GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY WITH SPRING CLEANING
“Spring cleaning tip: Burn it all and collect the insurance money.” – Stephen Colbert
You could take Stephen’s advice, then use the insurance money to buy more stuff and do it all over again, or you could:
Drill down to what you really love and use in your current life.
Let the rest go by immediately selling, giving away, recycling, or trashing.
Clean and reorganize your space so it suits your style and habits.
This may sound like a lot of work, but hey, it is still easier than dealing with insurance fraud. So ready to roll up your sleeves and jump into action? Here are some tips and tricks for seasonal organizing of your kitchen and closet to get you started!
Kitchen:
Empty the cabinets, one by one, and take a good, hard look at the hard goods. If a non-sentimental coffee cup, drinking glass, dish, plate, pan, etc. is chipped, cracked, scratched, or discolored and you are not willing to commit to a plan to fix it – pick an exact time to address it and figure out the time and money it will take – then let it go.
Before reloading the shelves, take a step back and consider if the existing arrangement was ideal or was just the way it’s always been. Think about kitchen behaviors…we reach for the dish towel at the sink, the oven mitt at the oven, a glass before opening the refrigerator or freezer…is there room so things can be stashed close to where they will be used? That includes dishes that frequently go into and out of the dishwasher – easier to not make excuses to unload it if the unloading is easier!
Drawer dividers do a world of good in putting some order to utensil chaos. The expandable types such as what the Container Store offers in bamboo and clear plastic normally come in different heights, so measure your drawer so ensure a nice fit. Tiered shelves and Lazy Susans are great for allowing you to read more labels in small spaces.
Spice is nice but it is nicer when its flavor and color hasn’t diminished. Using something past the “best-by” date won’t necessarily make you sick, but it may not be as tasty, plus you haven’t used it up in that long so it clearly isn’t a staple. The room it takes up may be better occupied by something else (or nothing at all, and enjoy the extra room!). The best-by dates are sometimes tough to see (think red stamp on a brown bottle), but most products in your pantry and refrigerator will have one on the cap, side, or bottom.
It’s popular to put cleaning supplies beneath the kitchen sink, and it’s popular to let that space get super crowded. If you have a cleaning person, engage them in the spring cleaning process by asking them which products they use and don’t, and let go of any that are taking up space but not cleaning your place. This zone also tends to be a catch for every shopping bag that ever existed. Think about how many bags you need in a given month, keep those, and let the rest go. Don’t add to the esteemed collection unless you begin to run low.
Closet:
You can’t put 10 pounds of potatoes into a 5-pound sack. If your closet is full then the option is live with it or downsize the wardrobe. Painful as it is to part with things, parting with things takes less time, money, and energy than dealing with a mess. So pull out every item and look at the front and back. Is it stain-, hole-, and rip-free? Do you love it? If you can’t quickly decide, determine if (1) it is comfortable, (2) it fits you well and isn’t woefully out of style, and (3) you have somewhere to wear it to in your current (not fantasy) life. If it doesn’t have all three traits, let it go to make room for things that do. Trying things on is the best way to decide what to keep, to your pleasure or dismay.
Before you use that charge card, consider what to purchase to help build a wardrobe that never puts you in the position of saying, “I don’t have a thing to wear!” Write down your activities in your current life. Not in your dream future when you “take up” gardening, register for a half marathon, or start going to concerts again – what you do TODAY. For example, thinking about your last year, how often did you hike, bike, run, swim, play tennis, ski, surf? Go casual to a party or work? Go formal a party or work? Do house/yard work? Run errands and walk the dog? Be honest. Your life is full and complete as-is. No need to embellish. What activities are you truly up to? Buy clothes that you’ll wear and not hope to have somewhere to wear.
Think of how many of each item (t-shirt, jeans, slacks, blouse/shirt, suit, dress, etc.) for each category of activity you’ll really use in a given year now that you’ve written down your true lifestyle. For example, if you have 15 suits but wear a suit twice a year, and you have few t-shirts but wear them every day, to have a well-functioning wardrobe, your t-shirts should grossly outnumber your formal wear. In this scenario, when shopping priority is to spend money on t-shirts, not formal wear. Think: “price per wear.” Yes, those yoga pants are $115, but when you wear them a three days a week you’ll get the down to less than a buck per use in a year. That’s a lot less than the yoga membership.
Of all the clothes you’re keeping, arrange them by type: short sleeve shirt, long sleeve shirt, jeans, slacks, suits, etc. Within that type category, arrange in order of light to dark. It may not stay like this, but it is a great visual for you to see where you’re starting at after this process. If you can manage to keep it like this, it will help in feeling at ease letting more go as you can see how much you have that is serving the same purpose. It also makes it easier to dress, and helps save money because when you go shopping you know what holes to fill – i.e., what is really needed versus impulse shopping.
You have to look at the clothes every day, might as well make it a nice view. Matching hangers do wonders, providing consistency and a sense of order. The slimline style saves a ton of room; buy the clips to convert the shirt/pant hangers to skirt hangers for a great uniform look. Hooks are a great solution for hats, handbags, scarves, and belts. Make the most of vertical space…you could put a hat/handbag organizer on the back of a door or have another shelf installed at the top of the closet. Ensure the lighting is good wherever you pull your clothes from; this could be as easy as a brighter bulb, cleaning the light fixture, or adding a stick-on light. Use shelf dividers to hold up handbags, sweaters, or other things that may topple over. Use bins to hold items you don’t need to see individually stacked (ex: underwear, socks, bathing suits). Use shoe cubbies and other space-savers to stack pairs.
Spring cleaning doesn’t have to be a marathon event unless you want it to be. You can make progress on one shelf, drawer, or section of a closet in 15 minutes increments. Decide what you’re up for, throw on some music, and enjoy the process of giving new life to your space and place!