Self care - Clean it up!

When I say clean it up, I don’t mean your language, just your surroundings. This might be pretty self explanatory to some of you, but I know there a few people who might need a reminder. As well as cleaning unwanted dust (which is 75% dead skin cells ew), bacteria and germs, and just plain old rubbish. Cleaning your house is proven to lift your mood as well. You don’t have to do it all at once, but here are a few things to tackle when you get some time. Aim for one per day off. I’ve been doing this over the last few weeks and it’s really helping me enjoy my space and my belongings more.

•  Clean out your hand bag. (This should actually be a weekly if not daily thing, not that I do, but I should)
• Wash your bed linen, blankets, pillows, curtains all of it. Extra points if you add a drop or two of lavender oil to the wash.
• Reorganise your wardrobe. Hang the jackets with jackets, pants with pants etc. And throw out (by this I mean give away to friends or charity) anything that doesn’t fit you! Don’t you hate staring at your wardrobe at a whole bunch of clothes that you can’t actually wear. Thinking, ‘I’ll just lose some weight and it’ll fit me.’ No. Just stop. Besides, it’s only keeping precious space for a potential new piece that does.

• Organise your book shelf. By colour, or by theme or alphabetical. You might even see a book that you forgot you had.
• Organise old photos into boxes - shoe boxes will do. Or if you’re of the digital age, organise your photos on your computer. Group them into folders. It’s always nice to take a little or big trip down memory lane.
• Dust your whole home. It will sparkle once you’re done (probably not literally, but you’ll definitely notice a difference).

• Wipe down the leaves of your indoor plants with a damp cloth. Wipe on some Neem oil if you have it to keep the nasties away.
• Declutter!! Take everything off every surface. Wipe the surface down and then look at what you’ve removed. Is there a better place for these items to live?
• Obvious ones, like clean your bathroom, vacuum and mop your floors etc.

Like I said, some of it is pretty self explanatory, but if you think about each of these things as an act of mindfulness it really starts feeling like less of a chore and more of an act of self care. And really, there’s nothing quite like, looking around at your space and your things and just being grateful for what you have.