Spring Cleaning

Spring arrives tomorrow, March 20, at 12:15 PM.  Not that it feels like spring around here.  The ground is still covered with 2′ of snow, and the temperature is not going to make it out of the 30s.  Yet, spring is on it’s way.  We will see the snow melt and the crocus push through the frozen ground – eventually.

I’ve never been one to clean just because of a season.  I was usually too busy to not take advantage of any time I had to clean – no matter the calendar.  Now that I have more time on my hands, I can see the benefit of spring cleaning.  One reason is that I don’t want to be cleaning during the summer.  In addition to being too hot and uncomfortable to clean, I want to be enjoying the pool, the beach, ice cream, etc.  In the fall, I’m busy with school activities and getting ready for winter.  Then comes the holiday season.  The winter is good for indoor projects–decluttering, etc., but spring allows for outdoor clean ups.

So, I guess that’s background to my decision to get some spring cleaning done.  Since we still have a ways to go before I’ll be able to tackle outdoor cleaning, and I can’t put away winter coats or clothes yet – that will have to wait for at least another month. 

Motivation

As I researched spring cleaning, I found an interesting survey about the challenges of spring cleaning.  It wasn’t a huge survey (1015 adults), but the number one challenge of spring cleaning is finding the motivation and figuring out where to start.

I’m not surprised.  I think everyone struggles with the motivation to clean to some extent. I certainly do.  Here are some things that I do to help with motivation:

1. Schedule a Big Brother/Big Sister (or some other charity that picks up) pick up.  Having the pressure of a deadline helps me get motivated.  I can’t schedule it out too far or I’ll procrastinate.
2. Plan to have a party or company.  I always have my family for Easter, so I have a built-in event every spring.  Cleaning for company can be very focussed to a few rooms and cleaning, so make sure you have a plan to work on other areas to declutter and clean.
3. Set a timer.  Sometimes knowing that I just have to work on something for a set time – like an hour – makes it easier to start.  I know when I’ll start, but more importantly, I know when I’ll finish.  It’s like when you are on the treadmill at the gym, sometimes I trick myself into starting by saying that I’ll just do it for 20 minutes, but then once I’m going, I continue past the 20 minutes.
4. Reward yourself.  The feeling of completing the task will give me some satisfaction, but it’s not as motivating as a trip to Marshalls or 30 minutes of reading.

Where to Start

Knowing where to start is also a challenge.  I was surprised that in the survey, they asked about cleaning rooms like the bathroom and the kitchen.  I don’t think of spring cleaning as just a more thorough cleaning – I think of it as tackling areas and jobs that you don’t clean as frequently (or at all!) during the year.  Like the outside of kitchen cabinets, walls, woodwork, closets, drawers, and floors (carpet, rugs, wood, or tile – just a deeper cleaning).

I decided to look at my “House Projects” list and my last brain dump “to do” list for ideas on where to start.  My House Projects are prioritized, and one of the top projects on my list is to renovate our second-floor bathroom, so one of my tasks will be to declutter that bathroom.  

I scheduled a BBBS pickup for mid-April, so my next focus will be on gathering up and documenting donations.  I’ll start with clothes and purging the closets because I may need to launder items before putting them in the donation bags.

I also need to clean out our refrigerators.  Yes, that’s plural.  I have three that need attention.  

I’ll be able to schedule time to work on the bathroom and the donations, but the refrigerators are jobs that you just have to power through until they are done.  I’ll start with our kitchen refrigerator because several times a day I’ll be able to enjoy the benefit of having it clean.  Plus, there may be things in that refrigerator that will need to be moved to one of the others.

 

Spring Cleaning Other Areas of Your Life

I found it interesting that survey respondents wanted to clean up other areas of their life – like finances, friendships, love life, and social media.  I definitely want to spend some time spring cleaning other areas:

1. Electronic files – especially my inbox.  My email has been out of control for a while now, and I really need to spend some time on purging and organizing.
2. Finances – I keep up with our finances, but I need to dedicate some time to gather some data about our spending and budget.  This is definitely a task worth getting done before the summer vacation.

I hope to keep you posted with my progress, and I’ll share any tips or tricks that I find.