No. 33: The "Spring Clean Special" Part Two | The Motivation to Get it Done

favorite resources + a mini photo journal of life lately

If you missed last week’s newsletter, exit right out of here and start there first. That was the most important bit, as all groundwork always is. Picture going out into the garden, if that’s your thing. To be clear, it’s not my thing, but I have vivid daydreams and full faith that one day it will be.

Anyway. Back to our picture. You’re in the garden, digging and weeding and watering and planting. After a long day of work, you head inside and grab a bottle of nail polish. Rather than taking a quick shower, washing your hands, cleaning underneath your fingernails, giving them a little buff and file, massaging some oil on your cuticles and painting a base coat—you just grab the bottle of Cherry Red and go to town. How is that manicure gonna shake out?

I know that’s a little dramatic, but I’m a firm believer that without the proper prep-work, we cost ourselves energy and time because our work be drawn out or will have to be done again. If you put last week’s steps into place, you’re ready for the the actual work and that is the easy breezy stuff. And any time you look around the room at the state of mess thinking, “What have I gotten myself into? I should have left the clutter alone! I’ll never finish!” Just remember the manicure. Every step is worth it.

The most important things I’ve learned about cleaning a space to prep for decluttering include working from top to bottom and left to right to make things manageable, to dust ceiling fans and the tops of cabinets first and to tackle spaces you overlook like ovens, microwaves, wiping down cabinets and filters. In order to properly clean spaces, you’re going to have to take EV.ER.Y.THING. OUT.

When the spaces are emptied, it’s time to look through what you’re left with and sort things into the three piles we all know and love: Give Away, Trash and Keep. Whatever is in the give away section, get it out of the space immediately and out of the house completely as soon as possible (I’m lookin’ at you, trash bags of clothes that sit in the bedroom corner for weeks).

Now, it’s finally time to implement your decluttering and organizing. If you purchased bins and storage containers, put them to good use. If you’re a label fanatic, go to town. And remember to put those systems in place to be able to maintain because friends, you’ve done all this work. You’ve been faithful. You’re making your life easier while making more space in your home and mind and you want this to be something that lasts for a long, long time.

So whether your goal is to empty everything out of every nook and cranny and your home or just to clean out the center console of your car, I hope you feel lighter after finishing. We’ve got this, friends.