A Clean Start

 via better homes and gardens

I do not love a lot about January.  That post-holiday letdown can be hard, especially when you live in a dark and cold place like Boston.  One thing I do enjoy about January, though, is that it brings extra motivation to clean and organize.

I've mentioned before that I detest clutter, but this is a constant battle.  I currently have quite a few drawers whose contents are entirely unrecognizable upon opening.  I try to keep up with things throughout the year, but I always feel the urge to tackle these organizing projects in January, and this year is no different.  For the past week, I've been in the process of putting things back where they were before our holiday entertaining.  I'm also collecting yet another load of items to donate - a necessary task, given the amount of stuff that my son's birthday and Christmas shopping brought to the household. 

I spent a good portion of the weekend tackling my recipe binder.  This involved going through all my magazines, clipping the recipes I want to save, and recycling the rest of the magazine.  (I do not like having stacks of magazines around.)  Then I had to review all the recipes in my binder to remove the ones I either haven't tried or didn't like.  I also updated my recipe box for non-magazine recipes - the ones I had printed out from a blog or written down from a friend that were folded up and jammed inside.  (Thanks Mom for the new recipe cards - they've been put to good use!)  This project isn't quite complete, but I'm well on my way and should get back into maintenance mode soon. Whew! 

Here are some of the other organizing tasks I plan to address in these winter months.  Sometimes just the act of writing them down helps motivate me to get them done.
- clean out/organize my kitchen junk drawer
- clean out the car (swap out toys/books for the boys)
- organize bathroom drawers
- go through the boys' clothes (put current size in the drawers, too small in storage/donations bag, too big in closet)
- continue to go through my husband's work papers he's been storing at the house
- freecycle, give to friends or donate any unused baby items still hanging around (I've been pretty good about keeping up with this, and I actually got rid of a couple things this weekend, but it seems like there's always something, and I can think of a few other things we no longer need.)
- continue to play with my blog design.  Feel free to voice your opinion along the way, as I tinker and play and experiment with it. 

Do you feel a similar urge to clean and organize in January?

via mary ruffle