INGRID
THOFT
Yesterday I got an email from my utilities provider asking me to volunteer as part of a spring cleaning project during which citizens pick up trash, paint over graffiti, and perform other tasks in an effort to beautify our urban neighborhood. So clearly, the city of Seattle still does their own version of spring cleaning, but does anyone else?
The
origins of spring cleaning are open to debate, but according to Wikipedia, the
Persian New Year, known as Iranian Norouz, may be one of the earliest iterations. On the first day of spring, Iranians would do
a full house cleaning.
But like many widely-adopted
practices, the origins are not quite clear.
Some claim that spring cleaning is a Jewish custom that is practiced in
the run up to Passover. The Chinese have
also been cited as the founders of spring cleaning, to dispel bad luck from
their homes. Even the Catholic Church is
in the running with the practice of thoroughly cleaning the altar on Maundy
Thursday.
As I look around my own home, there are some areas that could use a once-over: high shelves with decorative items that haven’t seen a dust cloth in quite some time; a mattress that should be rotated; a closet that could use a clean-out. The place I should really focus my attention, however, is the rented storage unit my husband and I leased when we moved to Seattle almost ten years ago. Just typing that makes me realize we probably don’t need the contents anymore. After all, how often have we fetched things from it since we got to town? Infrequently, that's how often.
Maybe I’ll drag the hubby down there in the coming weeks or maybe I’ll adopt Amelia Bedelia’s approach to spring cleaning. When asked to draw the drapes, she did just that, with her sketch pad and pencil. She dusted the furniture with a light coating of powder and dressed the roast in a fetching outfit. That sounds right to me.
Ingrid, Amelia Bedelia is one of my favorite characters . . . the children always enjoyed the stories in which she starred.
ReplyDeleteThere always seems to be so much trash in the streets and parks . . . what a great idea to have a spring cleaning for the town. But as far as the spring housecleaning goes, just the thought of all that drapery-cleaning, rug-shaking, window-washing wears me out!
We make an effort to keep the house clean throughout the year, so we’re much more likely to wash the curtains in the fall or winter or whenever it is that they need it. As a result, there’s no big once a year cleaning marathon around here, even if it is spring.
On the other hand, the barbeque grill does tends to get a good cleaning as soon as the warm weather arrives . . . .
I wish I spring cleaned! However, by some gift of alien genes, my 28-year old son loves to deep clean. Just yesterday afternoon he scrubbed down the kitchen and mopped the floor, after vacuuming behind places that haven't been cleaned in way too long (and after making dinner for later!). What a lovely service.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that bit from Amelia Bedelia. And love it. At least I've been chipping away at my office tidyup/sort/divest so it'll be ready for a deep clean soon. Next time my son comes home, maybe? ;^)
Could you clone your son, Edith?
DeleteFunny you should write about this - last night my husband and I walked over to our local restaurant for dinner - first evening walk in awhile because of snow/cold... and boy did I notice what a garbage-strewn mess our neighborhood is. Snow melts and reveals 5 months of accumulated Dunkin D's cups, plastic bags, flyers, ... everywhere. Thank goodness at least our neighbors scoop poop through the winter or else we'd also have thawing mounds of you-know-what. I came home and today I'll un-strew my yard of the bits of detritus that have blown in over the winter. And I'll call the window cleaners to come so I can admire the tidiness from inside when we get the next snowstorm. Spring truly does inspire.
ReplyDeleteMy mom did the whole spring cleaning bit--washed the windows, the walls, took all the curtains down, relined the shelves in the kitchen cupboards and the kitchen drawers, etc. My older sister inherited that gene, but unfortunately, I cannot seem to bribe her into doing the same at MY house. At least my windows are easy to clean from the inside--no dragging a ladder around the house and dodging behind/through the shrubs! Just thinking about spring cleaning has made me tired--I think I need a nap!
ReplyDeleteA nap seems like a good idea to me! Does your sister do the whole house, top to bottom?
