Spring Cleaning for All Seasons!

Spring cleaning doesn't have to happen in spring. Although spring weather does put me in the mood to clean. For one, the snow is gone. So the path to the dumpster is not a treacherous one. But we aren't in summer yet so the chance of getting chased away from the dumpster by a territorial bee is slim.

So what do I do to spring clean? Well, I look at my house through a fresh lens. Literally. I have noticed clutter is magnified in my mind when it is in a photo. Many times I have cropped a picture I took so the clutter isn't in the photo. I didn't used to and cringe when I see those old photos.

Or I could avoid that extra step and just clean out before I need or want to take a picture. My Declutter Journey started many years ago. But first a short back story:

For about 10 years I was chronically homeless. With a child in tow. I had to learn to live minimally and travel light. So when I finally got into my own place it seemed huge to me. I thought, "A 2 bedroom townhouse? I'll NEVER fill this place!" Everything we owned fit in the hall closet. Fast forward 2 years and I found myself realizing I could not walk in my walk-in closet. I looked around and saw the piles in every corner of my home. The closets were all stuffed and the basement only half stuffed but mostly because I was afraid to go down there. I realized I was now on my way to a hoarder lifestyle and I came up with a plan:

Phase 1- The walk-in closet. I spent the day going through it and I tossed or donated at least half of it's contents. It felt SO good that I had to do more!

Phase 2- Box everything! I took the piles and put them into cardboard boxes or into plastic totes. I put the boxes into the closets out of sight so at least my living room looked more open. Over time I would tackle one box at a time. It felt great to condense and organize and even get rid of items until a box was empty and I could toss the box itself, too.

Phase 3- Donate, donate, donate! I would take the things I no longer needed or wanted but were not garbage and I put them in my car. One day I filled it up and drove to the thrift store SO many times, the workers would roll out a big bin as soon as they saw me coming.

Phase 4- Condense. I realized by now that most of the clutter was gone, but it still took me too long to search for items. I realized that although I had a new no-cardboard-boxes-allowed rule, I had MANY plastic drawers and bins and totes. Half full and things thrown together randomly. I put similar things together: ink pens, yarn and crochet supplies, etc. If I had 2 half bottles of the same product, such as shampoo, I combined them and tossed the empty bottle. It shaved minutes off of searching time and saved me future tears. Yes, I would cry in frustration when I found myself looking for something AGAIN.

Phase 5- Keep it up! I don't always have a tidy apartment. (I have moved to a single level unit which makes the same amount of stuff I had seem like more in the smaller place.) Starting with the living room, over time I got it looking pretty great almost all the time. But I still get piles or too many boxes sometimes and I have to find the worst spot and clean in up or clean it out. Even today I am working on my bedroom.

This journey to Minimalism never stops! But it is satisfying to know that at least if I pass away my family and friends won't have to sort through my belongings as much and they can focus on grieving and healing. On a less morbid note- I have more peace, more walking room, less visual clutter, and less stress! I hope I can inspire others to want to discover the freedom of a good spring [or summer/fall/winter] cleaning!