Welcome to 2021 folks! I hope the holidays were what you wanted them to be. I spent mine with my immediate family and am very grateful to live in a state where we can travel to see each other and that we got to spend this time together as a family.
Now that the new year has begun, which if you are wondering, nope no resolutions here, I am more of a mantra or phrase for the year person; I have been cleaning my house and trying to purge a little here and there. Everyone has their method, The Home Edit ladies are great, I just watched the minimalist show on Netflix, some good ideas there, Marie Kondo also some good take-aways, I just go with what works for me. Which is mostly I go into a room have a bin for items that don't belong in that room, then dive in clean everything and think about what I have used and haven't over the past 6 months to a year. As far as my wardrobe goes I go through it and take out items I don't love, but much of it stays, because I have my winter hibernation I am going up a size (or two) wardrobe, and then my it's summer and I am going to try and be outside so may drop a size wardrobe. I try to think of other purposes for items that have out lived their stay in my house or life, more on that coming soon hopefully in an up-cycle project. Overall though I try to go into each room with a set number of items I would like to get rid of from that room, doesn't matter how, trash, donate, recycle etc. Then I go through everything and try to declutter the room and my life a little along the way.
I know those of you reading this are probably asking how is that self care, but the less items I have the less I have to worry about maintaining, cleaning, or just generally taking care of these days. That makes me less stressed overall, so this new year cleaning is a form of self care for me, it helps remove some (maybe not all) of the physical and mental cobwebs from the last year.
I wanted to mention some of my favorite cleaning products that I use time and again when I need to get my house clean and also feel decent about the products I am using. First is Branch Basics, which is a plant and mineral based cleaner that I use it comes with a concentrate and you mix the concentrate with water at varying levels depending on the water line in each bottle to tackle your cleaning chores. I also use it for my laundry detergent and it works great along with their oxygen booster for those loads that need a little extra help, like workout clothes. YES! I am going to have more of those in the laundry again soon. I am putting this here more to hold me accountable, lol. I recommend their starter kit if you are interested in purchasing their products, the bottles are reusable, and the kitchen cleaner did a great job on my oven this weekend.
For $10 off your order please feel free to use my referral link - Save on Branch Basics