This post next series of posts is a little off the witchy vibe track but it is a series I have wanted to do to help out my fellow witches. I wanted to do this post because I know that sometimes life happens and we get behind on things we wouldn’t normally get behind on, like cleaning. But sometimes, once you are behind, that’s all it takes for your home to spiral out of control. I love to clean but most people I know hate it. With the coming holidays, a lot of those around me are talking about cleaning up their homes for guests or just to keep flu season out. Both are great reasons along with my favorite: I love a clean house and the satisfaction it gives me afterwards. I know some witches are also not excited about the prospect of cleaning because it feels like such a huge undertaking. In today’s day and age, we own much more than the witches of the past and all those potion bottles, spell books, and crystals can collect a lot of dust, so let’s get started! This is the first part of my Witch’s Cottage Fall Clean Up series!
Declutter your life to improve your mental health also known as how to get your witch’s cottage in tip top shape for the coming winter holidays!
Our homes are very much a reflection of our mental state. Messy and cluttered houses can reflect in our personality and sometimes be the reason we cannot move forward. We are holding on to everything just the way we hold on to the past. Cleaning is good for the soul.
Not only does it help clear out the clutter in your home, it also clears out your mind’s clutter which can help reduce stress and induce relaxation. Cleaning will help to rid your home of negativity and bad energy while welcoming in positive vibes. A good way to make a new beginning is to rid yourself of that which no longer serves you. Your home isn’t truly clean until all the unexpected places are spotless and sanitized. And with the winter holidays and flu season coming, this is super important!
Clutter can get out of control in a hurry. Mail piles up, laundry falls behind furniture, and odds and ends get stashed in a junk drawer to remain for all eternity. Familiars shed and their fur gets everywhere. Nightstands breed glasses of water, hand lotion, and spell books. And as for bookshelves…… they become catchalls for way more than novels; dust, potion bottles, receipts, random items you picked up in the woods and want off the floor for the moment can stack up until even shelves stress you out.
Breaking down a massive job into smaller more manageable steps can make a task like decluttering your entire life seem much more manageable.
WITCH ON A RAMPAGE! I love going all out in a weekend and cleaning everything all at once but if you aren’t used to doing that or hate cleaning, it isn’t going to be fun or productive. But you do need to get started!
Things to throw away immediately
- Old Magazines: Chances are, you are never going to read them again. Are they doing anything for you besides sitting there in a precarious pile that is constantly about to topple over? See if you can find the information elsewhere (like on the internet), but if it is really something you need to keep, make a place for it like a specific box kept in a specific area so the piles don’t return.
- Receipts, Bills, and Documents: Throw all of these away for items you aren’t planning on returning and ones you won’t need during tax time. Most bills have online tracking of the statement so ask yourself if you really need all of the paper ones. Switch to e-statements to cut down on mail sent to your home. For the important ones you know you need to keep, get a filing cabinet or designate a specific drawer and organize everything by type such as home, bills, car, education, finances, etc.
- Clothes: 1 year rule/ reverse hanger rule- get rid of apparel that you haven’t worn in 1 year. One trick I have seen it to flip all of your hangers backwards and after you have worn it, replace the hanger facing the correct direction again. Any clothes that have not been flipped by the end of the year, get rid of, unless it is a statement piece you only wear on special occasions. Just remember not to have too many of those or they become useless space takers.
- Tupperware: Anything without a lid and anything that looks worse for wear. Toss it. Personally I prefer glass Tupperware because it does not stain or damage as easily, but for those with children or are clumsy, purchase a nice new set to replace the old damaged and mismatched set.
- Kitchen cookware: Go through old, multiples, or melted and damaged cookware and toss it. Also, get rid of anything you have only used a handful of times. Clearly it is just taking up space.
- Kitchen dinnerware: Toss out damaged, chipped, or stained dishes. Go through mugs and get rid of any you don’t use. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need every mug you have ever been gifted. Count how many times you have used it in the last month. All others, toss.
- Hotel samples: Toss any of those mini shampoos, conditioners, and bars of soap or donate them to a homeless shelter. You will never use them again and most people don’t travel enough to use them at all. And when we do travel, we accumulate more. I always have about 2 or 3 for when company comes but I never have more than that. I also make sure I like the scent and don’t grab whatever I see. When I go to hotels now, I don’t take any others either. I don’t need it. Just because it is free does not mean you need to take it!
- Books: Go through and gather books you haven’t touched in months and ones that you aren’t planning on reading or rereading. Shelves are often cluttered with stacks of books you haven’t touched since you bought them or nostalgic books that you once enjoyed. Download it for an e-reader if you enjoyed it that much and save only the best for your shelf. Pull out 3 books to put by your nightstand or in your backpack/ workbag and actually try to read them to get through them.
- Medicine and Vitamins: Clear out drugs that have expired, medicine that has sat on your shelf too long, or anything you no longer use. Check expiration dates for over the counter! If you haven’t been sick in 5 years, that NyQuil is probably not safe or effective to drink anymore! Replace what you need to. Don’t hoard!
- Makeup and Perfume- Get rid of anything too old or that you don’t use. This is hard when your makeup comes from Sephora or Ulta but be honest with yourself. Do you need another pallet? If the answer is no, then stop buying them. Do you need a 10th blush? No. Toss what is crumbled or damaged. Normally it is recommended to toss anything that is over a year old for sanitation reasons.
- Jewelry: Dispose of broken costume jewelry and sell anything you don’t wear. If there are pieces missing, toss it. If it isn’t your style anymore, toss it. If you know you will never wear it but it is sentimental, see if another family member would want it or try to wear it anyways. If you can’t, toss it.
- Food: Go through your pantry and clear out items that need to be thrown out- the old, unused, and rotting. Pull everything out and wipe it down. Things spill and critters can leave their mark.
- Memorabilia: Be ruthless and throw away memorabilia like cards and gifts you don’t use. If you must keep your cards, go to a craft store and buy a pretty shoe box to put them in and make sure that it has its own place to be. As for gifts, if you aren’t using it and it has dust on it, get rid of it. It adds nothing to your life despite the sentiment behind it.
- Notebooks: Throw away notebooks you don’t need or use anymore. If it is something you will go back to later, that is different! At least organize those. But if you are like me and started collected 3 or 4 drawers of pretty notebooks just because they are pretty, stop, pick a few you like, and donate the rest.
- Old or Unused Electronics: Sell your electronics on Gazelle.com or Nextworth.com. Not only that, think about some kind of cord organizer. They sell them on Amazon and you can even wrap and label the cords too so in the future, you aren’t looking in a drawer full of twisting turning black wires that all look the same. And as for current cords, try to tidy them up so they aren’t littering the ground like hundreds of snakes. Try a cord sleeve to cover and protect them which will help to minimize the disorder they tend to cause as well as keep children and pets safe and extend the cord life.
- Storage furniture: Go through that console table in the living room, the armoire in the guest bedroom and the trunk sitting in the corner of the basement. See if you really need its contents—and if you even need the actual furniture itself! Don’t keep something because it belonged to a family member. Is it useful? Does it add value to the room? Is it damaged, worn, or straight up broken? Donate or toss it.
This is the first part of my cleaning post. Next time I will give some advice on how to clean the hardest part of the house; your closet! I hope this has helped you in your future cleanings for the upcoming holidays!
From our altar to yours, with love from the sea,
