This week’s Spin Cycle is about Spring Cleaning.  It’s hard to think about Spring Cleaning when it’s frigidly cold outside, the prospect of warm weather seemingly so far in the distant future.  And we’re expecting more snow tonight into tomorrow.

Spring-cleaning. The word has associations with a time when women spent all day washing, ironing, sweeping, thumping carpets with sticks and polishing the silver – and then, just for fun, once a year took everything outside and thumped and washed and cleaned some more.

I’ve never been one to actually do Spring Cleaning – not in the traditional sense, anyway.  Before Hovering Hubby and Princess Nagger infiltrated my life, I used to keep the house clean and organized on a daily basis, with an extra deep clean once a week to make sure it pretty much stays that way until the next week.  So there really was no real ‘need’ for a traditional Spring Cleaning.  Aside from putting the winter clothes away and breaking out the Spring/Summer ones.

Now it’s a constant battle to keep the house looking neat and tidy during any season – with two human tornadoes that leave mess and destruction in their wake, it’s a wonder I haven’t been given the designer jacket with the sleeves in the back.

This year, however, I think I might jump on board with a form of Spring Cleaning – purge all the ‘unnecessaries’ and reduce clutter.  That will be a major chore in itself.

And just might require a bulldozer.

I seem to have inherited the ‘pack-rat’ gene from my dad, who inherited it from his dad.  Keeping things because ‘I just might need that’ or ‘it might come in handy’ some day.  What if ‘some day‘ never comes?  That would mean saving that stuff would be a moot point, right?  So I might as well eliminate the moot point.

Besides, it would be really nice to actually have the guest room be a ‘guest room’, rather than the piles’o’stuff that currently inhabit that room.  I’ve had to create pathways to be able to navigate from the door to the other end of the room.  I have plans to reorganize that room and move my corner desk from the attic to  finally set up the embroidery machine I purchased a year-and-a-half ago.  It’s been taunting me, still packed in its box feeling unloved.

The finished attic is also needing some serious TLC – when we bought the house I was overjoyed at the prospect of having an actual place to organize all my craft stuff – and have a place that would be off-limits to the Princess Nagger so I could leave in-progress craft projects out without having to spend the extra time to put them all away then take them all out again to continue working on them.  Currently the attic is a mess of piles upon piles of boxes of stuff.  Both craft and miscellaneous stuff.  I could probably eliminate at least 50% of unnecessary stuff if I put my mind to it.

Stay tuned – I’ll let you know how the reorganization and Spring Cleaning goes.  In the Spring.

Don’t forget to stop by and see Jen over at Sprite’s Keeper to check out the other Spinners – find out what methods of Spring Cleaning utilize to make their lives easier – I know I can sure use some tips!

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15 Comments

  1. Spring cleaning just doesn’t sound like much fun. Fortunately, my hubby does lots of the cleaning around here and he does not like to keep anything. Several times a year we go through the kids stuff and either give away or throw away bags of stuff. But somehow it all accumulates again…an endless cycle I’m afraid!

    Good luck, you have a couple months to prepare! 🙂

    Stopped by from SITS. Have a great day!
    .-= Chanda @ Eco-Cheap Mom´s last blog ..Merry Christmas to me & My new favorite winter outfit =-.

  2. Well, you saw MY spring cleaning post – it was full of cute baby pictures. There will be no cleaning tips coming from my direction; sorry! LOL Oh, we’ll make a good stab at Spring cleaning when the time comes – we always do – but as you pointed out, it’s nowhere near Spring yet and I still have to finish packing away Christmas.

    Because that’s the way I roll.
    .-= Jan´s last blog ..Zazio’s Italian Restaurant =-.

  3. Oh yeah! If I lived near you, I would so help you out. Befores and afters are my favorite thing!
    My dad is not a pack rat, but sensitive to the possible value of items, so he tends to hold onto boxes and things which just take up space in their house. I, on the other hand, get antsy to start cleaning just from watching Hoarders. I am always looking for a reorganizating project and nothing is spared, even John’s underwear drawer. You’re linked!
    .-= Sprite’s Keeper´s last blog ..Just add sprinkles. =-.

  4. I hear ya Stacy but I’m acutally the opposite of you. When I was younger, I HATED tidying up etc but when I moved out and got a new home and boyfriend, I suddenly realised what my mum had been trying to tell me for all those years and wanted to take care of my house. I cleaned regularly (and quite liked it), ironed and even cook…a regular domesticated kitty. But now that I’m back home? Yeah I’m back to being messy – thankfully mum loves me for it 😀
    .-= Toni´s last blog ..You couldn’t even write if you knew how to spell it! =-.

  5. my last spring cleaning took place in the fall. It felt so good walking away from the curb where had just placed my soon to be ex husband. Really, talk about refreshing…

  6. I hate cleaning, anymore. I am so lax at spring, or any other season for that matter. I really should just live in an apartment.

    I am also not really a pack rat. Everything that I throw away does come back to haunt me!
    .-= Otin´s last blog ..Theme Thursday (Polka Dot) =-.

  7. My mom has that gene and Tara has that gene. Fortunately we have it under control with them both. When I was young and we lived in a house with a big basement, garage and big attic, my mother saved everything. Remember Leggs Eggs? Bags and bags of them were in our basement. Just in case there was a craft! It always seemed when my parents would get into the cleaning out mode, just a week or two later, something that my mother had been talking into throwing out would have come in handy. She still saves the bags the newspapers come in every morning. They are great for picking up doggie business, but I don’t need them so much now. She asked the paper guy if he could reuse them, and he said yes…. so at least they are moving out of our house!
    .-= Martha´s last blog ..A Thousand Words Thursday – A Hero =-.

  8. You MUST take before and after pictures! That’s my favorite thing in the world! I have been trying so hard not to be a pack rat but sometimes the sentimental things get to me and I just can’t let go!

    But I really need to do a whole house declutter. It’s just such an intimidating job it’s hard to get started!!
    .-= Pooba´s last blog ..Kissmas Eve =-.

  9. It really is hard to maintain things tidy when there are, in my case, four people working against you at all hours of the day. Our garage probably looks a lot like your guestroom. Except I call it the husband’s garage, and my only path is to the washer/dryer and back. 😉
    .-= mrsbear´s last blog ..Like Mother Like Blogger =-.

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