Spring Cleaning

Welcome to Mt. Laundry. It exists in my home and while it may transition in size from one week to the next, it is always there. Laundry, with a family of six means there is always a load that needs to be done. Always. And, with that, it means that there are always clothes that need to be mended, gone through, no longer fit or are stained. Then the fights with the kids come...and husbands...to get rid of those things. I have managed to cut it down to about twice a year. And guess what?

It is that time of year again. That time when window are opened, and curtains blow in the breeze..and it tickles your senses into thinking about cleaning out cobwebs. You look into dark and dreary corners of closets, cabinets and shelves and want to minimize and reduce. I call it "purging." We go through one or two purges a year. It is that time to sit and evaluate what exactly we need...and what we don't. The "need" pile, of course, is always larger than the "don't need" pile.

But I am better than I use to be. I don't save things anymore thinking they may be of use....someday...never knowing what for or when someday may come. Now I know that it is easier to just purge now than letting such objects take up residency in my home...without actually having a place to "be." Now I know it is easier to just go out and buy something that I may have need of rather than save it for that rainy day.

Does it speak of the consumer society we live in now? Does it speak to the toss away mentality that so many have? Yes, it does. And I could be that packrat, who has rooms full of "useful" stuff, but cannot live or breathe in those rooms. Which is the worse offense? So I have learned to pack up large garbage bags and take them to my local Goodwill...it is theirs to use, repair and resell...it will mean so much to someone else, somewhere down the line. I might even be that person who may have to go back and get something that I gave away. But the point is, in the mean time I have not lived with it underfoot, being tossed about and knocked here and there with the risk of being broken or ruined.

So, I pull those things out of my closet...reevaluate. Do I need this purse? Do I like these pants? Will I ever really wear this top again? And take my bag of stuff off to the store.

The laundry is done, and walls are washed. Dishes are cleaned and put away..the stove given that good scubbing. And floors all throughout the house are vacuumed and mopped. Then you sit home and realize that your home is how you want it to be, clean, polished, comfortable, welcoming. And you breathe that sigh of relief...a job well done. A great sense of accomplishment.


Then the kids come home.

*with thanks to Tia Graham who took this photo and shared it with me.