14 (FUN) Ways to Spring Clean your Life

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Mother May I…have a total re-do on April?! Minus the allergies, because Lord knows they’re no fun at all. Time to spring clean.

If you’re a regular around these rosy parts, you probably know that I’m about to be done at UPenn and I’ve been in the process of moving into a house with J. If you’re a newbie…just click here to get all caught up.

And if you’re anywhere where seasons are a thing, it very well might be spring – and you probably realized it was spring because you just started sneezing everywhere you go and you can’t put mascara on without sneezing and getting it all over your face. No? Just me? Awk.

In the spirit of spring and sneezing and starting anew (because all the things are coming up…like coming up roses…get it? HA MONDAY), all the people are in full-blown “spring cleaning” mode – myself included. But holy cow, it can be such a headache – so much to spring clean! To make it easier on ya, I thought it’d be fun to share 14 actually FUN ideas for spring cleaning your life in little ways for big impact.

14 WAYS TO SPRING CLEAN YOUR LIFE

Spring clean your eating by…
1. Pulling out three new recipes to try each week. Suddenly, all you’ll be whipping up is new food. Kick the usuals to the curb – at least for a hot spring sec – and create that Pinterest dinner you’ve been drooling over for months.
2. TRY a food you don’t think you’ll like, just because. Starting fresh, right? There’s always that one food you haven’t tried since childhood because seven-year-old you vowed it was the foodspawn of the devil. #dramatic. Give it a go with your new adult tastebuds. I guess I have to try a brusselsprout…
3. Challenge yourself to eat two vegetables for every one of anything that’s not a vegetable. If you have six mini Reese’s cups (was going to say M&M’s, but lessssssbehonest who eats only six M&M’s?!?!), you need at least 12 baby carrots. Easy math is more fun than calculus, and eating a few treats with just even more veggies is more fun than ripping out your sweet tooth altogether.
Spring clean your room/office/workspace by…
1. Vowing to read “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” from cover to cover, and then running loose in your room with it.
2. Sorting one box of crap. You know you’ve got stuff lying around on your floor or in a drawer or deep in the depths of a closet that you haven’t touched in, uh, years. Maybe decades. If you haven’t needed it in the last five years, honey you won’t need it in the next fifty. Come to peace with parting, and let it go!
3. Organizing your desk. Is there *anything* more satisfying?!?! Like, seriously. Cleaning your desk and getting it all spic and span again is like re-charging your Superwoman cape for success. Get rid of dried up pens, throw out scrap paper, sort all of your receipts/paperwork/forms/etc., empty the junk drawer, and freshen up your calendar and planner.
4. Get a ! You guys know I’m a bit of a planner whore, right? As in, at one point I had five planners actively being used, each for a different thing. There was the life planner, the work planner, the blog planner…it was too much. Now, I’ve found my holy grail planner and there is no turning back. My favorite is , and it’s CLUTCH. It sells out so fast, but I got wind that the fresh assortment for this year is being re-launched this month. Praise the sweet Lord baby Jesus and get your credit cards ready, people. Plan up.
Spring clean your beauty by…
1. Cleaning your makeup brushes. Seriously, they’re probably gross right now. I’m usually so bad at this, but I finally have them all laid out on my sink and refuse to use ’em until they’re properly scrubbed. Makeup brushes harvest so much bacteria…and you’re just dabbing and contouring that all over your pretty face. Yuck.
2. Throwing out any old products. Some products last literally years without needing to be replaced. Others become cesspools of germs and bacteria. Double yuck. (Comment below if you’d like a lesson plan on what’s good for how long, etc.!)
3. Treating yo’self to a new product you’ve been dying to try. I just placed a Sephora order last week (bought Champagne Pop and another Melted lippy), and holy cow I will never shop in store again. When you shop sephora.com, you get ALL THE FREE SAMPLES. I got to choose three regular samples with my order, and then I did some good ol’ fashioned Googling and found a promo code for a FREE cosmetics case full of perfume samples, no strings attached or minimum required anything. Excuse me what. I also had a gift card, so I’m pretty sure I paid $35 for at least $80 worth of product. Bless. UP.
4. Swipe dark nail colors for brights. Am I the only one who does this ceremoniously? I swear it’s like the changing of the guard at my nail polish rack come springtime. Here are some of my current favorites on repeat.
Spring clean your LIFE by…
1. Re-evaluating the relationships in your life. Do any need mending? Do any need polishing? We’re all so busy all of the time – it can become too easy to let friendships fall by the wayside thinking “they’ll always be there.” First of all…they might not always be there. Second…even if they are, the quality might not be! Don’t be that person who assumes people will just be there when you need them – that’s called being a user and abuser, and ain’t nobody got time for that. Be the girlfriend who reaches out first justbecause and offers to bring champagne for no reason other than y’all love champagne. Because that’s basically #1 in the code of being a good girlfriend to your girlfriends.
2. Trying a new workout routine (or heck, just a new workout MOVE!). Science shows that our bodies actually grow accustomed to specific exercises, making them decreasingly effective as time goes by with the same move. So, mix it up to tone it up! Summertime is right around the corner (as if we need reminders, right?), so there’s no better time to get motivated to feel your best. An easy starting place is by incorporating basic exercises within your daily routine. For example…sometimes I squat while I brush my teeth. No joke. It’s seriously effective, though. You end up either squatting for more than you otherwise would, or brushing your teeth for longer than you otherwise would, and that’s a win-win situation amiright?
3. Considering what you really want at this stage in your life. Whether in a friendly or romantic way, get real with yourself on those “what are you looking for?” awkward first date questions and vow to actually live by your own answer. Looking for real love? Then get serious about what that looks like for you and stop doing things that aren’t likely going to bring it your way (*ahem* frat party hookups *ahem*). Looking for true friends of virtue? Friends of convenience won’t do. Figure out what’s most important to you in a friendship and try to find people who align with that. If Jesus is your #1, church or a small group study might be the perfect hangout. Love reading? THE LIBRARY. Blogging? Online Facebook groups for bloggers and entrepreneurs. See how this works??? It’s like matchmaking friendships from your passions.