It's Not Spring by Helen Henderson

 

Windmaster Golem
Click the cover for purchase information

 

In my family, spring cleaning traditionally began when the weather warmed enough to open the windows. The heavy drapes were taken down and hung out to air. Carpets adorned porch rails for beating out the winter's accumulation of tracked-in dirt. Trunks came down from the attic full of summer clothes and went back up full of heavy, woolen sweaters. And in the coal country of my ancestors, wiping down windows, walls, and glass lampshades removed the omnipresent coal dust and gray film.

Holiday decorations are back in the attic and the house is again neat and tidy. Outside it is 20 odd degrees, chill factor in single digits, and snow covers the ground. It is not spring, so why am I cleaning?  

 

The beginning of a new year offers the opportunity to discard, shred, or otherwise dispose of outdated paperwork. Files more than ten years old come out of the file cabinet or storage boxes and piles of papers litter the floor. Each stack contains receipts, drafts of published articles, cards, utility bills, or no-longer needed documents. 

Image Courtesy of Pixabay

Some piles are recycled. Others are more fun to dispose of. There is a cathartic sound to a shredder chomping sheets of paper into little bits. The small fire pit in the backyard will gobble up sensitive sheets while providing a comforting warmth.

Don't forget to include reviewing and purging your electronic files in your cleanout. They may not take up physical space, but can slow your computer or tablet. Even more serious can be the delays the clutter causes in your research. 

While not as satisfying as a fire, deleting digital files or organizing digital photos for quicker access is a useful activity. The new year can also be a good time to delete (or toss for prints) photographs that are blurry or upon reflection you decide you don't want in the public domain.

Although it it not spring, it is time to start cleaning, sorting, and organizing. You might even have a surprise benefit at the end. You're ready to file the paperwork needed for the taxman.

~Until next month, stay safe and read. Helen

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Find out more about me and my novels at Journey to Worlds of Imagination. Follow me online at Facebook, Goodreads or Twitter .

Helen Henderson lives in western Tennessee with her husband. While she doesn’t have any pets in residence at the moment, she often visits a husky who have adopted her as one the pack.