It often hits every few months. It doesn't have to be spring cleaning, just cleaning up and cleaning out when clutter seems to be encroaching and beginning to take over. Having said that, spring is most often when this seems to hit. The dark cold winter is drawing to an end. Oversized sweaters and heavy blankets are no longer needed. Plants moved in for the cold months can be returned to the patio and front porch. This always sparks that desire to clean out.
A recent reel I watched instructed ladies to go into their closet and pull out one piece of clothing at a time and decide right then, "Would I wear this today?" Not maybe at some foreseeable future event, but the present moment. She assured the viewers the closet would be emptied by half. And this seemed logical; however, this slim lady in her mid-50's dressed stylishly did not look like the kind of lady I am with a sectional closet.
Most women my age reading this would nod that it just seems to evolve in a closet. There are fat clothes for after the holidays. The right- now clothes that are good enough but aren't' quite as loved as the skinny clothes that will be worn on that someday ten pounds dissolves from hips. No, the fat clothes will not be worn right now, but surely there may be a day black pants are needed. And the skinny clothes…well, that needs no explanation. It is Vivian Lee proclaiming there will always be tomorrow! Or little Annie assured the sun will come out that day and the skinny jeans will look amazing. So, no, this suggestion did not work past five minutes before selecting items. I could honestly justify most of everything shoved in the four walls.
It did not work for the husband either. I could pull out just about any T-shirt, pair of jeans or shoes and ask him if he would wear it right now. He would. The bleach splattered long sleeves, the grass-stained jeans, the shirt missing the button I said I would fix four months back. He would wear any of them because he does not have a fat section or a skinny section. If something gets tight, he just skips a meal, and it fits again.
I recently came across an article that gave great advice on spring cleaning in a way that I could stick to walking briskly past my walk-in closet. The four items' ladies should sort through often are pretty simple.
The first is ingredients. Checking those expiration dates can be a quick way to organize the spice racks, refrigerator shelves and pantry baskets. Makeup is another. All those lotions, oils, powders tend to pile up and get lost in the clutter. The third item is seasonal clothing. And if you are a retired teacher that means the red, white and blue for American holidays, the elf ears and slippers for Christmas, the Mardi Gras T-shirts, and the Halloween pens, earrings, and hats. And the last was papers. Those stacks and stacks of papers that once I throw away, I will need such as a receipt, directions, grocery list, or recipe.
Now having said all of this, it becomes very clear that my audience is ladies close to my age. The ones who still have things on paper and not stored on an I-pad, I-phone, or computer. Hormone fluctuations that bring about a fat section in the back corner of shame, and the multitude of crepe and wrinkle cream that is sworn to work miracles. Those ladies with the ten-pound purse of make-up, grocery lists, a sweater for a cold tea shop, and two-year-old ibuprofen.
So, like everything else in life we will move forward in moderation because it is spring and the sun really will come out tomorrow.
