Hey, guys. It's Chelsea from The Financial Diet. And this week's video is brought to you by Credit Repair. And this week, we wanted to talk to you guys about what you should be getting rid of before 2019 hits. These are things you should just be cleansing from your life so that you can go into 2019 lighter, more effective, and getting more use out of what you have. Some of these are more serious. Some are not so serious. But I think they'll all help you reach a 2019 that just feels so much better. So without further ado, let's get into it, with 15 Things to Get Rid of Before 2019.

Number one is that trendy piece of clothing that you bought this year even though it never looked good on you. Now, every year, this is a different thing. For example, some of you may remember 2017 and its era of weird sleeves. There was, like, a six-month period where literally no dress or top had anything resembling normal sleeves. And you had the choice between weird puffy bell sleeves or sleeves that had long slits in them. And basically, your arms just could not thrive in 2017. In 2018, it might be something like those awkward slip-on flats that are kind of gross in theory and also really impractical if it's anything other than bone-dry outside. Or it might be really boxy minimalist shift dresses that don't even look good on the model. Either way, chances are you've accumulated at least one item of clothing or an accessory this year that was based way more on the trend than what actually suits your body and your lifestyle. Get rid of it.

Number two is those little things that always fall to the bottom of your to do list. This might be something like getting a teeth cleaning-- guilty-- getting your tires rotated, calling a family member, fixing a small problem in your house. Whatever it is, chances are there is at least one small thing you've been meaning to do for months, even years now, but which always ends up getting pushed to the backburner. Make a commitment to do those things before 2019 hits. Giving yourself that really firm deadline will make sure you're more likely to prioritize it. And it will allow you to feel truly good about yourself going into the new year. You can even set up a really fun reward to give yourself as soon as you accomplish all of those things. Even something as simple as ordering in your favorite pizza to celebrate you're finally actually crossing everything off your to do list is a perfectly reasonable way to make sure you get it done.

Number three is subscriptions to YouTube channels or social media accounts that make you feel bad and make you want to spend tons of senseless money. This could be anything from, like, a home decor or fashion Instagramer, to a YouTube account that's constantly doing those haul videos. The point is, a lot of these accounts have the double whammy of pretending like this is their real life when a lot of what they're showing to you is either a freebie or paid for, and also making you feel that you need these things in order to be at their level. Many of these kind of aspirational accounts feed off of this insecurity in order to sell you tons of things you don't need. And of course, yes, sometimes it's nice to buy things for yourself that make you feel good. And we always have to spend money eventually. But we need to make sure that each one of those spending choices is driven by what we really want and what we have a need for, not just what we've been fed on social media by accounts that are trying to pass themselves off as real life. If you have accounts on YouTube or on social media that are consistently making you feel inadequate and making you want to spend money, ditch them.

Number four are any aspirational books. And by this, I mean books that you bought because you felt like you should read them, but you're never actually going to read them. For me, one example is all of those really fancy literary books that I didn't read because I didn't really go to college, so I feel like I should read them. But listen, I'm an adult now. I am never going to sit down and just read Beowulf or Wuthering Heights for fun. For you, it might be books that are more about business, or philosophy, or anything you generally feel like you should be reading, but are never actually going to. You are much better off donating those books to people who actually will read them. Or you could possibly even sell them. Books are meant to be loved. They're not meant to be decoration or make you feel bad by sitting on your shelf and staring at you. It's much better to have a few books but really love them than tons of books that you'll never get around to reading.

Number five is whatever bad habit you've gotten into since it started getting cold and dark outside. Now, we are all guilty of this in some form. For a lot of us, it tends to be things like you're not exercising as much as you usually do. Or you're not getting out of the house enough. Or maybe you're eating food on a really regular basis that you know is bad for you or your drinking way more. The point is, the cold dark weather tends to bring out bad habits in all of us, but now is a chance to reverse that trend. Make it a clear point that you will ditch this cold-weather habit before you enter 2019. Stop letting the cold, dark weather be an excuse to not be the best version of yourself you can be.

