Spring Cleaning.

The season of spring is here. The smell of orange blossoms in the garden. The humming of bees amongst our lavender plants, the tender new shoots unfurling on my rose bushes, the warm sunshine on my skin during the days, and the cool crispness of the night time air. I love spring. A time of awakening, renewal, refreshing and cleaning out!

The next fortnight is also the waning moon phase. A potent time to clean out and clear out, so that is what I have been busy doing. Spring cleaning.

I'm not a huge fan of cleaning, as I guess not many people are. My kids are not interested in cleaning up either which I cant blame them, when I loathe it so much myself. I loathe the time consuming, wastefulness of it. I feel that most of my day is spent running around in circles, chasing mess from room to room with out really making any real progress. I could blame the kids for making all the mess, but we all wear clothes, eat food and use dishes....and my laundry floor is never visible as it is always laden with scattered dirty washing, my kitchen benches are always filled and my sink is hardly ever clear! The floor is always scattered in crumbs, red dust or dirt, the beds are always unmade and the grass never stops growing!
Life seems to be a constant chase towards an impossible finish line - housework is an endless task. And that's what I don't like about it!

I thought hiring a maid to do all of this housework for me, then I thought I would have to get a job to pay for the maid, worry she may have an affair with my husband, worry she may steal my underwear or sue us for tripping over the cat! Finding a solution for a problem can often bring on 10 more problems. I have concluded that the only answer to the constant time wasting battle towards cleaning is to SIMPLIFY.

If we all got around naked, then maybe we wouldn't have a need for laundry's to be built, washing machines to be purchased and walk in robes designed, and I wouldn't have to spend a large portion of every day washing, hanging, sorting and folding. 

If we all ate with our hands, direct from the garden, sitting under a tree, then we wouldn't have to buy plates, wash dishes, run fridges, set and clear away tables, sweep crumbs off floors, and I could spend more time outside, instead of most of the day at the kitchen sink.

This may be a little extreme, but sometimes when we just take a look at our lives and how crazy they have become as we are so far removed from what is necessary and important in comparison with what is a waste and plain ridiculous, we start to realise just how much time we do waste on either working to pay for something we don't need or waste time doing something we don't have to.

I am not quite getting around the house naked these days or have cast out all the plates and sent the kids foraging for food in the garden at meal times, but as crazy as this might seem, it does slightly appeal to me.

So, taking advantage of this potent spring waning moon, I have taken on the task to clear out and simplify over the coming weeks. 

As a starting point, I began yesterday, in my wardrobe. Admittedly, my biggest wasteful area of luxury is my addiction to clothing. I have for a long time had an addiction to shopping and clothing - anything, handmade, organic, or just unusual, will generally end up in my cupboard.
When I took a serious honest look at the extent of my clothing, I was horrified. What I saw hanging up in my cupboard space was a lot of waste. Wasted space, but mostly wasted money. I realised that I only actually wore a small portion of my clothing regularly. Some of it, I had only worn once or even never! My over supply of clothing was causing more problems then good. Even though my cupboard is quite full, I still often have nothing to wear if my favourite pair of pants are in the laundry. Having so much choice often creates confusion, having so much creates more washing and having so much feeds my attachment. I can possibly even see this negative effect running through to Starzi. I remember as a child I had one 'good' dress I would wear to all social occasions. I loved my 'good' dress and considered it special. It was something I looked after. It was only a second hand store bought dress, but I loved it and I only had one. Starzi on the other hand has as many dresses as I do. None of which are new or expensive, but she does have a lot and she cant comprehend the cost of each one, just that she has quite a selection. Admittedly, she doesn't show respect for any of them. She is happy so wear any of them in the sandpit or out bush. She leaves them laying on the floor to be walked on, and cares not if they get ripped or stains as their will be another to replace it. Is this creating a 'wasteful' society member? Or creating someone who is not 'attached' to materialistic items? I'm not sure, but I think over too much 'stuff' is not a good thing.  

So yesterday, I cleared out literally more than half of my cupboard! I think having 20 absolute favourites is better then having 50 things that I like, but wont wear mostly because they don't feel quite comfortable or I don't want to let go because they cost me too much to admit. It was tough, but I decided if this wasn't something that I would love to wear anytime, then it had to go.  


And now, the day after a big day of decisions and 'letting go', I am feeling a sense of greater freedom as I detach myself from my attachment to clothing and all that is wasteful.  One step closer to a simplified life. and now for the next space to clear out....... 

By having less 'things' in my life, I will create more time for doing what I want to do rather than what I have to do.