Happy New Year friend!

Before going forward into 2018, I wanted to reflect a bit on 2017 and share with you the top 5 blog posts of 2017 here at Setting My Intention.

Thank you for being here. I love having a space to encourage people to declutter their physical surroundings in order to create space for more.

More what, you may ask?

More of anything YOU want  – more joy, deeper relationships, more time for pursuing personal interests, more down time, more life giving activities.

In order to create that space, we need to let go of the things that we don’t need or use anymore, the things that don’t bring value to our lives.

I interviewed 11 simple living or minimalist bloggers in 2017, and all of them gave the same advice when asked where someone should start to simplify life. They recommended decluttering your physical space first.

In 2017, Setting My Intention focused on decluttering, monthly simple living interviews, monthly intentions posts,  self care traditions, clutter free gift ideas, and ideas for slowing down – especially during the summer and holidays.

We also had some great guest posts from my blogging friends, one of which appears in the top 5 blog posts of 2017.

Top 5 Blog Posts in 2017

5. Decluttering Your Home

At #5 we have my main decluttering page. This page has all of my before and after photos since I started my blog. It’s a great resource to get inspiration and tips on how to declutter each room in your house.

4. Meal Planning for Beginners

One of the things that has reduced stress in my life and the life of our family is planning our dinners. I finally started in August 2015 and I’m so glad we did. This post was Step 1 of a series that I wrote as I was figuring out how to meal plan in a simple way.

3. 7 Steps to Start Hand Lettering

This was a guest post from a blogger friend, Morgan. She did such a great job of breaking down the process of hand lettering. This is especially written for the beginner who admires hand lettered documents and posters but felt too intimidated to try it. The process is simplified and no special tools needed!

 

 

2. Stress Free Meal Planning for Beginners

This is Step 2 in the series that I wrote back in 2015. The subtitle to this post is: finding what works for you. There are so many ways to meal plan – and so many meal options! Meal planning really needs to be approached with simplicity and curiosity. When I started meal planning, I didn’t add in any new recipes – I just plugged in dinner meals on certain days of the week and stuck to it.

I’m getting to the point now that we need to infuse our meal plans with some new recipes. Our standards that we fall back to are feeling a little too repetitive.

1. 10 Lessons Learned After a Year of Decluttering

I wrote this post after my first year of serious decluttering in 2015. I realized that decluttering required mindset work as well as the actual practical tips and work of decluttering.

This is a post I frequently come back to because decluttering is a process and takes time. It is good for me to remember the four mindset lessons and the six practical lessons that I learned that year (and continue to learn!)

My 5 Personal Favorites from 2017

Lagom: What it is and How to Start Living It

Decluttering with Your Spouse: What to do when you’re “Differently Organized”

13 Green Living Tips for Earth Day

The First Step to Finding Joy

How to Become Debt Free, Calm, and Happier in Life

What about you? What kind of top 5 lists are you making from your life in 2017? I’d love to know in the comments!