The Blissful Life

I seriously believe this.

Of course you can have a physical and mental life declutter and cleanse at any point throughout the year but the impact it has in the Spring, I believe is far more powerful.

The arrival of all things new and the warmer weather brings a welcoming fresh, new approach to blissful living. It brings a renewed energy and a sense of rebirthing for us all to tap into.

The physical Spring Clean is far more transformational than simply getting rid of a few bits, it’s completely empowering.

The Physical Clean

• Getting rid of old, unused items delivers you a sense of control over your life. The making of decisions to clear the way going forward and cut ties with items that don’t contribute to your life. This is Powerful!
• This process is also a subconcious calling to invite new beginings into your life by making space. By this I don’t mean more cluttering items but new experiences and opportunity.
• The cleaning of dusty corners, windows, carpets, under furniture etc rids your space of old stagnant energy allowing a easier flow of new energy throughout your space.
• The process of observing the space you live in that appears clutter free and clean, delivers a feeling of spaciousness and weightlessness to the mind. This lowers your stress levels, triggers creativity and injects a dose of pleasure into your being.

So where do you start?

1. Set up 3 piles in a area of your home – Donate – Bin – Sell
2. Gradually moving through your home, drop items that no longer contribute to your life in one of the piles. By ‘not contributing’ I mean – You don’t use on a regular basis, have no emotional connection to.
3. As you add things to the Sell pile, also add to social media selling sites by taking pics & adding a description.
4. Once the spaces around you are decluttered, begin sorting though cupboards, draws, underbeds – 1 room at a time.
5. My suggestion would be, focus on 1 room a day to clear out cupboards/draws etc – getting rid as you go.
6. Then focus on deep cleaning just that one room at a time after you have cleared, decluttered etc.

With the cleaning process. Open windows. Begin with a bucket of warm soapy water and cloths. Wipe down everything from window frames, skirting boards, window sills, inside and outside cupboards and shelving, handles.

Hoover and mop the room fully, under furniture, inside wardrobes.

Using your preferred household cleaner, mine is http://www.purdyandfig.com and Mr Sheen for wooden furniture, clean everything with a new cloth.

For bathrooms Viakal works a dream on areas with limescale and hardwater.

7. Invest in good baskets for home organisation. This can encourage family members to store their items more effectively and encourage a tidy system for them.

8. Consider a attractive shelf in rooms where you would like to keep sentimental pieces. Instead of these being scattered around the house on occasional tables, group them together on a shelf for a statement. This will prevent clutter building too.

9. Watch out for dumping zones and create storage accordingly. Where does everyone dump shoes as they enter the home? Where do your keys, phone, wallet, glasses get placed as you enter? Do you have a zone / system for mail and filing?

10. Finally, add life and energy to your home with a few plants dotted around. These are great for softening edges and creating atmosphere in lost corners.

11. Give any rugs a good beating in the garden, wash cushion covers and curtains if possible. Hoover your mattress whilst your bedding, mattress protector and pillow protectors are in the wash.

The knock on mood boost that a Spring Clean can have on your mental, emotional and spiritual self is very underrated. Not only, like I said before, does it boost your confidence by taking applied action and control over your life but you will see a huge reduction in your overwhelm. A cluttered, dark, messy, unorganised space brings massive overwhelm and stress to us and leaves little room for head space of seeing our life clearly and allowing creativity to land.

Next week I will be focussing on a different sort of spring clean altogether…