# Starting my spring cleaning this weekend.



## Ninn (Oct 28, 2006)

I'm starting with my paid storage shed. Everything that family members do not come for this week will be out to the dumpster by Sunday night. I have very little in there that actually belongs to my household. I see no reason to continue to pay $60 a month to store stuff for other people. If they needed it that badly, they would have come for it before now. AND, since I got a gorgeous hand built wooden shed given to me for free, I can store my few excesses in there until the time to use them comes along. (mostly yard furniture, etc.)

After that, it's the kitchen. I am tearing out 3 useless cabinets that are either too high or too narrow or too poorly placed to be useful. Then I am moving my appliances to where it is convenient for me, not for where the outlets are. This cabinet removal will make that possible. THEN-I'm going shopping for paint. I've lived with white everything for 18 months and I'm sick of it. I liked that red kitchen makeover on the CF forum very much and am taking a page out of her book. 

Wish me luck!


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## Christine in OK (May 10, 2002)

Heh - I've lived with off-white everything for 9 years now, because we're always too busy to paint! We have painted the bathroom (everything in there was white or chrome - everything - floor, vanity, fixtures, walls, it was blinding!), but that was 8 years ago. Did the nursery when we had another baby, but now the oldest is living in there and is getting quite sick of teddy bear curtains and pastel walls (at least they are yellow and green and not baby blue or pink!). We did the new laundry room, it's the only one I really like! But the main rooms are still on the list. My bedroom is coming up for first on the block - I finally bought new bedding last year and I'm itching to finish that room.

I don't blame you for getting rid of storage - I always think that if you are having to pay to store something, it's time to start paring down! Of course, there are exceptions, but generally...


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## MelissaW (Jun 18, 2003)

Ahhh! Enthusiastic spring cleaners...you are my people! We're still burning wood (huge dust maker), but I just couldn't bear the dusty curtains any longer. I washed and ironed all of them last week, even though I'll have to do that again in April. The oak kitchen cupboards looked dull, so I washed them with a mixture of lemon juice and baking soda, then gave them a good waxing with beeswax blend. We are just about to tear out the living room carpet and put in hardwood (currently sitting in 13 boxes in the middle of the floor), so I think I may have the rug man come out and steam my couches before we start. That way I don't have to worry about him scratching the new floor with the hoses. I'll do the drawers and cupboards one at a time. I cleaned and repapered one of each in the kitchen on Monday. There is so much more to do! It's downright blissful.


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## Ninn (Oct 28, 2006)

I hate to do regular cleaning, but for some reason, I just love spring cleaning. Maybe it's that it gets me in the right frame of mind for the new season.


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## lickcreek (Apr 7, 2006)

I would love to spring clean!! But right now I'm too cluttered - need to tackle that first, since you can't clean clutter!! AND I have a hard time thinking spring with all the snow on the ground and a high today of 14 (below 0 low, and we don't want to talk about the wind chill!) But now would be the ideal time, since once spring gets here, there are so many other projects (think outdoors!) that seem to get in the way of cleaning inside!

Wonder if I can find a way to motivate myself to "think spring", even if it's just to get the decluttering done?!


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## Ninn (Oct 28, 2006)

Lickcreek~

Getting started is really easy. Start with the kids rooms. Turn them all out into the living room, that way you HAVE to finish it or go crazy. Do it just like you would if it were warmer, just like the clean sweep show. Stuff to donate can go into boxes on the back porch if necessary to get them out of the way. The kids will have a blast helping, if they are little. Even my teenagers loved this. They got to choose their paint colors and I had only one rule. NO BLACK PAINT ON WALLS, otherwise, anything goes. The paint job usually only takes part of the afternoon, then the carpet shampooing gets done. Next morning, stuff goes back in the room and it's done. One room each weekend and by spring, you will be done! My son even scrubbed his walls joyfully, as he was about to paint them maroon and purple. (he's 17) It's fun, it's easy, and it's so rewarding to look at it on Sunday evening and know that it is basically done for another year. Plus, you can start to implement your new flylady schedule or house fairy for the kids or whatevery incentive program you are going to use. You can start in right away without having to worry about cleaning it in order to clean it. Good luck!