And similarly, number six is your lazy cooking routine. Now, it's very easy when it starts getting dark at, like, 4:00 in the afternoon to feel like, once you get home from work at the end of the day, it's basically midnight. And who wants to cook a real meal at that time? You're exhausted. And you want to get to bed early. And you just don't want to deal with cooking. I love cooking. And even I experience that. Committing to at least two nights a week of real, serious cooking that you can freeze the rest of as leftovers is a good way to make sure you're not slipping into the routine of either ordering in way too much, or going out, or just eating whatever crap you happen to find in your refrigerator. Peanut butter on Saltines is not a meal, and certainly not one you should have multiple dinners a week. Use the cold weather as a chance to embrace things like crockpot dinners, and soups, and sauces, all things which freeze very well, by the way. Even just having one Sunday big-batch cook and one during the week can ensure that most of your days are spent with a healthy, home-cooked, and affordable dinner.

Number seven is everything in your closet you're keeping just in case, but that just in case never actually comes. I was actually recently talking to Lauren about how I need to Marie Kondo the hell out of my wardrobe. I feel like I frequently go through my closet and purge the things I'm not getting a lot of use out of or which don't really fit me anymore, but somehow I'm always left over with way more stuff than I should have. And the reason is because I attach a lot of sentimental value to these things and assume that, at some later date, I will eventually wear them. But I will never wear them. And things like dresses that I wore to really formal weddings, or clothes that were really trendy 10 years ago are just almost certainly not ever going to make it back into my rotation. When you're cleaning out your closet, it can't just be like the obvious, these things are, like, destroyed, or don't even remotely fit me, or I've never worn them. Those are obvious. But you also need to take it to the next level and get rid of those things that you've been keeping for years on end just in case. Make it a point to do that before 2019.

Number eight is any subscription you don't use. This could be anything from multiple Netflix subscriptions in your home, to Hulu, to box delivery services, to magazines you don't read, anything that you've locked yourself into and stopped enjoying or using a long time ago. Taking even one afternoon to go through, comb your statements, and cancel anything you're not getting use out of can save you hundreds of dollars a year. If you still have that MoviePass card in your wallet, I'm going to come to your house and slap you in the face.

Number nine is any item that keeps making its way onto your grocery list despite the fact that you never end up eating it. Sometimes this is things like rare and fancy fruits and vegetables, or seasonal snacks that end up not actually tasting that good, or a whole jar of spices where you need just a couple pinches for a dish. You should buy those at the bulk spice counter so that you can only get exactly what you need. Whatever it is, chances are there is always at least one item in every grocery haul that you end up sadly and shamefully throwing away after a week. Identify those items. Look yourself in the mirror. And commit to getting rid of them and getting rid of them from your ongoing lists, come 2019.

Number 10 is any relationship that's costing you more than it's giving you. And I don't obviously mean in money, although money can be a part of it. These are relationships, family, friends, romantic, or otherwise, into which you're sinking a lot of time, energy, and effort and not getting a ton back. It can be as simple as combing through your messages and looking at relationships where you've sent them 10 for every 1 they've responded to you, or you're the person who's always initiating contact or suggesting outings together, or you always remember their special days and bring gifts and they never do the same for you. Do an inventory of the places where you are really emotionally investing. And make sure that you are always getting back what you're giving so that people aren't a net drain on you. You owe it to yourself to make sure that each relationship you have is reciprocal and fulfilling, because we do not have unlimited time and energy to give. You should phase out or at least downgrade those relationships come 2019. And it can be as simple as not keeping initiating with people who are never initiating with you. You don't have to go all scorched earth and cut them out of your life. You can just make a mental note of it and stop heavily investing where you're not receiving.

Number 11 is one bad professional habit that you know is holding you back. Be honest with yourself and identify at least one thing you're doing in your professional life that you know you should stop doing and you know is costing you. For me, I have a tendency to not send follow ups after meetings, which I know is an incredibly crucial thing to do to make sure that whatever you decide on sticks. And I've even recommended it, because in my better moments, I know that that's something that's important for me to do. Commit to ridding yourself of at least one bad specific habit like me and my failure to follow up, and you're 2019 will be much more prosperous professionally without even making that much effort.

