The idea of Spring Cleaning used to send me into a funk.
I could not see the point.
The corners and rugs and shelves that were begging to be deep-cleaned would have had to be unearthed first. Decluttered.
I would stick my fingers in my ears and close my eyes and sing gibberish until the season passed.
Not really. But almost.
But now that a large portion of the house is consistently livable (we’re pretending the master bedroom doesn’t exist, K?), my psyche is more open to tackling long-ignored issues brought to light by the spring sunshine.
Like this dusty curtain.
I doubt the dustiness was sudden, but it seemed sudden. As in, I hadn’t noticed starting-to-get-dusty, or a-little-dusty or even just-plain-dusty.
I never even saw it until it was oh-my-word-how-did-it-get-that-dusty-dusty.
Having a laundry routine means laundry no longer overwhelms me. Laundry no longer overwhelming me keeps me from stamping my foot or blinking back tears at the thought of running a non-essential (translated: non underwear-containing) load.
So I climbed up on a sturdy chair and took that blue curtain down.
I stuck the curtain in the washing machine. I did check (though I was going to risk it anyway) to see that the tags said it was totally washable. Once the blue drapey-thingy-part was washed, I sighed deeply (a sigh of the martyr-ish-type) and decided to also wash the white hangy-downy-part as well.
That part? Oh, I’d noticed the smudges and splatters and chocolate handprints before. I’d just successfully ignored it.
I smiled into the darkness in case any neighbors happened to look into my now WIDE OPEN FOR THE WORLD TO SEE dining room. And I tried not to make too much of a grunty-face when climbing down from the chair. Sucking in my stomach, I walked gracefully out of the dining room.
I washed it, and then I hung (or hanged? I so don’t care) it right back up in its home to just dry right there. Yay for curtains that are supposed to be wrinkly.
And those curtains look so much better. And I feel so much better.
Even though no one else has noticed. Even after I strongly encouraged them to notice.
I’m going to look for other a-little-at-a-time spring cleaning projects. How about you?
--Nony
I hear ya! I think Spring Cleaning in the nooks and crannies of one’s time is perfect. I have made it a project this past few weeks–that and decluttering–but my wonderful time off from work is coming to an end, soon.
Great post! Sorry no one noticed, but at least you did it for you. I like the idea of doing Spring Cleaning a little at a time. 🙂 I think even I may be able to accomplish that!
See Now I just wish I HAD curtains! LOL. We only have those annoying blinds on all our windows.
But for those who have curtains that are not washer safe and are just dusty (not chocolate handprinted LOL) just toss them in the dryer on no heat. The blowing will blow out all the dust no water needed. 🙂
Your curtains are beautiful! We are still dealing with freezing temps, but I am SO excited to Spring Clean this year. Hope my motivation sticks around until the weather is nice enough for me to throw open the windows!
Oh how I have been putting that project after for way to many years!!! Yes I said years. Dear MIL made them for me over a decade ago and I was not wanting to deal with the hassle of trying to rehang them. It’s spring break this week so time to tackle a few neglected projects. Happy spring cleaning a little at a time 🙂
Yes, this is something that I’ve ignored in the past. We moved in our house a year ago and haven’t put up any curtains yet. We have the faux wood blinds. But once we do, this will be a thorn in my side again. What is it about curtains. I guess they are just so bulky and I’m scared to clean them and mess them up but then it’s too expensive to take to the cleaners. Ugh!
I’ve read a lot of organizing stuff that denounced spring cleaning. There was another type, but the traditional spring cleaning was for getting rid of the soot that your stove made when it was running.
I view spring cleaning as akin to making a new year’s resolution. (Yes, I wait until spring to properly celebrate new year’s day type stuff.) That, and I get a huge surge of energy so taking care of those yearly maintenance usually happens on the first warm day that smells right.
I’ve never done official spring cleaning. I have periods in my life when I am more or less excited about cleaning and tidying and organizing, but to put pressure on myself to get a whole bunch done in a short time is just NOT going to work for me. I prefer to work in short bursts when I have time and energy.
