The end of the year is quickly approaching and if you’re anything like me, you long for a little simplicity. And while I have no desire to go back to the pioneer days, there are a couple things you and I can do now to make impacting change.
From what comes into your house to what stays in your house,
here are Seven “End of the Year” Tasks to Simplify Your Life:
1. Unsubscribe from Unnecessary Email Lists. (But not mine, please!) How many junk emails do you get each day? I get over 30 a day! Store promotions, organization newsletters, non-profit updates and way-to-many daily deal site promos fill my inbox. It takes time to delete each one. Take a day or two and unsubscribe from each one that you no longer need or use.
2. Put Your Home Phone Number on the National Do Not Call Registry. When we did this, the number of telemarketer calls to our home dropped dramatically. Now, we only get charitable and political unsolicited calls. This means less interruptions to your home life! Go to
www.DoNotCall.gov or call 1-888-382-1222.
3. Cut Down on Junk Mail by “Opting Out.” The amount of incoming junk mail at my house is absurd. Do you feel the same? For the next few weeks, pile up any junk mail that you are able to opt out of. Then follow up on it. I recently received a letter from a credit card company offering me a chance to opt out of receiving all kinds of affiliate mailings. You bet, I will!
4. Purge Your Existing Paperwork. As the year is winding down, go through your files (or piles) and shred! Don’t waste your space on what you no longer need to keep. Do remember that you need to keep tax-related documents for seven years. I don’t like going through paperwork, so I’ll initially be setting the time for 30 minutes to get started.
5. Create a Cleaning Bin in each Bathroom. Save time by keeping a stock of the necessary cleaning supplies under each sink, including the kitchen. This is so simple to do and means no more running around to grab an item. It will be right where you need it.
6. Reduce Toy Clutter. With the new toys that will soon be coming in, now is the perfect time to purge your kids’ toys. Remove the toys that are no longer used, loved or age appropriate. Box them up to donate or sell at your next garage sale. Clutter exhausts me. Less clutter means less to clean up, less stress and more simplicity!
7. Start Freezer Cooking. You will be amazed how life feels simpler when you start freezer cooking. If everything went right this morning (Black Friday), in my basement will be my new chest freezer. The pay-off for a solid day of cooking is immeasurable when you have a busy life. And let’s face it, who isn’t busy these days? Do it alone or ask a couple friends to join you in the task. Read about freezer cooking alone or jointly here.
There you have it! Seven tasks to tackle for the end of the year. Let’s get started!
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My name is Kristen. I'm a former Wedding & Event Planner blogging about fun ways to celebrate each and every day and the special occasions of life. Here you'll find inspiration for family fun, children's activities, party planning and a faith-filled life. 
Great tips! I’m in the middle of preparing for next year financially, and I haven’t been thinking about the other topics. Time to put them on my list.
We’ve opted out of stuff before, but I’m sure our name makes it way back onto lists.
Great tips!!!
We get all our mail at a PO box and that means less junk mail. The toy decluttering is past due here. I so need to get it done.
Janice
Celebrating Family
I just unsubscribed to junk emails. Thanks for the idea. I opted out of junk snail mail a couple of years ago and it works!
If you’re in Seattle, you can use their service to opt out of junk mail catalogs and such – https://seattle.catalogchoice.org
Thanks for all the reminders. I registered for the no call list. We just got a home phone after 2years without one and the only calls we have gotten were telemarketers.
I wish there was a way to opt out of all text “junk mail” on the cell phone. I keep getting texts on my cell, and I have to pay for each message I receive. And if I want to text STOP to unsubscribe, I have to pay for that text message too!
Great tips! Good reminders to get organized for the new year.
thanks for your ideas, what a wonderful minsitry you have been to me I am mom of 4 kids ages 16,14,8,5 my youngest has austim spectrum disorder and we are busy and in so much debt. I was finally able to get caught up. Reduce my stress by making a budjet for Chrsitmas. Know working on being more frugal. We where very bad at dinner time eating out. It was awful to see how where wasting money. I have started my binder, and have been cooking. I really enjoying making new things and having things oragnized. thanks for you great ideas!
I have read that clicking on the unsubscribe email button only increases your spam, as it shows the sender that they have a “live” email address. I have a separate email address I give out (only if required) for samples, coupons, etc.
A great way to handle junk email or excessive email newsletters is Unroll.me – I signed up with them and love it! They collect all your subscriptions and send them in one convenient email a day. You can look at them or delete.
Darla, that sounds wonderful! I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for sharing!