Spring Cleaning!
What to do with all the stuff.
My mother washed the walls in her house every spring, until two years ago when she finally moved out. I once asked her why, and she said that when she grew up, it was necessary because the coal furnace left grime everywhere. When I pointed out that coal heating had been obsolete for decades, she told me that she liked the way the house smelled after the walls were washed.
My mother died earlier this year, and I don’t think I’m telling tales about the dead when I say that she was a little compulsive about cleaning.
Even if you’re not compulsive, you probably have more things than you need. In fact, I am writing this from my office, where behind me sits a pile of bunch of stuff that I know I need to deal with and maybe will today. My mother is looking down on me and wondering where she went wrong.
For me, the problem with cleaning up is figuring out what to do with everything. There are just so many decisions!
One decision? What to with all the stuff you don’t want.
For the most part, we just take everything to the Salvation Army. There’s one with a donation drive-thru near us, so it’s easy to add that to the list of errands. The tax deduction isn’t as good as it once was (it only kicks in if you itemize your taxes), but the convenience is A+.
If you can’t itemize, you might consider sending women’s and childen’s clothes to ThredUp (affiliate link). The payouts aren’t great, but all you really have to do is put clean clothes in a bag and send it in. I’ve done it when brands are running promotions. As a customer, ThredUp is pretty good: easier to shop than a thrift store, and a lot of brands send in returns as part of their sustainability initiatives.
Sometimes, we put things in the alley or on the front porch with a little “free to a good home” sign. That might not work in all neighborhoods. I don’t usually list things on the neighborhood Facebook free box groups, because I don’t want to work that hard, but I will offer items if I see someone is in search of something I have and don’t use.
I put books in our neighborhood Little Free Libraries. My flex is that my books tend to get taken quickly.
If you’re looking to make money from your clutter, I’m told that the best bet for furniture and other household goods is Facebook Marketplace. I’ve been a buyer, not a seller, because I don’t want to do the work of listing items, but if you have the time (or have an underemployed high school student in your life), it can be fantastic: no fees and no shipping.
If you want to do more work but make more money, you can sell via Poshmark or eBay. If you are looking for a side hustle, start with your spring cleaning. As a customer, I’ve found fantastic deals on Poshmark, but I’ve also found a few sellers think their items are more valuable than they are. If you’re new to Poshmark, you can use my referral code, ANNIELOGUE1, to get $10 off your first purchase.
And, finally, some stuff just needs to be thrown away.
Do you have any suggestions? Please share in the comments!
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis can take us out:
My mom (age 86 now) always felt bad b/c she didn't wash the walls every year, b/c HER mom always did. (Never mind that my mom had 6 kids and went back to school & got 2 Master's degrees & worked as the Director of Nursing at big nursing homes, with a less-than-supportive husband). I'm I didn't inherit the cleaning guilt.
Your mother sounds like my mother. Mine never washed walls, but she cleans things I never think of cleaning, consistently and thoroughly, even at 81 and even after a bout of cancer. She's unstoppable. Funny story, years ago now I impulsively stopped at the house I grew up in, which my parents sold in the late 90s. So this was a good 15 years into the new owners' life there. I asked if I could look around, for the nostalgia. The owner hesitated for a second and then said, "well, it's not that neat right now. I don't keep house like your mother did." And I said, "don't worry, no one keeps house like my mother." I'm betting she never forgot moving into a house with two young kids and basically not having to deep clean anything first.