Spring Cleaning

March is spring housecleaning time. Make no mistake about it, I loath housework; but there is something special about spring cleaning. I actually look forward to it and get excited by planning the cleaning schedule. It is the time to rediscover the buried treasure of your closets, drawers, pantry, bookshelves, cabinets and garage. With every change of season, I feel as if I've hit the clothes lottery as I unpack the cedar chest for the upcoming season. As I go through the closet, carefully folding and packing items that brought warmth and fashion to winter, I make mental notes of favorites, as well as pieces not worn for several years. Before long I have spent joyous hours in the treasure chest that is my closet.

Any cleaning gives me an excuse to light delicious smelling candles and put on a long forgotten CD. I start to review books in stacks from every corner of the house, as well as the book shelves, hoping to allow myself to donate at least a box full. I end up deeply engrossed in enlightening pages. If this were a job for which I was paid, the work would be done in short order, but cleaning one's home is different. Pulling out old beloved items bring up memories which now supply present day reverie.

Organizers say what has not been used in the past year should be donated, sold, or thrown away. I don't buy that. I think when the possession of an item no longer brings you joy, hope, or pleasure when you clean, repair, rearrange, re-box, or otherwise handle it, then, it is time to let it go. To know when that time has arrived, I always make sure to handle all of my things during spring cleaning---a labor of love.

After several weeks of excavating, cleaning, donating, disposing and just downright enjoying myself in the process, I walk from room to room feeling a sense of accomplishment and renewal. There really is no place like home.