Osoji, the New Year Cleaning
Osoji, in Japanese literally meaning “big cleaning”, traditionally happens by the end of December. As the old year comes to an end, in order to greet and invite the deities in for the new year, people engage in a deep clean by discarding anything old, unnecessary, or broke items that may have piled up in the past year.
How exactly is cleaning linked to sustainability? Cleaning
helps to get clarity on what you already own and appreciate every item you have,
calming the need to buy the latest trendy gadget. Also consider the time and
space you get to inform yourself when you are not looking for this mismatched
pair of socks. I also truly think that cleaning your physical space helps a
great deal with your mental one as well (take the word from a formerly messy
person…).
Here are some tips to do your very own Osoji.
Create a vision for what you want your year to look like
For the past few years, I have been a huge fan of vision
boards. Take a white sheet of paper, write your goals and the steps to get
there. I then go to the internet and chose matching pictures to match with my
intentions. I use Canva to make a collage and set it as my wallpaper on my
computer. Having a background picture is the perfect way to have a subconscious
reminder of your intentions for the new year. All type of vision boards exists
out there, no rules apply! You can be super colorful, using pictures and quotes
or super simple with bullet points. You know what works best for you. You don’t
even need to have an answer, just try to imagine the best process to achieve
your goals.
Discard the old
With any type of cleaning comes a time to throw old things
out. This can include: old beliefs, clothes beyond repair, toxic relationships,
classes notes you will never look at again.
Have four bins ready : keep, repair, donate, toss. Keep is
for the items you love and want to carry in the new year. Repair stands for the
pile where go all these things you swore would get fixed but never got to do it.
Donate is for items in good condition but time has come to split ways. Alas
sometimes, there is no way to fix this broken toaster or binder. Responsibly
dispose of it and move on. You can find information on our sustainability website
and on the city of Ottawa waste explorer.
For what lives inside your head I suggest using three sheet of paper : what I am grateful for in the past year, what I would like to let go of, what I am excited about or want to make happen (this circles back to point 1: vision board). Say your thanks, burn the sheet with what you wish to let go of and keep the two other ones to look at when the year will be over.
Digital Detox
Go through your applications, photos, email… You can either
do it in one giant batch or little by little. I usually have a day for going
through Instagram accounts and unfollowing what I don’t need anymore, I try my
best during the year to triage my photos and have a day whole clean up (you can
save everything on a hard drive and start again if you want to go on the
extreme route). For the emails, I set aside an hour, reply to anything that
needs to be done, delete what does not call for an answer, and create
corresponding folders. It does not matter how it looks for you, the idea is to
clean part of your digital environment.
Clean Your Home
Here are a few steps you can follow:
- Set an intention. Be it by lighting a candle, incense or even setting a timer or choosing a music to clean on. You can also choose to clean silently as a form of meditation.
- Empty your closets. Three main closets to be emptied and cleaned are the pantry, bathroom, and clothing. Go through the items, wipe the closet clean, and place everything back in.
- Clean what is usually forgotten such as air ducts, oven sides, and kitchen backsplashes.
- Wash everything that must be washed: stained clothes, floors, dishes. Starting with what's in the sink is usually a good idea if you are overwhelmed.
- Find a home for every item. If you don't know where to place something, you might want to find some baskets or think about a new system to organize those things. I tend to go with clear baskets, as I need to see my stuff or else I forget about it. On this topic of tidying, I can't recommend enough Cas from clutter bug. She genuinely changed the way I looked at my organization system.
- Change your sheets. I love to welcome the new year with clean sheets. Absolutely not mandatory, but it does feel good!
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