DeleteIngrid, yes--top to bottom, back to front--shiny and sparkly as Kaye says below. I come home, look at my house, and take another nap....Except, like Karen, I like to do the 'tidying' and clean-up outside--get the yard all neat, flowerbeds buffed, dream about new flowerbeds....
DeleteHallie, that is spring cleaning for me, clearing out the beds, getting all the dead stuff out to make way for the fresh, green new shoots of the perennials. I've done most of it, although still have a few more jobs outside before I can say I'm finished.
ReplyDeleteThe other kind of spring cleaning got done yesterday: I clear out a box of old tax records, getting them ready to shred, then clean out last year's files to make way for this year's. Tax season always gets me to finish that task, one I start between Christmas and New Year's, and end with filing this year's returns.
We're hoping to sell our house in the next year or so, so I've been trying to pick a job a month to work on. The biggest job is my sewing room, which is packed to the gills with fabric (collected all over the world, over the course of 30 years or more), books galore--well over 400, tools aplenty--many given to me by the manufacturer when I was actively writing in that field, and machines. I seriously need to downsize--again--but it's a lot to get through. Mind you, I've already donated four loaded cars full of stuff, several years ago. Can't even tell.
As my quilter friends tell me, Karen, she who dies with the biggest stash wins! I feel your sewing room pain.
DeleteWhat kind of machines, Karen? My curiosity is piqued!
DeleteThree sewing machines, including one that does some embroidery, or at least it used to. A serger, and a multi-function machine that does a coverstitch that I've never even learned to do. Also, an iron with a steam tank, which comes in handy for pressing tablecloths. That was also from the manufacturer. Some specialty lights, and a bunch of contraptions for quilting, along with a dress form that only gets used at Halloween. I've already gotten rid of about a dozen other machines, including a big industrial sewing machine in its own massive table. That went to the local Shakespeare theatre company.
DeleteA lot of the nicer fabric is going to the clothing department at FIT, where a friend is a professor, if I can figure out a way to get it there.
Three sewing machines, including one that does some embroidery, or at least it used to. A serger, and a multi-function machine that does a coverstitch that I've never even learned to do. Also, an iron with a steam tank, which comes in handy for pressing tablecloths. That was also from the manufacturer. Some specialty lights, and a bunch of contraptions for quilting, along with a dress form that only gets used at Halloween. I've already gotten rid of about a dozen other machines, including a big industrial sewing machine in its own massive table. That went to the local Shakespeare theatre company.
DeleteA lot of the nicer fabric is going to the clothing department at FIT, where a friend is a professor, if I can figure out a way to get it there.
Sorry about the double posts. Every time I respond from my phone that happens, for some reason. So annoying, to all concerned, I'm sure!
DeleteWhat is FIT, Karen? And... that's a lot of machines!
DeleteI love my own international cloth bank, but it's in three big clear boxes, and I've been using some up lately for quilts and curtains.
Fashion Institute of Technology, in NYC.
DeleteI had a sewing school for a number of years, Edith, and people used to give me machines, in addition to the ones I bought. But I've sold, donated, or given machines to my daughters, and now I'm left with what, for me, is a skeleton crew!
Since we migrate from south to north in the spring, the cleaning/organizing is kind of enforced. Edith, I cannot imagine one of our kids cleaning for us--what a treat!
ReplyDeleteIt is!
DeleteOh, Amelia Bedelia. Hadn't thought of that in ages.
ReplyDeleteI don't spring clean. I "clean when I can't deal with the mess any more" clean. =)
Mary/Liz
My mother was a cleaning demon, rousting her two daughter out of our beds early every Saturday morning to start at the back of the house and clean our way to the front. I didn't follow her example when I moved into my own home. Now, with long work hours Monday through Friday, and frequent work on weekends too, I'm fortunate to more or less keep up with the accumulated pet hair, much less clean drapes. I put in hardwood floors over the winter, in part because I refuse to spend all my precious free time on carpet maintenance. But I did pay a friend to help me clean out my storage unit. I'd had it for more than three years, dating back to the time I cleaned sold my house in the country and moved into town. Most of the stuff I stored was my husband's stuff, that I just hadn't had the heart to sort through in the first few years after he died. Because it wasn't essential to my daily life in my new town, it was stored until I had the space to give it shelter. When I closed out the storage unit, the storage company asked me why, as a loyal, long-term customer, I'd decided to leave. I told them they had been storing my emotional baggage, and now I am in a place to deal with it. To be honest, the dealing is slow, but every box I empty or find a place for is another small victory. And, anyway, I have a vision for that big front room that doesn't include piles of boxes of stuff I don't need.
