Everyone is probably familiar with the term "spring cleaning," whether or not you participate in it or not. The basic idea is that you join the world on its fresh start with spring, and you also start fresh by cleaning out the physical spaces in your life. For many people, this is includes going through boxes of stuff sitting around your house, cleaning out closets and dusting, mopping, wiping down every surface around the house. Here are some tips for getting started with your spring cleaning:
1. Dedicate a day to your spring cleaning.
The best way to make sure that it all gets done is to tell yourself you will do it on __ day. and just do it. That way, you won't be interrupted in the middle and it is way easier to do it when you're already in the groove. It would be much harder to start up again the next day than it is to just do it all at once.
2. What clothes did you not wear all winter?
Going through closets and donating old clothes can be hard to do. There is always "Oh, I love this!" and "What if I need this?" to block every good intention. Sometimes, we need to be strict with ourselves and make our actions override our thoughts. Start with fall and winter clothes that you'll be putting away for the summer anyway. If you haven't worn them in the past year, do you really think you'll wear them sometime next year?
(By the way, this works just as well with spring and summer clothes, but sometimes the prospect of getting to wear them again makes it harder to decide which are worth keeping. Instead, I recommend doing this process in the fall when you're switching the wardrobe again).
3. What clothes haven't left storage in awhile?
As you're switching out your closet from winter clothes to summer clothes, take a look at the clothes that are still in the boxes. Are there any that you just haven't been bothered to take out of storage in awhile? Then you probably won't be needing those. And let's face it, someone else does. While you're still cleaning our your clothes, take a look at your shoes too and see which of those are worth keeping.
4. Open the boxes that you haven't in awhile...
Since we're already looking through boxes and getting ready to donate clothes, it's a good time to look at the other boxes holding miscellaneous items throughout your house. Generally, these have been kept closed and hidden away because looking inside is overwhelming and a bit scary. It's time to face your fears. Make a trash, a donate and a keep pile. The key here is to make sure that the keep pile doesn't become the biggest out of the three. It might require parting with things you like, but really, no one needs that much stuff.
5. Clean your room.
Now that you've gone through your own stuff, it's time to clean everything. Do your laundry: clothes, sheets, towels, everything. No matter how many loads, starting spring with clean everything will make you happier. Hopefully, most of the things and clothes you own are now put away, so while you're waiting for your laundry, it's time to clean. Vacuum the floor and dust/wipe down all the surfaces of your room. Swiffers are the best dusters, but if you don't have one, I bet someone you know will.
6. Get your roommates involved.
After you've finished your room, it's time to do the rest of the house. Talk to your roommates beforehand and maybe you can all do your bedrooms first, then move on to the common areas. Divide up all the work that needs to be done, put on some music, talk about how disgusting that parts of the house got, and try to make it fun. While you're together, make sure that you go through the refrigerator, freezer, and cabinets to make sure that there aren't things rotting away in there. Once it's all clean, you'll be feeling so much better and ready to take on the last few weeks of the semester!
