It’s that time of year. Stop groaning, you knew it was coming. The warmth is slowly returning to the world, the sun is shining, birds are singing, and the world is just starting to wake up from the cold of winter, and yet, its not all relaxed and breezy summer days. No because now, its time for spring cleaning!

That’s right, its time to dust out the vases, clean out the closets, and breathe new life back into the home. However, this also means making some tough decisions. You have seen the growth of chaos, the encroachment of clutter, the slow disalusion of all your organizational efforts has occurred slowly over the chilly wintry months. However, it is now time for you to cast off these useless accessories, relegating unused items to trash and charity, making room for air and life to flow throughout the home.

That means making some decisions. If you spent money on something, you probably don’t want to throw it away. It’s like throwing cash out the door. The problem is that you simply don’t have any other choice. Sometimes we make bad purchasing decisions, and other time, things just become obsolete in our lives.

One way to systematize your de-cluttering is to take a box, and throw anything that hasn’t been used in the last 30 days into the box. Throw it all in there and don’t look back. If you are good at staying organized, you can make lists of any items that are put away, ensuring that you can always find anything that you need. Then stick the box in a closet, and wait another 30 days.

If after that time you haven’t thought about, needed, or wanted to go into that box for a particular item, then its clutter; its time to set it free, and set your home free from its clogging influence.

Another common habit during the spring is to change up the look and feel of your home. Many people use the new season as an excuse to completely redecorate their spaces, replacing old furnishings with new ones, and generally giving the environment a fresh new feel.

However, you can’t create a new look without destroying the old. If you feel yourself getting sentimental for décor from days gone by, you can always snap a few photos of the room before dismantling it. In this way if you ever get nostalgic you can simply look at the old pictures, or even use them as a guide for recreating the old look.

Spring cleaning and decorating is about making choices. Clutter and chaos have to be cleared away, and stale rooms have to be renewed. It’s up to you to have the strength and fortitude to make the decisions necessary to ensure that your home stays looking fresh and elegant, in this period of transition and change.