ReplyDeleteGigi, we tend to go the unit every six months, stare at the contents and make no decisions about it. If it were in my home, you can bet I would have dealt with it years ago, but there's definitely something about "out of sight, out of mind." Good for you for taking on the task.
DeleteI did that every-few-months visit, too. Sometimes I'd peck away at a box or two. But there was no virtue in the decision to finally clean the storage unit out. I had gone over my budget, looking for new ways to cut expenses when my health insurance premiums went up again, and decided I had better uses for the money that went to the storage company every month. Much of it is still sitting in its boxes, as untouched as ever. Only now it's in my house.
DeleteDon't you wonder how many storage units hold stuff no one will ever use again?
ReplyDeleteWe have a lot of stuff in our basement, and sometimes I wonder: if I just called someone and said take this all away, would I ever know know what was gone? I'm almost certain I wouldn't, and that is so disturbing. There is some reassurance in knowing whatever it is that you think you have --is there if you ever need it… Of course you won't, because you don't know it's there.
ReplyDeleteAs for spring cleaning, I love when the window washer people come. It makes such a huge difference.
And I have actually contemplated taking everything out of my kitchen cabinets, cleaning the cabinets, and only putting back what is perfect.
Because it's just between us here, I can admit I probably will not do that.
I packed up the entire kitchen and dining room last year for the renovation. It's amazing how much stuff is still in boxes in the basement not to mention what I threw in the dumpster. The new kitchen has cabinets all the way to the ceiling, can't reach without a step stool, and that is where the seasonal stuff goes, but how many Christmas cookie cutters do I really have? I agree with you, Hank. I should have someone come empty the basement of everything but the washer, dryer and furnace. And then we start on the attic.
DeleteAnn
Organizers suggest you put things in a box and mark it with a date a couple of months in the future. If you haven't accessed anything in the box during that time, you pitch it without opening it again. Or would you be too tempted to take a peek, Hank?
DeleteA bunch of my male friends are firefighters and cops. Just about all of them went through a "shed phase" when they hit 40. That is, they had accumulated enough junk that their wives wanted it out of the house, so the guys got sheds for the back corners of their yards. I suggested they put everything they wanted to store in the shed, seal the door, and if they hadn't broken the seal in 5 years, they burn the shed down and get a new shed for the next round of stuff they didn't know what to do with. The firefighters would have enjoyed the bonfire, and the cops would have been happy to bring beer and watch.
DeleteHmm. So here's the thing--if I touch it to put it into a box, it feels like I should DO something with it instead. Touch it once, my mom used to say. SO--after I do my words for the day--I am going to go into the basement and get one box. And see what's inside. I will let you know.
DeleteAnd yes, Ingrid, you know me too well. I could not possibly throw away a box without looking inside.
Gigi, brilliant. And get marshmallows.
DeleteOur spring cleaning is named Evelina, who comes every other week. In between time I keep up appearances. Once a year a nice man comes to do all the windows, inside and out, including the storms. In between I wipe dog boogers and cat paws off the glass. Periodically we send the carpets out to be cleaned, but not very often.
ReplyDeleteThe big new is the invention of e-cloths. These are made of some magic material that cleans anything with plain water, including grease off the stove and out of the oven, smudges off the windows and makes the entire kitchen sparkle. If you have stainless steel appliances, your problems are over. Throw away the cleaners, both home made and the ones you bought. One swipe of the e cloths and these beasts are clean and shining and fingerprint-less. I promise. Trust me. I am a nurse. Julia, take note.
Ecloths?
