When I was younger I used to hate cleaning my room. With a fiery passion that rivaled the sun on the hottest summer day.

There were periods of time when I was in high school where I couldn't even see the slightest hint of carpeting under the solid layer of clothes, shoes, and general debris occupying a majority of my floor space. I had developed this tiptoe maneuvering strategy that was executed with enough balance and grace to make even the most practiced ballerina turn green with envy.

But then I went off to college.

All of a sudden there was so much new, free space that I had to occupy with an overwhelming amount of THINGS. So naturally I took advantage of that. Coming from a person who feels most at home in spaces that look "comfortably lived-in," I filled all of the empty spaces I could with pieces of home and new memories.

Now that I've graduated, I'm in the process of moving back home and I've discovered that there is not nearly enough room to accommodate the volume of clothes, books, and trinkets that I've stockpiled over the last four years now that everything is in one room again.

The smartest (and most obvious choice) for my present situation after pitifully trying to force clothes that won't fit into my closet was to do a bit of a "spring clean."

But oh, Vanessa, a "spring clean" you say? It's summer! It's June! I would hardly say that this qualifies as spring.

While I was forced into a "spring" clean, I got to thinking that the idea that you only really need to clean out what you don't want, need, or use once a year is detrimental to having a clean home and a clutter free space.

If you only declutter your house once a year (like you might be tempted to do by convincing yourself that you only need to clean in the spring) it's so easy to find yourself up to your elbows in your own mess. All the while staring glumly at that one corner in your bedroom that seems to attract crumpled cardigans, lone socks, and the motivation to tidy up that left you the moment you designated spring time as the only time to clean.

Spring clean. Summer clean. Winter clean. Autumn clean. Monthly clean. Biweekly clean.

Do whatever it is you need to do keep your home devoid of clutter and just wait and watch for your head to feel clearer and your heart to feel lighter.

This has been a long-winded way of telling myself that I need to step up my cleaning game. And a challenge to step up yours too.

So say "bye bye spring clean," and say hello to a new outlook on what it means to keep up a constant effort to be free of clutter.