Thoughts On Spring Cleaning

 

Spring is here! Although it is a gloomy day here, only sparse patches of snow remain. As I type this post, it is morning and the birds are all singing their songs to welcome the day. In the home, I am getting the urge to purge, in the hopes that I will soon be able to throw open all the windows and stir the air that has turned stale through the winter months.

This is a time where I have to set aside Flylady for awhile. Her philosophy is that Spring Cleaning is not necessary if you're following her method. Once a zone is decluttered, you are basically dedicating one week per month to power clean that area. While I agree with this, I am feeling the need to do an all-house overhaul and give our home a clean slate. Pardon the pun. I have to be honest and tell you that I didn't get nearly as much decluttering done as I had hoped to so far this year. So, my plans are to give my entire house a good cleaning while decluttering along the way.

The UNlist

If you're looking for a list of Spring Cleaning tasks, you will not find it in this post. For those looking for one, I apologize. Then again, there are plenty of those around the web. And you don't even have to look very hard, especially right now. There is nothing wrong with those at all. In fact, I use them myself. Instead, I want to share my thoughts on how I'm going to go about this and hopefully give you ideas and inspiration as well.

First, I'm not going to lie. This will probably take me awhile. I've been down the road of Spring Cleaning burn-out too many times. I print out my list, set aside a weekend, and try to get it all done. Result? Too much coffee consumed, cranky mama, cranky kids, and a couple of really nice areas paired with the rest of the house being in a bigger state of chaos than when I started. Um, yeah. No thanks! I don't want to go there again.

Think (and Pray!) Before You Act

Like anything else in life, it's a good idea to think about it before you do anything. What is the purpose of your home? How do you want your home to feel? To your family? To others coming into your home? For me, I want my home to be a haven for myself, my family, and anyone who walks through the doors. A place of rest. A place where everyone can relax and know they can just be themselves. A place of comfort when the world is pressing in. A place where myself and my family can minister to each other and to others.

Of course, to me, this starts with prayer and love. Ask God to show you what He wants your home to be. And as you go about your tasks, keep 1 Corinthians 13 in mind. Trying to physically make your home a haven, while being cranky with your family in the process, well, is pretty much useless! I'd much rather have a messy home with joyful hearts, than a museum-perfect home with bitter hearts. That being said, I'm one of those people whose mind can't rest in the midst of clutter, so I have to ask God to give me a joyful heart while making a clean, clutter-free home for my family. Then I have to recognize when I'm losing sight of that, and give myself permission to rest and take a break.

Cleaning from the Inside, Out

This is just my own personal experience from my years of homemaking. When Spring hits, we all want to get out and clean up the yard, wash the outside windows, maybe power-spray the outside of the house. And that is wonderful! We should get out and enjoy the weather when it's gorgeous! But I like to start early in the season, when it's still mostly too cold to do those things.

I like to start with closets and major storage areas. When I have those done, I feel like the rest of the house goes so much more smoothly and easily. 

Last week, I did my pantry. I did one shelf at a time, starting with the top. First, I took everything off the shelf and put it on my dining room table. Next, I cleaned the light fixture, dusted the ceiling, wiped the walls down to that shelf, then wiped the shelf itself. Then, I sorted all the stuff on my dining room table. The top shelf of my pantry is non-food items: cooking apparatuses that aren't used very often, paper plates, disposable cups and eating utensils, that sort of thing. Some went to the trash, some went to the donation bag, the rest was put neatly back on the shelf. At my own pace, I did the rest of the closet, shelf by shelf. Removing everything, wiping, sorting, reorganizing. When the entire closet was finished, it felt so good! 

This weekend, I'm tackling my bathroom linen/utility closet. At some point while I'm doing the closets, Hubby will tackle our outdoor storage shed.

Work Your Way Around

When all the closets are finished, I will start at my front entryway and work my way around the house until it is finished. Again, this will be at my own pace, and it's not going to get done in a weekend! This will be a good, detailed cleaning, decluttering as needed as I go. Again, having those closets done will be a blessing when I get to this stage! When I get to a closet in the room I'm working on, all I will have to do is peep in, make sure everything's still straightened, and move on. Whew!

I also want to point out that, as I clean, I note any minor repairs, changes, or decorating ideas for the area I'm currently working on. As we get time and funds, we make those happen.

Another thing to be aware of is, before starting a new area, take a quick peek at the areas you've already done. Maintain those before starting another area. If you're keeping up on this, maintenance, if needed, should be super quick.

Go Outside!

Obviously, when the weather's nice, go outside anyway! I don't expect to be trapped inside cleaning all day, every day until it's finished. That just leads to burn-out, and I've learned to slow down. But, I do like to save the outside cleaning tasks until the inside of the house is to my liking. Then, I will wash the outside windows, rake those leaves that didn't get done before the first big snowfall, and prep my garden for planting.

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Such are my thoughts on Spring Cleaning this year. Go at your own pace. Don't be a slave to a list. Do clean in love to bless your family. And, hey! Do employ the help of your family! My kiddos are by no means off doing whatever they feel like while mama slaves away by herself.

So, do you do regular Spring Cleaning? Every year? Or maybe even every couple of years or so? I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.

Thanks for reading everyone, and have a great weekend!