Clutter, Crocus Blooms and Spring Cleaning – Barbara Wackerle Baker

 

 

https://www.amazon.ca/stores/author/B0BMTM18PW

I have a huge collection of knick-knacks scattered throughout the house. And I’ve kept some possessions well past their usefulness date. The clincher was when I found three pairs of jeans from my youth tucked away below a pile of towels in the linen closet. Dammit. When I put them there, I knew one day I would fit into them again. Or maybe my daughter would wear them. Neither happened. I needed a strategy to reduce, reuse (by someone else) or discard these items.

While hunkered down during yet another Alberta cold snap (accompanied by a spring snow squall) I decided we needed a new rule in our house. Being proactive I established it. This is how it goes - every time a delivery box arrives, whoever ordered it must refill it and take it for a ride to a thrift store, recycle bin, used bookstore or the dump within 48 hours. No exceptions allowed.

The first couple of boxes were easy to fill. Who knew there were so many empty picture frames in my office closet? And the stash of baby toys under the stairwell. I know the grandkids will never miss them. Off they went to their appropriate destination. I will admit that I rifled through my husband’s boxes prior to them leaving the house just in case he included treasures I wasn’t ready to part with. And when a long skinny box arrived, (a new rod for his window washing squeegee) it hardly seemed fair, but he grinned and played along with the rule.

 

When the weather cleared and there were no more boxes to fill, I went to the sun-warmed south facing hillsides for a stroll. The familiar purple hue of crocus blooms sprinkled the slope, their heads bobbing in the breeze. It had to be spring now. Within hours of finding 36 blooming croci, another squall blew in. This time six inches of heavy wet snow fell. I worried about those little darlings freezing their petals off.

  

Days later the sun melted the snow. The croci held their heads high like drops of paint on the damp and pungent soil. I decided when I grow up, I want to be as strong and resilient as a crocus.

 

Now that I no longer had to worry about the well-being of the hillside's flora, and there were no more boxes to fill, I decided to get into the spring-cleaning groove. For encouragement, I did a bit of research (my new word for procrastination) to ensure I didn’t miss any tricks or tips. Here’s what I learned and my thoughts on the ideas:

• slip a sock over the beater of a hand mixer to create a mini, vibrating pet hair remover for furniture. First I have to get a pet. And then, do I use ‘said’ mixer on my next batch of mashed potatoes? 

• clean tarnished copper pots and accessories by massaging them with ketchup and a pinch of salt – now I need to get a pet and a copper pot. 

• use vodka to spray and remove bathroom mold and mildew – off to the liquor store I go. 

• get down on hands and knees to see where dust accumulates. It apparently will give me a new perspective of how dirty my floor is. Do I really need a new perspective? 

• leave one cobweb in a corner of the room. Polish folklore suggests spiders bring good luck – I can totally get behind this one. 

 

I opened all the windows and kept an eye on the sky. Mother Nature was still throwing hissy fits throughout the day.

My house is clean. It smells great. I changed from flannel to cotton sheets which probably just jinxed tomorrow’s weather forecast but … oh well. The best part about my decluttering strategy – I now think twice before ordering online and at our current rate, we’ll be clutter free in … many years. If a crocus can weather change, so can I.

Have you got a spring-cleaning tip you’d like to share? 

Baker, Barbara - BWL Publishing Inc. (bookswelove.net)

Barbara Baker Author Page Facebook 

 

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