New Year Home Resolutions
- From Houzz.com
- Jan 5, 2017
- 4 min read
With a fresh calendar on the wall and all of its empty boxes yet to be filled with to-dos, the start of a new year is naturally an optimistic time. If you’re in the mood for making a few resolutions, why not consider what you can do at home to help enhance your life? Here are eight ideas for home resolutions to help increase gratitude, tap into your personal style and make your house a home this year —along with concrete steps you can take to get started right away.
1. Appreciate and savor what you have. Your home shelters you and supports you and your loved ones. Why not make the start of the new year a time to focus on the abundance you already have in your life, rather than things on your wish list? Read books from your own shelves, cook meals from your pantry, listen to music you haven’t played for a while, pull out your favorite old movies, snuggle under your favorite quilt. Appreciate the plenty all around you! Take action: Start a gratitude notebook (paper or digital) and jot down five things about your home for which you are grateful right now. Then list 10 things you have in abundance in your home that you would like to appreciate more. Keep your notebook handy so you can add more, and flip through it as a reminder of the abundance of good things in your life.
2. Identify what you like. Following your heart and choosing things for your home that you really like can be harder than it sounds. Sometimes it means not buying something until you can track down something better; other times it means ignoring what is “in” when it doesn’t speak to you. Commit this year to paying closer attention to what styles, colors and textures attract you. When you know what you like, you can make better choices and building a home that really feels like you. Take action: Start a new Houzz ideabook labeled something like “totally me” and fill it with images that you instantly connect with. Go a step further by adding a quick description of what appeals to you about each photo — the color, a certain chair, the windows etc. If you’re in a more tactile mood, snip some pictures from magazines and make a mood board or tape them into a notebook.
3. Remove or change things you do not like. Removing the negative is just as important (or even more important than) adding the positive. Have you been living with a wall color, chair or box of mementos that is weighing you down? Make this the year to say goodbye to all of the things in your home that are not serving you. Take action: Walk through your home with a notepad and start a list of the things you would get rid of right now if you didn’t have to worry about what to do with them. Once you’re finished, sit down with a cup of tea and look over your list as objectively as you can — what on the list could you get rid of today? What’s holding you back from letting go of the other items? Get rid of at least one thing on your list today and make a plan to let go of the others.
4. Don’t let renting stop you from making your home a place where you love to be. Just like buying clothes for the size you are now, it’s important to make the most of your current living situation. There are tons of things that can personalize a rental: removable wallpaper, stick-on picture hooks, area rugs, houseplants and curtains. Decide to stop waiting for a home you own to make the place you are living in now awesome. Take action: What have you been holding yourself back from doing because you rent? Choose one thing (hanging pictures, buying a new rug) and do it this weekend.
5. Refuse to buy anything unless you have a specific need or place for it. All of the decluttering in the world can’t make up for simply bringing less stuff into your house. Choose to start a new habit this year of spending more mindfully. Depending on your current shopping habits, this can be challenging to get used to, but it is worth the effort. Each time you find yourself considering a purchase, ask yourself whether you really need the item. If it’s a decor item and not purely functional, bring it home only if you love it and know exactly where you will put it. Take action: Grab a sticky note and write on it “Do you need it? Do you know where you’ll put it?” and stick it to the inside of your wallet, where you will see it when you are getting ready to make a purchase. If you tend to shop online, put a sticky note on the computer, too!
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