DeleteOkay, I just ordered some. We shall see!
DeleteOkay, I just ordered some! We shall see!
DeleteAmelia Bedelia! Who doesn't adore Amelia Bedelia?!
ReplyDeleteI do, some years, do a good deep and thorough Spring Cleaning. And, I have to say, it's something about nice weather finally coming to these mountains after a long winter that makes me feel the urge to get things nice and clean. This winter wasn't quite so long, not quite so hard, and the spring cleaning urge is still hovering around in my brain (my mom would be proud), but this year I'm considering hiring a team of professionals to come do it. I admit, I do get a wee bit "house proud" when everything is shiny, even including those baseboards behind the furniture. Weird.
Storage units are where things go to die:-) After a suitable amount of time (and money) you can give or throw them away.
ReplyDeleteWe have Carolina who comes every two weeks, and in between I, as Ann says, keep up appearances. My urge to really deep clean tends to come in January or February, with the start of a new year. This year I really did a good clean and clear out on our guest room and bathroom. (All except for the stuff under the bed. I don't even know what most of it is...) But then I lost steam (forgive the pun.) All my energy now is going into the garden, cleaning up and planting. In another month it will be too hot to plant anything for the rest of the summer.
I'm not much of a cleaner. There are so many more interesting things to do! I am on a de-cluttering rampage right now. Or at least I threaten to do it. We have so much stuff we don't need. And keep getting more. We have two storage units. One is our stuff and the other is my in-laws' stuff. As executor Frank is supposed to deal with it but I haven't gotten him to deal with our storage stuff. That is one thing that happens when you move from the north where the houses have handy basements to the south where they don't. After helping to clean out my in-laws' place where they had lived for over 40 years and had filled the house, the barn, the garage, the sheds. . . you get the picture, I want to strip down our clutter. I want to make life easier when we move. No plans now, but I know we have at least one more move in the future. I don't know where or when but I definitely want it. I know it will be hard when we start trying to cull knickknacks from family, souvenirs from trips. That little pot from the restaurant in Segovia, Spain? Absolutely useless but do I want to get rid of it or the one my sister got too? Aargh.
ReplyDeleteI met Peggy Parish at the airport when she came to do a workshop at Lindenwood. Amelia Bedelia came to be when she was teaching in a New York school and her southern expressions (like "crack the window") befuddled her students. They made lists of confusing expressions, which became the books. Opportunities abound, maybe in those boxes, which according to Elaine Viets, become furniture if not unpacked in a month. Whenever I've stored books in basements, even those purported to be dry, floods have ruined the books, so if they can't fit upstairs, they need to go to a new owner. Yesterday I gave a workshop for early childhood (pre-school) teachers, and one teacher mentioned flannel board stories with her students. I gave her the book of TEDDY BEAR STORIES that had been given to me because I allowed one of "my" stories to be used. I had been thinking it might be wanting new horizons, and so it went . . . Dovie Thomason calls the give-away a Wopila, and it's not "I don't like this anymore" but "I've enjoyed it long enough. Now it's someone else's turn."
ReplyDeleteI like that idea, Mary, "I've enjoyed it long enough." Something to keep in mind when we tackle that storage unit.
DeleteOh, I can't think about this post too much. I don't need the guilt. I was just thinking at breakfast how it was about time to clean the screened-in back porch off, or open it up, as I refer to it. I had seen an article in the Sunday paper about porches and backyard spaces. I do now have a great idea to paint my wicker furniture I inherited from my mother. I plan on making the three pieces a nice, bright white. That's as far as I can reach about any spring cleaning right now. Oh, the guilt.
ReplyDeleteAnd, Edith, I'd really like to borrow your son.
I'm having to do some picking up around the condo this year - it's just getting too impossible any more. However, I'm putting it off yet again, like I always do. Who knows if and/or when it will really happen.
ReplyDeleteI like spring cleaning in theory but in reality, there is no time. Too many people coming and going and leaving messes in their wake. Frat house life.
ReplyDeleteAlways try to clean right away. I often spill something so I clean up right away!
ReplyDelete