9 Ways to Spring Clean Your Life
by Karen S. Roberts
Tidy Up Your Life 
When you think of spring-cleaning, you probably think of that time of year where you go all out cleaning up your house. You might even move the fridge and sweep out all the nooks and crevices. What if you took that same idea, but instead of cleaning your physical surroundings, you spring clean your life? If you don’t quite understand what that means, here are nine steps that can get you started.
Schedule your “spring-cleaning” time into your calendar. Choose a few days over the upcoming weeks to focus solely on tidying up your life. As you work on each of the following steps, ask God to lead you and to reveal things in your life that He wants you to deal with.
1. Take Stock
Before you start to spring-clean your life, you should take careful stock of how you are currently doing. Do you have goals? How are they going? Are there any areas of your life you’d like to change? Do you have habits that you want to get rid of or new habits that you want to develop? Taking stock of where you are right now will help you direct your prayer and energy to where they are needed.
2. Clean Up Your Friendships
Do you have any close relationships with people who influence you away from your walk with the Lord? Maybe it is time to part ways with these people. If the people in your life don’t build you up spiritually, why are they in your life anyway? Yes, you want to influence people to follow Jesus, but if they are pulling you down, you aren’t leading them to Christ.
Also be aware if you are letting any relationship be more important than your relationship with Jesus. When He is first in your life, everything falls into place.
3. Tidy Up Your Habits
It might be time to clean up your bad habits. Bad habits add up over time and cost you in the long run. This is a good time to build a habit of spending more time in Bible study and prayer, asking for Holy Spirit power to break bad habits. Focus on building some new positive habits, relying on Jesus to help you. Ask a Christian friend or family member to pray for you as you move in this direction.
4. Clear Your Mind
We all have a lot going on in our heads. Developing a daily quiet time with God is a great way to clear your mind. Prayer and Scripture memorization will help your mind to focus. You might also try journaling. Getting those thoughts spinning around in your head onto paper can make a world of difference. You can write about what God is teaching you, what you are praying for, and answers to prayer that you are seeing. Many people find that journaling makes a quiet time more meaningful and easier to focus.
5. Unplug
Technology is great, but sometimes we need to unplug or cut down on time spent on devices. Don’t be afraid to prune some of your social media accounts. Aim to spend less time on your devices and more time taking in the world around you. Strengthening family relationships and friendships in person is more fulfilling. Less time on screens helps you sleep better too.
6. Refresh Your Fitness Routine
Has your fitness routine become boring or stale? Do you even have a fitness routine? Why not shake things up? Spring-cleaning is about “out with old and in with the new.” Find a new exercise, sport, or activity that gets you excited, and fit it into your daily routine. Even gardening and doing active household chores can increase you activity levels and fitness. Finding a walking partner might help you to be more active also.
7. Sort Out Your Eating Habits
A great way to tidy up your life is to clean up your diet a bit. Think about adding more natural whole foods and cutting down on your guilty pleasures. Work on reducing sugar intake. Fad diets are not the answer though. Find a healthy way of eating that you can sustain. Having an accountability partner who will encourage you and pray for you will help a lot. Also, recording what and when you eat, and how much, in a notebook or journal will help you pinpoint changes that you need to make.
8. Organize Your Time Every Day
Using a daily planner in which you can include a prioritized to-do list each day will help you get more control over what your time. It feels good to cross things you’ve accomplished off your list. It’s well worth the time and effort to enter your to-do list into your planner each day. Number the items on your list according to importance. Pray about your priorities while you work on your list.
Make sure that your list includes a special time alone with God every day. Also make room in your weekly schedule for church and perhaps also a Bible study that you can attend each week. Growing spiritually will help you succeed in these steps.
9. Rearrange Your Goals
For the vast majority of people, some goals work out, and some don’t. This is why it’s important to adjust your goals once in a while. Figure out what is working, and double down on that. Find out what isn’t working, and figure out why. Make it a regular practice to check in on your goals. Ask God for direction as you set and adjust goals. He is the Leader. You are His follower.
These 9 steps will make you more productive and help you to lose that feeling of being overwhelmed. Remember to draw on God’s strength as you spring clean your life.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
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