How to Decide What to Get Rid of when Spring Cleaning
Years ago I helped an elderly neighbor with her spring cleaning. She was not a diehard hoarder, but she had trouble trying to decide what to get rid of, and she had amassed quite a collection of everything from yard implements to craft supplies. I helped her make decisions on what to keep, what to donate and what to throw away. She was unsure about what to get rid of during our spring cleaning task. Her belongings once had a valuable purpose or she would not have brought them into her home, but she needed someone to help her decide what to do.
Spring Cleaning Questions
When trying to decide what to get rid of when spring cleaning, ask yourself if specific things have been used within the past two years. If they have not been used and are of little monetary worth, consider making a donation. If they are high value items, put them up for sale. Items that have not been used at all within the past two years are simply gathering dust, and spring cleaning should not involve dusting and putting items away that will never be used.
What are the Chances that it Will Ever Be Used?
If property has not been used within the past year or longer, what are the chances that it will ever be used? Spring cleaning can be easy with usage in mind. The space required to store belongings is far more valuable than cheap items that could be replaced – if they are ever required. More than likely, if something has not been used within a reasonable amount of time, it will never be used again.
Do Not Keep Useless Property for Sentimental Reasons
Belongings are often linked to memories, and when someone has passed on, the items they leave behind become a tangible link. The women that I helped with spring cleaning had many things that belonged to her deceased mother. They were not valuable in a monetary sense, but they held sentimental value. She envisioned her mother buying the objects, and she could not let go of them – at least not at first. Although I am not a mental health professional, I tried to convince her that her mother would not mind if she got rid of old plastic lawn ornaments and other outdated property to make room for something fresh and new.
After careful contemplation, she agreed that it was time to finish her spring cleaning. It was spring cleaning that should have been completed years ago. She had once thought that throwing the property away was the same as throwing the memory of her mother away. These things were not sentimentally valuable to her mother. They were simply left in a garage. It was time to finally get rid of old items that no one would want, and it was the end of a healing process that began with spring cleaning.
Source: Personal Experience
