You may remember as a kid that your mom, grandmas, aunts, neighbors, and almost anyone else you knew did a spring and fall cleaning.
I remember it well. Twice a year every piece of furniture in the house was moved, cleaned, cleaned under, and cleaned behind. The drapes and curtains were washed and hung out on the line. All the bedspreads, blankets, comforters, pillow shams, and mattress covers were washed. Every closet was gutted and cleaned. It was also a good time to go through those closets and get rid of anything that wasn’t being used. All the kitchen cupboards were cleaned out also. Basically, there wasn’t a square inch of our house that wasn’t cleaned like this twice a year.
Early in my adulthood / married life, I followed suit. As the years went by, I probably did that thorough cleaning once a year. I’ve always tried to be a good housekeeper, so I didn’t see the need to clean that deep.
As more years went by, I think I skipped the once-a-year deep cleaning more often than not. Again, since I clean all the time and occasionally do cupboards, closets, and move furniture, I didn’t feel a spring or fall cleaning was necessary.
That is until a couple of weeks ago. It was a beautiful end-of-summer day. The windows were open and a nice breeze was airing out the house. I felt ambitious and decided to fall clean my kitchen and dining room.
Out came the refrigerator and stove which I knew weren’t going to be terribly dirty as I clean behind and under them several times a year. Now that appliances are made to just slide out of their designated area, it’s much easier to do this frequently. Curtains were washed and hung out, everything off of the counters, cupboards inside and out were washed, and the walls got a once-over also. When all was said and done, I felt a sense of accomplishment.
While I was doing the kitchen and dining room, I was pondering (a new word in a lot of people’s vocabulary these days) about the other rooms of the house. And that’s where it ended. Until yesterday.
What an absolutely beautiful, sunny, breezy, and perfect day to fall clean one of the bedrooms. The sheets, blankets, bedspreads, curtains, and anything else that wasn’t nailed to the floor got washed and hung on the line.
While doing this, I was once again pondering about how many people still do this…if any. Old timers like me might do it occasionally but I doubt if the twenty- and thirty-somethings do this. After all, is it really necessary and who does it benefit? After you’ve given your house a good cleaning and had company over, has anyone ever walked in the door and commented on how beautiful your spring or fall cleaning turned out? I doubt it.
I guess every now and then we all get a burst of ambition and decide to tear a closet or drawer apart…just because.
My house is small and it wouldn’t take much to complete this process I started. After all, I’m retired and between my two-mornings-a-week job, and the three to six times a week that I play Pickleball, what would prevent me from completing this?
Fast forward five to six months when spring arrives. Will I feel the need to do this again? After all, I just did the entire house so why do it again?
How come our mothers didn’t adopt that attitude? Mine didn’t. She made it clear early in the week, twice a year, that we better not have any plans for the following weekend because ‘it was that time of year‘.
I still remember the dread of coming home from school every day that week praying for some debilitating illness that would prevent me spending the weekend cleaning.
It never happened.
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