This is the Year for Your Best Home Yet: Let’s Kick Off the January Cure!
The January Cure is Apartment Therapy’s way of helping you reset your home for 2019. We tackle one assignment each weekday throughout the entire month. Sign up now if you want to join!
It’s officially 2019! And as shocking as the date on the calendar may be, I bet you’re a bit more thrown off by the current state of your home. The end of a year is all about celebration and community and taking time for things you love. But the beginning of the year? That’s for starting fresh.
That’s why Apartment Therapy dedicates the month of January to the Cure, our month-long mission dedicated to getting our homes into the top shape for the year ahead. Because we know that a warm, welcoming, comfortable home can be a launchpad for bettering every aspect of your life.
If you’re brand new to the Cure, let me be the first one to welcome you! (Make sure you’re signed up for emails so you’re always on top of the daily task.) If you’re coming back for your second or third or tenth Cure, welcome back! Today’s inaugural assignment is quick, but it’s a great confidence booster to set up the month. By the end of the day you should feel assured that, little by little, you can get every inch of your space into shape.
Today’s Assignment: Declutter a drawer.
Choose one drawer anywhere in your home and clean it out.
The spot you zero in on is totally up to you! Maybe you want to tidy up your messy bathroom drawer or the catch-all junk drawer in the kitchen. Or maybe it’s the dresser drawer that’s overrun by too many tee shirts, or a drawer in the TV cabinet full of DVDs that are ready to be rifled through.
Once you know what drawer you want to address with today’s assignment, here’s a workflow I think is best: Empty the entire contents of the drawer onto a surface (the floor or a table works) and begin to sort through the stuff inside. Anything that needs to be thrown away can go into the trash can or recycling bin, and save anything that you’d like to pass on to a friend or donate into a separate shopping bag for now (we’ll handle it later). And anything that doesn’t really belong in that drawer? Take it back to its home.
While the drawer is empty, give the inside a quick wipe-down, then put everything you want to keep back inside.
We always start the Cure with the drawer cleanout assignment, because it’s downright eye-opening to discover how quick and easy it can be to improve your space when you work in small chunks.
For extra credit, set a timer before you start on the drawer today—you’ll discover how little time it truly takes to organize a small area of your home. And now that you know, you can dedicate another 10 minutes (or 5, or 15) to decluttering another drawer next month. Make a pact with yourself to work on your space all year long—starting now with the January Cure.
But just the one drawer is enough for today—I’ll be back tomorrow with Cure assignment #2. But before you go, pop into the comments below and introduce yourself! My favorite part of the Cure (and some of yours, too, as you’ve told me) is the support of the Apartment Therapy community cheering you on along the way. Tell us if you’re new to the Cure or a seasoned veteran, and which drawer you chose to start with today.
See you tomorrow!
P.S. It’s not too late to sign up for the Cure, if you want to join us and get email updates to stay on top of your progress:
Download the printable PDF calendar: January Cure 2019
Share your progress on Instagram: #thejanuarycure