The Birds, The Bees and Spring Cleaning is in the Air!

When it comes to Spring Cleaning, it’s all about attitude. If you look at it like a horrible chore that you hate doing, it will be a horrible chore that you hate doing! But if you tackle it as an opportunity to get your place organized and clean, with all the benefits of living in a space that you can be proud of, the results are well worth the effort.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and tackling your spring cleaning is something you can do one room at a time over the course of several weekends. When you see the results of a clean, organized kitchen, for instance, it will inspire you to move on to other rooms.

One of the secrets of an organized home is fighting the urge to procrastinate; make decisions about what stays and what goes. This is particularly important when it comes to organizing your clothes closets. Here’s one way to do it.

1. Remove all clothing you don’t wear, will never wear, including the items you keep because you feel guilty that you bought it in the first place, clothing that doesn’t fit and probably never will. These you can pack into a garbage bag and take to a charity bin.
2. Separate out all the seasonal clothing. There is no point warehousing wool sweaters in your closet in the summer. It takes up valuable room and the goal here is to create a Zen-like closet that is functional and organized. Take your seasonal items and pack them into a storage container for the locker or under the bed.
3. Organize like-items together – keep pants together, tops together, suits together. Your closet will not only look nicer; it will be easier to see what you have.
4. Consider a shelf for shoes. Getting them off the floor and away from the front door really helps remove the clutter and again lets you see what you have.
5. Sometimes a hanger renewal is in order – consider purchasing hangers that match and discarding ones that don’t – especially those ugly dry cleaner hangers!

Kitchens also pose unique challenges. That drawer that has everything in it that you don’t want to deal with! Do you really need all those elastics from your broccoli bunches? Business cards from people you’ll never contact? Broken pens? Start with the worst drawer and move on. Get rid of stuff you don’t use and will probably never use. Less is more when it comes to kitchen organization – and this is where you have to be strong and determined. If you haven’t used that egg poacher in years, give it away! The space it takes up is more valuable to you than it is! This is true for spices and canned goods too – if it’s been in your cupboard unused for more than three months, it’s toast!

Spring cleaning gives you the opportunity to create a peaceful, clean, calm and beautiful space. Once you’re finished, you’ll see that it’s worth the effort!