Whatever your goal is — whether it’s to read more, Netflix less, find an awesome new job, or finally use your cute yoga pants to actually practice yoga — we’re all trying to make every day the most positive, productive, and fulfilling we can. But while making plans to create new positive habits is a must, to really make this year (and every year) great, we also have to purge our lives of some of our not-so-wonderful habits and unnecessary junk. From ditching annoying vocabulary fillers to deleting gigabyte-wasting apps, here are 18 things we’re getting rid of to kick-start our lives.
1. Workouts You Hate: We’re constantly trying to making working out a priority. But just because we’re dusting off our workout gear and repurchasing our gym pass doesn’t mean we’re going to waste our time with workouts that we despise. To help us actually build sustainable healthy habits, we’re nixing all the workouts that we hate and making it a point to find workouts that we actually enjoy (and will stick to).
2. Old Emails That Clog Your Inbox: We’re all guilty of letting our personal and professional emails run rampant over time. But it’s time to sort out all of your newsletters, blasts, and queries that are cluttering your inbox. Trust us: You’ll feel so accomplished once “1,345 new emails” transforms into “no new messages.”
3. Self-Doubt: With so many folks challenging themselves in their career and personal life, we honestly don’t have time to get bogged down with self-doubt. Whether it’s listening to inspirational and affirming podcasts or a doing a quick meditation before starting your workday, we’re nixing self-doubt by filling our lives with positivity, confidence, and HBIC vibes.
4. Clothes You Haven’t Worn in Six Months: Despite having every intention to eventually wear that ill-fitting but cute-ish dress in the back of your closet, make the time to clean out your wardrobe of all the things you haven’t worn in the past six months. Go ahead and keep your swimsuit and flip-flops (we promise; summer is coming back eventually!) but donate everything that you honestly won’t wear again. If you need some inspiration, we tried the KonMari method to tidy up a closet, and it was quite successful. (Photo via Getty)
5. Clunky DVD Cases: Going over to your friends’ houses and raiding their VHS and DVD collection was one of the highlights of every teenage movie night across the country in the 2000s. But as streaming services and digital downloads become increasingly popular, we’re ditching our physical libraries for digital ones instead. Netflix and iTunes all have more than enough digital rental options to keep you entertained for the year. And for all those movies you already own and can’t seem to part with, Movies Anywhere is a service that combines all of your purchased films from Disney, Warner Bros., Sony, Universal, and Fox into one easy-to-use platform that allows you to watch your movies — you guessed it — anywhere. By combining all of the digital codes in your Blu-ray discs with all of your digital movies from iTunes, Google Play, and Vudu, it simplifies the entire movie storing process so you can expand your film library exponentially without clutter.
6. Losing Precious Sleeping Hours Because of the ‘Gram: How many times have you budgeted enough time for a rejuvenating eight-hour sleep only to spend a ridiculous amount of time mindlessly scrolling through Instagram and catching up with your fave Instagram Stories? Well, we’re ditching this ludicrous habit and creating relaxing winding-down habits instead that’ll help quiet our minds so we can get the revitalizing sleep we need to wake up fresh and conquer the day.
7. Unwanted Apps on Your Phone: We love filling out phones with the latest trendy apps, but if you haven’t used an app in more than three months, it just isn’t worth its weight in gigabytes. Make room for something by deleting your one-time-use app downloads ASAP.
8. Old Makeup: While checking the expiry date on your grocery items is second nature, we also have to be conscious of the expiry date of our makeup if we want fresh and acne-free skin in the new year. Take a look through your vanity and throw out any old beauty products that are grubby or expired. The general rule of thumb is six months for mascara and liquid liner and 12 months for foundation, bb cream, eyeshadow, and lip products. If you want more details about when your specific makeup product expires, check out the free Beauty Keeper app to access expiry dates for more than 830 beauty brands.
9. Unnecessary and/or Broken Cords and Chargers: We’re all guilty of holding onto cords and chargers that we don’t actually need for anything. To help us stay organized, we’re tossing all our cords that either no longer have a purpose or have been frayed, chewed on, or smashed beyond repair.
10. Every Bridesmaid Dress You’ve Every Purchased: Even though we’ve shelled out a ton of hard-earned money for bridesmaid dresses over the years, we’re taking a lesson from Jane in 27 Dresses and not letting these frilly garments steal an entire closet in our teeny apartment. Instead, we’re donating all of our questionable bridesmaid dresses, prom attire, and old formal wear that we’re never going to wear again and reclaiming our closet space for things we actually love.
11. Old Recorded Shows on Your DVR: Hunkering down to binge TV is one of our favorite after-work activities, but wading through our long list of DVR recordings is an unnecessary chore. So we’re taking the time to sort out the DVR list, and we’re getting rid of everything we’ve already watched, programs taped by our exes, and anything that we’re never realistically going to get around to watching.
12. Guilt for Not Accomplishing Your Goals and Resolutions: It’s easy to feel guilty for minor setbacks to any goals you set. But we’re nixing that negativity from our lives and focusing on all the things we did accomplish and giving ourselves some slack for all the times we fudge up a little.
13. Instagram Envy and FOMO: While Instagram is an awesome place to find countless inspiration and keep up with our friends across the globe, we’re totally guilty of getting envious of people’s “Instagram-perfect lives” as they showcase their best life on the ‘gram for everyone to see. This year we’re making it a point to remember that Instagram is a highlight reel of people’s lives and we never truly know what’s going on with the people we follow beyond the screen… so we’re nixing FOMO and concentrating on finding motivation and inspiration on social media instead of comparing and judging ourselves against the rest of the internet.
14. Saying “Umm” and “Like” Way Too Often: Time is money. We’re projecting ourselves as the confident bosses we are, which means cutting out annoying filler words like “umm” and “like” for good.
15. Being Constantly Available for Everything:Self-care is important, but it usually gets tossed aside when we’re super busy. Even if your emails are clogging your inbox and you have 20 invites to important events that you should probably attend, we’re getting rid of the idea that we have to be available to everyone all the time. Whether it’s taking a full digital detox or making a promise to stop checking work emails after 6pm, we’re giving ourselves permission to saying no to things for the sake of our mental health.
16. Old Puppy or Kitty Toys: Your pup adores all of his toys, but with all the goodies he’s got, his toy box is starting to look more like a toy mountain. Your local animal shelter will appreciate any animal toys, bedding, or extra food that your pet is no longer using.
17. Toxic Friendships or Relationships: It’s tough to cut people out of your lives, but we’re making a commitment to break-up with toxic friends, acquaintances, workplaces, and romantic partners that are more like quicksand than soil.
18. Old Spices: Like every other perishable item in your kitchen, spices have an expiration date. If they’ve lost their smell or taste, it’s time to give your spices the boot. Refresh your kitchen with new herbs and spices to make your dishes explode with flavor.
What are you getting rid of this year? Tweet us by mentioning @BritandCo.
(Featured photo via Getty)
