Spring cleaning.Those two little words strike fear into my heart every year. I love the look and smell of a clean house, but I'm usually too busy --i.e. lazy-- to put in the elbow grease. Okay I'll be honest, most of the time I would rather eat the prepackaged salad directly from the bag so I don't have to wash anything but a fork.
I wish I were more like my laundry hag heroine who attacks grime like a woman on a mission. After this particularly harsh North Carolina winter, I'm ready for spring but the cleaning...ick.
It's not the actual work I mind, the torture is finding a home for all of the stuff. In my house, there is STUFF. With two growing boys, a spoiled beagle and a husband who just doesn't care, well we have a mess of epic proportions. It scares me. especially after watching an episode of Hoarders. *Shudder*
Where did it all come from? My husband is an electronics junkie, holding onto old computers, game systems and power cords of all shapes and sizes. My boys each have their own room and with our playroom still out of commission (Five weeks and counting) their crap spills down the stairs into the kitchen/dining room/living area.
My typical cleaning M.O. is let it stack up til I can't take it anymore then chuck with a vengeance. If I'm merciful with the crap, it multiplies and migrates like the swallows of Capistrano. And it never fails, after the frenetic pitching, I always go insane looking for something I no longer own.
Seriously, how do you know what to save? Leftover Valentines from 2008? Probably not. Stacks of projects from the school that make the King James Bible look like a beach read? Well I'm getting rid of them but not in front of the kids. Do I really need Danny's first Halloween costume that I made with my own two hands? (It was supposed to be a caterpillar but ended up a turtle. Betsy Ross I am not.) haven't been able to get rid of it yet.
Do you have a system for controlling the stuff? Are you a saver or a scrapper? Tell me about it!
3 comments:
I unclutter with an iron fist. Not really - I just throw away a whole lot of stuff. I sort into three piles - keep, donate and throw away. Seems like we always accumulate more each year, though.
If it's not nailed down, I pitch it. Much to my husband's chagrin. He's a packrat.
When I was a child, I was a packrat. I've learned not to place too much value on physical things.
Two years ago, I decided to change my life. I pitched EVERYTHING I owned but for a few keepsakes and books. It was scary as hell, but it was freeing too. You feel spiritually lighter.
If you haven't used it in a year, you don't need it.
Clutter fucks with my Chi. If you follow the Feng Shui school of thought, it messes with everyone's Chi.
The problem? I live with my MIL who saves everything. If you ask her for a receipt for french fries from 1982, she's got it. It drives me snap crackers. She tucks things in little plastic grocery bags so they're easier for her manage. I don't even get grocery bags anymore. I use reusable bags.
The husband has learned that if he wants to keep it, he better put it somewhere. If he leaves it sitting unprotected, it's gone.
I'm one of those neat freaks, but I'm lazy. I know once I get started, it's on like Donkey Kong and I don't always want to expend the energy.
I guess I'm a hoarder!! I've got to make the time tho to declutter!! (I'm running out of room to put my books - they stay no matter what!!)
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