Welcome to “the hush,” a term coined by author Beth Kempton.
This is the quiet time between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays where obligations are often low, and the flurry of holiday activity has temporarily subsided.
In Japan they have a tradition called “O-soji” which means “big clean” or “the great cleaning.” Instead of the American tradition of cleaning in the spring, in Japan they furiously clean and cook at the end of the year so that they can begin the new year with a completely fresh and relaxing start.
My suggestion is to take advantage of this pocket of time, if you have it or can make it, and catch up on some of the small, tedious tasks that may have gotten away from you this past year. Below is a list of ideas for things to tackle during this special in-between week.
Small Tasks to Tackle This Week
Email Inbox
Review your email inbox. Sort, delete, move, and clear out as much as you can. Start the new year with a fresh inbox!
Physical Mail
Review your physical mail. Sort, shred, recycle, respond, file, and clear out as much of the old mail as you can find.
Papers and Files
Review your “to file” pile and filing cabinets, or wherever you store your paper items. Digitize what you need to keep, recycle and shred what you don’t need. If you don’t have a filing system, consider creating one so that when new papers come to you in the new year you’ll have a place to put the ones you need to keep.
Planners and Notebooks
Review your old planner and prep your new one! I love getting my new Hobonichi Techou each year, but a lot of things from the previous year need to be transferred over so I don’t forget about them. Maybe this will only apply to your digital planning tool, but be sure to take some time to review what you want to keep or let go of. (Something new is coming soon! Keep an eye out for an announcement about a new planner coming your way this year…)
Physical Space
Tidy your physical space, especially wherever you work. Sticky notes, notebooks, old water glasses, computer and phone cables, as I look around my desk and see these items I suspect you may have accumulated a pileup also! Take a look around and put away any items that don’t need to be out on the day to day.
Books
Perhaps your book piles have also grown as enormous as mine… as I mentioned here [link to sunk cost fallacy] it might be time to let some of them go, move them off of your “active pile” and move others to the list of books you want to read this coming year.
Finances
Review your finances with your family members, pay any bills, and get yourself organized for next year with your financial plan and budget. (Though the special planner doesn’t go into much financial detail, there will be one page included to help you navigate some of these questions.)
Also consider collecting receipts and documentation to start your 2022 taxes. Tax season will be upon us quickly so if everything you need is already in one place you’ll be ahead. (I wrote about this in an earlier blog post but I recommend using a tool such as Quicken for your business or Quickbooks for personal financial tracking. I was using a spreadsheet before but this puts everything in one place and I can see a snapshot of my finances regularly.)
Donations
Collect any items that you no longer want, and find a friend or charity that can use them. If they can’t be used, recycle or dispose of them responsibly.
Photos
If you have a long feed of photos you’ve taken on your phone but regularly find that you never look at them or have been meaning to put them into a physical album, try doing one this year. We recently went to my grandmother’s memorial and she had her favorite photos in albums. I don’t want to print each photo and buy albums, but there are lots of photobook options out there today that can help me keep memories in a tidy but physical way.
Other digital media and folders
Is your “downloads” folder full of everything you did this year? Maybe it’s time to organize some of your digital files and folders. Make a backup of items you’ll need, delete items you don’t. Digital clutter is a thing too.
What would you add to this list? Which of these items are you dreading most?
Do you have your own annual cleaning tradition? When is it and what is the process? Share with us in the comments below!
Looking for additional tools for planning? Our 2024 Digital Planner is also now available here!