There's a lot of decluttering that has to happen before other cleaning. I have piles of bills and receipts that need to be organized. This is stuff that should have been filed away instantly. There's a lot of cat hair on the bedspread and floor. Everything needs to be cleaned and dusted. But before I can even think about that, I have to deal with the paper.
Going through paperwork, a lot of negative feelings come up, because I realize that maybe I didn't pay something on time and I come across a late fee. Or I just get bummed out: "Oh, here's this checkbook I've been looking for. And on the back of this checkbook is a list of all the films that a friend told me to go see, and I didn't see a lot of them." It's a reminder of life being kind of overwhelming, that you can't do all the things you want to do.
When I'm cleaning, I often think of the "Little House on the Prairie" books and their 19th century spring cleaning regimes. I think, "What would Laura Ingalls Wilder do?" They took the wicking out of their mattresses and put it in the sun to freshen it. That sounds nice. I have such a hard time staying on top of the regular maintenance that spring cleaning is just beyond me.
-Laura
Photos and text from the forthcoming book "Cleaning: People Talk About Housework"