We all do it – hang on to clingy friends, jeans that we
might fit into again one day, or piles of old bills. It is not necessarily a grand resolution that we need for a clutter-free life, but a makeover – and not just beauty-wise. If something, or someone, is having a crippling effect on your psyche, it might be time to let go.
1. High-maintenance friends: You have nothing against them
per se, but as time erodes your group of friends to a solid few stayers, you know they haven’t really made the cut. One way to extract yourself is to stop sending mixed messages. Tone down the frequency of your responses and don’t offer open-ended responses such as “what have you been up to?” Then stop contact altogether. They will work it out.
2. Size 6 jeans: Ideally, you should clean out your wardrobe each season. Holding onto comfy clothes for ‘lounging around the house’ may act as a safety net that will permit you to get out of shape again. Chances are some older clothes will be too out-dated to wear once they fit again. Be ruthless or it will never release its psychological stranglehold.
3. Clutter: Gone is the promise of the paperless office – in fact, things have actually become worse. We’re awash with paper from bills, brochures, manuals, invoices and newsletters. To get on top of it use the RAFT system: decide whether to Read it, Action it, File it or Toss it. Otherwise, get onto digital filing with an external hard drive like the Seagate Expansion Desktop 2TB ($99),
click here for more information.
4. Ex-boyfriends: One way to ascertain if you’ve really made a clean cut and now enjoy a strictly platonic relationship is to look at whether you still refer to each other as “ex”. If there are still any unresolved feelings on any one’s part, someone’s being unfair. If it’s you then it’s cruel to him, not to mention more than a little telling about your own need for an ego boost. It’s time to act like a grown-up and cut him loose.
5. Bargain buys: We all know the traps of the sales rack: seeing a 50 per cent off tag can be too strong to ignore – till you get home and find the results make you look half your height. Also, beware the perils of ‘upsizing’. You’re urged to increase the memory on your laptop for just $100, or buy a bigger iPod because it’s only slightly more expensive than the smaller one. It doesn’t seem like much, but it is cash you could be spending on something really worthwhile.
6. Your style mantra: the start of a new season is the best time to shake things up a little. An external makeover is one of the easiest ways to start an internal one. To avoid coming across like you’re stuck in a time warp, change your fail-safe haircut or favourite pair of jeans. Start small. If you’re addicted to black trousers, tell yourself that for a month you’ll wear skirts.
7. Your sugar fix: You don’t have to stop treating yourself on cake or a glass of wine after a long day. But it may be worth reassessing how often you do it, and how solid your justification is. “I was the star of that meeting so I deserve hot chips” is not the best way to reward yourself. Try making some of your treats more nutritious – dark chocolate – and follow the 80/20 rule (80 percent healthy, 20 percent treats).