Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Time for spring cleaning!

Its that time of the year again...time to spring clean the house! Doesn't sound too enticing, does it? But it is definitely better to get it done before the first month of the new year ends, lest you end up with lots of unnecessary stuff piled up in the house pretty soon!

Here's some tips on how to go about it -

  • Paperwork/Files -
    Sort all paperwork from last year - old letters, bills, store receipts et al. Decide which ones are to be filed away and which ones are to be shredded. Ideally, store only the bank/credit card statements, health/home/auto insurance papers and all major purchase receipts.
  • Newspapers/Magazines et al -
    Throw away old newspapers, magazines, expired coupons, flyers and advertisements.
  • Kitchen/Pantry -
    Dispose off expired and unused food stuff, condiments and seasonings. Get rid of worn out pots and pans(especially the non-stick ones if they are no longer 'non-stick' !) Trash the old plastic bottles and containers or better still recycle them at a recycling center.
  • Closet -
    Scan your closets for old and unused stuff. Do away with worn out undergarments, donate old faded clothes and dispose old footwear which you no longer use either because its out of fashion or because you've stopped liking it for some reason:).
  • Medicine Box -
    Sort your medicine/first-aid box by discarding the expired OTC and Rx medications.
  • Bathroom -
    Throw away empty bottles of body washes, shampoos perfumes and lotions. Dispose off any expired cosmetics and toiletries. Replace hand/face/bath towels if you have to. Also, its time to change the worn out rugs on the bathroom floor!
  • General household stuff -
    Look around for any useless stuff in the house. If something is simply taking up space without serving any purpose, get rid of it by either trashing it or putting it up for sale.
  • Coins -
    If you have accumulated a lot of coins and don't particularly use them for public transport or someplace else, get the coins exchanged for cash(this will however take off a small percentage of the amount) or for gift cards of popular stores for the equivalent amount of money. This can be done at the CoinStar machines which are installed in most/all Lucky(formerly Albertson's) stores in the bay area.

Rule of the thumb : If there's anything that hasn't been used in a year or two, you are far from using it in the future as well. So you are better off without it! However, use your own discretion when disposing off something that came with a big price tag:)

Remember, living in a clean and uncluttered space helps draw positive energy into your home and into you life. So let's flag off the new year with a clean and fresh beginning!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome article ... just the one I was looking for ... being a forced bachelor for the next couple of months, this is what I would do at home :)

Pradnya Rakesh said...

Oh I assume this is what Sunil has written :) So next time we come over it'll be clean...i presume :))

Anonymous said...

good points ..

Anonymous said...

I assume you were inspired by zenhabits.net and lifehacker.com ;-)