New Season, New Attitude

Sometimes there is nothing better than a good spring cleaning. As the seasons change and I buy new clothes, I obvi have to make room for them. I usually do this twice a year (winter and spring) when I go through the biggest weather changes clothes-wise. I don't need my sweaters up front when its 90 degrees. No thank you. Because I live in such a small studio, space isn't a luxury I really have. Although I am very lucky to have three closets in my apartment, they are all packed to the brim (and I even use those skinny hangers too!). This past week I have been in a huge spring cleaning mood and its been absolutely awesome. To be able to purge clothes, linens, and shoes is quite therapeutic.  And it all started with a quilt...

I have been wanting to get a quilt made of my race T-shirts for year. I wear some of them, but I have run in so many races over the past few years, that there were just so many shirts. Ones that I don't wear or are too big, I either packed in a bag because I knew I wanted them on the quilt eventually or I donated them. I had them up high in my closet and knew I'd be going home to Chicago and wanted to take them with me. I wasn't sure if I'd pack them and or ship them home. After going through them and ultimately deciding to ship all TWENTY pounds of race shirts (and that's after tossing a bunch), this put me in a cleaning frenzy. The rest of the afternoon, I cranked up the radio and went through tons and tons of clothes. I had giant Ziplock bags (like garbage bag sized) of shirts that I hadn't opened since I moved in my apartment almost four years ago. If I didn't wear them, I didn't miss them, so they had to go. They were taking up too much precious space. I went through them, and out of about 100 shirts, I think I decided to still keep about 14. Not too shabby. Some stuff is easy to part with. Too big. Totally out of style. Stains. And then there are others that I refuse to throw away. Good condition Illini gear. A T-shirt from one of my favorite high school basketball tournaments. I just couldn't get rid of them. (I might want a quilt made of those one day as well.) The rest of the stuff was going to be donated.


What was even more exciting about going through these bags was that under them was a giant Tupperware container filled with even more clothes that I totally forgot I had. Some of it was stuff that I assumed I gave away and had actually been looking for recently, so that was of course very exciting to me. I went through that container and was also able to get rid of things and then went through the two under-the-bed storage containers. This day was shipping up to be quite the good one. I had the music blasting, the windows open, and I was legit working up a good sweat going through all these clothes. I found stuff I forgot I had and it brought back some funny memories as well. After all was said and done on day one, I had probably 60 pounds of stuff I brought over to Housing Works down the street to donate. I felt good (although my arms were super sore the next day from the heavy lifting). Not because I was donating so much stuff, but because I now had so much more room in my apartment. I felt almost lighter. Unfortch, I ran out of time to keep this momentum going because I had to catch a flight, but in typical me fashion, I made a giant list of everything else that needed to be cleaned and organized when I got back to NYC. Like a huge list. And I couldn't wait to check each and every item off this list. After all, I was most likely coming back to NYC from Chi with some new summer/spring purchases (thanks mom!!) that needed a place to be hung/folded.

Once I got back to NYC, the real fun continued. I sat down with my list and cleaning commenced. And so did my trips to Bed, Bath, and Beyond. (Is it bad that they started to recognize me there?) Game on. I mean, what's a girl living in a tiny studio need with three comforters? Really? I certainly do not think this is necessary. One's got to go. And how many coats do I really need? And do all of these shirts really need to be hung when I now have new-found space to fold them? And these heels? Um, kitten heels are unacceptable. Donation. I ended up taking two more garbage bags full of stuff over to donate (for a total of five!!). Good work me.

There is nothing better than some cleaning sometimes. (And organizing.) It not only cleans the physical space, but the mind. Singing to music on the top of my lungs while getting rid of stuff is actually pretty exhilarating. I find it to be like something is being lifted off my shoulders and its feels damn good. Am I weird for that? I honestly don't think so. A new season. A new look in the apartment...kind of. And a new positive me. I am liking Spring me so far. She is healthy. She is more organized. She has less clutter. And she is excited for what the rest of Spring and Summer will bring.