Happy Friday, and welcome to another Frugal Friday post! This last week has been busy at the Quiltiferous household. We spent some time before Easter Sunday cleaning and decluttering. Why is this frugal? I'd love to share!
Cleaning and decluttering is frugal because it takes care of likely your biggest asset, your home or apartment. When walls and floors are not well cared for, they can be a big-ticket item to replace! Each item of furniture needs cleaning and polishing now and then, each nick-nack could use a duster sometimes, and the kitchens and bathrooms can be positively medieval without proper care and attention! All of these types of cleaning care for our things and make them last longer.
Decluttering is another example of frugal living, simply because it means a guarding of our time! I'm careful when I declutter to rid myself only of things I won't replace or already have more than I need. For example, I'm decluttering a few teapots because I received two as gifts recently. The ones I owned before came from the thrift shop, so they will go back there. It's important to see the possible uses of an item before we just go and toss it because it's in the way. Declutter with care, and you'll rarely regret it! The goal is not minimalism, but a home without clutter in every corner.
I spent time cleaning and decluttering the main areas of my home. This brightens each of our days when a clean kitchen or dining room greets us! Many of the items I moved are not necessarily clutter, but they belong somewhere else in the house. I took the time to put things away! It's so easy for a "hot spot" in our house to get cluttered and overrun with things, so we have to address those places from time to time. When the table is cleared of stuff that belongs elsewhere, we are free to put a pretty vase of flowers there, even fake ones, or pretty up the table in other ways.
It's spring, and it's time to do a deep spring cleaning of the home. This year instead of just focusing on cleaning, I plan to reorganize my pantries to better suit our needs. I have a cleaning checklist that I use each year, and that works well for the basics of a deep clean. I usually try to do this the month of April, taking a part of the house each week to clean well. This isn't usually a time to organize, just to clean and lightly declutter areas that are needing it.
Many times I do redecorate with things I already own after spring cleaning. I enjoy rearranging vases of fake flowers, pictures, and nick knacks. I'm usually looking for better ways of organizing my closet areas to better use the spaces too!
Besides being a very frugal use of time, cleaning and decluttering is like mending for my home. It needs to be done and it will benefit the people living in the home! I often look to YouTube or Instagram for cleaning inspiration and for new tools and tricks. Some of them are simple ideas, like cleaning from top to bottom. I clean cobwebs first, then ceiling fans or light fixtures and work my way down until the floors are last! Some of them are ways to use specific cleaners, like a little powdered Tide in my mop water for very clean floors! The Tide makes the whole house smell amazing, too!
I hope you're inspired this week to attack and clean all those spaces that could use attention. After writing this, I want to get back to it and make the rest of the house sparkle! Happy Friday, and Happy Cleaning!
Stacy
No comments:
Post a Comment