A Spring Cleaning Ritual for Physical & Energetic Renewal
It’s no surprise that many of us feel an intuitive desire to clean and declutter our mental and physical spaces this time of year. Here in the Northern hemisphere, the days are becoming warmer and brighter, bringing in new energy while clearing out the old.
“Spring Cleaning” routines have been around for centuries—some historians believe they began as far back as 3000 B.C.—and many cultures around the world practice Spring Cleaning today. Their popularity is a testament to how common and beneficial these practices are for so many of us. I think it’s beautiful that we’re intuitively pulled toward change, new beginnings, and fresh energy this time of year--perfectly in harmony with the earth as it wakes up for spring.
Over the years, I’ve developed my own Spring Cleaning Ritual to create space and renewal in my home and life. I find myself instinctively cleaning, decluttering, and making space as we transition from winter to spring (typical Virgo!!).
Today, I wanted to share the personal practices that are helpful and meaningful to me. Spring Cleaning is such a personal ritual, so I encourage you to do what aligns with you, and really make it your own.
I hope this blog post inspires you to start your own spring cleaning ritual, or incorporate some of these practices into your existing routine!
Introspection and Journaling
I like to begin by setting intentions for my spring cleaning ritual. Here are a few prompts to get started:
Make a list of things that are weighing you down, both energetically and physically. These can be material things, but also tasks, habits, and relationships. Make a plan to address each of these to see if there’s any way to lighten your load.
Which changes have you been wanting to make in your life? Why are you resisting them? It’s normal to be craving change, big or small, this time of year. You may feel a desire to cut your hair, update your wardrobe, redecorate your room, even change where you work or live.
My advice? Lean into it and embrace whatever positive changes you can! It’s healthy to start new journeys and create change in our lives. I find there’s a lot of judgement and resistance around this in our society—and negative stigmas around those who change their lives, goals, and appearances frequently. But in reality, change is such a huge part of who we are. Embrace your intuitive desire to grow and evolve.
Read over your lists from steps 1 and 2. Based on your responses, make a plan to get organized, clear out the clutter, and embrace renewal in different areas of your life. I recommend making a detailed plan and spreading it out over several days or even a couple of weeks, because this practice can take a lot of time and mental/emotional energy. Instead of burning yourself out trying to accomplish so much in a short window of time, be gentle with yourself and accomplish these tasks little by little each day.
Take a few moments to close your eyes and envision what renewal would look and feel like for you. Imagine the feeling of a new beginning, a fresh start, and living without physical, mental, and emotional clutter. Write down a few words or sentences to inspire and encourage you throughout your spring cleaning ritual.
2. Organize and Clean Your Physical Space
When organizing my physical space, I like to go room-by-room. You can start in any room you’d like, but I personally enjoy starting in the kitchen, because that’s where I spend so much of my time!
If you can, open up your windows while you clean to let fresh air into your home—even if only for a few minutes! I think this works wonders to bring in new energy and get rid of the feeling of stale winter air in my home. I also love spraying a homemade room spray or diffusing an essential oil blend throughout my house—check out my blog post with my favorite Spring Essential Oil Blends!
While I clean my space, I like to think about how grateful I am for my home and everything in it. I like to look at cleaning and organizing as a way to show appreciation for my space by taking care of it. I find that the energy I put into cleaning rituals is reflected in my home long after they’re complete.
Here are my organizing and cleaning to-do lists, by room—but of course this will look different for everyone. I encourage you to adapt these lists based on your own goals and needs!
Kitchen
Declutter and clean the refrigerator
Take everything out of the fridge and quickly wipe down and clean the inside of the fridge.
Discard any spoiled food. I hate wasting food and I do everything I can to avoid it, but I’m human, and sometimes planning mistakes or unforeseen events lead to spoiled food in my fridge from time to time. Sometimes I’ll even avoid sorting through my fridge to get rid of any food that has gone bad because I feel so bad about food waste. But, I like to remind myself that dealing with it up front actually prevents future food waste, because a clean fridge helps me easily see all the food I have to eat (and things don’t get pushed to the back as much).
Replace the items in the fridge, organizing as you go. I use glass storage containers and recycled jars to organize most of my food. And this article has some excellent tips on how to keep your fridge organized!
