Spring Cleaning & Organizational Hurdles
Here it is... Another year has gone by and we are back to the spring cleaning business again. A little known fact is that spring cleaning used to be a true necessity in homes because of how homes were heated. Literally, spring cleaning began because of the soot that was created from the candles and from the fires burning in people's homes. Yet, years later we approach this seasonal time the same way. Old habits die hard!
Don't get me wrong, I love everything about spring. These Midwest winters seem cold and fierce and I welcome a little fresh air and sunshine. I want to whip the windows open and get rid of that stale air, I want to see my clothes flapping in the breeze, and I want a clean home.
Somehow life seems to get in the way of some of the things that I want though, even when it comes to keeping a tidy home. Driving my son to school, heading to a playgroup, appointment after appointment, coffee with a friend... the dust gathers and the clutter mounts.
But how does spring cleaning and tackling organizational hurdles relate to our topic of entertaining? Well, the number one thing that I hear people say as a reason that they are unable to entertain is that they are battling a dirty or disorganized home. I raise my hand and agree with this statement. I have turned down potentially amazing opportunities to be among friends because my house was not up to par.
Here is what I am asking- what is your biggest hurdle in your home? Where does clutter mount and what prevents you from having your friends & family come and build relationships with you in your own space?
I want to tackle these issues along with you and I look forward to future discussions, as we begin to enter spring and a time of renewal. I want us to start sharing about ways we have overcome these difficulties and help you make your house a place you can entertain in.
I look forward to your responses!
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16 Responses to “Spring Cleaning & Organizational Hurdles”
February 26th, 2008 at 7:07 am
My kitchen is my worst spot. Everyone enters my house through the kitchen- which is also my laundry room. Everything gets “dropped” in the kitchen. And my floors are a nightmare. I could wash them twice a day and it only takes one person to trash them again (white floors- arg).
February 26th, 2008 at 7:38 am
I have a problem with horizontal space.
By this I mean that any given stretch of horizontal area – a table top, radiator cover, window sill (we have 18″ deep sills) gets covered in all kinds of flotsam and jetsam. I am constantly moving around bits of paper, change, keys, whatnot from one place to another trying to find an “away”. In our 200+ year old house, we don’t have tons of away – a leftover from the days when no one needed it because there wasn’t much to own! – so I’m always imposing new organizational structures on my crew, with little or no success!
This year I’ve vowed to: put together a system for saving receipts (any ideas on how to do this are welcome), organize my husband’s tools in such a way that he doesn’t balk and I don’t go crazy (ditto on the ideas) and just generally get rid of stuff.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:08 am
My biggest hurdle is the island in the kitchen. At least that is the one we see the most and things just keep getting piled there. I clean it almost everyday but the next day it is piled with stuff. We have lots of paper stuff piled everywhere and my downstairs closet is filled with craft things (scrapbooking, pictures, beads, ribbon) and I need a way to organize. That is one of my goals for the next month. To research some organizing tools to help me.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:33 am
In the past, my house has kept me from entertaining as well. My downfall was paper clutter — if I didn’t know what to do with XYZ, I piled it up until “I had time to deal with it.” As you can probably guess, that time never came. In order to have people over, I would sweep all the paper on all the surfaces into a rubbermaid box and put it in my bedroom.
In the last year or so, my dh has aided me and we have undergone a major decluttering of paper. The problem isn’t completely solved, but my kitchen desk (the bill paying, mail recieving, calendaring center of the home) is much less burdened.
Marsha — in regards to receipts, we have purchased (but not yet used regularly) a product called Neat Receipts (see neatreceipts.com)to be used with Microsoft Money. It’s a small specialized scanner that transfers the info on the receipt to your money management software. There’s a second type option called Shoeboxed.com for receipt storage.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:55 am
This is going to sound anti-frugal, but I promise that it’s not… I hire someone to come scrub my house every other week. It forces me to pick up and put away every other weekend, keeping things relatively neat.
On the frugal side, that $100/month allows me to spend more time doing things that help pay for that service and more. I’ve finally mastered frugal grocery shopping! Plus, I work full time and this allows me to spend Saturdays with my family instead of freaking out about the state of the house.
February 26th, 2008 at 10:26 am
My biggest hurdle to having people over is in my brain. I am quite sure that everyone will notice that the lasagna is a bit overdone, that there is still dog hair on the bathroom floor, that they won’t like the color I’ve chosen for the kitchen cabinets. Pretty soon I’m paralyzed, feeling like nothing is good enough. It’s all more stress than it’s worth because I can’t conquer this. Outside of the home I’m a confident person, but inviting anyone into our house makes me feel very insecure. Does anyone else go through this?
