7 Ways to Spring Clean your Life

It’s common to assume that a ‘spring clean’ means clearing out, throwing away and decluttering, but a more interesting way to tackle ‘spring cleaning’ your life can be to add new experiences to it.  New experiences and encounters can help to quite literally, put a spring in your step.  Here are some examples: 

1. Friends and Contacts: In a spring cleaning frame of mind, you might be tempted to ditch a few unsatisfactory relationships, but remember to also get in touch with long-lost friends or relatives.  Who have you missed seeing in recent years? Who could you surprise with a phone call?

2. Travel: Choose a different route or mode of transport when setting off tomorrow morning.  Even walking on the other side of the street will give you a new perspective.  And don’t forget to unplug those earphones to fully immerse yourself in the experience.

3. Media: Where do you tend to get most of your information?  Do you automatically scroll the same sites on your phone every day, like clockwork? Do you always search for the same kind of TV shows in the same place? Take some time to look somewhere else for a change.  When did you last scan the newsstands and purchase a magazine or change your usual radio station? Find out what you’re missing by reading, watching or listening to something different.

4. Food: Be adventurous, visit a new restaurant, change supermarkets or cook a meal for friends using a new recipe. Or even more simply, change your usual brand of tea or coffee for something more exciting. Try something you’ve never had before and have fun.

5. Sport/exercise/hobbies: Don’t beat yourself up for not heading off to the gym as often as you promised you would. It may just not be your thing. Try something new like tai chi or table tennis.  Join a group and make new friends at the same time. And don’t forget that relaxation can come in the form of quiet activities such as needlework, knitting or adult colouring books.

6. Shift: Moving the furniture around may sound like a bit of a cliché but there’s no better way of quite literally getting a different perspective on your world.  Shift the living room furniture around and notice how the change affects the rest of the family.  If everyone starts getting along a bit better then you know the shuffle was a good one.  And if you struggle to get a good night’s sleep, moving your bed to back on to a different wall in the room, can solve this problem too.

7. Money: Without doubt, worries about money can hold us back from living the kind of life we’d like to be living.  Studies show that most of us have access to a bit more money than we actually thought we did.  So make a decision now to find your ‘hidden’ money.  Clear out your cupboards and make a pile of all the things you could sell on eBay – and if you’re unsure how to use this highly successful shopping site, then get an expert to do this for you.  Even if you do end up paying them 50% of the proceeds, you too will end up with 50% of something you didn’t realise you had.  Alternatively, seek out financial advice about your household bills think about switching providers or consolidating them.  It’s tedious, but again, there are plenty of people who can help you with this.

 Alicia Eaton is a Behavioural & Emotional Wellbeing Specialist helping both adults and children make changes for the better.  She’s based in London’s Harley Street and is the author of several books, including ‘First Aid for your Child’s Mind’ and ‘Stop Bedwetting in 7 Days’.