Pack up those old clothes — the ones that have been sitting in a box in your closet forever — and send them to a charitable organisation.

Start to get your finances in order now so you can take care of your taxes when the time comes. You don’t want to end up shuffling through receipts when April rolls around.

Unsubscribe from any subscriptions — paper or electronic — that you don’t want anymore (or never signed up for in the first place). Try an app like Truebill to help you out.

Schedule a date to catch up with a friend you haven’t seen in a while. Yes, the holidays can get hectic, but making a point to reconnect will ground you and keep your stress levels in check.

Plan a weekend getaway now for mid-February. It’ll give you something to look forward to after the holiday slump. (If that’s not in your budget, a really relaxing staycation will do the trick.)

Take stock of your past year at work: Come time for annual reviews, you’ll have a clear outline of why you deserve that raise — or maybe a clearer idea that you’d like to go in a new direction.

Try out a new habit for a week: Walk an extra thousand steps a day, get a solid eight hours of sleep every night or forgo that third cup of coffee. When the week’s up, see how you feel.

Bookmark a few recipes to try on days when nothing but only home-cooked food will do. If your looking to cut down on expenses, eating at home will help you out so make it a point to cook at least once a week.

Look back on things you wish you’d done differently in the past year. Find out what you can learn from them and then forgive yourself completely.

And finally, give yourself a pat on the back. Congratulate yourself on everything you accomplished in 2017 because it’s been tough and you deserve to end the year on a high.

(Text by Cath Bennett, bauersyndication.com.au / Additional reporting by Natalya Molok)