The week between Christmas and New Years is, in my humble opinion, tragically underrated. It’s a week outside of time and commitment, when the days are slower and quieter. During this week of the year, we have time to look back at 2019 and plan the years ahead. There are tutorials and blog posts aplenty on the subject of planning for a new year, but what’s often overlooked at the end of a year is how to wrap up the old year gracefully.
How do we organize our lives and find closure for the decade? The idea of entering a new decade is exciting, but I can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that we’re leaving the 2010’s behind. So in an effort to find resolution, here are ten ways I’m planning to close down the chapter of 2019.
DIGITAL
Organize photos. Move all your 2019 photos into folders, organized by month. Whether you upload to Google Photos or sort them by month/year and tuck them away on your hard drive.
Do a digital cleanse. Clear up some space on your laptop: go through excess bookmarks, iPhone notes, Google documents, unnecessary files, applications, etcetera. When you’re all finished, be sure to backup your computer.
Go through financial records and write up an end-of-the-year budget to track all your sources of income and big expenses for the year (big expenses vary, but I’d say anything $500+ qualifies. No need to track your coffee spending—unless you like that sort of thing).
GET LIFE TOGETHER
Put your filing system in order. Establish a system of folders with clear categories. Discard any unnecessary documents, receipts, and scraps of paper.
Clean your car. Vacuum out the carpets. Check your car’s tire pressure, oil level, and fuel tank. Give it a good wash so it’s all sparkly for the new decade.
Turn in all your library books. If you’re even feeling fancy, reorganize the bookshelves and get rid of any books or movies that you don’t anymore.
Compile a 2019 reading list. It’s one of the most satisfying feelings ever, looking back over all the books you read over the course of the year. If you’re fancy, update your Goodreads account (I am not this fancy yet).
Clean your room/apartment/home. Put away all your Christmas decorations, sweep, clean the mirrors, spruce up the place. What better way to start a new decade than with a clean home?
JOURNALING
Write about 2019. Grab your journal and start scribbling thoughts on how this year went. Reflect on how far you’ve come, the goals you met and the areas that could use some work. What was your focus in 2019? What do you want more of—or less of—in 2020?
Create the year’s “highlight reel”—all your favorite moments and memories of 2019.
Look back at the last decade. Flip through journals, through social media, and through your old photos. Set aside an afternoon to reflect on the last ten years and how much has changed. What are you most proud of? What are your favorite memories? How have you changed as a person?
Here at home, we have the family together again, which means our days have been brimming over with family dinners, hikes, going to the cinema, taking long walks through the countryside, and gathering around a crackling fire to read all evening.
This is the week of the year when we have the chance to take a breath, slow down, and dig out our old journals; a time set aside for us to look back at the last year, the last decade, and all the roads that brought us here.
Wishing you a lovely and restful final week of the decade,
<3 Olivia Grace
