Spring Cleaning: Five Easy Tips

Does anyone do "spring cleaning" anymore, or has it become optional, like ironing your t-shirts or folding hospital corners when you make the bed? When I was a kid, every April my mother would wash all the windows and walls, air the quilts and pillows, scrub everything that could be scrubbed and polish everything that could be polished. This work would be accomplished in about five twelve-hour days. Do any of us spend twelve hours doing continuous housework anymore? Confession: I sure don't. Still, having a clean house is nice, I must agree. I just think we need a new approach. A somewhat more relaxed approach. After all, there is more to life than a clean house. (We're supposed to stop and smell the flowers, remember?)

 Here are my top five Spring Cleaning tips:

 1. Don't spring clean in the spring Never tackle a big housecleaning project when the sun is shining and the world is calling you to come out and play. Pick a cold, rainy day or a nasty snowy day. November and January are my personal, favorite months for "spring cleaning."

Perfect day for "Spring Cleaning"

2. Break the job into small bits: Don't attempt to clean the entire house in one weekend. Pick a room, or if that's too much commitment for you, single out a closet, or if even that seems overwhelming, a shelf in the closet. If you even clean one drawer in your bathroom, you'll be amazed at how satisfying it feels.

 3. Donate to Goodwill I am constantly dropping off things at Goodwill, because I'm not a fan of clutter. Clutter makes it difficult to find things. Clutter collects dust and trips you in the dark when you're trying to find that book you were reading and can't stop thinking about.

Like this book, for instance

 4. Listen to Good Music and Drink Wine Hey, why not?

 5. Share your Accomplishment With Others You've worked hard--it's time to get some accolades. At a recent dinner party I invited everyone to inspect my Tupperware drawer. So tidy and clean! Everyone was suitably impressed. And by impressed, I mean they'd had plenty of wine.

 I'd love to hear your favorite spring cleaning tip. Share one below and I'll enter your name in a draw for your choice of two of my books on Kindle (you get to pick the titles) or 1 of my back-list autographed books (I'll surprise you with a title).