Three easy ways to spring clean your life

Summer is right around the corner, so it’s the last chance you have to take care of a little spring cleaning.

I’m in a pretty big transition phase in my life, as I move from the corporate world into my full-time personal training career. These changes have made me realize I need to do some streamlining in my life, and I’m not just talking about stuff.

I started thinking about time-wasters, energy-suckers and things that can get annoying day-after-day. That brought me to this list of three ways to de-clutter, and some of these just might apply to you too.

Consider the following …

• Clear up some space in your closet and drawers. Donate. Donate. Donate. Or Sell. Sell. Sell. A few weekends ago, Dave and I both cleaned out our drawers and closets and took a few bags full of clothes to Goodwill. I also sent another bag of nicer items to ThredUP, the online reseller, with which I’ve had a lot of success selling my clothes. I like to go by the rule of getting rid of things I haven’t worn in more than a year, or things I just don’t want to own anymore. For us, space is a premium, so we have to do this every once in a while. It actually saves us time to have a closet or drawers that are less full, because there is less of a chance of an overflow situation slowing us down in a rush, and we can find things easier. And I get an overwhelming sense of pleasure when I make some room for new stuff.
• Slim down your email inbox. It’s absurd how many retailer and marketing emails I get daily across my three inboxes. And every single day, I take a quick look and delete each and every one of them, rarely seeing anything of interest. If I calculated the amount of time I spent doing this across my inboxes per week, per month, per year, it would be scary … that’s all precious lost time. Therefore, I decided to do some spring cleaning on my inbox and unsubscribe from a few Amazon deals, instant LinkedIn notifications, Pottery Barn Kids and other companies that somehow seem to send me daily communications, which I have no need to see. It’s quite freeing.
• Take it off your DVR, and you won’t watch it. I record nearly every Bravo show known to man. And when shows are waiting for me on the DVR, I feel like I should watch them. There are even some shows that I watch and actively don’t like. Recently, I decided it was time to take those shows off the recorded programs list and rid myself of that task. This week I went through and pulled a couple off of the set-to-record list, and it felt great.

These efforts, combined with the fact that Dave and I now order our groceries for delivery online, have helped us free up some space, free up some time and eliminate some seemingly simple tasks from everyday life. And you know that means more time for food, fitness and fun, just how I like it.

Questions of the day

What’s one way you’ve done a little spring cleaning in your life?

Do you have any suggestions or secrets on other ways to make life easier?