New Year's Resolutions for Apartment Renters in 2023

 New Year's Resolutions for Apartment Renters in 2023

A brand-new year is straight ahead and 2022 is finally in the rear-view mirror! After a strange 2020, 2021 and 2022, it's time to make the most of 2022! Make 2023 all about applying everything we have learned in the past two years to make this upcoming year productive, organized, and as stress free as possible with some simple and inexpensive changes to your apartment lifestyle. Let’s start making this new year the best year ever with these quirky New Year's resolutions for renters!

1. Bringing Order Back into Your Personal Space

Apartments can become crowded very quickly. If you are at the point of feeling that all the “treasures” in your home have become too much and require too much space, the new year may be that chance you have waited for to reorganize your home and your life. Start with your closets. Look at which clothes have not been worn for a couple of years (you know you have them stashed in the back of the closet). Many of us may have packed on a few additional pounds during the lock-down. If you have no aspiration of getting back to your pre-pandemic sizes – get rid of those articles of clothing that taunt you. If, on the other hand, you are determined to work those additional inches off the waist, get rid of a couple pair of your Zoom Meeting yoga pants. Now that you have finished with the closet, move out into the rest of the room. Do you really need all those magazines which have been piling up in the corner? Does your puppy or cat need all of the compulsively purchased toys you bought when it was just the two of you stuck in the apartment?

2. Cleaning Up After Mealtime

You may be among those who discovered the pros and cons of learning how to cook in the past couple of years. Pros: you get to eat. Cons: you must clean up the prep dishes, the pots and pans, and the dinnerware. If you are like me, once you have prepared and feasted upon a delicious home-cooked meal, you yearn to answer the call of the couch and television while your tummy digests all that yummy food. The kitchen sink is a magical place. In it dishes become invisible while under the guise of “soaking” to make them easier to clean.

3. Organize Your Pantry

During the height of the pandemic, we all learned to pay closer attention to the amount of food (and toilet paper) we had on hand. In many cases, this led to panic buying which resulted in often unnecessary purchases. If you have found yourself more canned goods, sacks of flour, and bags of sugar than you ever got around to using. Now is the time to sort it all out. I am not recommending that you go and indiscriminately start tossing everything into the dumpster. A quick walk through the aisles of the local grocer will show that many of your pantry items have gone up 14 to 25 percent in price during the past two years. Instead, examine the expiration dates and get rid of those items which are now well beyond the “best if used by” date. This also applies to over-the-counter meds, cosmetics, and batteries.  Go through the fridge regularly. Food that has now become a science experiment should find a new home elsewhere. Remember the acronym FIFO – First In/First Out. Older food items should be at the front of your pantry and used before the more recently purchased items. And just so we are clear on this, SPAM ® does not really have an expiration date.

4. Setting Up a Schedule for Your Chores, Work and Play

Back before the birth of Alexa and Siri, our ability to schedule life events and daily tasks was dependent upon the use of calendars, weekly planners, and daily “to do” lists. Finishing a list of chores is much easier to accomplish if they are written down. Remembering important dates and deadlines (don’t even get me started on the fiasco of my fifteenth anniversary!) works well if they are noted on a calendar. And planning for that big vacation can be set up as a goal with little goals scheduled along the way (passports, tickets, and reservations as an example). I am an advocate of writing things down and posting them in an obvious place like the fridge. In today’s world of swiping left and click bait, it is more difficult to ignore something if you must see it every time you open the refrigerator to grab a snack. There is one final, very important scheduling items that must be discussed – your health.    

5. Automatic Payment of Your Bills Can Save You $$ This Year

Did you have to pay any late fees in the past year or two? Because of the stay-at-home restrictions and job fluctuations driven by the pandemic, many of us ended up shy on the assets required to meet our financial obligations. Hopefully your finances have now stabilized, and you are no longer stressing about paying your rent, electricity, internet, and everything else you can't live without. This year simplify your life by setting up auto-pay for your bills. Remember to vary the payment dates to reflect the due dates. That way, everything doesn't come out of your checking or savings accounts all at once. This is also a good time to start taking any excess monies and setting up a vacation savings account.

6. Prepare Your Vehicle for the Seasons

Having been brought up in a segment of the country which officially recognizes winter as a real season, most of us make preparations in case we are caught by the inclement weather. Now is a good time to ensure that the emergency tools and other items in your trunk are in good working order. There is nothing more frustrating that having to change a tire during a blizzard and finding that your spare tire is flat. Of course, it should go without saying that all required maintenance: oil change, tire rotation, and fluid top-offs are up to date.

7. Sanctuary - Make Your Home a Welcome Refuge for Yourself, Friends, and Family

Whether you are arriving home after a long commute and grueling day or finally unplugging from the virtual office, being able to unwind and relax in your apartment is the treat you can look forward to each day. This is your chance to put the “feng” in the feng shui --applying the Chinese practice of creating harmonious surroundings that enhance the balance of your apartment. This can easily be accomplished by arranging furniture or adding green plants and window treatments that allow natural light flow throughout your home. And don’t forget about the peace and tranquility of your neighbors. Find a pair of headphones which will bring out the full harmonics of your favorite artist while allowing those next door an opportunity to enjoy theirs. This can be your year to find more quiet time to relax and reflect.

8. Reward yourself

Sticking to your New Year's resolutions and accomplishing your goals is challenging work. With so much cleaning, donating, and tossing, your home may start to feel a little sparse. Make one of your New Year's resolutions about a calculated splurge. Reward yourself with a fancy coffee or long hike over the weekend.