You’ve probably heard the phrase, “New Year, New Me.” I want to take that phrase and change it up a bit (hence the title of this post).

See while I hope to improve myself this year, I’m not looking to become entirely “new”. I mostly like who I am, and I have goals to help with the things I don’t like.

However, I am trying to change some of my cleaning habits this year. People usually associate cleaning with springtime. But I want to start the year developing good cleaning habits and routines that can last all year and not just in the changing of one season. I created a bullet journal for this year (I’ll end up doing a post about that at some point), and one of the pages I made was all about cleaning. On this cleaning page, I put in things I wanted to track. Different things are categorized and tracked with how much I want to do them.

I have two cleaning habits I want to do each month: change my sheets and clean my bathroom. I know they probably should be done more often than that, but I want to start building good habits. I already did both of those things last week while I was off work. So now I don’t have to worry about them until February.

There are a few things that I want to do every other week this year. I want to vacuum, do my laundry, and clean out the fridge. I have a tendency to wait to do my laundry until my laundry bag can’t hold anymore, which can be upwards of three weeks. It’s not a bad thing necessarily, but it takes longer to put my laundry away. As far as vacuuming, that’s definitely something that gets neglected. There is no carpet in my house, but I want to do better at keeping the place clean. Cleaning out the fridge is an interesting one in my opinion. My household recently organized the fridge. We designated different places for different things. Leftovers stay on a whole separate shelf that way they don’t rot or go moldy. In my opinion, cleaning the fridge isn’t about a deep clean all the time. At the end of that two week period, old leftovers get thrown out. If it’s a leftover that was just added, it stays. But when I cleaned out the fridge this past weekend, we had leftovers in there from mid-December. Those leftovers had to go.

On this page in my journal, I also have cleaning out my closet. That one is only twice a year. I want to make sure I’m wearing the clothes I have and that they aren’t going neglected. I just went through my clothes at the end of last year, so I won’t go through them again until probably the summertime.

I also included a “When Did I last…” section on this same page. This includes things like getting an oil change, changing my toothbrush, cleaning out my car, and some of my health appointments (doctor, dentist, and eye doctor). I wanted to put in the dates rather than track those directly so that I’m not guessing about when they happened.

In this theme of “New Year, New Clean”, I’m also changing out some of the products I use in my house and life to more sustainable and cleaner options. In years past, I have made some sustainable options. I currently use bar shampoo, conditioner, and soap. I use toothpaste bits instead of liquid. My razor blades come in as a subscription and are recyclable. My printer ink also operates on a subscription, and they send me bags to send the used cartridges. Now that I have all of those things already in place, I am adding more for myself and my house. We have looked at some more natural cleaning products and reusable options rather than disposable ones. I am not anticipating that my household will become zero-waste, but I am trying to reduce the harmful things I do use.

The last part of ”New Year, New Clean” that I am trying to embrace is clean eating. I don’t cook every week in my house. But when I do cook, I make sure to incorporate at least one gluten-free meal and one meatless meal. I am thankful that there are no food allergies in my house, and that I can experiment with some different recipes. I try to incorporate vegetables when and where I can. Because it’s cold where I live, I’m using the winter to try my hand at more soups. Soups are easy to make, and most of them are gluten-free, so then it meets my requirements. Cooking like this has allowed me to experiment with tofu and other recipes I may not have tried otherwise. This past week, I made a crustless quiche. I’ve never made a quiche before. I also made a chicken tortilla soup loaded with corn, black beans, tomatoes, bell pepper, and green chiles. I try not to do a lot of pre-packaged or overly processed meals, especially for dinner. I really enjoy this approach I’ve been taking, and I can be satisfied knowing I’m producing good meals.

I am excited for the different aspects of clean that I am embracing this year. I think they are good and good for me. I like the routes I am taking, and the steps along the way that help me to further my goals. I am excited to keep my house clean, and I am even more excited to try to reduce my waste while also making my life better.

I hope this year you are making some cleaner changes in some ways that work for you. If you need suggestions or product recommendations, I am more than happy to assist. Feel free to message me on here! Some products may take some getting used to (toothpaste bits and shampoo bars, for example), but I absolutely love the changes I have already made in my own life. Here’s to a New Year, New Clean!