THE arrival of spring is supposed to inspire visions of sunshine, fresh air and evenings spent with the family in lovely, organised homes.
Instead, we can look around and think: Where did all this stuff come from?
There are piles of shoes, winter clothes are still hanging around despite the fact that we haven’t needed half of them for weeks.
Somewhere in the house is a cupboard that we might choose, for the sake of our sanity, not to open.
So, for some, when we hear the words “spring cleaning”, the first instinct is not exactly joy.
Thankfully, professional organiser Heather Jones from Orange Organising Co. has a much less terrifying approach to tackling the chore.
Rather than treating spring as the season when we are all expected to dismantle our homes and scrub the skirting boards, Ms Jones suggests thinking of it as a post-winter reset.
Working across Orange, the Central West and Cabonne, Ms Jones helps people tackle clutter and create homes that actually work for the people living in them.
“It’s not about perfection,” she said. “It’s more about creating things that work in their everyday life.”
For one person, that might mean an Instagram-worthy pantry. For someone else, it might just mean having somewhere sensible to put their shoes.
And so, here are a few simple tricks to get started.
Don’t clean the whole house. Find the thing annoying you.
The problem with spring cleaning is that once you start looking around, there is always something else to do.
You clean the kitchen and notice the pantry. You open the pantry and discover the Tupperware situation. You deal with the Tupperware and suddenly you’re standing aghast in your laundry.
Ms Jones said to resist the urge to wage war on the entire house.
Instead, she said, ask yourself: What part of my home is making everyday life harder than it needs to be?
“What things are real sticking points?” she said. “What things are stopping me from enjoying my home?”
It might be the chair in your bedroom that has become a second wardrobe, or the pile of school bags by the door.
Whatever it is, start there.
Start with your own stuff
If you’re completely overwhelmed and have no idea where to begin, Ms Jones recommends starting with your own bedroom or clothes.
That might be something you find slightly confronting, because apparently, we have to deal with our own mess before we can blame the children.
Having one space that belongs to you, where you can find what you need and feel comfortable, can change the way you approach the rest of the house.
“When you have one space in the house that is yours … you sort of go into the rest of your home with a better mindset every day,” she said.
So, there you go. This is your permission to ignore the children’s bedrooms for an afternoon and deal with your own wardrobe.
They’ll survive.
Your easiest spring-cleaning win
If even that sounds like too much, Ms Jones suggests packing away winter.
Gather up the coats, beanies, gloves, heavy socks and winter boots. Give everything a clean, check what actually needs to be kept and put it away ready for next year.
That’s it.
She said just getting the winter stuff out of sight can give the house a little more breathing room.
Don’t turn decluttering into another reason to feel bad
The most important thing Ms Jones wants people to know is that clutter isn’t something to be ashamed of.
She said there can be a huge amount of guilt attached to feeling like you aren’t keeping your home the way you think you should.
Ms Jones works with people across a broad spectrum, including busy families and people living with disability, neurodivergence and mental health challenges.
“For some people, letting things go is easy. For others, it can cause genuine anxiety,” she said.
The aim is to find a system that works for the person, rather than forcing everyone into the same idea of an organised home.
Before you buy another storage basket
Here’s an uncomfortable truth: sometimes the best way to declutter is to stop bringing so much stuff home.
Ms Jones said one of the biggest things we can do for the environment is simply stop things coming into our homes in the first place.
Use what you’ve already got. Think before buying something new and ask yourself where it is actually going to live.
When something does need to leave the house, passing it on to someone who can use it is a great option where possible.