Are you “Fall Cleaning”?

 

One of my last post I made comment I was cleaning out “stuff” and commenced a fall clean out….

Mama Pea,  who writes one of my favorite blogs “A Home Grown Journal” (If you haven’t done so,  yet check out her blog… you wont be disappointed) left me this comment…         “  I always thought spring was the time for old-fashioned "spring cleaning" but it seems so many of us are hitting it hard this fall for some reason. Not sure we're very wise as we also seem to still have canning and preserving going on at the same time! I really, really don't want to fill every single minute of every day with "work" type tasks . . . it just seems to happen! Fall is supposed to be a time for thinking about knitting, quilting, reading . . . or will we have to wait for the dead of winter for that? “

Well she got me to thinking. I realized in the past few years  fall is when I’ve done these clean outs.  What happened to spring cleaning?  Opening the doors and windows to let the house breathe in fresh air after being tightly shuttered for months.

I think for me the change over came with staying home and gardening.  Spring we’re all out wallowing in the soil, praying over the seedlings, hoeing and raking. Watching trees & fruit vines bud. Busy planting and working gardens, herb and flower beds…..anything to be outside and out of the house in the sunshine. 

Summer we are to busy weeding and preserving which carries over in to fall….and then the winter prep work ..

Fall, we start thinking about staying inside…a l l   w I n t e r…..& begin looking around and realize although we’ve maintained our homes though the busy times..“stuff” has crept in.  You know what I mean, like that pile of books that is stacked next to the couch, the stack towels in the linen closet that have fallen over. How about the ironing pile that is now large enough that could be declared a state.  OK so I may have exaggerated a bit, not a state but at least a county!  The dust and drips that have gathered in cabinets and drawers in the kitchen from canning.  All those little minor tasks we started (do we have to talk about the mending pile?) and gotten side tracked.  Leftover home improvement project pieces and parts…..the desk that is beginning to look like a trash heap paper mill exploded.  Cleaning out spare rooms of all the stuff or tasks we set aside to do later when we aren’t so busy…….and then  realized I don’t want to be stuck inside with all this stuff all winter! 

I admit I’m not an organized person ( my family would be standing shouting “Can I hear an Amen!”)…I want to be, I try to be…but it doesn’t work.  So yeah, there are things that need done, blinds & walls that need washed, closets & cabinets that need cleaned out.  I’ve never been able stay in one room to start/finish it so I do little bits in each room, keep a donate box on hand & at least 5 things have to go in it a day.  When the box or bag is full it goes in the SUV.  I’m still cleaning out the empty kids rooms so 5 things is cake I tell you (think wedding cake).  It should be done already but…as you can tell I get side tracked easily.

Anyway, cleaning it out, clearing the clutter and organizing now in the fall makes the house feel open and spacious during the “inside times” of winter.  And….lets me do all the fun stuff like quilting and sewing guilt free.

How about you?  Spring cleaner or fall?

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