How to do a “spring cleaning” to help you find the energy of the season

Eli Puerta

“Life is a festival, a celebration, and joy is of the essence of life”

The first time I heard about “spring cleaning” was more than 20 years ago when I came to Europe and to tell you the truth I was astonished. What? it is only in spring that a big cleaning is done? I had already rooted the concept that “cleaning and organizing” should be something fun, something that makes you happy, and that it should be done not only in spring but at different times of the year.

Then with time I understood that the famous “spring cleaning” is something that people do only as a routine, it is something that is done without any clear objective, just because we leave the winter (which is generally too long for everyone) and we start a period where we want to be more outside and well, then “we had to” clean, we had to put away the winter clothes and go to the basement and/or the attic to look for the summer clothes and shoes and then we have to tidy up.

It is this “we have to do it” that most people get overwhelmed, stressed, and lost! And the reason why tidying up has become a source of stress in our society nowadays.

So, to avoid that stress that comes year after year, I want to suggest something: instead of doing a “spring cleaning” I invite you to do a “Tidying up festival” and well, the aim of any festival, is to promote happiness and joy. So that is the main objective, the intention, the purpose of a “Tidying up Festival”: to promote joy & happiness.

Here are 5 steps to follow to make a “festival of order”:

Prepare the logistics of your festival: like any festival, you have to dedicate an important place to music, drinks, and essential materials. So before you start, put on your favorite playlist, prepare your favorite drink and the cleaning products you like the most (in my case it’s the ecological and natural products and that’s why I’ve partnered with the company Go Cleaning and its natural products VG), have everything at hand and ready to be used, so you won’t waste time and you’ll be in a high energy state (i.e. happy, inspired and motivated).
Start your tidying up festival by categories (and not by place as we are usually used to do) Choose for example the category shoes (look for all the shoes you have and divide them also by subcategories: tennis, sandals, heels, ….) Put all the objects of a category in the same place so you can visualize the number of objects you have.
Choose only the items that make you feel happy. If you start to choose the things you don’t like, or that are out of fashion, deteriorated,… your brain will focus on all that, and in a few minutes you will start to feel unmotivated, overwhelmed, tired, and unwilling to continue. If you focus on the things that you like, that you find beautiful, that bring back pleasant memories, your brain will focus on the positive and you will have the necessary energy to continue.
Give a place to everything and everything in its place. I’m sure you know this adage, so it’s time to apply it to your home/work. Knowing which is the place for everything allows you to “relieve” the mental load you have and avoids wasting time looking for the things that should be in their place (keys, glasses, ….). I have created a special online program to help you to give a place to everything in your life. You will find it in my online academy here: https://academy.wellbeingorganized.com/a-place-for-everything/
Accept chaos: as in any festival, in the end, there is always “chaos”, things that have changed places. Accept that a “tidying up festival” is not only an external process but also an internal one and that there will be things that will not find their place the day you start the festival. Move forward little by little, step by step. Celebrate each stage you finish (each category you finish) and go at your own pace.

If you put these 5 tips into practice, I am sure you will love your “tidying up festival” and that it will become an important ritual in your life. I also invite you to put aside the excuses that we like to use so much: With my children, spouse, family, boyfriend/girlfriend, … it is impossible to have a “tidying up festival”. Start on your own and you will see that the “snowball effect” will help you. You will find more info about this in my blog post here: https://www.wellbeingorganized.com/en/the-magic-of-the-snowball-effect-when-you-decide-to-tidy-up-your-home/

So let’s start, make it clear that the intention this time of the year is to have a “Tidying up festival” and live it with intensity, with passion & happiness.

With all my unconditional love and light, Eli