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Spring cleaning hacks that’ll change your life
But does it spark joy?
Hey friends! How has it been 20 years to the very day since Mean Girls came out?!! Anyone else feeling a little geriatric? Because… same.
Song of the day: “Let’s go baaaaack, back to the beginning, back to when my desk wasn’t a mess and my closet was organized.” We’re talking all about spring cleaning today, and well Hilary Duff’s “Come Clean” seems a bit fitting, no?
Spring Cleaning Hacks That’ll Change Your Life
It’s been scientifically proven that an organized and clean space can have a positive impact on your productivity levels and mental health. An overflowing medicine cabinet or a messy closet can be overwhelming and distracting, and get in the way of efficiently getting things done.
So instead of throwing another mini USB still wrapped in a twist tie in that junk drawer of yours, we’re here to help de-clutter your stuff and hopefully free you from some anxiety by doing so! Where shall we start?
PS. For all of our ADHD friends out there, we’ve said it once and we’ll say it again. We know doing any task for more than two minutes can take us straight to Struggle City, so we suggest trying The Pomodoro Technique. A time management method based on 25-minute stretches of focused work broken up by five-minute breaks (Fun fact: The inventor of the Pomodoro method used a tomato-shaped kitchen timer, and Pomodoro is Italian for tomato so yeah…)
Closet
A couple pointers when re-organizing your wardrobe besides donating your prom dress from 16 years ago?
A good playlist: Pick songs that make you want to move and groove. If you need some inspo, here’s one of Rod’s playlists to get your serotonin pumping. The first song on it? “Clarity.” How perf!
Invite a friend over. First used for people with ADHD, “body doubling” is more commonly used now to help people get things done effectively. Even if each person is doing their own thing, having someone around while completing tasks helps us stay focused. Bonus points if they chime in to tell you to donate your Eras Tour outfit that you’ll never wear again.
The rule of 3. If you can’t envision yourself wearing a piece of clothing three different ways, it might be time to toss. These “ways” can be three separate outfits, or three specific occasions. Easy enough!
Purge. When I (Gabi) moved from Chicago to Los Angeles, I was in need of a good kick in the butt to tell me that my off-the-shoulder “going out top” from seven years ago had to go. So after hearing my sister ask “When’s the last time you actually wore that?” four hundred times, I donated 13 garbage bags of clothes. 😬
Work
Messy desks and cluttered inboxes invite lots of room for distraction. Do I need to be looking through old birthday cards I saved and threw in my desk while on a client call? Absolutely not. Am I? Absolutely.
Clear your inbox. Ask yourself the five-year question. When was the last time you needed an email from five years ago? If your answer is never, keep going down in years until you get to a time range you know you have important emails from. If there are any one-offs you know of offhand, search for them individually and put them in a separate folder. Then delete all of the other emails before that time range. This Reddit thread also has some other helpful tips for getting rid of those Spring Sales emails.
Tidy up your workspace. Begin by clearing off your entire desk, and create two piles: Keep and Toss.
• To keep? A pen or two (you don’t need 10 hotel bar pens), your daily work notebook, Post-It notes
• To toss? Those 5ft long CVS receipts with expired ExtraCare Bucks, or scribbled notes from last month’s presentation you ended up crushing anyway
Kitchen
Finding a salad dressing in the back of your fridge from 2016 is truly a humbling experience.
Empty your cabinets/fridge. We know it sounds daunting but emptying out your pantry and cabinets will allow you to see everything you have, including the excessive amount of tuna cans you forgot about from that tuna salad kick you were on four years ago…
Assess your stock. Don’t know what to do with the random ingredients you didn’t know you had? Supercook.com, puts together recipes for whatever ingredients you have in your kitchen.
For any clothing, work supplies, and food you no longer want, please consider donating to your local food bank and/or donation center. A lot of colleges also accept gently used business attire for students in need of professional clothes for things like interviews, career fairs, and internships.
Got a Q for us to A? Submit yours here.
Things To Send in the Group Chat
…after you eat an ice cream sandwich for breakfast.
“Ew, David!” Twelve minutes of Schitt’s Creek bloopers?! We’re dialed in, obvi!
I (Gabi) just finished Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library. A beautiful story about how each choice we make (yes, even the mistakes) leads us to one specific and special life. I laughed, I cried, and I’d totally read it again.
We love a good snooze and @olivianoceda’s Midnight Cherry Spritz recipe on Instagram is supposed to help us do just that! Let us know if you try it. 😴
Thanks so much for hanging with us today! Only two more sleeps until Friday, take care of yourself! We’ll see ya back here next Wednesday. :)
—Rod & Gabi
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