Spring cleaning

A wee C enjoying time in a toy that now lives in our garage

Since we’ve become parents, the amount of ‘stuff” we’ve acquired is pretty insane. My closet, garage, under the bed space, and pretty much every spare household orifice available is straight out of an episode of Hoarders. If I allow myself to think about it, I begin to have a mild panic attack, so I try to push those scary thoughts out of my mind and think about cake, or something. And remember the rule of parenthood that says you may only enjoy two of the following three things — sanity, children and a clean house — at any given time.

Anyhoo, hubby and I are planning a spring cleaning session in the next month or so, and it’s time for us to get organized. Here’s our strategy for how we’ll de-clutter:

• Make sure the wee one is otherwise occupied. It is crucial that we plan our spring cleaning session on a day when C goes to school, and we will both take a day off from work so this can happen. There is no way we will get anything done if she is around because she is the boss of us (and she’s so darn cute).
• Consider a storage unit. We are definitely the people who use their garage as storage right now, which is something I would like to move away from if at all possible. Not only do we actually NEED the garage for garage things, but it’s also not the best place to store stuff that shouldn’t be exposed to weather, critters and other yuckiness. It’s time for us to bite the bullet and figure out a solution for storage until we move on to a larger home.
• Throw stuff out. It may also be time to part with some of the items we are storing in said garage (and said closets, under the bed, etc.). These items consist largely of baby materials too horribly disfigured to subject future children to, boxes we’re saving “just in case,” jackets and other clothing items we haven’t worn since we lived in NYC — you get the picture. It’s time to take a realistic look at our stuff and purge the items we have been carrying around with us and not using. I’m getting excited just thinking about doing this!
• Reorganize. I’m dying to go through places like our junk drawer and kitchen cabinets and redo the way everything is organized. Moving things around every now and again is an easy way to consolidate and make some extra room. I ALWAYS end up with more space when I take a minute to rethink my organization tactics.

For some more tips on how to get organized in the new year, check out this handy list from Martha Stewart. What works for you when it comes to spring cleaning?