February 26th, 2008 at 10:42 am
My biggest issue is paper piles and things that need to be filed. I probably have 3 totes in my room of paper or other things that just simply need to be filed? Any suggestions?
February 26th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Pamela… YES!! I was reflecting on this the other day when we went to the rectory at an Episcopal church for “Sherry and Nibbles” before an Evensong before a concert. The rector and his wife have an 18-month old and all the attendant parephanalia. They don’t have a lot of junk, but the house was definitely not spotless. There were papers about and dog hair on the floor and the kitchen was piled with dishes. And at the same time, they had 30 people from the congregation and beyond walking around looking at their lives. And they were both fine with it — excellent hosts — at ease, witty, happy, etc. The wife is a new friend. I’m going to pick her brain about it when we are a little more acquainted and I won’t offend.
February 26th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
I have always enjoyed having people over… until this year! Now I really don’t do it or enjoy it. WHY???? Because I have let the UGLY head of comparison rise up and cause me to be insecure about our home. YUCK!!! This is not what God wants, He wants our home to be a welcoming place of hospitality, not a place ready for some magazine. I have friends that have a divine gift for decorating and keeping immaculate homes…. that gift was not doled out to me with the same measure. Rather than focusing on my perceived failures or lack I need to focus on what I do have to offer. I need to get rid of the comparison factor and truly focus on the gift of hospitality that God has given me. Hospitality is other’s focused (making them feel loved and special)… entertainment is me focused (trying to impress others).
February 26th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Pamela I go through the same thing. For some reason I believe when people are visiting they are judging everything. I stress out trying to make everything perfect. I have been taking baby steps to conquer it. I have to literally leave some area messy. So i can get out of my comfort zone. By other big issues are paper clutter because I save everything and my bedroom has become a catch all.
February 26th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
I too fight a constant battle with horizontal spaces, especially the dining room table. Since our apartment is so small our “dining room” table doubles as extra counter space for cooking, a desk, a craft space, sorting space etc etc. The other place my clutter hides is in all the organizational bins I have, my closets, my cupboards, my drawers. I tend to shove stuff into any available hiding space when I get tired of having it in the middle of the living room but since I don’t usually sort it before I store it I really have no idea but all I have lurking in my apartment.
N.
http://badhuman.wordpress.com
February 26th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
It sounds like we all have the exact same battles!
I have a solution for receipts that works for me. I have 12 small brown envelopes, one for each month, each with a printed label. All the receipts for the month go in the appropriate envelope. Every 3 months I go through the last 3 months and enter the receipts into an expenses spreadsheet (I tend to enter grocery expenditures onto that spreadsheet as I make them, because i want to make sure I’m not overspending for the month). Any receipts that are tax-relevant go into a labeled envelope in my tax folder for that year (medical, business, etc.). Receipts that need to be kept for other purposes go in the appropriate folder in my file cabinet and the rest get recycled. My 12 receipts envelopes live in a small basket in my kitchen. Paper that needs to be filed goes into another basket, and once a week I do that filing. I have to treat that like it’s part of my job in order to make sure it gets done.
“It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff” by Peter Walsh is a very inspiring book for people trying to reduce clutter. I’ve always tended to (as my husband puts it) get rid of stuff if I wasn’t using it that day, but this book made even me take a more honest look at my things. For example, I had a lot of clothes that slipped past my regular closet purges – I realised I did not have to keep clothes I’ve had for 20 years just because they still fit, even though I haven’t worn them in 15! I heard about Walsh’s book from Trent at the Simple Dollar and it helped me a lot.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
I JUST put up a post about this!
Mary, mom to many
February 27th, 2008 at 6:59 am
Flylady.com has changed my life! Check it out! It’s free and one of the best home organizational life saving sites I’ve ever found. My home is not perfect but I no longer obsess about it.
February 27th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
For filing receipts I use a three ring binder with pocket folders. One for each month, and a few extra for misc. things. This is handy for price comparisons as well. I put the monthly bank statment in with the receipts. Stores well.
February 28th, 2008 at 8:02 am
Ditto the Flylady plug. I have not followed her system right down the line, but even if you just read the testimonials that she sends out daily, it starts to affect your attitude for the better. For many of us, she really nails the reasons why we beat ourselves up emotionally and/or hoard things we don’t need. It’s worth a look.
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