Spring Cleaning: The Easy Way 🌷

It’s not quite spring. Alas I am getting an early start at my spring cleaning. Probably because I feel a wee tinge of guilt for not actually doing a fall inside house cleanup.

I love watching the tidy shows like Marie Kondo, to get inspired to get right in there and do my purging and deep cleaning. On TV it looks so easy. In my house it’s starting off strong, followed by interruptions from toddlers or teenagers or in between.

Then I eventually get back to the task at hand, and it looks like this…

What the heck! Did I leave it like this? Or is it now started to multiply on its own? Did I have it in stacks? Or organized in any fashion at all? I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have left a mess like this, maybe the toddler was in here? 😉

Now I start again. Then distracted by work, or house responsibilities, being a mom taxi or something, and it stays like this, for what seems like months!!

This time I’m going to derive a better way. Maybe a formula for this kind of cleaning. Clearly I can’t do a huge area at once, maybe just one shelf at a time sort of mini-purge.

Where to start?

I’d love to say I had a spreadsheet going with all my areas clearly marked out with time estimations of how long it would take and projections of what percentage of the stuff to purge.

That would be lovely. Unfortunately, that is not me.

How I got started was sifting through the craziness of my linen closet looking for a clean fitted sheet to put on the bed I just stripped.

Well, crap! Honestly, how hard could that be? I know I have at least 5!!

About an hour later I had everything lying on the floor. I had totally forgotten I was looking for a bed sheet at all. I was astounded by how much I had in that cupboard!! W…o…w!

Right then and there, I decided this could not go on like this. What would Marie Kondo do? Boxes! Bins! (Those of you who know me well, call me the queen of the plastic bins). 😂

While I had a couple hours babysitting a sweet little toddler to help occupy mine, I quickly sorted it on the floor in piles.

Pile 1- wtf is this in my house for?

Pile 2- where tf did this come from?

Pile 3- awwww, that was so cute on ______, I love it 😍

Pile 4- I can’t believe I have something this old still!

Pile 5- these still actually feel soft, and look ok, and fit.

Pile 6- this sparks joy!

Eventually, after looking in on the littles about six times in between, I finished my sorting.

Piles 1,2 & 4 got purged. Pile 5 & 6 stayed, pile 3, I actually thought about each item, and most got purged.

🌷Now to fold… like I love it, and get it put away!

I’m gonna give it to Marie, when it comes to folding like she does, I thought she was crazy, but it really does make it easier to see stuff.

😊 I labeled my bins, or boxes. Got out my favorite natural cleaner that I love the smell of, and gave the a good cleaning. Filled my bins and boxes.

Ta da! ✨

I am just so proud of myself! Everyone who comes to my house gets a personal tour of my linen closet!! Woo hoo!! 🎉

…oh right! I needed a fitted sheet! 😉

Found one right away! Yay!!

In conclusion…

I guess my new formulation would be:

➡️do a small area, or small section

➡️do it quickly

➡️clean it thoroughly, with a smell that you adore

➡️celebrate after you’ve taken all the stuff to the thrift store

➡️ enjoy using your clean & uncluttered spaces 💕

Have an amazing week! Off to do some more spring cleaning! 😊

❤️ Peace & Love ☮️