Organize and clean your freezer, too
Declutter and clean your pantry
Remove everything from your pantry and clean it (I like to use a damp cloth and a natural all-purpose cleaner)
Sort through your food. If there’s anything that has definitely gone bad, discard it. If there’s any food that you either received as a gift, or purchased and no longer want, put everything in a box and donate it to your local food pantry. And if there’s any food you find that you forgot you had, try to plan some meals around the food you find! For example, I found some long-forgotten quinoa in the back of my pantry and now I’m planning to make some hearty soup with it.
Organize and replace the items in your pantry. If you’re a little stuck on how to organize the items, try organizing them by section the same way your favorite grocery store does.
Sort through kitchen utensils, pots and pans, gadgets—etc. Evaluate the way you’re organizing your space, and move things around as needed. Give away anything you no longer use or want.
Clean the rest of your kitchen
Wipe down the outside of your kitchen cabinets and shelves, and clean doors and knobs
Clean your oven, stovetop, and microwave
Wipe down the backsplash
Scrub your sink and drain
Vacuum and mop the floor
Bedroom and Closets
Wash bedding (sheets, pillows, duvets)
Declutter night stands/bedside tables and any other storage in the room
Take clothing, shoes, and accessories our of your closet and set aside (we’ll address this later in the Personal Items section)
Clean your closet and any clothing storage furniture
Dust and wipe down any surfaces
Vacuum (especially under the bed!)
Bathroom
Clean your sink, mirror, tub/shower, and toilet
Wash your shower curtain (if you have one) or clean your shower doors
Vacuum and mop floors
Organize under the sink / wherever else you have bathroom storage and discard or donate any products you no longer use
Safely dispose of expired medications (make sure you look up the guidelines on how to throw away each medication safely)
Set aside personal care items like makeup (we’ll address this later in the Personal Items section)
Living Room / Dining Room
Dust and wipe down surfaces (including tables, chairs, TV, etc)
Vacuum couch and chairs
Wash blankets and throw pillows
Dust ceiling fans, lamps, and electronics
Clean remote controls
Vacuum floors
Office / Desk
Dust and clean surfaces
Organize/recycle unneeded paperwork
Dust computer, keyboard, and other electronics
Vacuum office furniture and floor
Garage and Car
Clean your car, if you own one!
Wash your car or take it to the car wash
Remove any garbage from the inside of your car, vacuum the interior, and wipe down surfaces
Now is also a great time to schedule any car maintenance you’ve been avoiding (note to self)
Declutter items you’re storing in your garage and donate or sell anything you no longer use
Sweep your garage and clean the floor if needed
Throughout the House
Wipe baseboards
Shampoo carpets or rugs
Clean blinds and windowsills
Wash curtains
Clean windows
Clean door handles and light switches
3. Organize and Declutter Personal Items
As you’ll notice in the section above, I prefer setting aside my clothes and other personal items while I’m cleaning and decluttering and going through them all at once. Most of us feel more emotionally attached to our personal items, so the purely rational decision-making process we can use for decluttering other items around the house doesn’t usually apply here.
Clothes, makeup, jewelry, and other personal items often carry emotional associations that make us feel joyful, sad, confident, or insecure—but we’re so used to seeing them day-to-day that we’re not always in tune to how they make us feel. It can really help to read through your journaling responses before jumping into this section, since it will help you clarify what you want to get out of this process.
Clothing
Sort through your clothing. Our clothes are a representation of who we are and how we want to present ourselves in the world, so it’s totally normal to get tired of wearing certain pieces. This may sound obvious, but clothing should also fit comfortably and make us feel confident—so please let go of items that trigger feelings of shame about yourself and your body. You deserve to feel your best—and your clothing should support that!
Sell or donate unwanted clothing. It’s important to me to update my wardrobe with as minimal impact on the environment as possible, so I like to either sell or donate the clothes I no longer want. Depop, Poshmark, and Facebook Marketplace are great platforms for selling secondhand.
Repurchase clothing mindfully. If it’s accessible to you, shopping secondhand is such a great lower-cost, sustainable option. Some of my favorite pieces of all time are thrift store finds! And when I’m buying new clothing, I try to be mindful and not buy more than I need, and I also buy quality items that will last longer.
