Spring-Cleaning Redux: April Showers Bring a Familiar Feeling

This series is meant to psych you up, spur some action and help you come to terms with your new, clean space. 

As the skies brighten and the air softens, it’s not only the tulips and crocuses that pop up in spring; it’s also the time of year when guilt comes into full bloom.

You could say it’s the season of spring-cleaning guilt.

Take a look around. More than likely, you’ve just discovered yourself surrounded by stuff—pens, clothing, toys, knick-knacks, cosmetics. There will be things you’ve never used (but fully intend to!), things you always used to use (and might start again) and things that have no actual use (but hold within them some great memories).

Just as the day after Thanksgiving creates pressure to start shopping for holiday gifts, even saying the word “spring” elicits thoughts of cleaning. For those of us not as keen on cleaning, inaction yields guilt.

 What are the obstacles to shedding the stuff? Quite simply, sometimes it's just hard to give things up.

 “In this culture, especially with all of the emphasis on materialism, people are definitely attached and it’s not so much about the actual stuff, but the meaning behind the item,” said Luke Spiegelhof, LICSW, therapist with Family, Adolescents and Children Therapy Services in Mendota Heights.

Mendota Heights resident Andrea Larson has her own solution to that dilemma. Larson said she gains inspiration for spring-cleaning by thinking of the new items she can buy to replace those she’s gotten rid of.

For those struggling with packrat tendencies, Spiegelhof recommends that, as you look around your home you ask yourself a few questions:

• What does this item mean to me?
• Why am I keeping it?
• What benefit does it bring me? What harm does it cause?

If you’re hesitant about giving up on your items, you may want to consider putting them in a holding pattern by either stashing them in bags in a closet or taking advantage of area storage unit offers of one free month deals. After letting some time lapse, reconsider whether you really need those items.

Larson said she finds that she’s most successful at getting rid of things when she creates a deadline for herself. Whether you set a date for a garage sale or have a donation cut-off date for your items, the pressure of the ticking clock can aid in getting started.

The next step is to call for backup. You may need physical assistance getting rid of a big item. Perhaps a more organized friend could help streamline the cleaning process. Or, maybe, you just need some encouragement and support as you part with long-loved gems.

After you’ve placed that first item in a “to-go” bag, you’re on your way.

“Once you get started cleaning out stuff, it kinda becomes motivating in itself,” said Larson.

It doesn’t matter if you clean for five minutes a day every day of the month or for four-hours straight. You’re making progress either way.

When ‘Packrat’ Turns to ‘Problem’

It’s not necessarily a bad thing to have extra things or to hold onto an item because of some strong memory, but it comes to a critical point when the clutter causes conflict in personal relationships or when it becomes a health and safety hazard.

Hoarding is the most extreme sort of material attachment. Typically, people prone to hoarding have a mental health diagnosis that spurs the obsessive collection. People diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are likely to gather and organize specific items. People with depression or schizophrenia are apt to have a more chaotic collection of clutter, yielding an increased risk for health and safety issues. People whose collections have reached levels to be considered hoarding should consider getting help from a therapist.

“When your quality of life becomes affected by the stuff you have, whether there are health or sanitary concerns, then you should get checked out,” said Spiegelhof.