There is no better feeling than waking up on a Roscommon morning to see the sun shining on the delicate heads of the newly-born daffodils and crocuses whose breakthrough blooms hail the beginning of longer days and shorter nights.
However, much as I adore the sun and welcome its arrival it also tends to show up every single dust particle and dog hair that floats around my house meaning my hoover goes into overdrive and my shopping list items consist of dusters, furniture polish, and every other cleaning product you can think of, setting me into Mrs. Doyle overdosing on Pharmaton capsules mode, as I go on a mad bender to get my house ready to greet the sun!
And so, if you’re looking forward to new beginnings this spring but just lack that bit of motivation to get you started, don’t worry, we’ve got some useful tips we hope will help.
Festive fallout
If your Christmas decorations are still hidden behind the sofa, get them packed safely into a box and put them in the attic now! I mean, how lazy are you? And no, the green tinsel will not double as a St. Patrick’s Day garland.
Empties
Stop avoiding the recycling centre. Nobody believes your “I’m going to create a herb garden with my empty five litre water bottles,” or your “I’m going to make lamps from my recycled wine bottles,” excuses!
Look, you’ve guzzled down those bottles of delicious Argentinian Malbec, now the least you can do is wash them out and bring them, along with your jam jars and yogurt cartons, down to the local recycling centre.
De-clutter
Your wardrobe looks like an explosion in a charity shop’s store room; meaning you know it’s time to set aside a Saturday, wade in and sort through the detritus before it gets any worse.
Now while we know parting with that retro winter coat from the 1970s is such sweet sorrow, the fact is you can’t pull it off any longer, let it go and either donate it or bin it.
While you’re in the bedroom, unless ‘Cousin It’ has come to stay, those hairs in your ensuite shower tray have no right living there. Remove them before they block the drains. Ditto with the soap scum build-up on your shower door. And yes, we know you have ‘hard water’ and we know the kids love etching smiley faces into the dirt, but come on…even you must realise things have gotten out of hand, so clean it now.
Kitchen
If there are more items past their ‘use by’ date lurking in your fridge, now’s the time to bin them because stale food can actually pollute fresh food, and that’s not healthy, nor is it economical. Shame on you.
