Ladies of a Certain Age ~ for those invisible powerful, dynamic, vital women

There is something cathartic about spring cleaning.  My house just feels so much better and freer – if a house can sense freedom– when I do it.  It’s a little embarrassing, too.  Somehow – until I clean – I never see the crumbs and crude in the silverware drawer, for example.

Always, I remember going to Pueblo, Colorado, where my maternal grandparents lived, for spring break, in the mid-1950s and helping my grandmother clean.  Particularly, I remember helping her wash her lace curtains in an old wringer washer, and then helping her set up the drying racks, wooden structures with little nails attached on all the edges, on her wrap-around porch of her Queen Anne Cottage.  She would bring a laundry basket filled with the wet curtains out to the porch and I would hold each of them as she carefully secured them on the nails.  The sun, along with Mrs. Stewarts Bluing and starch, would turn the curtains snowy white in a couple of hours.

Of course there was more to this scenario than helping my grandmother with her curtains.  For one there was the intense bond I would establish with her – also named Elizabeth – and the wonderful memories.  Seems like later that day she actually sat on her kitchen floor in her house dress and played a game of jacks with me!

My grandmother was a wonderful housekeeper, cook and gardener.  In her late 50s that spring, her life did not resemble anything like my life when I was in my late 50s. (I was divorced, lived and owned a house about three times the size of hers, and dealt with male executives all day.  The only reason these guys talked and listened to me is because their was being sued by two federal regulatory agencies, and they were scared.  As the spokesperson for the organization, I had to make sure what I said would portray the company accurately without bringing further public outrage to the organization.)

I wonder what my granddaughter’s life will be like when she is in her late 50s.

Back to spring housecleaning – unlike my grandmother who devoted days to the tasks – even in retirement I don’t have several days to wash curtains, scrub floors clean out drawers, etc.  What I have learned is to devote several weeks in the spring and dedicated a couple of hours – even an hour – each day “to clean the joint up.”  It’s worth it.  I feel so much better.  In the process, I inevitably get rid of “stuff,” the bane of our consumption – addiction generation.

From a business standpoint, a clean house pays off when it comes time to sell.  In the past several months, I cannot tell you how many houses for sale I have looked at online.  The dirty and or unkempt ones really stand out to me.  I try to look beyond their appearance to see the “bones” of the house.  Inevitably, I tire from looking at the untidiness and don’t spend very much time reviewing these homes.

When I went looking at homes with my Realtor, I really did not want to even waste my time by going in to any that were a mess.

Another benefit I have found to spring house cleaning is that I have more motivation to keep my house clean throughout the year, and sometimes it is fun to find the “perfect” organization gizmo to keep closets and laundry neat.

When I am finish, like my Grandmother Elizabeth, I like to put fresh flowers in a pretty vase on my dining room table.

Copyright – Elizabeth J. Wheeler, April 4, 2016