A Big Mess

Best tip I can give for spring cleaning is make a mess! Take everything out of their hidey holes. Thow everything on the ground. Leave nothing untouched! I mean everything even your toothbrush, which you probably need a new one anyways. Scoot those shameful things you have been hiding underneath your bed. Hell, even displace the furniture. Reck the house like your name is Ralph! This sounds counter intuitive I know but trust me.

First and foremost, what this does is forces you to clean. Everything is on the floor. It is a tripping hazard. It is an obstacle course of all your accumulations and if you are anything like me making those little paths you will have burro through to navigate your home will drive you to motivated insanity. Essentially you are forcing yourself to do something about it. I hear some of you saying after that first bought of effort, “eh it can wait.” Famous last words of a fool. There will come a point where either you hurt yourself on your things or you will have that embarrassing moment when you realize you can’t bring anyone into your home.

Another reason this is great is that our drawers and other organizing furniture have become time capsules in our homes. Things we hid away for safe keeping and forgot about come to light. Things we were going to come back to and never did will appear as well. Those items too that have lain dormant and useless to your daily practical life will also manifest themselves. This gives you the moment you didn’t know you needed to reflect on the past and let go of futile objects you otherwise would have missed. In all, the heaviness of things you never knew were weighing you down will be lifted leaving you with a refreshed mood to face the spring.

What I really like too about dislocating your nick knacks from their homes is that it reveals the places you topically forget to clean. Drawers and shelves accumulate dust unidentifiable muck that finds their way into even the tightest of locations. This gives you an opportunity to wipe down shelves and wash out drawers. I have myself found that questionable smells will also be identified. I cleaned out my pantry recently to find potatoes at the back of my pantry had been the culprit of the putrid smell I could not no matter how much I cleaned lingered in my kitchen. Various can had hid the offending tubers and I would have continued to smell their putrefaction if I had not torn the kitchen apart.

Putting everything back is also cathartic. You have the opportunity to let things go and downsize, making room for new things. The people of Goodwill and the Salvation Army are happy to take on old clothes and bric-a-brac you no longer have use for and repurpose them. The things that you do keep, though, have been in those dusty nooks and crannies so this gives you the chance to give them a good wash. Also, when you put them back you can do it neatly. This is your moment to make everything look organized and tidy.

Lastly, it's time to put back that furniture. It has already been misplaced it so might as well do some reconfiguring. Feng Shui up the area. See if you can find a new ergonomically flow to the room. This is also going to add to your feelings of freshness. You can have a new look with the seasons change without the big price tag of completely moving locations.

Theres is a giddiness that overtakes me every time the house smells the spring air and Murphie's oil. Your house, believe it or not, will also stay cleaner longer, because those lurking dust bunnies have been completely evicted. I love this longer lasting feeling of clean. All it takes is making a very big mess.