While spring cleaning is certainly takes a great deal of effort, our tendency to accumulate clutter makes things far, far worse. It’s one thing to take all the books off the shelf, dust the books, dust the shelf, and put everything back. It’s even worse when the shelves are overburdened and there are three stacks of books in front of the bookcase along with 2 file folders and miscellaneous stuff on the shelves.

The first step in spring cleaning should be a good de-clutter. Once you finish your taxes, you can file all that paperwork where it belongs and discard duplicates (you don’t need 3 forms of acknowledgment that you made a donation). As you switch out your winter clothes for summer clothes, you can discard or donate clothes that are in bad shape or that no longer fit or that you just don’t wear. You can donate that stack of books and magazines you read when you were inside all winter. Give away the things you don’t use. If you have lots of items that you really like and want to keep, you can rotate them seasonally. But if you forget they are in the attic from one season to the next, do you really need them?

You can de-clutter a bit at a time — maybe one closet or area a day. Slow but steady will get you through.

Once you’ve done a good de-clutter, you can turn to spring cleaning. If you are looking for a good book about decluttering, I might just be able to make a recommendation: https://authormaryelizabethsperry.com/making-room-for-god-3/