Makeup
Throw away any expired makeup (and nail polish, too)
Get rid of foundation that is so far from your skin tone, lip balm that tastes awful, and any other makeup items that are weighing you down. You aren’t going to use them anyway, they’re just going to sit in your makeup bag until they expire! Since used makeup isn’t something that can be donated, I like to check with my friends and sister to see if anyone wants any of the used makeup before I throw it away.
Clean your makeup brushes and makeup bag!
Skincare
Give away or throw away any skincare that doesn’t work for your skin. I know—this can be so painful, especially after we’ve spent money on overpriced skin care products that don't work!! Over the past year, I’ve learned so much about natural, super low-cost skincare made with products most of us keep in the kitchen—and I’m planning to do a blog post soon to share my routine with you. Lily Diamond (one of my biggest role models) created this incredible free skincare ebook that has changed my life!
Sentimental Items
Marie Kondo has made this an entire category in her famous organization process, and there’s no better person to hear this advice from than the queen herself in this helpful article!
4. Organize and Declutter Your Digital Space
I’m not going to lie—this section is always difficult for me. The truth is, I’m usually generally overwhelmed by my phone and computer, and I haven’t find a great way to manage it. But it does help whenever I simplify my digital world as much as possible. Every few months, I like to run through this list and get rid of the things that are weighing me down.
These are the digital decluttering practices that help me the most:
Phone
Organize the apps on your phone and delete any unused apps
Close open browsing tabs on your phone (I always have an embarrassing amount of tabs open on my phone!!)
Unfollow social media accounts that don’t inspire or educate, and maybe even completely delete social media apps that are no longer serving you
Remove old contacts that you’re never going to get in touch with again
Computer
Organize your computer desktop and downloads folder. This is also a great time to back up your files!
Sort through your email inbox and unsubscribe from email lists that are cluttering up your inbox
Organize your notes. If you’re anything like me, you probably brain dump a lot of thoughts and reminders into your Notes app—which can become super overwhelming over time if these notes aren’t filed into designated places. Lately I’ve been organizing my notes into two apps: Asana and Notion. I use Asana for tracking projects (i.e. anything with a due date or specific tasks to accomplish) and Notion for note-taking, writing down goals and ideas, and creating moodboards.
5. Address Emotional and Mental Clutter
As someone who’s experienced severe burnout, I understand how emotional and mental overwhelm and exhaustion can wreak havoc on our mental health. Many of us seriously underestimate the amount of rest we need in order to stay mentally healthy. Prioritize making time for genuine rest, and resist the pressure to feel like you always have to be doing something.
During this process, it’s also important to pay attention to your relationships and be mindful of how they make you feel. Sometimes, we’re so used to the routine of certain relationships that we forget to take a step back and really consider how they make us feel.
In your journal, evaluate your activities, routines, job, and relationships, and answer the following questions:
Which activities do I find most draining? Is there any way I can get help from someone else? (i.e. Hiring someone to clean your home if you have the means, outsourcing bookkeeping for your business) Do I actually have to do this activity, or am I motivated by guilt or fear of letting someone down?
If I’m feeling overwhelmed at work, what can I do to take some things off my plate?
How do I feel after spending time with each of the people in my life? Are there any who leave me feeling drained, anxious, bad about yourself, etc? Is there something I can do to resolve this, or do I want to consider spending less time with them?
Am I making enough time for self-care and genuine rest? Which activities make me feel the most restored and at peace?
Am I making enough time for activities (and people) that energize me and bring me joy? How can I make more room for the things I love?
6. Relax and Celebrate!
Hooray, we did it!! :) Decluttering, organizing, and cleaning takes a lot of mental, physical, and emotional energy, so make sure to take time to relax when you’re done.
Here are some activities I love doing to close out my Spring Cleaning ritual:
Light a candle, burn incense, or make a simmer pot out of sliced lemon and rosemary (both have spiritual cleansing properties) to make my home smell as fresh as it feels
Go for a walk outside
Make a cup of tea or coffee and relax
Enjoy a meal out
Journal about the experience and how it feels to let go of things that no longer serve me
Thank you for allowing me to share my process with you. I hope this blog post has helped you create a personal spring cleaning ritual that aligns with you and brings you peace!