New Year, New You, New Sheets

A New Years Eve Reset to avoid taking 2024's trash with you into 2025

Well, we made it! 2024 is (almost!) over and a new year looms, which means I'm doing a few things around the house to prepare. I don't go as wild as you might think, but two things I'm firm on are that before welcoming a new year, there must be a set of fresh sheets on the bed and the trash must be taken out. (I perform a similar set of rituals on Birthday Eve.)

We've talked about these resets and rituals here before, and we definitely will again because I find them so, so, so personally helpful and I've also noticed that you guys respond well to them.

A Monthlong Reset That I Loved!

Sometimes I go bigger and do some deep cleaning, sometimes I don't. This year, I don't have any big jobs in front of me because I've been picking things off throughout the month as part of a December Reset thingie I did, which I am posting here in the event you want to adapt it for use in January or beyond:

✨Rest

✨Clean

✨Stop a bad habit

✨Enjoy fun NYE food

✨Go through your pantry

✨Do an end of year reflection

✨Purge expired beauty products

✨Declutter closet and donate clothes

✨Note the word that sums up your past year

✨Write down what you’re leaving in the past

✨Assess your goals/intentions for the past year

✨Journal/think about what alignment looks like for you

I'm sorry to not credit whoever came up with this, I saw it on insta and jotted the reset down without saving the link. Also, if you wanted to adapt this for January, here's what that might look like — I literally just made it up on the fly, so adjust it in any way you like to make it work for you:

✨Make movement a part of your daily life

✨Carve out time for a hobby

✨Establish a daily or weekly reset routine

✨Enjoy healthy food

✨Restock your pantry

✨Do a start of year reflection

✨Tend to your hair, skincare, nails, etc with the intention of showing appreciation for the body you live in

✨Shop post-holiday sales and restock basics like underthings, pajamas, and activewear

✨Note the word that sums up your vibe for the new year

✨Write down what you’re hoping to bring into the new year

✨Assess your goals/intentions for the new year

✨Journal/think about what needs to change for you to feel in alignment

The Freezer Reset: A Shockingly Great Payoff

One thing that I added to my Decembering was cleaning out the freezer, which I did in stages. One thing about me is that food waste makes me crazy, so while I could have just tossed stuff, it was worth it to me to make a plan or at least an effort to use up what I had in there. Here's how I did it:

❄️The first stage involved going through what I had. Anything that could be used in holiday meals got added to those menus. I tossed a few things that were freezer burned or that I realistically just wasn't going to use, made a mental note to not buy those things again, and forgave myself for my trespasses.

🥶Then, and this was such a clutch thing to do, I moved any stragglers to the eye-level shelf so they'd stare at me, all judgey-like, every time I opened the freezer door.

🧊After a few weeks of eating through the freezer, I took out the few things that were left and wiped the shelves clean, which also forced me into communion with those remaining items — mostly the bags of frozen veg I keep around because I cook a lot but I'm not super rigid about meal planning and my frozen veg collection is a good way for me to keep things interesting.

This sort of unplanned purge-y thing ended up being the most impactful thing I did for myself in December! I opened the freezer yesterday and marveled at how gloriously barren it is!! All of this would be exciting in and of itself but I also have a PLAN for all that open freezer space and it's making me so so so excited for the PLAN!!!

Okay so, one of the things I decided I wanted to do in 2025 is to get back into baking. I love to bake, but when I started working from home I had to quit baking — without an office to bring the cookies and the muffins and the loaves to, it was just too much food to have around the house. I've been in that mode for over a decade now, and there is a hole in my heart because of it. I miss doing this thing I love!

I had a eureka moment when the freezer space started opening up, "What if I got back into baking, but specifically into baking cookies, so that I could bake just a few for my own personal consumption and then freeze the rest into a stash that's ready to roll next holiday season?!?"

See because the other thing is that I've always wanted to be the type of person who baked seven thousand types of amazing cookies and handed out amazing cookie trays but I've never had that life, if that makes sense. But now … oh possibly I could have that life? We shall see! Check this space in December 2025 and I'll let you know how The Great Cookie Caper turned out😎Also if you have a cookie recipe that you need me to know about, I would love ideas! (I have a spreadsheet.)

Okay Your Turn Now!

Because many of us have been together for a long time now, I know that some of you have similar New Years Eve/Birthday Eve cleaning rituals — I would like to hear about them! Share them because it's fun but also because your cleaning ritual may inspire someone else to adopt something similar and oh look at you, banging out the good works without breaking a sweat!

I'd also love to hear about any resets you have planned in the new year! Is there anything the group can help with?? Obviously you can ask me (it's right there in the job title) but you can also ask The People! Someone named Amy is bound to have an answer for you. (You guys ……… we have to talk about the Amys. I'm obsessed, I love them so much, I never knew the thing I wanted in life was a little Amy Army of my own!)

And, most importantly, tell us what fun things you have planned for yourself in 2025! In 2022, I recommitted to reading; in 2023, I hoofed it across the country for a fresh start in LA; in 2024, I locked in, work-wise, after a few years of deprioritizing career goals in order to focus more on family matters and, you know, relearning how to walk lol. And 2025 will be the year of the cookie, I guess!

In addition to the cookies, I've got some fun stuff planned for AaCP: The Newsletter in 2025 — I'll be rounding up your unscented cleaning product recs (thank you!), we'll finally talk garbage disposals, and I have a few Q&As to share that I think (hope!) you'll like. And! Please feel free to tell me what you'd like to see more of in this space.

Happiest new year to you all, thank you for being here with me and for being so good to each other!