Prepare for Spring Clearing
Ready for some spring clearing? Yes, I say clearing instead of cleaning because I believe that when you declutter first, cleaning comes easier. So… clear to clean.
Here’s what you can do to make it easier for yourself.
✅ Make a plan of what you’re going to do (costume closet, whole room, entire house?) and when. Put it in your calendar.
✅ Break up the steps into smaller bits to make it more doable. Everyone loves small wins and those small wins add up quick! Will you plan a full weekend to knock it out or do one task a night for a few weeks? There’s no right or wrong way, just make a realistic plan that suits your needs, energy and style.
✅ Find your local donation sites and research their hours. If you won’t get to donate items right away (recommended), put a donation run on your calendar. Pairing it with another errand you are running in a nearby location, etc. in the near future can help. Put the items in your car, in the garage or near the door. They are on their way out, don’t invite them back in.
Now we are ready to get started:
- Start with a first pass of trash. Collect ONLY trash. Obvious trash. This should be quick and easy. It can be done prior to the decluttering session and may only take 5 to 10 minutes.
- I like to have 3 bins or boxes during the decluttering process: KEEP, DON”T KEEP (DONATE), & GOES ELSEWHERE. The bin/box or bag used for the donatable items should be donatable itself. The ‘goes elsewhere’ bin catches all items that have homes in other rooms or don’t have homes yet. The idea behind it is that you stay in the room you are working, instead of leaving every five minutes to put things where they live in other rooms. You can take the time to empty that once it gets full or at the end of the decluttering session.
- Eat, Drink and be merry. No one makes good decisions when they’re hungry or dehydrated.
Now you’re ready to get started. Have fun and happy clearing!
You are enough and you have enough, I’m glad we had this talk.
Amy-Ellen