HOME & DECOR LIVING

De-cluttering for Spring: Detox for the home

April 13, 2016

Now that we have been giving our bodies some much needed TLC by gently cleansing with green smoothies, it’s time to start to turn our attention to our home. Spring is a time of awakening and new beginnings. A time to shed all the old dusty baggage from the long winter that has weighed us down. The sun is shining, the air is warm and sweet, and you can’t help but feel hopeful. But just as the energy of your body can get stagnant and sluggish, so can the energy of your home. I know for me winter tends to make me lazy. I’m more prone to want to stay indoors and veg out and unfortunately you can see this reflected in my home. Add to that a new baby and it’s a recipe for accumulating clutter. What was once a beautifully curated and minimal entryway is now a catchall for mail, bags, keys and shoes (we are a shoe free house, so our entryway is literally littered with shoes at the moment). Don’t EVEN get me started on the kitchen. Apparently we get more snail mail then any human on earth because not only is it in the entryway, but it piled up in the kitchen as well along side baby bottles, toys, pacifiers, and way too many bottles of various vitamins and supplements. I literally want to pull my hair out when I walk in there. So it’s time. Time for a serious Spring cleaning. Actually, spring cleaning is to genteel and dainty a word for what really needs to go down over here, so I’m going to call it… THE PURGE. My home needs a no holds barred purge, a clearing of space and energy so that my surroundings can be in harmony with the new and promising energy of Spring. The only problem is starting. It feels so daunting, and there are SO many better things I could be doing, like staring at the wall for example, but alas no one is going to do it for me so it’s time to suit up and get in the mother lovin game. So my plan is to break it up into smaller manageable tasks. Today we start with closets! There is no better place to start because once those are done you will inevitably be motivated to continue since closets are usually the most cluttered and in need of purging. According to the Chinese art of Feng Shui, your life is influenced by the conditions of your habitual surroundings and closets represent the subconscious. By clearing away the clutter and organizing our closets, we can free up the energy flow and feel more balanced and centered. Here are a few tips to help get you started.

First thing to do is to sort through and decide what stays and what goes.

This can be the hardest part, especially for someone like me that thinks everything has sentimental value. I mean, I was wearing that sweatshirt when I adopted my dog eight years ago. Clearly I must keep it for always. This challenge can be met by asking yourself when was the last time you used the item. If it’s been a year or more then it must come up for review. Once you’ve established that it’s on the chopping block we are going to use the Marie Kondo method from her awesome book The life-changing Magic of tidying up  . She recommends that you hold an item and ask yourself if it “sparks joy”. If you don’t feel true joy, the item has got to go. I did this a while back and it worked! I was able to let go of a lot of things I didn’t need. So it’s time to do it again. Once you know what goes and stays, place everything that goes in large trash bags to be donated. Not only do you get a nice fresh closet, but you can write it off as well!

Organizing what we keep so that it’s functional and looks good.

  1. Huggable hangers – I switched to these hangers a few years back and I cannot tell you what an incredible difference it makes! First of all they take up much less room than most hangers, and I have to say, having all your hangers be exactly the same adds such uniformity and balance to the closet it will blow your mind. If you do nothing else, do this. It completely changes the game and makes your closet feel so much more peaceful and organized. I know I sound a little crazy waxing poetic about hangers but just trust me.
  2. Clear out anything that is expressly for winter and won’t be used again until it’s cold. Try some space storage bags that you can hook up to your vacuums hose. Stack those bags on a high shelf out of the way for the season. This will free up a lot of space and keep things feeling fresh.
  3. Sort things by category. Put all shirts together, all dresses, all pants etc… And color coordinate. That can make your closet feel really organized and clean.
  4. Invest in some attractive storage bins, or beautiful woven baskets that can hold purses bags and other accessories. Place them on the shelf above your closet, or if you have room on the floor they can go there as well.
  5. Another option is to hang hooks on the wall inside the closet to hang belts and bags. This has worked very well for me. Not only does it keep things neat and organized but it allows me to see everything all at once instead of sifting through drawer after drawer.
  6. Invest in a shoe rack if you don’t already have one. If you do, organize your shoes by category and color like your clothes.
  7. Last but not least, and this is optional, make an aromatherapy sachet to freshen up the space even more. This is super easy. Take one of your old socks that you are going to throw away (you know you have them), fill with cotton balls and add 20-30 drops of essential oil of your choice. Tie a knot in the sock to seal it and tuck it into a corner or up on a shelf to keep your closet smelling like a fresh spring day.

That’s it! First Spring cleaning task for the home completed. Don’t forget to follow us over at Instagram to continue the daily green smoothie challenge! We will be posting a new green smoothie recipe everyday for the rest of the week to help clean our bodies. Coming up we will dive further into purging our home as well. And then we will tackle the mind! The brain needs a little spring cleaning too don’t you think?

Happy Purging!

xo

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