Here’s how I get a jump on spring cleaning.
Most of our Christmas decorations are stored in totes. When Kent brings them up from the basement, I am able to decorate one room at a time, as each box is labeled with the room it will go in and a few words indicating what’s inside.
As I unwrap the contents of each box, I evaluate each item. Do I still like it? Would it look better somewhere else in the house? Would someone else like to have it? Do I put it in my “donation box” to be given away?
My goal is to have space for new Christmas decorations and to not need any additional totes. I’d be really happy if I had an empty one at the end of the Christmas season.
When the tote is empty, I use the wrapping material to wrap up things in the room and, in a way, my spring cleaning has begun. I fi ll each tote with things in the room, emptying cabinets and drawers, clearing shelves, countertops and tabletops. The full totes go back to the basement.
The now empty spaces are dusted or vacuumed, cleaned and polished. Christmas decorations take their places without making our home look cluttered. When Christmas is over, the totes come back upstairs and I evaluate what was put into them. Again, do I still like it and want to have it in our home or should it move on to someone else? If it stays, it gets cleaned and polished.
The downside of this process is that it does take more time, but until I can start gardening, it is time well spent.
