If you’ve never stayed up late at night emptying every orifice of your home, tossing out old things and rearranging the new, you don’t know what you’re missing.

There is something about a clean and simple living space that can alter your mood entirely.   As the calendar days roll by, our lives become cluttered physically and mentally, stuffing our closets and our minds with baggage better suited for Logan Airport’s endless luggage claim.  With the new year approaching in what seems to be a swifter pace each December, time can begin to feel like a big snowball, rolling closer and larger and faster towards our backs every second.  January 1st is our chance to clear all slates, both environmental and metaphoric, and head into a new calendar with the excess behind us and only the essentials in our keeping.  So here’s to cleaning it out, calming the soul, and raising a glass to 2014.  Let’s make this the best year yet.