Tips for Spring Cleaning

Yes, Spring is in the air. Trees are budding out, the flowers are starting to pop up out in the back pasture, and the birds are flying everywhere. I'm waiting for my car to be covered in a dusting of yellow pollen when I walk out to get into it. It happens. Spring. Every year. 

Every year I slowly but surely go through the house, room by room, wiping, dusting, boxing, and cleaning. Why? Because for some reason, once the days turn warm and the nights are still cool, I throw open the windows to let in all that wonderful fresh air. It's like the world is new again, and it makes me want everything in the house to be new again too, or at least as clean as new. 

So, what are my 5 most important tips? 

• Do not clean out a room when the children or spouse are around. - They tend to want to keep everything.
• Nothing Goes Untouched - I move everything out of the room. Then I go through all of it, piece by piece.
• Have your boxes ready - One for 'giveaway', one for garage sale, one for trash.  
• Take the trash out, and the donations to the drop box, as soon as the box is full - This keeps you from going through it again to 'rescue' anything. 
• Never throw out anything you can sell. 

That last rule is a tough one. Especially if you have boxes and boxes of CD's, DVD's, and games. I know you have a lot that you think no one will want. I mean, how many people in your neighborhood will want those old Barney DVD's? You'd be lucky if someone wanted to give you a dime for each at a garage sale. NO! Don't throw them out! You can still get cash for them! I told you about Music Magpie in the UK a few weeks ago, remember? Well they are in the U.S. too!! Music Magpie will give you cash for your CD's, DVD's, and games. Quick and easy, just enter the barcode on their site, or use their phone app that scans the barcode to make it even easier! You know immediately how much money you will get. They send you the envelope to send your items to them, and you receive a check for all your items. 

Now, I just have to curb my garage sale addiction until I have one of my own and get rid of some of the stuff I've bought in the past... hehehe. 

Time For Spring Cleaning and Recycling!

Yep. Spring is very close. I can tell because I've had to start taking my allergy medication already. That's ok though, because when the weather is still kind of cool like this, but not really cold, that's the best time to throw open the windows and start deep cleaning!

I know. I hate to clean too, but this weather makes it easier on me. It seems to make a difference on everyone because my donkeys and cows are kicking up their heels and chasing each other through the pasture now too! I don't mind doing all that deep cleaning when I can open windows and doors and let the sunshine in, and all the stale winter air out of the house. I've already started by clearing out our craft room/office. It needed it too! I still need to do a little re-organizing in there, but it looks a lot better than it did!!

My next big undertaking is going through all our old cd's, DVD's, and games. I know there are some that no one even cares about any more. If I lived in the UK I would sell all of the unwanted items to Music Magpie. At least then I would know someone would make good use of them. Did you know with Music Magpie you can even sell old Nintendo DS? I guess since I'm here, I'll just have to see if I can unload them at a garage sale!

Right after I finish with all our media, I guess I'll have to start on the kitchen. There are things in those cabinets that I've had for years. What? Yes, I did go through them last year, but I think I kept more then than I will keep this year. I'm gearing up for the big garage sale I should have had last year, and I'm hoping to make enough money to take some kind of vacation this summer. Hmmm... maybe I should start on the closets instead of the kitchen....

BlogDare March 4 ~ My Goals This Spring Are ...

Goals for Spring...

• Get the garden tilled under, and planted for Spring veggie crop. We always plant tomatoes, bell and jalapeno peppers, and cucumbers. Usually we plant one or two kinds of squash (crook-necked/straight-necked/zucchini) as well. I am hoping to get watermelon this year too. 
• 'Spring Cleaning'Done - Kitchen cabinets cleaned out and contents rearranged, storage cleaned out, shed cleaned out, barn cleaned out, closets cleaned out.
• Garage Sale to get rid of everything cleaned out from 'Spring Cleaning'. 
• Headliner in car adhered back to roof. Seats steam cleaned, and carpets cleaned.
• Things ready for Conroe Bird Fair. We try to get there every year. People bring their birds to sell. We will have plenty of quail for this year. We are going to sell them live, and frozen, since we have had a really good year with them this year. I will be pickling and canning quail eggs to sell too, soon because we have so many!

Is that enough? LOL! This list will keep my family very busy. I'm sure just about everyone does some kind of 'Spring Cleaning'. We have a barn, storage building and shed to clean out as well. Mostly it's just rearranging to be done in them, and throwing out the garbage, but this year we have to fix the back side of the barn. Ike tore part of the back side off, and we just patched it back together. Last year we redid the front half, but we didn't ever get to the back. This year, the back half will be a priority. 

I love the Spring though! The trees in the back pasture all bud out, the grass starts to grow and the trees are full of songbirds. I'll get to walk through that gorgeous scene as soon as I finish this list....