Spring/Summer Cleaning

Each summer, just after school is out, I begin my annual spring cleaning. I clean out the kids rooms, closets, drawers, my bedroom and closet, and then the other cabinets and closets in the house in an attempt to purge things the kids have out grown and to regain some semblance of order and control over our "stuff". It is a great feeling when everything is clean and organized. Well, to me anyway. My kids don't share my need to purge and organize, so it is always a bit of a battle or a job that I do mainly on my own.

I started with my daughter's room this year. I did not make a conscience decision to begin there, but the fact that she is off at camp and the fact that her room resembled a post-tornado site, made it the best starting point. I am tempted to go and take pictures of her room - the drawers, the shelves, and the closet - so that I can remember how wonderful it looked. I did say "looked" because I know that as soon as Megan returns from camp, the organization will quickly be undone, and one day in the near future, I will spend 4-5 additional hours in there purging, cleaning, and reorganizing.

I believe my next room will be Connor's, although he has informed me that it does not need to be cleaned. He likes it just like it is. But, I know that there are many items of clothing and toys that he has outgrown, so I need to get them out of his room.

I am thinking that I will have a garage sale after I return from vacation so that I can get rid of the things that I am purging from their rooms and mine. Blake and I both cleaned our closet on Father's Day afternoon. We started thinking about what we should take with us on our vacation, and this prompted us to start reorganizing our clothes so that we could find what we needed. So, our closet is organized - for now. I have a section of pants that I need to try on and purge, but I have not had the time yet. Since I have lost weight, I have a lot of pants/shorts that no longer fit me. I have pulled out quite a few already, but I know that there are probably more.

Well, I had better get back to my spring cleaning. There are many more nooks and crannies to clean!