speechless}

Jess: “I know, right?! (she can obviously read minds)  Most people are so excited to get their monthly wellness box that they don’t even notice the free dietary oil.

Me: {still speechless and now daydreaming about my stockpile of vitality oils…}

Jess: I know you can do this. I’ll send you my recipe books.

Bye, Bye, Clutter

One good thing leads to another, right? I asked Jess to share her knowledge with my members and friends, and I learned something life-changing during that group chat. Did you know that spices expire and many are irradiated or preserved? EEK! On the other hand, Vitality oils never expire.

After dragging my feet the next morning, I took to my BEAST of a spice cabinet, and below you see the result. I threw out 22 expired spices - one from 2004. How does that even happen? The purge was like a weight lifted off my shoulders! I proceeded to engage the whole family in cleaning out the Tupperware drawer and tidying up the kitchen. Connection and cleaning. A start. We even baked some muffins with Cinnamon Vitality because the new kitchen space welcomed some baking. Nom nom. Look out, Jess, you’ve got some competition!

Honestly, my whole house needed decluttering. With Citrus Fresh pumping in my diffuser, I cleaned out my office today and will tackle my closet Monday. What’s the saying about clutter in your surroundings being a symbol of the clutter in your mind? Guilty! Ever hear of brain dumping? That’s for another blog, but it’s on my radar. I’ll start with a basic “to do” list in my planner this week.

Do you need to declutter this year? You’ll feel twenty pounds lighter when you do. Here’s to tidying up and creating space for great things to come in 2019!