A Fresh Approach to Spring Green Cleaning

The grass is growing, birds are chirping all are signs of another spring season which signals that special time of the year when we give our homes a thorough green cleaning! 

 Get my space right.  Begin with "surveying the land."

The Blessing of a Broken Dishwasher

--written by Brenda

I will be honest, one of the on-going challenges in my home has been keeping a clean kitchen.  It is not for lack of cleaning products as I am a firm believer in cleaning with all-natural, green cleaning products.  Something mysterious seems to occur between the late afternoon hours and the late night hours of the day.  The "Dirty Dish Bandits" show up and do their mischief. (I am sure these "Dirty Dish Bandits" are in cohorts with my teenagers!)

Then one day it happened, my dishwasher died. 

It was not a sudden death but a slow drawn-out death.  Even though I knew it would happen soon, I was not ready for that day.

With my dishwasher now beyond repair, the Dirty Dish Bandits wreaked even more havoc in my kitchen. Although my children (college-aged & teenagers) do chores around the house, and clean up the dishes after supper, my kitchen always seems to have some dirty dishes lying about (in those peak hours I already mentioned).  When the dishwasher broke, the problem became compounded.

I decided enough is enough and one weekday afternoon I set about removing every cup, glass, bowl, plate and all silverware from my kitchen cupboards. 

Spring Cleaning: Think Outside-the-Box!

 

Not much has changed in my home when it comes to spring cleaning than when I was growing up.

  In my house, everything from curtains to cupboards, bathrooms to bedding…I mean everything gets cleared, sorted, washed down and returned to its rightful place--just like mom did.

 As I was going through my emails today, I ran across an article on spring cleaning your diet.   That got me thinking about other important areas in life that could use a "spring cleaning."

Could you use a "spring cleaning" in any of the following personal areas?

Make Spring Cleaning a Launching Project

 

Are thoughts of summer vacations, rooms to remodel, places to visit dancing in your head?  Move those thoughts from your head into a project list and seriously work through the viability of doing those things.  Some of us spend more time thinking and dreaming instead of acting on those dreams or projects. 

Let Spring Cleaning be a launching project from which you model how to plan and organize other things you want to accomplish, but never seem to get around doing.  Turning your spring cleaning project into a time-ordered task may give you the boost you need to order other projects you would like to accomplish but don't know where to begin.

Hello, I'm Brenda and I write for Harmony All Natural Aromatherapy Cleaners. As a busy mom and professional, I have found it helpful when tackling a project to set a target date for when I want to be FINISHED.  No, I don't set a BEGINNING date; but a FINISH BY or DUE DATE—so to speak.  If I had a ''starting date," I may drag on my project too long.  It is more helpful for me to have a "due date," to keep me motivated and on target.

My daughter asked me this morning, "Mom, when are we going to start spring cleaning?"  I told her after I finished my current project due this upcoming Monday, then we would plan for our spring cleaning.  I know for myself that taking on too many projects at once will result in nothing getting done, or not done well.  

You know yourself, pace yourself.  Look at your calendar and set the "finished by date" for your spring cleaning and other projects in a timely sequence.  Allow breathing room—margins in your life too! 

 

Green cleaning is a part of living green.  Living green is also about enjoying life, keeping things simple where we can and pacing ourselves.  There is a rhythm to life that is freeing when we find it! 

For you, maybe you won't consider green spring cleaning until after your children's spring break.  No problem.  When you get back, then consider when you want to tackle spring cleaning and set a target "finish-by date."  Be sure to order Harmony Aromatherapy products shortly after setting your date so that when you begin to clean, you have everything you need to get started!

Continue to look for our practical green cleaning tips for practical green living!