Spring Cleaning: A Time of Renewal, Rebirth, and Hope

I always used to chuckled when people would mention "spring cleaning".  I never did spring cleaning.  Maybe once or twice when the boys were babies, but never really since then.

This last year, I really started to take a look at my life.  My house, my family, our finances.... And I was disgusted.  We were existing, but not living.  We were struggling.

Cooking in our tiny kitchen was nothing short of a nightmare.  Storage in our kitchen was nonexistant.  Our dining room was turning into a catch-all room, as was our living room.  The living room was also my work area for my business.  And it was out of control.

Over the next month or so, I'm going to be concentrating on my "Kicking Butt Campaign".  I am eliminating things I don't want or need.  I'm going to utilize the great ideas I have given to other people,  and using them myself to regain control of my house.  I will reuse what I can, and get rid of the rest.  I'm going to make my house a home, to the best of my ability.  

The way I'm doing this is quite simple.  I take one small section of one room, figure out what I want it to look like, and then do my level best to make it look that way.  If I have to move furniture, I do it.  If I have to scrub down the wall, I do it.  Some of the stuff that won't get used gets thrown out.  I discovered that my public library is needing some supplies for their summer kids program, so I'm working hard on sorting out the supplies they will need, and packaging them up.  Some stuff is being donated to my children's school.  

Summer Library Program Donations

School Donations

I figure there is always going to be someone who will need some of my stuff more than I will.  So my spring cleaning regime this year is going to be several months long, and with a lot of stuff leaving my house, going to people and places that can really use it, into a yard sale box, for when we hold a yard sale this spring, OR into the trash, because no one in their right mind would ever want it.

How are YOU tackling spring cleaning this year?