February has been a cold, wet and dreary month. As a result, I have caught up on some reading of other’s blogs which has prompted me to accept the challenge of a “no spend February” from Miss Mustard Seed’s blog (love her!), using my time to declutter our home rather than spend more money on things I don’t need. That being said, I’ve spent the first two weeks of February sprucing up my Marketplace at Locust space and planning for our Spring Open House upcoming, so now it’s time I got a schedule together and joined others inspired to “take the plunge” and get organized this month! Needless to say, my organizational efforts will be carried into March since I am getting a late start!

I’ve always been a pretty organized person, but probably like you, sometimes I need a specified schedule to “deep clean” my home. I learned the most about deep cleaning in my employ at Bed & Breakfast on Tiffany Hill, located in Mills River, NC. For me, that was absolutely a dream job. As a three year old girl, all I wanted was to be a mommy and a homemaker (my mom did it so well and I wanted to be just like her!). In late 2013 I met Selena Einwechter, proprietor of said B&B, while interviewing for a job. Every year she left her B&B in the capable hands of her staff and headed to Florida while we closed the Bed & Breakfast for a month and a half and did our Spring Cleaning. I still incorporate that learned habit into my own home cleaning. No better time than now to pick a couple of weeks and dive in! (Next year I will totally have to take the full month to do this properly!)

We moved into a new home (four doors down from our old home) in July of 2020. Suffice it to say that much of my time since that move has simply been in painting and doing some remodeling, all the while maintaining my space at Marketplace on Locust, so I haven’t had a lot of desire to spring clean when I didn’t even have all the boxes unpacked! COVID helped with that as I have literally been organizing as I go! But as I was painting yesterday, I realized I really could use some days for organization….

So to my “list” of items yet to wade through…

• Basement Workroom
  • Go thru fabrics and toss/donate items that will not be used
  • Organize scrapbook materials/send unwanted stickers to grandkids
  • Clean out paints/toss old or dried up cans

• Kitchen
  • Clean and organize all cabinets inside
  • Clean outside of cabinet doors
  • Go thru pantry items (spices, etc)/toss out of date items
  • Clean out refrigerator/magic eraser!

• Laundry room
  • Go thru cleaning supplies/Recirculate cleaning supplies throughout house
  • Organize batteries/lightbulbs/sliders/lunch boxes

• Dining room
  • Organize napkins, table linens
  • Organize tablescape items and decor

• Downstairs deck area
  • Build/relocate potting shed area
  • Wash pots to be ready for spring planting (should have done this at season’s end but we had just moved!)

• Front deck
  • Pots organized for spring plants
  • Windows cleaned

• Screened porch
  • Scrub down furniture
  • Replace rugs
  • Wash windows/screens
  • Stock pie safe with outdoor candles and table linens

• Front gardens
  • Add yard art
  • Add mulch/prune and spruce up

• Screened porch
  • Scrub down furniture
  • Replace rugs
  • Wash windows/screens
  • Stock pie safe with outdoor candles and table linens

• Master BR closet
  • Weed out clothes not worn in a year
  • Clean out purses and bags/donate
  • Move ironed table linens to linen closet
  • Donate unworn shoes

• Master Bath
  • Clean windows and blinds

• C3’s office
  • Organize greeting cards and journals
  • Donate unwanted organizers, notebooks, etc.

Ambitious, aren’t I? Let’s get busy and get organized! Spring is on the way!!!

~Blessings,

Connie