Guest Author - Diane Kern

New Year’s Eve is almost here. A time for celebration and reflection that often includes those dreaded New Year’s resolutions. It seems no matter how sincere those resolutions are, we seldom manage to keep them for very long.

Try a few feng shui resolutions this year.

Start the year fresh. Make sure your home and office are sparkling clean. Sweep, wash, vacuum, clean out the junk drawers, and organize the basement. I know everyone is busy with family and friends but do try to clean up before the New Year.

Clear out clutter. Discard the wrappings and boxes from holiday gifts. If you have returns to make do them before the New Year. You don’t want to have unwanted or wrong size items cluttering up your house.


Take down the holiday decorations. Take down the tree, holiday lights and decorations. If you have special linens and holiday china put it away for another year.

Take a look through your house. Have you implemented the feng shui changes you planned on doing? Or are they still waiting to happen? Change the color of that room. Move that piece of furniture from under a beam. Fix the leaky faucet.

Organize your holiday photos and videos. Make a scrapbook now while memories are fresh. Discard photos that are less than wonderful so they aren’t taking up room. By doing it now you can enjoy them later instead of worrying about when you will have time to do it. Make it a family project. It could become a new tradition at your house.

Pay your debts. Have you borrowed money from friends or family? If possible start the new year with a clean slate. Those you borrowed from will appreciate it and you will feel better. If you borrowed things rather than money, such as tools and books make sure you return them to their owners. There is nothing more wonderful to a book lover that the return of a borrowed book.

Write thank you notes. Did you write a thank you note for that gift you received? I am not just talking about the ones you received from friends. Why not write a thank you note to your spouse or child for the gift they lovingly picked out for you. They will never expect it and what a great surprise. And it’s a good way to teach children not only etiquette but also gratitude.

Sit down with your family and write some goals for the next year. Help the children plan their goals, have the adults do theirs individually. Then come together to read them and plan some additional goals for the whole family. It’s a good way to focus the energy for the future.

Happy New Year Everyone