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If I haven’t been blogging in a while, it’s because I’ve gotten myself embroiled in a brand new obsession. For the last few weeks, I seem to have spent every spare minute I have purging my closets full of junk. Inspired, once again, by my “unofficial mentor because she doesn’t know it” Bethenny Frankel’s tips on closet clean-outs, I embarked on a similar scheme.

I’m not finished, but Rick and I are already feeling somehow lighter now that our apartment has less stuff. Stuff. It’s the scourge of modern life. Physical stuff. Digital stuff. (I have 21 Firefox tabs open right now). And the fact that we swapped out our heavy, patterned red rug in the living room for a natural wool/jute rug from Pottery Barn. It just lifts the whole room, especially when the sun streams in. But I digress. As is my wont. But it does look soooo pretty.

Now. My own take on spring cleaning goodness:

1. Tackle one room at a time - Yes, I know how tempting it is to try and do everything at once. Once you start pulling that thread, you want the whole thing to unravel, no? But please try and resist. Focus on one room. Get it done. Then move on. Then your husband/wife/whatever won’t come home to find you huddled in the corner, exhausted and dirty at the end of the day, with piles of stuff in ALL of your rooms, and nowhere to chill out and recover. Not that I’ve ever made that mistake. Obviously.
2. Don’t hold onto past glories – Oh yes, I know how tempting it is to keep those skinny pants that you wore incessantly when you were 25 and had a fast metabolism. And that you never, ever want to admit that you’re not 25 anymore. But let’s face it. You’re (probably) not. So, if they don’t fit and you haven’t worn them in over a year, you know the drill. Throw them out and free up space (closet and mental) for new clothes that actually, you know, make you look good. Just the way you are.
3. Don’t throw away what you could donate – An obvious one this, but try and donate the majority of clothing, books, working electronics etc. that you want to get rid of. You’ll know what’s good enough to donate and what’s only fit for recycling, and it does give you that smug, warm glow. And a tax deductible glow at that. Bonus.
4. Play some really, really good dance music – A must for giving you the energy to push through. Just at the point when all of your clothes lie in piles on the floor, but you haven’t yet sorted through them, is when you need a blast of my current favorite spring cleaning soundtrack. A bit of Detroit house music can do the trick. And it’s fun to dance around your house like a dervish. Especially with no-one watching.
5. Indulge your inner neat freak - This is one time when it’s perfectly ok to obsess over the smallest details. At no other time in my life do I do this, but when spring cleaning, I become un-naturally concerned with having all the straight edges of my books lined up, having certain pots of cream in the bathroom face the same way, you know the drill. I repeat. At no other time do I spend time thinking about this. Honest.

And when you’re done? Time for the final bonus tip, courtesy of domestic diva and all-around cool girl, Rita Konig. Run yourself a bath, pour a glass of wine and get stuck into the (neatly stacked) pile of new magazines you’ve been saving.  Aaaah, domestic bliss…

(Domestic Bliss, by Rita Konig)