Michelle Miles: The Great Declutter of 2016

I’m sure we are all aware by now that it’s a brand new year. I, for one, was glad to wave goodbye to 2015 and welcome in 2016 even if I was feeling somewhat under the weather for the holiday.

But it’s a new year and that means new goals and new adventures. I have deemed this year as the Year of Decluttering. I have reached my limit of Crap I Don’t Need Anymore and so I’ve begun to really downsize. My first order of business was to actually declutter the Christmas tubs. We have fifteen or something absurd like that. I ditched everything that was broken or not in use for the last five years. The only thing I really kept was the kid’s artwork over the years.

I told the husband I wanted to go through the pantry and get rid of stuff that was expired and donate the stuff that wasn’t that we were never going to use. He handled that quite nicely and we did purge a lot of stuff.

I intend to go through every room and closet in the house systematically to remove things I don’t want or need anymore. I’ll donate some things and toss others. But I’m sick of the house being in a constant state of clutter. It will likely take all year for me to get it done but I think I will be much happier when I do.

I’m also going to “declutter” my finances. I had been doing so good on the Dave Ramsey Snowball plan paying off my credit card debt (Google it if you don’t know what that is). I was down to one card with a balance and then these last two years I just sort of blew it. So I’m back on my spending diet. I kind of think of it as a diet. ;) I put the cards I wanted to keep in an envelope and gave them to my husband to hide. The others I cut up that I know I’m never going to use again. Why am I hanging on to these old accounts? I have no idea. I’m currently researching the best way to pay down debt with zero interest – either a consolidation loan with a lower interest rate or a balance transfer with a zero interest rate. In the meantime, I’ve managed to pay off one credit card and have another small balance I’ll have decimated by the end of the month. It’s slow progress, but I know it will be well worth it when I get all of them to a zero balance.

So that’s what I’m doing in 2016. It’s more of a goal than a resolution.

What are your goals for the new year?