Low-Key Cleaning

 Recently, DH said to me "I have an idea, kind of a New Year's Resolution but let's start on April 1st, since the year began almost four months ago.  My idea is, everyday, let's find something to throw away.  Something that's been laying around that is either junk, or broken that we're never going to fix since we haven't all ready, or things we don't even know why they're here anymore."

Since he's usually one to not clean until he gets this fit to clean an entire room/garage/basement NOW and it takes an entire day or weekend and involves me no matter what I'd actually had in mind for that day/weekend, I though this dispose of one thing per day idea was a great one.  Something that's low-key, should be fairly easy to maintain, and over time will result in less clutter.  Plus, it's a good way to start a new habit: looking at what he/we tend to save and learn to let go of it sooner rather than years (or decades) later.

So far, so good.  Some days I see two things and I throw them both away rather than saving one for tomorrow.  And he's managed to see/find one thing each day no matter how busy his day is; like the day he had to go to work in person plus had a Board of Ed meeting that evening and was gone from home 11 hours of the 16 he was awake.

I have to admit, in case the obvious trash-bound items start to get harder to see on casual observation, I jotted down a list of things to look through, or places to look for long-forgotten unnecessary items.  Like the drawers in the low-table that's been down in the basement for about a decade and a half.  What's even in those drawers??  I haven't opened them in at least five years.  More than likely everything in there can go.

Since we tend to keep stuff until it's totally worn out, and even beyond that point, most of our destined for the trash can items are not in any condition to rehome. "Good" stuff with life left in it is going in a different place; a box that will either be donated to a charitable organization or listed online for free/cheap once a month.

Another low-key cleaning method I find myself employing when I don't want to be overwhelmed by the concept of doing one room top-to-bottom (mostly in the case of decluttering a room) is what I think of as stream-of-consciousness  cleaning.  I'll start in a room and say "What doesn't belong in here?"  Then I'll pile together anything in that category that go together in a different place (say, papers needing to be filed).  I usually end up with a couple of piles. Once I've been around the room, I'll take the biggest pile and put it in the room it actually goes in. While I'm there, if I see something in that room that doesn't belong, I'll grab it and put it in the spot/room it does belong.  Then I'll return to the first room, grab another pile, and repeat the process.  

If I actually get the first room done, all piles removed and put away properly, if I still feel like cleaning or have time in my designated cleaning time slot to spare, I'll look around whatever room I ended up in (the final pile from the first room) and ask myself the key question "What doesn't belong in here?" And the pile-making begins again.

It's kind of backward from what most cleaning gurus recommend to do, but sometimes it's the only way I can stay motivated to finish a room.  By leaving the room even for a few minutes and then coming back to it, I feel less like it's a dreaded task I have to fulfill and more like something I want to do during that time slot.  Like I'm not restricted to that spot until the room is spic and span (which makes cleaning feel like a dreaded task) but that I'm free to come and go at will, as long as I take something with me and put it away while I'm gone.