Ivy says:
Now’s a good time to get your spring cleaning started, particularly if you have minions children on spring break. I’m extra lucky, I have my mother here helping me clean my house over spring break. There’s nothing like having your mom standing on your porch at 8 AM with a bucket in hand to encourage you to stop lollygagging and get to work.
Since I can’t send my mom over to your houses for cleaning encouragement, I’ll have to do my best here. There’s something very spiritual and emotional with a good, all-over cleaning and decluttering. As much as I profess to hate clutter, I have to admit that mine’s gotten piled up a bit and sometimes it’s hard to purge.
So, we have to go back to my dear Auntie’s motto: Look one way and pitch the other. If it doesn’t have a place, it has to go. And by go, I mean go RIGHT AWAY. Once I’m finished cleaning for the day, I take myself down to the Convenience Center and trash and/or Goodwill stuff immediately. If you set it out in your garage or basement or whatever to “have a yard sale” or something, you might never get rid of it.
Clutter does have an extremely high reproduction rate, so do not let it get a foothold in your house! If it already has a foothold, make your mom come over and tell her to bring a bucket. Even if you already have a bucket, it’ll get things in gear. I happen to have two buckets, but my mom’s bucket is far better. It’s the bucket of authority or something. If you can’t get your mom to come over, make a friend come sit in and order you around.
It’s funny that I clean my house myself on a regular basis, yet when someone’s there cleaning with me, it’s far more satisfying and it gets done tons faster. Once you and your cleaning buddy are done with your house, go to their house and return the favor. It’s interesting to see what kind of junk your friends are piling up, anyway.
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I laughed when I read about seeing what junk your friend is holding onto. Its true though, if someone is helping me, even if all they do is ask if its a keep or toss thing, it goes so much faster. I feel like I should be cleaning.
I am starting to suspect that we are related or connected in some cosmic way.
We had Spring Break last week and the boys went out of state to visit their mom and the girls were easily entertained with some boozie woozies I purchased to keep them entertained. (Boozie Woozie: inexpensive toy to distract children so adults can get some stuff done, my dad coined this phrase).
I cleaned and cleaned. We rearranged furniture. I threw stuff away. I shampooed the carpets. We got some new living room furniture….slip covers for the old…..weeds pulled….etc, etc, etc.
I love my house now.
The boys returned from Spring Break and declared it a NEW HOUSE. All week long they have been saying “we like the new house better”.
Spring Cleaning is a MUST and it does clean your soul and do a body good. There is nothing better than a really clean house with no junk piling up….its easy to keep it tidy and I actually want people to come visit me right now!
yippee!
Currently in the process of cleaning out my Mom’s entire house so she can move. I have lots of family helping, but not really motivated to do it. More motivated to have it done. Luckily mine is in fairly good shape. We are refinancing, so we have been working on getting it ready for the appraiser for a long while.
Wish some of your enthusiasm would rub off on me. I need it to keep me going to get the job done.
Ivy,
I wish my mother would appear on my doorstep, bucket in hand, and kick me into gear ……. but she’s 91 and I’m not sure how we’d attach the bucket to her walker! LOL But it’s a great image that may help me motivate some necessary cleaning…..
Or the fact that my daughter is being married in 3 weeks and I will have a housefull of visitors may motivate me!
Of course, I’m at my mother’s in NC right now, caring for her while my sister is away. And I have my busiest week of the year coming up(I’m a minister, and Holy Week is April 4 through12), with the wedding following 5 days after Easter.
Oh, and I have 100 dozen cookies to bake for the reception (friends are donating another 100 dozen; we’re having 200 people for the wedding and punch-cake-cookie reception)
I guess I need to focus on getting rid of those clutter piles that have accumulated in the dining room (mail; magazines) and in the upstairs hallway (3 boxes of warm weather clothes that have sat there since fall) and the usual cleaning routines, and not deep cleaning till after the wedding.
Is that a plan?
Unless you live near Western Pennsylvania? :>
I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels like that. The other person can just sit there – having company just helps me work.
My mom comes over and dusts for me whenever I am having large family get togethers for kids birthdays and such. Dusting is my least favorite chore, it seems so useless since I can usually see the dust again in 20 minutes. We live on a busy street, and Spring is the worst because of the sand and salt still on the roads from winter. She also cleans my hardwood floor in my dining room. And does the bathroom. I love that woman! And it is so true that it’s harder to be lazy when your mom is there asking what’s next!
thank you
When I do my yearly spring cleaning, I’m always amazed by home much junk I’ve stored thoughout the past year.
Sadly, I don’t have this kind of relationship with my Mom(s). To make it easier I sometimes choose to find the blessing in it, but after reading this cool post I am seeing the curse, because I need all the help I can get! LOL! (((((HUGS))))) sandi
15 minutes??? that's incredibly wrong for a two story home with all wood floors, try an hour.
I believe you are referring to the 15 minutes in the post-it. The 15 minutes refers to a 15 minute pick up of household clutter. Tuesdays are the day to also do the floors. The chores are divided into 1 light chore and 1 heavy chore each day of the week..
The dirt left behind is guilt-inducing ….. but it only talkes a little to make it go away ……… and then you can feel virtuous that it is now decluttered AND clean! Hooray!