Cleaning Out a Cluttered Life

Daylight Savings time has never completely made sense to me. Just when it's getting light enough in the morning to make me want to get out of bed earlier we switch our clocks and it's dark for an extra hour in the morning! But I do love those summer evenings when it's light until 9pm, so I suppose we must start working our way toward that. Yesterday I felt completely befuddled every time I looked at the clock all afternoon and evening. How can it be dinnertime and still so light? How is it that I'm not hungry and we didn't have dinner until after 8 o'clock?

This morning I was in the dark far longer than the past few mornings of getting up at 6am. But when the sun rose on the first morning it has been clear enough in the sky to see the sunrise rather than just a steadily lightening blanket of gray clouds, I was happy to be in the sunroom reading the Gospel of Matthew rather than snoring away upstairs. To feel the sun coming through the (dirty) windows was a blessing. To be in a sunny kitchen while making coffee was a blessing. And it was a blessing to be in a very clean kitchen and remember the weekend.

Gloriously well-ordered and a little room to spare (what a concept).

Thursday evening my mother came into town and Sunday morning she headed back home. In the time she was here she did every scrap of laundry in our house (which was a lot). Probably 8-10 loads. Washed, dried, and folded, and partially put away (that's my job, which is why it's still not totally done). Also, she helped me clean out and organize the hall cupboard, which had become the go-to place for stashing miscellaneous stuff that was sitting on the dining room table before someone came over to our house. And, best of all, she helped me completely clean out every cupboard and every drawer in the kitchen. We scrubbed every shelf, every door, and every handle. We put stuff aside for Goodwill. We washed seldom used vases and glasses that had gathered dust. We organized and reorganized.

Because I moved the waffle iron to somewhere accessible, I used it this morning to make actual waffles.
I think it's the third time I've used it since we got it eleven years ago.

There is nothing quite like spring cleaning and in the five years we've lived in this house, I'd never gutted the contents of the kitchen and started from scratch. It was just what was needed. There are still a few small jobs to do, and I hope to make them part of my early mornings this week. This morning I cleaned out the coffee maker. I have to take some boxes and bags to Goodwill this week. I love getting a nice big chunk of needless stuff out of my house. I'd like to get to the point where it's not necessary as often because that would mean I was no longer buying needless stuff!

Remember the green and white stuff from up here? Some of it is going to Goodwill,
some of it will house succulents in the sunroom this spring, and some of it has been
moved to other cupboards. What's up here now are mostly serving pieces I actually use.

Last year I read about some people doing the 40 Days, 40 Bags challenge for Lent. In case you're unfamiliar with it, it is an exercise in getting rid of material things that you don't need so that others can use them and so that you can have fewer things to occupy your time and energy, thus allowing you to focus more of those resources (time and energy) on the things of God. I don't know if I could get forty bags, but with clothes Calvin has outgrown and stuff from the kitchen I already have at least six and there have only really been five days in Lent so far (Sundays aren't counted).

Mom removed about 500 plastic grocery store bags from this cupboard. She also
removed about 10 reusable grocery store bags we had bought but almost never use
because they were buried in this very high cupboard. Mom took the plastic bags to
recycle and we put the reusable ones in the car trunk. Duh.

If you spend an inordinate amount of time cleaning, organizing, and figuring out how to store your stuff, maybe it's time to start getting some of it off your back. Just make sure you police your buying for the next year so it doesn't just get replaced with more unnecessary stuff! If you have trouble parting with things (even things you don't like, which you keep because they were gifts) you need to do your decluttering with a firm friend or relative who isn't so emotionally attached to the stuff. He or she can help you see past the sentiment to the reality that you seriously don't need 50 coffee mugs or 300 pairs of shoes or every single scrap of construction paper that passed through your children's grubby paws.
If you're anything like me, you love the feeling of a well-ordered, uncluttered home. It takes work to make it like that, and even more, I fear, to keep it that way! Spring is the time to do it so plan that spring cleaning weekend today!