{Melinda} I hate spring cleaning, too. Well, I take that back. I hate cleaning. Period. I just had my dusty curtains dry cleaned. Yes, I took the easy way out. But … they WERE dry clean only. Can’t believe how much better they make the whole room look. I love it when other people clean for me. 🙂
“Even after I strongly encouraged them to notice.” What did that entail? 😀
I’ve recently washed my white curtains (which look like yours) in my bedroom and living room after putting the job off for….rather longer than I care to think about. There were no labels and I wasn’t sure about putting them in the washing machine so I soaked them in the bath.
Saying they were white is rather a misnomer. They went meant to be white but when I first took them down, the living room ones were rather grey. The bedroom ones… well, they took four changes of water and detergent over 48 hours but they’re now WHITE!
Unfortunately, I had to clean down the window frames and glass and iron the curtains before rehanging them. They are big windows and it was a lot of effort but I’m taking great delight in the finished results, especially as both windows get the sun full on them.
As it happens, I tend to be more inclined to do seasonal cleaning in the autumn but life gets in the way. I’m a retired building manager used to having a team of cleaners. One of our expressions was ‘periodic’ cleaning. We had schedules for regular weekly cleaning, then a few extras done once a month or so, and then bigger jobs done periodically. Part of me says it would be nice to have that sort of schedule at home but… hey, I’m retired. I don’t want schedules any more. i want to do things as and when the urge takes me but generally the urge to deep clean only takes me when I’m procrastinating over doing something else and it suddenly becomes absolutely vital to turn out the cupboards or do something else which has waited so long it can quite easily wait a little longer.
Nony, congratulations on recognising not only that your curtains needed doing but setting to and doing them. Well done.
I don’t know if it counts as ‘spring’ cleaning (it’s still -20 here), but I did manage to sweep under my couch this week. First time I’ve done it since Christmas. How do I know? I found the box my husband’s christmas gift came in duking it out with the dust down there. oops.
UGH! Is it really that time of year already?
I need to clean my curtains too…perhaps one day.
Just laundered curtains smell good, and are dust free which helps everyone breath better, especially allergy
I put a small tool on my vacuum, open up the air port on the handle to reduce the amount of suction and just sort of shwoop it over the curtain tops and then down in big motions to cover as much as possible with as few strokes as possible….lol Done!
I desperately need to wash the curtains in our house. They haven’t been washed at all since put up several years ago.
I just washed and put away our winter clothes…and then it decided to snow!! Is that a sign to let spring cleaning go? ?
Also curtains hold smells, so washing them smells nice too.
Great reminder.
I bought crinkle-y style white sheers on purpose for my living room and master bedroom…3 panels per standard width window…to avoid having to iron curtains after washing and drying them. So simple to take down, wash and immediately hang them back up and let them air dry. Bought them at Walmart…84” length by 54” width…for about $6 a panel which comes out to less than $20 per window. I had 9 windows in total. So less than $200 to cover 9 windows. Because I used 3 panels per window, they are very full and quite hard to see through from outside yet let in lots of natural light which was important to me…you know, so I could see all of the dust on the furniture and dirt on the floor, lol! If it’s more obvious to the naked eye then I’m slightly more inclined to clean it! Susie Q homemaker I’m not. The sheers get taken down twice a year and washed and rehung. Previously, I’ve had other styles of curtains but ironing yards and yards of curtains is a time sink that I’m just no longer willing to commit to…life is too short to spend it ironing 30 yards of curtains!
When we finally get these washed and hung back up, the room smells fresher. So, when no one notices who cares, we’re breathing better. 💗
Very timely for me–I was sweeping the bathroom floor and a picture that I had hanging over the toilet fell down. Miraculously the glass did not break, but I noticed for the first time that there was THICK dust all over the frame. Then I looked around and realized that the curtains had it, too. I guess it’s time to take them down. I usually dry them on a rack but I’m going to try just rehanging them wet. I like that idea!
Thank you for this enjoyable, fun post! Glad I’m not the only one who goes through this. : )
Yea, my year round cleaning is mostly spot cleaning.
Your blog, etc are helping me to develop routines to make the extra tasks not so spread out though. Thank You!!