For most of us, this includes mopping up mud from the entryway, throwing out those raggety old long johns, donating servicable but unwanted jackets to the Goodwill, and recycling about fifty pounds of winter catalogs and magazines.
After all this, however, there might be one additional task left to do in order to feel truly decluttered: tossing that sorry-assed boyfriend of yours to the curb.
Admit it. You've been wanting to do it for a while. You know you deserve better. Maybe you've just been putting up with him because he has a functioning space heater.
Well, ladies, you don't need a space heater anymore. You need some respect and fun and affection and other things that this guy is clearly not giving you.
Not sure if you're just in a slump or sitting knee-deep in trash? Fortunately, our friends over at the Huffington Post have written up a checklist to help you figure it out.
Included on the list:
1) You always feel crummy after you talk to him/her and guilty if you don't talk to them.
2) He/she is really hard on you or judges you harshly.
3) You walk on eggshells around him/her.
4) He/she is very negative, depressed, and/or does not take care of herself/himself.
5) There is not much room for YOU in the relationship - it's all about him/her.
6) You are incredibly bored, uninspired, stressed out, or unhappy in the relationship.
Did you just nod and say, "Oh, yes, I know those eggshells" while reading the above list? If so, then you indeed have some extra cleaning to do.
We're not going to sugar coat things and say that it'll be easy. After all, saying goodbye to old garbage can be painful and complicated. But, much like those empty beer bottles in your hallway and stacks of outdated textbooks from college sitting on your bedroom floor, the mess will just get worse if you don't do something about it now.
So be brave. Take out that extra trash that no longer belongs in your house. You deserve to live with a little less clutter.
More From YourTango:
- 6 Life And Love Lessons From Helen Gurley Brown
- Is Love On Second Life More Genuine?
- 5 Tips to Move On From a Painful Breakup
- The Bad Girl's Breakup Rx
Written by Kristen Meinzer for YourTango.
