I love the first of each month! The flipping to the nice, clean, empty page on the calendar... The looking ahead to the new month's upcoming events and holidays... And, this, month, the unofficial changing to one of my favorite seasons- FALL! Even just the date - 1st - motivates me to start fresh :)
Here are my 5 favorite fresh starts to give myself on the first day of every month:
1. E-Mail Eliminator.
Confession: I have 5 e-mail addresses. 2 for school, 1 for work, 1 personal account, and 1 for when people ask me for my e-mail when I buy things. I just cannot stand to see ads in my inbox. It drives me nuts! But no matter how hard I try to keep them out, they somehow creep back in.
Take some time today to UNSUBSCRIBE from anything in the personal inbox that would never actually get read. I did it yesterday and it felt awesome!
2. Purse Purge.
New month; new purse... I do this religiously every. single. month. Switching out my purse forces me to toss any useless junk that I've been carrying around (I mean, I had crayons and scissors in this one, for crying out loud). Honestly, there have been some months where I've been so over it that I just flipped my purse upside down over a trash can (true story). This one makes a huge difference!
3. Car Cleanup.
Well, of course keeping the car cleaned out is important. I try to take out as much as I can each day, but little things like change and lipgloss get left behind sometimes. Take a minute (or 60) to give the inside of the car a fresh start too. I mean, we do spend a LOT of time in these things.
4. Grocery Upgrade.
I have a grocery spreadsheet because I'm a crazy person. But I can't be the only one, right? It’s just a list of all of the superfoods that are in season and which meal(s) they can best be used for. To keep from eating the same thing day after day, I switch up my list every month.
5. Harmonious Home.
Finally, of course, is the house. Living in a "staged" house has completely changed the way I look at decorating. Other people don't want to walk in and see a bunch of personal photos and meaningless clutter covering every square inch of space. They want to see clean surfaces, bright spaces, and the features of the house!
At the end of the old month, I grab 3 trash bags and label them: "Attic" "Goodwill" and "Toss". I put on some music and try to put a specified (and even) number of things into each one. September had 30 days (of clutter), so I'm filling up each bag with 30 things!
Welcome, October! I've been waiting :)
What do you do to ring in the new month?!