We’re officially into springtime and now is the perfect time to spring clean. Why not ramp up your efforts now to get your house in order in time for barbecues, summer holidays and Christmas gatherings? Yep, I said it, Christmas. It isn’t that far away. Often we underestimate the stuff that needs to happen to get ourselves ready for visitors and the holiday season. Wouldn’t it be great to be prepared this year?
The change in seasons is a great time to rotate any seasonal items in your wardrobe and linen cupboard, and make your home as fresh as this Spring season feels. Here are some things you’ll probably need to check, bin, or declutter while you spring clean:
Spring Clean These Seven Areas
Winter/Summer clothes
Refresh your wardrobe for a fresh outlook every morning. Put any heavy jackets and winter clothing into a vacuum seal bag and store them in your cupboard if you don’t have space to leave them in your wardrobe. Or move them to the less accessible part of your wardrobe if you do have space. Review your Spring and summer clothes. Donate any clothes that don’t fit you or you no longer wear. Be thoughtful about what pieces you really want to wear this season and only put these pieces in your wardrobe. Make sure to pull out any clothes that you had stashed away elsewhere for this season.
Linen
Swap your heavy blankets and flannelette sheets for lighter bed covers and sheets. Whilst doing the changeover, why not decide on if any of it can make its way out of your house?
Make-up, creams, and cosmetics
Have a fresh start to the season and get rid of anything you don’t use regularly or that’s out of date. You can always give your unused (but ok products) away to someone on your buy nothing group!
General tidy up
Take some time to do a walk-around and tidy up stuff that has been lounging around all winter and can be let go. You could do this by carrying a garbage bag around and filling it with donatable items.
Things to fix
Go through your home to locate things that need fixing and book them in to get fixed or to take them to a local repair café.
Christmas
Dig out your box of Christmas/holiday decorations. Throw out or fix broken items and note down what you think you might need.
You could also consider Christmas Day itself. Is there any preparation you need to consider? Where will it be? What do you need to do? Can you schedule anything into your diary over the next few months so you’re not running around like a headless chook in December? Better still, is there anything you can do to simplify the day?
Presents
Get your wrapping paper and card collection sorted and all in one place. Decide now if you have a list of gifts you need to buy this year and get a plan in place to tackle this so you’re not fighting the Christmas madness. Alternatively consider agreeing NOT to give individual gifts, to do a ‘Secret Santa’ exchange or to gift experiences rather than things so that you don’t contribute to someone else’s clutter.
What else?
If it’s been a while since you last decluttered and properly organised your home, you’ll probably have a few more things to add to your list. Try not to feel overwhelmed. Think of how amazing your home will feel once it is all in order and clutter-free! And if you focus on creating positive habits, your home will stay clutter-free for longer and, next year, your spring-cleaning list will be much easier to get through.
For inspiration to get started, one of my clients and I created a really smart system for organising her Christmas gear. She said, “I now have a cupboard under my stairs which is now even better with a perfectly sized shelving unit. It has my Christmas tree, decorations and wrapping paper ready to go! It’s the first year I’ve been this prepared.” You might like to try something similar.
If you’ve read this and you’re still not sure where to start your Spring Clean, or if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the clutter, take a look at my declutter and maintenance card decks. These are essentially a decluttering book in the form of packs of cards containing tips and tasks to help you break down the process and make these changes easier (and a whole lot more fun).
Enjoy your spring clean and I hope you have a more relaxed start to the busy end-of-year season.