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What a year 2020 was. The nice, even number – one that we associate with perfect vision – was full of so much promise, but perfect it most definitely was not. We now look to the new year with hopes of starting afresh and ridding our homes and lives of last year’s bad vibes.
But the question is: How do we start? One option is smudging, the ancient Native American practice of burning dried sage and letting the smoke carry away the impurities and bad energy. That might not be enough, though, to chase away everything 2020 wrought. These times call for drastic measures. Here are a few suggestions to help you get yourself and your home in a better place for the coming year.
– Do it yourself for a sense of accomplishment
Audrey Van de Castle is an avid DIYer in Baltimore. As the manager of Stanley Black & Decker’s maker initiatives, her job is to work with fellow employees and consumers to foster creativity and encourage a hands-on approach to their homes. Van de Castle says doing home-improvement projects yourself is empowering. “Even if it doesn’t turn out the way you expected, tackling a project is still something you can be proud of and have control over,” she says.
Feeling in control is the perfect antidote to the lack of control many of us have had during the pandemic. For easy, transformative projects, Van de Castle suggests painting walls, hanging pictures (particularly of friends and family, whom you probably haven’t seen for almost a year), installing shelves in kitchens and closets to provide more vertical space for organizing, and changing out old light fixtures.
“It’s incredible how changing your light fixtures can really refresh the vibe of your space,” Van de Castle says. “It seems like a daunting task, but it is super easy. Just make sure the breaker is off.” She suggests watching YouTube videos and following the instructions usually provided with new fixtures. She promises that it will have a huge effect.
“Sometimes being in a space where you can say, ‘Look, I did this, I accomplished this, I set this as a goal, I met the goal, and it looks awesome,’ is all you need to feel mentally refreshed,” she says.
– Make your storage fit your needs
If you are like Jodi Dady, a New York-based art adviser, you spent the bulk of the pandemic in your kitchen, not only cooking three meals a day but also looking for new ways of preparing food. Like Dady, you might now find yourself with six more small kitchen appliances than you had a year ago and nowhere to store them. Whether it’s an air fryer or a crepe maker (yes, I also ordered one so I could copy the crepe cake from Japanese Week on “The Great British Baking Show”), these gadgets have become more necessary than the many coats, shoes and suits we wore pre-pandemic. Dady cleared out a closet and donated most of her unused items to a local charity. She then installed cubbies and created shelves for small appliances, cleaning supplies and other household items.
Cookbook author Jenny Rosenstrach of Westchester County, N.Y., also shifted items around. She created a space in her basement to house the “once in a while” kitchen items, such as the lobster pot, large serving platters and turkey baster. “It’s been miraculous in terms of freeing up space in my kitchen,” she says. “Freed-up space always translates to good energy.”
– Go touchless
At this point, we have all been well-educated on good hygiene: Wash your hands, and keep surfaces as germ-free as possible. One way to marry those two practices is to go touchless, especially in high-germ areas like the kitchen and bathroom.
I recently installed Kohler’s Purist touchless faucet in my kitchen. I also bought a rechargeable soap dispenser with a sensor and a touchless, motion- and voice-activated trash can, both from Simplehuman. I am hoping that, with those in place, there will be fewer germs lingering on surfaces, which will translate to less bad energy and worry; my husband, kids and I will be able to concentrate on the fun of making meals, rather than worrying about getting sick.
– Organize to jump-start lapsed routines
The new year is always a great time to consider clearing out the old and starting fresh, but this year the focus should be on returning to a routine, says Tina Robinson, a New York-based professional organizer and the founder of the Simple Home Project.
“In 2020, we all lost our normal routines,” Robinson says. “Everybody had to adjust to a new way of living, whether it’s working from home or home-schooling, so I feel like our routines got off track. We need to reset.”
A good place to start fresh is in the bathroom, where, over the past year, you probably abandoned all routines while morning, afternoon and evening blended together, Robinson says. This is particularly true of very busy people like her client Laura Kim, the creative director of both Oscar de la Renta and Monse. For Kim, Robinson started by removing all expired medications and beauty products, then grouped like items – hair care, cosmetics and skin care – together, further dividing them by morning and evening routines. Most importantly, Robinson cleared Kim’s countertops, which Robinson says is more visually appealing and translates to a clearer mind-set and more positive way to begin and end each day.
– Make scents of it all
Dawn Goldworm of New York is a professional nose. As the co-founder of 12.29, an olfactory branding company, she has created iconic scents for brands like Valentino and Nike. Goldworm explains that smell is one of our strongest senses. “People don’t usually think about it, because it’s an unconscious notion,” she says. Part of Goldworm’s job is to help people change whatever experience they are having into something more joyful, more comfortable and more special through the use of scent.
Her recommendation for clearing the 2020 air is to first swap out your cleaning products. “People don’t realize the profound effect cleaning products have on the smell of their homes, but they do,” she says. Get rid of any scent triggers that are going to remind you of 2020. To start, she says, stop using so much bleach, and just use a good-smelling soap. “Cleaning products have a huge variety of scents, so pick one that you enjoy that makes you feel happy when you use it,” she says. The same goes for laundry detergent, candles and hand soap.
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