4 New Ways to Kick Off Spring Cleaning and Decluttering

Keep it Clean Paper Bag from Mr. Goat

We all love the renewed and refreshed home spring cleaning gives us, but getting the cleaning done is a lot harder to enjoy. Thanks to a whirlwind of books, TV shows and wellness trends, this has changed. Housework can also be a problem solving game or the plot for a TV show! With these unusual activities, we’re resetting our ideas about spring cleaning and changing the long-term relationship with chores. Give them a try.

Watch a Japanese drama.

You’d be surprised how many recent Japanese dramas address decluttering (or “danshari”) and even questions the role of housewives as unpaid housekeepers.

Source: My Well-organized Home, Asianwiki

We indulged in dramas like “We Married as a Job” where housekeeper Mikuri is paid for her work until they shift from fake marriage to real marriage, and “My Well-Organized Home” where declutter freak Mai learns life lessons as she tries to throw out everything her husband, mother, and grandmother own.

These TV shows makes the whole housekeeping thing much more human, relatable and funny. We think it creates a much more long-lasting change than beating yourself up for not cleaning!

Consult an old farmer’s almanac.

While old farmer’s almanacs mostly concerns gardening, food and health, Chinese almanacs also lists best days (“auspicious days”) for cleaning household activities. Consider the cleaning day decided for you! (Hmm, our book reads 3/6, 3/19 and 3/30 for east Asia.)

Loofah Water from Damu Farms

Try and see the spring season as your cleaning ally offering precious water that cleanses, the new direction of winds that air-dries linens, and long hours of sunshine that kills bacteria. Almanacs also gives practical ideas like how to make natural homemade cleaners.

Simplify the negative space on walls and floors.

This is not a feng shui or interior design principle, but a psychology exercise.

Dining Table from Xi Shan Kobo

Gestalt psychology tells us our mind tend to simplify the shapes and visuals around us. Too many shelves and objects creates irregularity in the room and makes our mind busy or even anxious. So in order to declutter both your home and your life, try making your walls blank again; take out as many irregular shapes as possible and see what happens. As for decorations? A clean slate is always easier to decorate!

Instead of “cleaning,” be managing your resources.

Perhaps you’re career-driven and consider repetitive chores a waste of time. Well, think of cleaning as an ongoing project; how does it help us get maximum results in life?

Landscape Organizer from Danzo

Accept the fact that there’s cleaning to be done just like you can’t avoid filing taxes in a business. Schedule ahead for major maintenances (and you’re doing just that by doing spring cleaning! Hurray.) Reduce objects that costs human resources (meaning time and energy to clean and manage). Evaluate equipments (how about an iRobot or a litter robot?) that automate the work.

Decluttering gives us extra time and energy. Cleaning gives us fresh starts. Be hopeful and be easy on yourself, just like spring itself. It’s all about creating something new!