Simply Organized

Every January a magazine I subscribe to sends out an issue about getting organized. I guess January is a month where people try to cut out the clutter in their lives, line things up, and give efficiency a shot.

The desire to simplify our lives probably starts when we take down the Christmas decorations. Many people I know enjoy the sparseness of their non-decorated January home. (A few others want to keep the decorations up until Valentine’s Day. You know who you are!) I have mixed feelings during the post-Christmas clean-up. I think it’s sad to say good-bye to Christmas, but there is something invigorating about having an organized house and an organized schedule again.

One of the ways I like to organize in January is to re-organize. The furniture, that is. I also like to throw out things I have not used in the previous year. That blue-and-brown vase has to go. I also like to set up new and improved routines, like exercise, food-journaling, and so forth.

One important ingredient for a healthy life is having an uncluttered life. We all know what happens when we get too busy—Stress comes with a capital S. Stress is one of the leading causes of health deterioration, including weight-gain, high blood-pressure, heart problems, headaches, and depression.

This January, while organizing our homes, let’s also think about how we can organize our lives. It could be time to throw out a stressor like I plan to throw out that brown-and-blue vase.