Most people start feeling the itch about March to begin pulling everything out of their closet, garage, shed, etc, in a mass purge we call Spring Cleaning. My purge begins in December right after Christmas. As soon as those gifts start piling into the house, my radar goes on high alert and everything must go! Out with the old, in with the new. It starts with making room for the new items and then evolves into every room and corner needs a thorough once over. Our local donation spot gets a LOT of bags from us around the end of December.
It’s not just all the lovely Christmas gifts that prompt this flurry of purging and organizing. It’s also the 4 birthdays in my family between mid December to mid January! Needless to say, my family all knows what it means when they see the twitching in my eyes, it’s about to get real. My kids know that before they can put away all their delightful new gifts they need to make room for them by pulling out some no longer needed items. I do the same in my own room, then bathroom, then kitchen, then living room… no room left behind!
By the time I see my neighbors opening their garages and pulling everything out into the driveway, I’m thinking to myself “is there any part of my house that needs Winter Cleaning round 2?” What luxury we live in that we constantly have so much we can give away! My kids don’t always see it that way when I’m asking them to fill a bag to donate, but it’s all about perspective.
Spring Cleaning can almost come as an involuntary motion that propels us forward into those overcrowded spaces in our homes. When you find yourself standing in your garage looking at all the piles and boxes and feeling compelled to just burn it all! Don’t do it. Take a deep breath and look with new eyes at what’s before you. You have an opportunity to turn chaos into peace, to turn spaces that drive you bonkers into places you want to go into. And now you are feeling motivated so go for it! If you don’t know where to start, try my 7 steps and see where they take you.
Happy Spring, and happy organizing!