Now that March is already here, thoughts of spring are blossoming both in my head and in my newsfeed. Everywhere I turn, there is some chatter about cleaning out the attic, sparking joy in the junk drawer, and filling 40 bags of clutter in 40 days. It’s spring cleaning time and the world wants me to participate, but I’ve decided not to. It’s not that I’m lazy — it’s just that I can’t help but wonder if maybe this annual purge is giving my kids the wrong message about what healthy living looks like.
Look, don’t get me wrong — I definitely get twitchy around the colossal messes that my family makes. I don’t enjoy cobwebs in corners or tripping over that one box of holiday decor that I never got around to jamming back into the attic. But the truth is, all of this clutter needs more than a one-day march back to the land of organization. What I really need to do is adopt a daily habit of taking care of my home in a more thorough way. If I want my kids to take of their things, then it starts with me modeling that behavior myself.
So, I’m not buying into the annual purge, and we’re skipping the spring cleaning ritual altogether. Instead, these are the big cleaning habits I strive to model every month for my kiddos.
Stop it with the dollar stuff
One of the biggest clutter offenders at my house are the impulse buys from the dollar spot at Target. Those cute but kind of flimsily made knick-knacks might be sweet looking on the store shelf, but they don’t look so sweet when they pile up in my house. Saving space on my counters and bookcases by not buying so many trinkets will save me money, too. Those quick little purchases add up fast.
Add mom and dad to the chore chart
We all know that chore charts for kids are kind of a joke. They don’t work. I tried to use them on my own kids, and it was a very frustrating experience for all of us. Then I realized that when I include me and my husband on that same chore chart, it becomes more about teamwork instead of punishment. We have all the regular daily tasks like dishes and laundry, vacuuming, and making beds, of course, but there are other things, too, like scrubbing sinks and washing windows, and taking boxes of old clothes to Goodwill. To make it fun, we turn some of the chores into games, like tying rags to our feet and washing the floors while dancing to Lizzo. Or we race each other to see who’s fastest at filling up a box with old clothes and books for a tag sale.
Set family storage limits
One trick that I have used for years is to set rules around where clutter is allowed to grow at my house. For example, there are no toys allowed in the living room at night. The kids each have their own cloth-covered box, where they where they put away their stuff before bed. If they end up with more toys than places to put them, which always happens around birthdays and holidays, then we sit together and choose what to donate or throw away. My kids are learning that they must take care of their things and curate what is important and what is junk — also, how to get rid of it responsibly. It’s a pretty awesome life lesson, if you ask me.
Don't forget the big picture
It takes the entire family to make a home nice and keep it that way. It isn’t just one person’s responsibility. The biggest takeaway for my family is that our home isn’t a dumping ground for our stuff. Our home is where we live and love each other, and we should treat it with the kind of respect we use to treat each other. When we deep clean only once a year and then resume our regular behaviors of collecting stuff and letting dust communities thrive, then we aren’t demonstrating the valuable lessons of caring for our belongings and each other.
