As the year comes to an end, now is a fantastic time to get ready for new beginnings. So, we’ve come up with 7 activities to help you start the new year on the right foot. Let’s take a look.
Out with the Old, in with the New
During the holiday season, there’s a very good chance that your home will see new additions in terms of electronics, decorations, clothes, and so on. Which means you’ll have to find room for them. Now is a great time to start sorting through your belongings and decide what stays and what doesn’t. Decluttering is also a great way to prepare the new you for the new year. In fact, you can even start the new year with a good deed by donating some of the items you no longer need.
Perform Seasonal Maintenance Tasks
The end of the year is always a hectic time, and it can be tempting to postpone any seasonal maintenance tasks for after the holidays. However, many of these tasks don’t take as long as you’d expect. Take a few moments to check for outdoor pipes that are leaking, reverse your ceiling fans clockwise, clear any debris from the gutters, put away any garden tools, bring in any potted plants that could freeze, and make sure you have salt, sand and a shovel ready. If you find any problems that need fixing, write them down on a post-it note, and place them at the top of your to-do list for the next year.
Designate a Work-from-Home Space
There’s a very good chance that work-from-home will continue. So if you’ve spent this year working from your sofa or your bed as a temporary solution, now is the time to fix that. One of the main pitfalls of not having a designated working area is that it makes it difficult to detach from your job once the workday is done. Essentially, your entire house ends up feeling like an office. To fix that, simply designate a part of your home for work only, even if it’s just a small table and a chair in a nook. This will improve your productivity, as well as your mental health.
Improve Your Remote Learning Setup
It’s uncertain what the new year will be like in terms of homeschooling, but if you’re a family with kids, it’s important that you prepare and improve remote learning. In many ways, this will be similar to creating an efficient work-from-home environment for yourself. Pick a room where they have excellent internet access for online classes, provide storage space for their supplies, plenty of desk space for homework and school projects, as well as good lighting and comfortable seating. Also, make sure that there are no distractions nearby, such as a TV or background noise.
Create a Nook for Family Video Calls
Keeping in touch with friends and family has been a challenge recently, especially during the holidays. With video calls slowly replacing face-to-face interactions, why not create a nook for making these calls? Unlike the blank, sterile backgrounds needed for work-related online meetings, you have the freedom to add personal touches that will make your loved ones feel like they’re actually visiting.
The first step is to pick a spot with plenty of light and a good internet connection, to ensure you don’t lose signal. Also, if you have a partner and kids, pick a spot that has plenty of seating, so that they can also be in the picture. A sofa with a coffee table, for example, would work wonderfully. This way, calling your loved ones will not only be easier, but you can also transform it into a small ritual to look forward to.
Start a Savings Jar — with a Twist
Any savvy homeowner should have savings set aside for any projects or repairs that your house might need. If you don’t have any yet, why not start the new year by saving money the old-fashioned way: in a jar? It may not seem like you’ll save much, but we have a challenge for you: every time you think of a home improvement you’d like to make, put some money in the jar. And who knows, by the end of the year, you might actually have the funds to see that dream come true.
Make a List of New Year Resolutions
Ending the year by compiling a list of New Year resolutions is a given. Maybe you can pick up a new hobby that you can do from home, such as gardening or woodworking. Or you can draw up a list of bad habits you want to ditch as a homeowner. Whatever you write down, make sure to set yourself a list of meaningful and achievable tasks.
