Spring Cleaning

Spring, although not yet here, has caused a shift in our thinking. As I write this it’s still only February, and yet already I have seen sandals, shorts, motorcycles and collector cars out and about. Mind you, I’m not complaining, but spring-cleaning doesn’t seem far behind.

I suspect in the old days spring-cleaning meant dragging the rugs and carpets out of the house and then beating the winter dust out of them. When I was a kid cleaning the garage with Dad

was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon. He would back the car out and we would then empty the garage of its contents onto the front lawn to spite the neighbors, sweep out the garage, hose the floor down and put most everything back in. What didn’t make the cut was thrown out as junk.

While attending school in St. Cloud, I lived next door to the Jackson’s, a couple well into their eighties. I would give Ray a hand with mowing the lawn and other chores. One day he wanted help cleaning out his garage. As Ray shuffled around the garage behind his walker, he directed me to move one pile to one side and another pile to the other side. This continued on for twenty minutes or more until he was satisfied that enough stuff had been relocated.

It’s a battle to manage your stuff; the more room you have and the older you get, the worse it gets. Many years ago my wife and I read a book by Don Aslett “Clutter’s Last Stand,” that addressed this very issue. We used to have a copy (we either got rid of it or it got lost in the clutter).

Uncluttering is not confined to spring-cleaning; it can be a daily battle. Nothing is off limits. For instance, I have had reason recently to take inventory of the medicine cabinet, and I found some areas that needed attention. We have all manners of cure-alls that include cod liver and snake oil, as well as incense, peppermints, liniments and ointments. I was specifically looking for something to aid me in my battle against a variation of a bad cold. I found a packet that seemed to hit most everything I had with a few glaring exceptions, and it was just past the expiration date, but still clearly within my range of acceptance. However, it was not within my wife’s – I was instructed to take something current and complete.

My cleaning quest has also included my closet where I found clothes that had not been worn when they fit me and certainly would not be worn now that they don’t. They were removed from the rotation. Clothes that I detest but are too tattered and torn to be donated will be sacrificed some Saturday when I will use them as armor against the shards and sharp edges of work around the farm.

As I move from room to room and building to building nothing is beyond my reach if I can just keep the right mindset: it’s best to get rid of the extra and the unnecessary in this season of my life, while I am still able.