Spring House Cleaning

Is anyone else in the mood of cleaning now that the weather is starting to feel more like Spring?  Besides the nice weather, getting me in the mood, I've also been inspired by the popular little book that's become a best seller called, "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up--The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing", written by Marie Kondo.  The thing that Kondo is especially known for is teaching you special ways to fold your clothes so that you can see what you have and you can fit more in your drawers.  But, she's all about having less to crowd your drawers and closets.  Rather than focusing on what you should get rid of, she emphasizes focusing on what things truly give you a "spark of joy".  If you keep only the things that you really love, then you won't miss the other things that you discard.  She thinks you should organize by categories, rather than by rooms.  I'm not following everything she says to a tee.  But, I've certainly been inspired enough to do quite a bit of cleaning out of my closet and my drawers.  Here are some pictures of some spaces that I have cleaned up.

Decluttered Closet

Organized Sheets

Nicely folded jeans

I moved the pillowcases to a drawer.  Now I can see what I have thanks to the famous "Kondo" folding method

Capri Pants

P.J's

 

Work/Painting Clothes & Stuff for Purses

Kondo doesn't talk as much about kitchen organization.  But, I was in the mood for decluttering my kitchen drawers and cupboards, too, where things were too messy and disorganized.  So, here are a few of the places that got a makeover.

 

The fun thing about doing this kind of decluttering is that you rediscover things that you forgot you even owned, like a nice set of steak knives we got for our wedding, which we hardly ever used.  Kondo says that you should not hide things away in boxes, to never see the light of day.  If you truly love them, keep these items and where you will see them, use them and appreciate them.  Get rid of the things that have been taking up space, but which you know you don't really treasure.  And when you let them go, you are supposed to thanking the item for how it was useful to you at one time.  However, here's where I differ from Kondo.  She has a rather animistic, Shintoist view of objects.  I, rather, see them as gifts from a Creator God.  So, I thank Him for passing these treasure on to me and hope that as I send many items on to a thrift store, that they will bless someone else who can really love them and use them again.

Not only did I get inspired to clean at home, I decided to do some spring house cleaning at work too.  So, out went the old phone books we never use, old papers from 2002, a salt shaker, an apple cutter, and even an old turkey shaped candle.  I bid farewell to these items that were just taking up precious space.

Here's hoping that your Spring is bringing you a "spark of joy".  And I hope that my blog and silly cleaning projects will help give you inspiration.