Refreshing ways to start a new year

Happy New Year! I hope you had a lovely holiday season, or at least a bit of a rest before the new year.

It’s true that January can feel a little flat following the holidays, after all the festivities and decorations, but I love the clean slate that it brings: the promise of a whole new year stretching out in front of you. Whether it be reaching a new goal, solidifying a new habit you created last year, striving for a new career or just taking better care of yourself, I think January can be a great month to help steer your year in the right direction.

I no longer make resolutions, but I do like to set intentions and goals for the year ahead - a list I’m currently working on that will probably include a few of these from last year, so I’m not going to go into them here.

Instead I’ll go through a few things I’ve done in the last couple of weeks to help start my year on the best footing; a few tips that might help you stay a little more organised, healthy and happy this year. Plus provide a selection of items for your home and wardrobe worth investing in.

inbox clear-out

I spent the first week back in Paris clearing out all of my inboxes - last year I kept missing important emails as I was being inundated with emails from PR lists my address had mysteriously ended up on or my inbox was getting clogged up with newsletters that I’d never signed up to. It took time, but getting my inbox down to zero was incredibly cathartic and January is the best month to do it. This is of course an ongoing daily task, but doing a big clear out at the beginning of the year will help you stay on top of your emails and make sure you're only receiving the essentials.

PRIORITISING finances

I’ll admit that in the past I haven’t been good with money or very smart with my finances, but it’s never too late to learn and I came a long way last year. It also helps that I live with someone who’s good with theirs (hi Victor!) So I also spent some time over the last two weeks sorting through my finances, tallying up my monthly outgoings (including figuring out what subscriptions I can cut or save on). We have a couple of financial projects that we would like to make happen in the near future, so I need to make sure my ducks are in a row. I also follow Mrs Dowe Jones on Instagram, owner of Finance is Cool, who is brilliant, and does indeed make finance seem cooler, and I signed up to her Rich January challenge. I just wish there was an equivalent in France as her advice is geared towards Americans, but it’s nonetheless still very useful. If you know of someone, please DM me!

Keeping on top of laundry

It is indeed a menial task, but no less cathartic - was getting all our holiday washing done within a couple of days. I hate a full laundry basket and just think it adds clutter to your mind - so I never let it get too full, plus there’s nothing worse than wanting to wear something and realising it’s dirty, so get on top of it now if you can.

Read BETTER

I would like to read more this year and one way to do that is to read smarter - so I’m not reading heavy non-fiction books at night before bed as my brain starts ticking, instead I’m reading non-fiction in the morning to help kickstart my day; currently: The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday and fiction in the evening to help me fall asleep more easily (and to stay off screens) - currently the aptly named (for bed) Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr.

Pick an inspiring word

And finally ‘Execute’ is a word I have in mind for this year, to finally put in motion a few ideas that I have. I think picking a dynamic word is a great way to create a theme for the year; something inspiring to keep in mind when doing anything from those menial tasks or new job applications.