Happy Year of the Tiger!

It’s traditional to use this time during the Chinese New Year to clean, gut, disinfect, and generally purge your home. It’s a good time to do it, too, especially in my neck of the woods where it’s been constantly snowing and there’s little else to do.

While it’s traditional to do all of the cleaning before the New Year (which, this year, was on Sunday), cleaning on New Year’s Day is forbidden because it could sweep out the luck from the New Year. Now that the first day is over, however, you can still work on your goal throughout the month of February and get your home in tip-top shape well before the Jones family does in the spring! Here’s how.

Get rid of everything associated with the old year. Throw away any magazines, calendars, or other dated materials you’ll no longer be using. Store old journals and other mementos away neatly. Make sure everything is up-to-date.

Clean and polish everything. If you can see it, clean it. If you can’t see it, clean it too!

Store all brooms, brushes, and other cleaning supplies away. You may wish to make a special cleaning cabinet just for this purpose. Keep it well organized and tidy.

Pay off all debts. If this isn’t possible, make arrangements to pay off as many as you possibly can to ensure a fresh clean start.

Grab a feng shui book and implement a few “cures.” Maybe you have too much metal in a room and not enough wood. Perhaps the arrangement of your furniture is blocking the incoming chi’i. Just implementing a few easy changes can go a long way toward a lucky New Year.

Fix anything in need of repair. This is a common “fix” in feng shui and should be done throughout the year. A leaky faucet, a broken dishwasher—anything you’ve got that could be draining your family of its energy should be repaired as soon as possible.

Open every window and door of your home at midnight. This will help release the old year and welcome in the new one.

Per Chinese culture, add some items for luck and health in your home. These can include oranges or tangerines, new clothing (especially red clothing), red money envelopes (place new dollar bills inside), circular dishes, and pretty flowers, such as lilies or peach blossoms. Other items you may want to decorate with include anything red, representations of chicken and fish (which represent prosperity), red banners or poems for luck, and persimmons. You can also make some of these items yourself out of wood, paper, or other craft materials for a symbolic blessing if you cannot have them in your home for some reason or simply cannot acquire them.