Start Your Spring Cleaning Now
by Chris Petry
Just because you spent last weekend in a t-shirt doesn’t mean Spring flowering is on the horizon. Regardless of a certain charming rodent’s opinion, Spring doesn’t officially commence until March 19th. The next month, and probably the next couple months if the trend holds steady, will be fraught with unpredictable weather, ranging from near-monsoon level rain to hip-high snow fall. Or maybe it won’t. Maybe it’ll be a mild Spring, punctuated by cool air and premature buddings.
Just because Spring isn’t breaking tomorrow, doesn’t mean we can’t get an early start on our Spring cleaning. Homeowners and renters alike are susceptible to the phenomenon of accumulation. Especially since by the time Spring really does take hold, we’ll have spent an average of 6-7 months, mostly indoors, with early sunsets and little to do but place Amazon orders. Act now while you’re still mostly shut-in (because those temperatures dropped again this week) and get a head start on your Spring cleaning.
Check your closets, cupboards, basements, and attics for the stuff you won’t be wearing or using over the next 18-24 months. If it sits for longer than that, chances are you’re never wearing it or using it. Why is it taking up space in your home? This counts for just about everything but books and albums, which you’ll need in case of an apocalypse. As they say, I’ll die on that hill. You may think that blouse you bought half-off at Macy’s seven years ago will soon have its day. I promise, it won’t. It will be better put to use by way of donation.
If you’ve been accumulating building materials, cans of paint, buckets of mud, and other remodeling essentials for a home makeover, get started now. Look, you may think you want to wait until it’s 40,000 degrees to put a clear coat on the deck but really, anything above 50 degrees is optimal. If it gets too hot, the stain will dry before its protective molecules are absorbed by the wood. There will be more and more warmer days for projects like this on the horizon, even if they don’t stick around for too long. Inside, you can do just about anything and you should. Why wait until things get busy in the middle of summer? Wouldn’t you rather be poolside, camping, or ziplining?
If you have stuff with utility that just needs organized, do it! Nothing makes life easier than knowing where stuff is when you need it. Put shoes on a rack or in their own boxes or bins. Purchase storage containers and label each container with a home-labelling system or at the bare medium a jumbo Sharpie. Then build shelving to house said tubs. No worries, you don’t need to be a carpenter to assemble a basic wire or corkboard garage shelving until. Most require nothing more than a rubber hammer or screwdriver and 30 minutes of free time. Place dry items like pasta, cereal, rice, beans, and oatmeal in sealable plastic or glass containers. Target and Wal-Mart both sell pantry organizing jars on the cheap. Finally, buy some drawer dividers and/or liners to separate small miscellaneous, but crucial, items in your desk or rolling toolbox.
Clean the gutters. Why wait for some magical day when you can settle for right now? Stuff’s just going to keep accumulating in there and you know the old saying about what brings Spring Flowers? Don’t let those gutters overflow with rain and cause damage to rooves and siding or sink into your foundation. Toss on your yardwork trousers and a sweatshirt, grab a ladder, some gloves, and a bucket and get busy.
Start picking up yard work essentials. This one might seem counterintuitive since we’re telling you to clean up but having the right tools for the major outdoor cleanup will make everything easier when the time comes. Start picking up mulch, fertilizer, and hand tools like rakes, hoes, shovels, posthole diggers, and pitchforks now before they start flying off the shelves like Taylor Swift tickets.
You have your orders soldier, now march. If I had waited just two weeks, that last sentence could’ve read as a pun. What do you want from me, people? Anyway, if you want to define cleaning more metaphorically, now might be the time to make an even bigger change. Yes, I refer to buying or selling your home. For that, you’ll want to reach out to a real estate professional at your local branch of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices The Preferred Realty.
