Cleaning House — Inside and Out

As the sun passed over the vernal equinox last week and many celebrated the start of a new year (Nowruz, to my Persian friends), I started to feel the optimism, hope and energy that strikes me every spring. Clearly, it was time to start cleaning house – literally and figuratively.

The clutter that had collected since last fall, before the dark, wet winter had mercilessly stolen my mojo, was first in line. I started with the kitchen cabinets, whose rear portions serve as a black hole, swallowing up overlooked dry and canned goods. I tossed out a full bag of items that were past their “best by” dates.

Then, it was on to the bathroom drawers and cabinets. It was hard to purge my stash of lotion and perfume samples, untried beauty treatments and an assortment of “miracle creams” (at what point must I acknowledge that my well-earned crows feet and worry lines are here to stay?). The work had to be done, so I soldiered on.

The next victim was the bedroom closet, and I was ruthless, culling out clothes that I had ignored for years, or that hadn’t fit since I was childless. For instance, I sacrificed two of three similar black blazers, let go of several pairs of pants and discarded shoes that wouldn’t be fashionable again for decades. 

That left the mental spring cleaning, which is much more taxing. Coincidentally, Dr. Ed Hallowell, author of Crazy Busy: Outstretched, Overbooked and About to Snap! Strategies for Handling Your Fast-Paced Life, tackled this issue in a few local lectures last week. While, ironically, I was too crazy-busy to attend the talks, several of my Mean Mommy friends summarized his main ideas at last week’s book club meeting.

Dr. Hallowell, a former Harvard Medical School instructor and current therapist, author and lecturer, offers steps for streamlining one’s life. I checked an excerpt from Crazy Busy, and noted that his points about canceling unnecessary appointments and “cultivating lilies and discarding leaches” were particularly poignant.

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