Spring Cleaning

Get Motivated and Remain Stress-Free!

When March arrives here in the upper Midwest, we know we’re on the home-stretch and spring just might be right around the corner (or a couple of corners). 

It’s time to wake up from our winter hibernation and get out and see the neighbors again!

Maybe you plan to list your home soon or perhaps you have a high school graduation party to host, or you really do want to spring clean! Whatever the reason, I’m here to motivate you and keep you calm while you tackle the change of seasons around your home!

Motivational Tip #1

Break tasks into manageable chunks. Don’t approach spring cleaning with an “all or nothing” mindset.

1. Start with the garage. Raise the door, let some light in, and start sweeping out all that sand, salt, and the stuff that has melted off your vehicles for the last six months. 

Now, park one vehicle outside and use that stall to group stuff that you’re going to recycle, donate, and sell. As you start decluttering your house, it’s important for your morale to move bags and boxes of discarded stuff out of your house so you can see the progress you’re making.

Motivational Tip #2

Reward yourself. By sweeping out the garage, you completed an important task. Treat yourself to something simple that you enjoy like sipping a favorite beverage while sitting in the sun.

2. Focus on clothes. Get the whole family on board and give everyone a set of three bags or boxes labeled “donate, trash, and store”. Here are some guidelines to follow for sorting: If a clothing item hasn’t been worn in the last year and is in good shape, put it in the donate bag. Clothes that are ripped or badly stained are trash. Sentimental items or seasonal clothes should be packed up in clear, plastic storage bins and labeled.

Motivational Tip #3

Admire your work. Go in the garage and look at all the bags and boxes that have come out of your house. Just savor your accomplishment for awhile.

3. Tackle paperwork. Everyone I know struggles with what to do with all those papers we’re suppose to keep or haven’t even looked at yet.

Basically you’ll need two filing systems and a shredder. First get rid of paperwork that is more than seven years old. Any papers containing personal information like social security, credit card, or bank account

numbers should be shredded. Recycle the remainder. Now you should have plenty of room in your first filing system for bills, etc. that have been paid.

For items that still need your attention, put those in your second filing system. This would be considered your “in” box. Keep this in your office or in a designated spot where you pay bills. 

Sort your mail everyday and file in the appropriate place so paperwork doesn’t pile up. When you have a place where papers should go, they stay orderly and you bypass the chaos of piles.

If you have collected a lot of books, have your family use the same guidelines that I prescribed for clothes.

By completing just these three areas, you will feel like you have more space both in your home and inside of yourself. Decluttering can be an emotionally “freeing” act as well! 

These three motivational tips and decluttering tasks are just a starting point. For more tips, contact me and request my 4-Step Declutter Process via email or phone (info@birchhillinteriors.com or 651.500.7650).

Now go purge your stuff!