By Mona Ismaeil

Symbolically, spring can be considered a fresh start. New flowers are blooming, many animals welcome their young into the world and we clean out our homes! There is something extremely satisfying about doing a spring clean. By de-cluttering your home, you de-clutter your mind and you life.

Studies show that the rituals of cleaning and getting rid of whats no longer serving you such as worn out posessions, old habits, emotional ties or unhealthy thoughts- can actually improve your physical and mental health. 

Kate Hanley; Spring clean your life.

The closet

This is probably the hardest part as we tend to attach ourselves to our clothes. We attach memories to our clothes; why else would it be so hard to give up that old sweater? Perhaps you spent an amazing day with your family when you wore that sweater. Perhaps you met your husband in that sweater. With that said, it is very important to clean out your closet mulple times a year. There  are a few rules to cleaning-out your closet:

  • If you havent worn it in over a year, likely you wont  wear it. If you are like me and sometimes need a break from your clothes, put it away for a season and when you pull it out again you may be reinspired to wear it.  Otherwise for basics, you likely wont wear it. This is especially true for anything with tags.
  • Dress your body TODAY. Dont keep those old jeans for the day you loose 20 lbs and fit in them again. Yes, our bodies change especially after we have children and thats perfectly fine. It is important to remember that you deserve to feel amazing in your clothes no matter your weight.
  • If your clothes do not make your feel beautiful, strong  and confident, get rid of them. Its  that simple.
  • Rather than hang on to something just in case donate it and k now that someone will be very grateful to have it.
  • Rethink how you shop. Focus more on basics and pieces you know you wont get sick of and less on whats on trend. Think style vs. trend. Define your own style and choose pieces that really fit well. Its fun to experiment with a funky patterned or bold coloured blouse but dont step too far out of your comfort zone or it wont be worn.

 

Storage/Laundry Room/Garage

These are often dumping grounds for all things that do not have a home.  When its spring cleaning time, youd be amazed at the treasures you can find in there! Take some time to sort through everything. Make sure that each thing you touch has a place to go. Plastic bins are great for sorting items in storage as you can still see whats in each bin. If need be, use labels. Be sure to have with you a large garbage bag for garbage and a couple boxes for items you will donate or perhaps sell.

At this time, you should be seeing if you need to create extra storage and organizing spaces whether it be shelves, hangers bins, boxes, etc.

Pantry

It is very important to clean out your pantry  and spice cabinet often. Although some food items are non-perishable they do expire! Check for them regularly. Also at this time, you should put out items with closer expiry dates to the front to be used first. It is not unlikely youll find something that you thought youd try but didnt really like or youve forgotten about completely. For more pantry organizing tips, read Organizing Tips for your Home – The Kitchen.

Kid Stuff

We all agree that children grow up too fast! This means that children will outgrow clothing very quickly. For cleaning out their closets,  you can follow the same rules as for your own closet. At the same time, you should be keeping in mind your plan for growing your family. For clothing items that you want to hang on to for future use, vacuum sealed bags do wonders! For toys, only keep toys that your child will actually play with often. Throw away broken toys as the edges can be harmful to children. Other toys can either be stored in plastic bins or donated to a local charity, daycare of womens shelter.

Life

This will be the hardest task of all and is a two step process:

Step 1

Take time to think of how you want to clean out your life. Think about what is getting in the way of full enjoyment and productivity  in your life. Do you have people in your life that are wearing you down? Are there any sources of negativity that you can eliminate?  Have you spread yourself too thin? Where do you want your life to be going vs. where is it going? How is you level of Iman?

Step 2

Discuss with your spouse and remember to include all aspects of your life that you share. This includes your home,  finances, children,  friends, family, careers, etc.

Heres to more sunshine, and life springing back!

About the author:

Mona Ismaeil is the associate editor at MuslimMoms.ca
Image by Stanly8853 on Pixabay