A Spring Cleaning Guide to Keep the Junk Away

Hello loves!

Sorry it's been a minute since the last post. Life has been a bit crazy with work, finishing up some personal projects, and trying to find time to function as a semi-normal person. Sometimes it can get a bit overwhelming trying to juggle everything at once. It's during these more chaotic moments that I start to look forward to Spring Cleaning.

There's something satsifying about removing the excess clutter and junk, in both life and in a home. I always feel accomplished after I've purged my belongings and sorted through the piles of useless junk and slightly less useless junk before I'm only left with the essentials.

However, I've noticed that no matter how often I clean, the junk comes back. Maybe not the exact same items or time-wasters, but all things I don't need that end up taking more space than they should. I know I'm not the only one who can get frustrated with this cycle of cleaning-messy, cleaning-messy, etc. . . So I decided to make a guide for myself. This year, I'm determined to keep the junk away.

Soup's Step-By-Step Guide to Spring Cleaning:

1. Plan Ahead

Surprisingly, the first step is one of the hardest. Oftentimes, people decide to knock out their Spring Cleaning in one go. They set aside a weekend to go through their home and pull out anything and everything that needs to be organized.

And at first, planning to do it all in one day sounds like a good idea. You get through the first few rooms or drawers with high energy, checking boxes and feeling great. But as the day drags on and you realize you still have a ton to sort through, your motivation can start to waver. At some point, the sun goes down and you're sitting in a mess of trash bags, loose papers and clothing that you have no idea what to do with.

Trying to do it all at once can quickly become overwhelming. The piles of junk feel endless and you can become paralyzed with indecision over where to start next. That's why I'd recommend spreading out the cleaning. Set aside one day every week to tackle a specific area that needs to be organized. One cleaning day you go through all your clothes and donate whatever you don't wear anymore. Another day you clean out your phone contacts or organize your photos. Breaking the tasks up might take longer, but it'll allow you to feel less stressed-out by having a plan and knowing that the cleaning isn't forever.

2. Be Realistic

As someone who has a tendency of falling for nostalgia, I always struggle with knowing what to get rid of. Sometimes it's an old shirt I literally never wear, but I might need it for some inexplicable reason in the future. Or it's that one relationship that has run its course, but the memories are making it hard to move on.

Whatever it may be, there is always something in our lives that we are clinging to even though we know we have no use for it. At best, it's just taking up space. But more often than not, the things we hold on to cause us more harm than good.

It's hard to accept that at times, I know. And usually when we evaluate the things in our lives, we can slip into only remembering the good times and convince ourselves to keep hold of it. The thing might not even be bad necessarily, it could just be something we've out-grown. Regardless, there is always a time when we have to be realistic and accept that some things (stuff or relationships or a job or whatever) have their season. When that season is over, we have to move on. It's totally fine to reflect on the past, but you can't live in it forever.

3. Organize Wisely

One of the hardest parts of cleaning is knowing where to put everything. There's the obvious essentials and the clear throw-aways, but the in-between can get a little more tricky. Like I said, I'm a sucker for nostalgia and some items I'm going to keep, even if they don't serve a purpose. And that's fine, I'm not saying to throw out your favorite childhood toy and old high school yearbooks. But know which past items have real value and which ones you can move along. The letter from your best friend at summer camp is probably more important to you than that random carnival prize you stashed away in a desk drawer and forgot about. You'll know deep down which things---physical objects or relationships---contain true value.

On the flip side, there's the problem of items we use everyday because we want to but don't need to. To clarify here, I don't mean things like a tv or a car or other stuff that isn't technically necessary to survival. I'm talking about the things that we know are not the best for us, yet we continue to use. This can be that one pair of shoes that you think are cute but always make your ankles bleed no matter how much you break them in. Or the unhealthy treat that keeps magically finding it's way back into your fridge (and your stomach.) And sometimes, it can be that social media app you know you spend too much time on, but continue to waste hours away on anyways.

These are the things we say we have to have, knowing that one day without it wouldn't hurt us. Now, I'm not saying to throw-out every uncomfortable piece of clothing you own or to empty your pantry or to delete your socials. That would be wild of me to suggest because a lot of these things have been designed to be addictive and I rarely think going cold-turkey on anything is a good idea. What you can do instead is to place these things in literal or metaphorical boxes and start setting limits to them. You don't have to stop buying that junk food, but you can reduce how much you're allowed to eat it. You don't have to swear off Netflix, but you can limit yourself to one or two episodes a day. It'll be hard to cut down on the guilty pleasures, but it's better in the long-run then trying the "full stop to relapse" cycle that usually happens. Plus, trying to moderate these items might require an accountabiltiy buddy, which brings me to the next step:

4. Don't Do It Alone

Perhaps the most important part of cleaning out your life is to not do it alone. Ask a friend or family member to help you figure out what stuff you should keep, reduce, or get rid of. Getting an outside opinion is always smart. Whoever is helping you will be somewhat more objective than you are, and can help open your eyes to a new perspective. In all the times that I've had friends help me with a deep-clean, I feel like I found so much dumb stuff I'd been holding on to for no reason. Whether it was the ugliest pair of pants I'd ever owned in my life or an old thought process that I didn't realize I was still falling victim to, my friends and family were there to help me take a step back and see what things I could toss aside for good.

But along with a different perspective, having someone with you while you organize and clean your home and/or mind can make the process feel more fun. It can be exhausting to analyze your life and physical surroundings while trying to decide what areas need to be changed. Having a loved one at your side helps you remember that you aren't alone, and that there is more brightness in your world than clutter.

5. Take Care of the Empty Space

After you clear out some clutter, you'll find yourself with much more room and open space. There might be some empty drawers available, extra storage space in your closet, or a less chaotic schedule. Whether it's a lot or a little, the extra room usually makes people start wondering about how to fill it. What purpose could they assign this spare bedroom? What should they spend their newly aquired free time with?

This is the area that can lead to people haivng to deep clean all over again. If you aren't intentional with your empty space, you'll find yourself cramming in the same useless junk you just tried to clear. Which is why it's important to fill these new spaces with stuff that matters. Think about what you care about. What was the clutter getting in the way of?

Fill your new mental space with positive self-talk, your dreams you want to chase, memories that fill you with happiness. Fill your schedule with time to do work and chores, yes, but also time to do the things you love and to see the people you care about. Turn that empty room into a spare guestroom for visiting loved ones, not a junk storage room. Fill the empty shelves or cabinets with scrapbooks and photos, not miscellanious knick-knacks that you aren't attached to. Replace the clutter with what you care about, and it won't be clutter.

The main thing to focus on with this "spring cleaning guide" is that it isn't about throwing out everything until you have a bare bones existence. The point of sorting through your life is to get rid of the useless and loud things that actively try to steal all our time and attention, so we can finally focus on what and who truly matters.

Love y'all!

"Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be."--Matthew 6:19-21