Fresh Start

 Christmas is over. New year is coming!

My search for an organised life is underway. My first step was to identify which part of my life to focus on at the beginning. Which part takes priority? Well, I think I found it. 

Where to Start?

General tidying is where I begin my mission. I basically live in one room. Not even a big room. This small space is my home and I have a lot of stuff. My belongings aren't at hoarders level, but I sew which comes with a lot of equipment and obviously, I own a lot of books. Not to mention notebooks, cooking equipment, shoes, makeup, clothes in general. It all fills that small area quickly. 

Christmas:

It's a wee bit early to be packing up Christmas, given that we've not even reached New Year yet, but even with this, I'm looking for order. Christmas jumpers boxed away together. Tree decorations together. Ornaments, candles, tinsel... everything has its own place even in storage. 

Books:

I love books and I own a lot of them, but this year, I'm planning to use my local library a lot more, to save myself buying them all the time. My books have different categories. 

There are the ones that I like to own and display on a bookshelf like a trophy - these are usually from my favourite authors like Nalini Singh, Kresley Cole, Johanna Lindsey and Gena Showalter. 

Then there are the favourites that I keep on my Kindle or reader, but I'll need them all. These are from authors like Eve Langlais, S.E. Smith, M.K. Eidem. 

I often buy Mills and Boon books from market stalls and charity shops because authors like Betty Neels, Emma Darcy and Patricia Wilson are often found there and I love them. 

There are the obvious classics that you have to own too. So I have my copies of Jane Austen's books, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Little Women. They're also shelf trophies. 

That's my Keep-Forever collection. 

There are a lot of books on my TBR pile that I know I'll read once and not go back to but I've always kept them just in case. I'm trying to change that. Now I'm trying to clear my reading decks of these books. Here's how:

• Local Library: The library in my area has an ebook app that supplies books I can easily read on my phone or tablet. And if I'm feeling in the mood for a hard copy, the nearest library is a ten-minute walk. 
• Get Rid: Sometimes when it comes to disposing of books I won't read, I just haven't found the ruthlessness, but this year that changes. Or at least, it changes a little bit. I've already started passing them on to friends. I'll donate to charity shops, and I've found an app where I can sell some. Not for much, but at least it helps me feel like I'm not just discarding them. 
• TBR: I own a lot of books I haven't read. It will make such a difference if I can make my way down this pile, which is in fact, many piles. 

Hobbies

I'm a crafter, particularly sewing and knitting; supplies can take over any empty space. I've started using toolboxes for tools of the trade. I've got tubs for works in progress. Bags for projects. Baskets of wool. But the main way to reduce the crafting chaos will be to use the materials and fabrics that I already own. Make them into clothes. 

Which brings me to...

Clothing and Makeup

I have a lot of clothes. And a lot of shoes. And a lot of makeup. Through 2025, I need to buy less. I could try selling some of what I own or that I've outgrown, but I've tried that through one of the clothes-selling apps and it was like a full-time job that made me very little money. I would post a belt for sale and people would try and haggle it down to a pound, then to send it, the nearest place was a five-minute drive away. With petrol prices, I'm pretty sure that ended up costing me money. 

So I'll try and buy less, try and make some from my fabric stash. I'll use the makeup I own. Utilize what I have. 

Office

I don't have an office. I have a laptop and a tablet and a phone and an epic stationery collection. That's my office. But it's spread everywhere, there is no order to it, so for the next year, I'll dedicate a section to writing. That's my goal. Even if it's a box or a case or the corner of the dining table. 

And so it Begins

Those areas are my initial starting point. That's the mess that needs order, and I have to find that order around my family, general housework, cooking dinner, the day job and writing. So... I'm going to be busy. 

The trick will be to stay motivated throughout sleepless nights (because I have a baby) and get my s*#t  together when I'd rather sit and watch Teen Wolf for the 6th time. It's my ultimate hobby. 

Getting my belongings in order is where it all starts. It's my January. 

If you liked reading this blog then take a look at some other posts or follow my Resolution journey on my website. 

Making a Resolution

“New Year, New Feels, New Chances, Same Dreams, Fresh Starts.” - Atticus Poetry

I'm keeping my New Year's Resolution simple this year. For 2025, my goal is to be more organised. That's it. It's that basic. Usually, I'm a romance writer who lives in chaos, but I know my way through it. I built a path through my mess. Let's see what happens when I change my ways and apply order to all aspects of my life. 

What I Hope...

Home, work, writing, and health. They're all areas of life where I fly by the seat of my pants. If I take it methodically, one area at a time, let's hope that streamlines things for me and makes my goals attainable.

What I'm hoping for is a domino effect: that as I get one part in order, it will impact another aspect until, bit by bit, I become an organised person. And if I put it into practice, it will become a habit. I already love a to-do list, right up until I have to do the stuff. 

Motivation

This is going to take a little research. Organisation doesn't come naturally to me. I'm a messy person and I always have been. In childhood, I was constantly grounded for having a messy room. I have paperwork everywhere. Notebooks written in and then scribbled out and written in again - most of them half-full or less. I pile up clothes in giant heaps and I rarely plan. At least not successfully. 

It sounds like it will be simple to change, but if that was the case I would have done it years ago. I'm planning to plan. That's what I figure will give me the best shot.

Back to School

Remember back at school when you had timetables for every lesson, you covered your books in brown paper that you would then graffiti. With school, there was scheduling and homework books. There was a set break time and lunchtime. There was a system. I miss that structure of my day-to-day life. 

Now I work in a job with shift patterns so I can work any hour of the day. I have a child so I eat when I have a minute to spare, sometimes not at all. I decide what I'm making when it's time to make it. Remember school dinners. We had chocolate custard, hard pizza and a dinner lady who walked around making sure we ate either potatoes or salad. (You know the chaos is bad when you hanker back to the days of school dinners.) 

I hated school. I was bullied, I was kinda lazy and I hated homework, but now I want to learn. It's the routine and order of it that I really miss. That and the lack of responsibility. I just had to get myself to lessons, and that was that. 

Where to Start?

I have no idea! As I already said, this is going to take research. And I have to fit it all around the day job and the romance writing. Hopefully, in the end, it will make things faster and more efficient for me. Fingers crossed. 

I think my first step is to identify the area where my life needs order the most and start there. I'm gonna be making some lists. Time to get out my half-scribbled notebooks. 

Let's Get Started

I could wait until January 1st to start, but I'm going to cheat and give myself a few extra days. I can at least start the planning process of this New Year's Resolution. I can pick which area needs the most change and figure out how to put it into effect. 

So, let's get going. Mission organisation: Inititaed.

If you enjoyed reading this then you can follow my journey by visiting the Resolutions page of my website.