Number 12 is people on your social media who are just bringing you down. If you have someone on any one of your social media feeds that you have repeatedly screenshotted and posts from and sent to your best friends saying, ugh-- and I guarantee you probably have at least one of those people-- you should get rid of them. And if it's someone that you can't cleanse from your feed like a family member, at least mute them so you're not constantly exposing yourself to things that piss you off.

Number 13 is your weird obsession with some small physical flaw about yourself that no one else notices or cares about. For me, my nose happens to look slightly different from each side of my face. And even people that I've known for years have to be repeatedly reminded of it and done a little back and forth so they can verify for themselves. So clearly, this is not something that's, like, punching people in the face when they first see me, but it's something that I've obsessed about. I've even long thought about getting a nose job just to fix it, but I'm not going to get one, because ultimately, I think, unless it's something that's really causing you serious mental health issues or impacting your life, it's probably better in the long run to get used to the imperfection of your physical self, because, listen, it's only getting worse. All of us will be conventionally unattractive eventually. And chances are, you have some really small thing about yourself that you fixate on, but people barely notice. Make it a point to remind yourself, oh, right, this thing is just largely in my head. And if I decide to, I can stop focusing on it. And an effective way to do this is to remember things that used to really bother you about yourself when you were younger that you now don't care about. There were tons of things that used to give me great anxiety as a teenager that I now feel totally fine with. Chances are you'll eventually become comfortable with this thing too, so speed up the process by reminding yourself that it's mostly in your head.

Number 14 is this exact same thing, but with your personality, that one personality thing that tends to really get on your nerves, but which no one else really cares about. Identify that thing in yourself. For me, it's the fact that I'm a very sincere person who tends to be very open with her emotions. And sometimes that can lead me to feel like, wow, did I just come across as really silly because I sent people a follow up email about being really excited about something? And the answer is, no. If you feel happy and comfortable with your personality, you should learn to embrace it, and understand that anyone who loves you loves you for that as well. It's important to differentiate between the things that we're actually doing that are negative towards others and the things that we would maybe change in an ideal world, but our part of who we are. I'm always going to be the person who cares a little too much about things. And that's OK. Taking a moment to write down that little personality quirk that you're really hard on yourself about but which isn't hurting anyone else is a good way to start working on actually embracing it. You deserve to do that before you go into 2019.

Lastly, number 15 is one project you keep putting off year after year. Sometimes it's just as fulfilling to give ourselves permission to say something isn't going to happen as it is to actually do it. If you're someone who's been saying to yourself for four years, I'm going to learn German, and then repeatedly not learning German, stopping with Duolingo or whatever after, like, two weeks, and feeling like you're a huge failure because you keep failing to accomplish that task, give yourself permission to say, this is not going to happen. And that's OK. We need to clear room in our lives for the projects we're actually going to embrace and follow through on and stop clouding our minds with all of these other nice to haves that we never follow through with, because not only does it detract from the things we actually are succeeding on, it's repeatedly putting ourselves in a position to fail. Because let's be honest. We know we're not going to do this thing if we haven't done it for the past four years in a row. Once you give yourself permission to say, OK, I'm not going to learn German, you free up all that mental time and space to embrace something you actually might do. Clear yourself of it before 2019 and you'll feel so much lighter. Overall, the goal should be to go into the new year as light, effective, and happy as you can. Holding onto things that are holding you back is just going to make each year feel like it stacks on top of the last one, with more things you've been meaning to do but never get around to.

Give yourself the greatest holiday gift of all, which is releasing yourself from this stuff you don't need anymore. And another amazing gift you can give yourself this year is the gift of an amazing credit score. And if you've been having trouble with your credit score, you should check out Credit Repair. As always, guys, thank you for watching. And don't forget to hit the Subscribe button and to come back every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for new and awesome videos. Bye.