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## lickcreek (Apr 7, 2006)

Wow, I wish I could do this as easily as you make it sound! My house is much too small to move a whole room's contents into another room already occupied room! My house is a walk-in basement home (so no basement for storage). The "basement" consists of a mudroom, eat-in kitchen, bathroom, utility room, living room and "office" space. The upstairs is a half story which has 3 bedrooms (originally 2, but we put a wall down the middle of one and made it 2 rooms for DD and DS.) We have WAY TOO MUCH STUFF, but even if we didn't I'm not sure we would have enough room take a whole room's contents and set it in another room. 

I must admit, I'm jealous!

I have heard of "Clean Sweep", but unfortunately have never seen the show. Our TV in the livingroom operates on rabbit ears and we can only get 1 station! Somewhat limited in that department, as well!


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## Ninn (Oct 28, 2006)

In my pre-bascs life, we have cable. Now, we have rabbit ears. And, you'd be surprised how easliy you can actually do this. the twin bed can go behind the couch. everything else gets stacked all over the living room. You know it will only be like that for 2 days, maximum, so u can live with it that long. I promise, this is so worth the efforts. I live in a trailer home, so I know all about "no room to do anything" I even have stuff stacked in my hallway at the moment. This is a 1972 trailer with 22 inch wide doorways. You should see what we have to do to get stuff in and out around here. Hence, the learning how to live with chaos 2 days a week. If you can get the kids involved, it's lots of fun.


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## Karen (Apr 17, 2002)

Oh how inspiring! You're my people, too. :banana02: 

I always like to spring clean early because then I'm done and can actually enjoy spring -- my favorite time of year. I just love being able to open the windows again, get outside more, start concentrating on the garden, planning canning, etc. I just feel good when everything inside and out is all fresh and renewed!:happy:


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## lickcreek (Apr 7, 2006)

Ninn ~ you inspired me! While I wasn't able to follow your example completely (clearing out an entire room) I was sitting at my kitchen table Sunday morning, thinking about what you said, and what room bothered me the most. While ALL of them really bother me  I decided it made more sense to start with the kitchen/dining area, since that is the first thing people see when they come in, and where they usually end up hanging out (kitchen table.) 

So I started by moving everything I could from the dining area to the far side of the room (kitchen area). I didn't move the china cabinet or the huge filing cabinet, which is okay for now. I knocked down cobwebs, washed the walls down, really SCRUBBED the floor, and polished the china cabinet (outside anyway). Then I replaced the table, polished the chairs one by one as I put them back.

Happy with the results of that, I began clearing everything off the tops of my upper cabinets, giving them a good scrubbing and washing the items. Deciding I liked the less cluttered look while everything was down I boxed up quite a bit of what was up there (collection of blue canning jars) and was very selective about what went back. I now have to decide what to do with the jars, but I am happy with the way it looks now. I then went and scrubbed the counters really well, pulled out the stove and cleaned it and the floor underneath and finished scrubbing the rest of the kitchen floor, wall around the frig (trash sits next to it) and the outside of the frig!:dance:

Of course, the table still needs cleared off, and the "insides" of everything needs cleaned. Shoot, the things I did most people won't even notice (I don't think DH did!) but it's amazing how much better I feel about it when I walk in there. I even did the few dishes that were setting out on the counter before coming to work this morning. I just didn't like the way they messed up my nice clean countertop!

I am hoping I am still motivated enough to break the rest into small jobs I can do in the evenings and have my whole kitchen decluttered soon! Thanks so much for the inspiration.


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## Ninn (Oct 28, 2006)

lickcreek, that is wonderful!!! I'm so proud of you for taking that step and just digging in. 

I didnt get nearly as much done as I wanted to, and most of it was stuff that wasn't on my list.......lol. Worked outdoors at the storage shed, that is nearly empty. Worked on the car with DH. (nightmare) Cleaned n polished the snake tank, n fed the snake. Worked on overhauling the living room. By any chance do you need tons of dvd cases? I put all mine into a very large cd case for space saving storage and freed up 4 shelves on my entertainment center. (these shelves are now coming off. why is it that furniture is never sized for mobile homes?) 

I am now scrubbing my kitchen floor for the second time this weekend, as the animals decided whatever was in the closed up trash can must be way more interesting than what was in their dishes. Now there are coffee grounds everywhere!

As for the canning jars? USE THEM!!!!!! Put your jellies up in them. It looks so pretty on the shelf!


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