The exuberant season of excess is behind us all. The gyms are full of the New Year's resolvers, frantically pounding away on treadmills and stairsteppers while the rest of us are looking out over extended waistIines and credit card balances.

Overwhelming, many of our thoughts are ones of regret. Why did I do that, buy that, spend that, eat that?

Yes, I know I justified it all because I deserved it, but Lordy, next year things are going to be different. In the mantra of out with the old and in with the new, we now look to reverse our mistakes of appetite, consumerism, and consumption by swinging back to centre, resolving to straighten up and fly right. If only we can get ourselves under control while regaining a calm, concise and consistent inner and external environment.

Some not so profound secrets revealed in the book, "It's All Too Much", by Peter Walsh, the professional organiser from the TLC hit series Clean Sweep are the following:

• The basic fabric of people's lives is being negatively impacted by how we relate to the things we have and the things we own. Notice he does not say how we relate to other people we have relationships with!

• We are at the centre of an orgy of consumption.

• Kids (and adults) are so overwhelmed with stuff they lose the ability to concentrate.

• Overpurchasing, hoarding for a rainy day, and unpaid bills cause severe financial strains in relationships.

• Homes are becoming storage facilities, not centres of light, serenity and stability.

• We feel overwhelmed with our out-of-control states and spend thousands of dollars on self-help books that never get fully read or implemented, just add more to the clutter.

• Happiness and financial success are not measured by having more material things.

• Having more possessions is suffocating, not liberating.

• For far too many, the stuff we consume and we own ends up owning us.

We buy too much of everything, food, clothes; we throw away anything that takes too much effort to salvage including perfectly fine leftover food. We are careless with our precious natural resources, including even our own bodies; we simply do not want to think about tomorrow because whatever we want will always be there to buy. Besides who has time? We are too busy earning the money to allow us to stay in the same crazy cycle. But, we can change. We are creatures of habit. In order for change to happen next year, we need to start upgrading our habits now. It takes time to change. You have to practice being the new organised, disciplined you while consciously and subliminally, eliminating the old anything-goes you!

You may fail soundly in the process, but try you must. There are some regimens you can implement immediately to help you start the process of investing in only appreciating assets, avoiding buying for buying's sake, eliminating waste in your life and household, and achieving inner power and peace of mind.

• Compute the true cost of every unnecessary or frivolous purchase. Compute not only the cost now, but also the cost of caring for the item; then exercise your math functions to figure out the value of the same item in five years. For appreciating assets — I challenge you to come up with a shopping list, multiply the original cost by 1.06 percent — assuming it appreciates six percent a year.

Depreciating assets, use the reverse, assume a depreciation rate of 25 percent per year and divide each year's value by 1.25. See chart.

• Resale — then ask yourself, even if you think it will appreciate in value, can you sell it? Send me a letter if you truly think that your 'stuff' will be worth more in five years than it is now.

• Compute total splurge cost. Go through your house and sort all your possessions into purchases into necessaries (note that only so many pairs of shoes are necessary, ladies) and splurges. Add up the cost of the splurges only. Shocked at the amount? You should be! Splurges are never sane decisions.

• Reduce. Look around your living space. What exactly do you have in it that you actually need? I'll wager not much, besides which, half of these things that we think that we have to have need dusting, washing, and maintenance. Why would you want to waste valuable time on mindless repetitive cleaning tasks when you could be improving your knowledge for a better job? A successful career means more money in the bank. Resolve now to reduce 50 percent or more of the clutter in your home and in your mind.

• Refine your financial practices. Track your cash outflow. Pay your bills on time. Set up a standing order to save every month — you won't miss it if you don't have it. Get rid of your credit card debt, otherwise, like the Lord it may be with you always. File your important papers in one place. Review your insurance policies for adequate coverage. Make sure your family can locate your will, passports, birth certificates, and any other valuable papers. Ditto, all of your appliance manuals, software pieces, etc

• Wage war on waste. Are you doing your part to save planet earth? I doubt it, no more than I do, which is not a lot. It takes time to reuse every plastic bag; to wash out bottles for recycling for storage containers, or hanging clothes on a line instead of using a dryer at $5 per pop; or taking cloth grocery bags to the store; or making a meal from scratch with lower cost ingredients instead of buying frozen package portions and heavily throw-away packaged takeout; or drinking plain old water poured through a purification filter, instead of littering the landscape with plastic bottles and aluminium cans, or just eating less of everything.

• Star builder mind set. Practice consistently on changing your mindset. You are different now. Remove the thought process from your mind that allows you to care about what other people think. Use some of the hundreds of websites and Clean Sweep's book "It's All Too Much" to get you started on the path to living simply, so that others may simply live.

• Reward yourself. A true reward for a job well done should be rare and treasured, one bag — not ten, you get the picture.

The world is a far changed place today. We need to change with the times, or be left behind, unable to survive. Award yourself an inner satisfaction star award for taking the right path of action.

Martha Harris Myron CPA NH1929, CFP® -67184 (US licenses) is a dual citizen (US and Bermuda). She is a Senior Wealth Manager at Argus Financial Limited, specializing in comprehensive financial solutions and investment advisory services for individual private clients and their families, business owners, endowments and trusts. DirectLine: 294 5709 Confidential email can be directed to mmyron@argusfinancial.bm

The article expresses the opinion of the author alone. Under no circumstances is the content of this article to be taken as specific individual investment advice, nor as a recommendation to buy/ sell any investment product. The Editor of the Royal Gazette has final right of approval over headlines, content, and length/brevity of article.