Osoji…
This New Year’s Eve I’m celebrating with the Japanese tradition of Osoji, or “big cleaning”. Every New Year’s Eve in Japan people collectively take part in a ritual of cleaning their homes, offices, schools, and other spaces to welcome in the new year. I can’t think of a better way to start 2026 than with a fresh, clean, tidy home.
Refreshing…
Getting down and dirty with a deep clean provides an opportunity to reorganize spaces and items I keep in my home. My goal is to create spaciousness, brightness, and coziness to carry me through the best part of the winter ahead and on into the rest of the year. Christmas decorations and gifts received will need to find their places and as they do old things may need to go into the donation bin or sometimes the trash. The New Year big clean can serve as a base for setting up the space I live in to best support my plans for 2026. With the old year removed, dusted, or shined up the place where I live will be refreshed to use in new and hopefully better ways. I’m not done winter dreaming just yet, and I think having a cleared up space will help me ease into envisioning my future for the next year and onward.
Cleaning…
Cleaning can be a daunting project, especially if things have not been attended to for some time. Realistically, it may not be possible to clean everything as thoroughly as I would like, but I’m determined to get some of the that fresh clean feeling ready for New Year’s Day. The priorities will be surfaces and windows. The appearance of shininess, spotlessness, and clarity will yield the most impact for a fresh start on January 1st. I will focus on floors, windows and glass, counters, and other exposed surfaces. While I go through my cleaning I will make a list to prepare for a continuation of this big clean through the first few days of the New Year (i.e., the weekend) to make sure I get to all borders, behinds, and beneaths of things.
Clearing…
Air and fragrance offer their own element of refreshing a space. My plan is to heat up my place in the morning and around midday open the windows wide while I work to get a big sweep of air moving through the space. After I finish the cleaning, I will bring out some new candles to burn a different sent into the air and create a kind of transition between 2025 and 2026.
Organizing…
For many years I have been a fan of Marie Kondo and her KonMari method of cleaning. I began applying her method those many years ago. It was quite labor intensive and emotional, but I think well worth doing. I learned how to better organize my items and make them more accessible. It’s been only recently, however, that I fully realized that I have continued to apply the method and have improved in its use over time. It’s less work now, and more of a regular process that I maintain. It places a strong emphasis on only keeping what is or will be used. I am a bit sentimental with things, even very silly things like ticket stubs from movies with good friends, and so it has been difficult for me to develop the skill to organize in a way such that I must either display important things or throw them out. It has nevertheless been incredibly valuable, in an almost therapeutic way, to me to learn to let go of things from the past or to place those things out where I can enjoy them. Applying the skills of tidying and organizing has helped me move on from the past and focus more on the present and the future. Organizing will have a key role in my big clean this year. As I clean and remove then replace items I will be keeping in mind what I would like to use or display and what needs to be removed or let go so that the future can move forward unrestricted by things of the past.
Wishing you a fresh and clean happy New Year!
Source links…
https://wabisabi-jp.com/blogs/wabi-sabi-journal/osoji
https://tokyotreat.com/blog/year-end-osoji-japans-big-clean-for-a-fresh-new-year
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