The January deep cleanse

As sure as there are chia seeds in my trolley, and yelling at my children to stop fighting because we are deep in school holidays, in January of each & every year there will be ALL of the nesting. Non pregnant nesting that is! It’s an epidemic that I KNOW I am not alone with. In fact, when we were little I have such clear memories of my Mum getting home from holidays and going MAD throughout the house. Cleaning the fridge, pruning the garden, sweeping and hosing the pavers and restoring order all in the first few hours of being home, that there’s no wonder I do the same.

Since we got home last week I have been struck down with this strange January nesting condition. It’s hit me particularly hard this year, perhaps I think because my sister has been moving and so has been culling ALL of the things and it’s been quite inspirational. My friend Nikki was struck with it when she got home, cleaning her fridge with precision and gusto when she arrived home to an empty fridge and suddenly saw it’s dire need for a clean. My other friend Annie said it’s a real thing, she’s washed every item in her house, in fact her and her husband are in the process of PAINTING the outside of their house such is their passion for the January deep cleanse.

It’s like you are seeing your house for the first time, with fresh eyes, and you cannot believe the FILTH and STUFF that surrounds you and you’d pretty much set fire to the lot to start all over again.

Let’s not forget this time last year when I went deep in the garage with clothes clean ups dealing with bucket and buckets of hand me downs. SO MANY GIRLS CLOTHES.

Or the January of 2016 when I attacked the toys.

I totally did this again this morning, 2 years later. I literally threw out anything small and plastic straight into a garbage bag. Sorry Shopkins.

And the verandahs.

See? CONSISTENT. (ly crackers that is).

But since I got back from holidays last week I have tackled:

Cleaning windows
Wiping down all window sills
Cleaning out toys/books/kid CRAP
Clean out of all girls bedrooms/school stuff
Washing every item of bed linen/towels/changing beds
Weeding
Pruning
Indoor plant spa treatment
Mopping every floor
Tying roses back
Verandah clean up
Spider web removals inside and out
Cleaning out bathroom drawers (I literally did this at 10.15pm Saturday night…I NEED A LIFE)
Kitchen deep clean (wiping every cupboard on the outside and bench)

It’s been very theraputic/exhausting. The problem is, is that I just can’t seem to stop. Like now I have started I need to do the entire house because there is momentum but there’s just SO much stuff to do it’s overwhelming. It’s quite problematic.

Is it the physical clearing the decks for the year ahead mentally?
Is it the break from normal housework over the holidays that have you hitting it hard with gusto?
Is it just because I am mad?

I know that soon enough I will move onto work and this stuff will all just pause until next January, when I will be hit with this same bug again. Effective I guess….but crazy!

Do any of you guys get hit with this January nesting bug?
What have you been up to?
How can we keep it up past January 30?

Comments

  1. I wouldn’t mind just a small dose, at least of the outside spider Web removal kind.
    Sigh sadly no I don’t have this, I probably need it though, I love a spick and span place, I’m just not good at doing it.
    Cheers Kate

  2. I was only home 1 hr from a week in Sydney & I had already filled 4 HUGE bags just out of my wardrobe.. I didn’t even think just ditched…. gone … never to be seen again.. then I unpacked the cases & started the laundry & whilst I was in there I emptied the big linen cupboard & ditched & folded everything . Wtf was I doing. My husband thought I had lost the plot completely. Went to Bed at 11 which was 2pm Sydney time. I haven’t stopped yet either. Being going strong for 3 days….

  3. Yep. It has hit me hard! I really want to be creative but creativity is being galettes due to being surrounded by so much crap. Small terrace in a surry Hills is filled very quickly. For the last two weeks, I have attacked a section of the house each day and have thrown out/organised stuff to donate. So therapeutic.

    • I think this is a lot of it for me…I have some very big months ahead of me with work and being creative and I know that there will be NO time for this kind of stuff. Good luck…hope you can keep powering on!

  4. I’ve been doing the same since new year. I think its a large dose of new year/new start paired with the break from FRENETIC term time running around. In January I actually have multiple days in a row where I can tackle this stuff… this never happens once school starts! #feelingcleansed

  5. Debs Sutton says

    Oh Beth how this resonates with me, left home on Xmas Day to spend 48hrs with our daughter and granddaughters in The Cotswolds (we live in UK) and had cleaned house,changed beds,etc before we left. Late Boxing Day flew to Perth WA for 16days to visit our son and DIL, and I haven’t stopped cleaning/sorting /throwing stuff out /bags for charity shop since our return!!!! Was just chatting to R saying I HAVE to prune apple,plum & cherry trees in next few days too!! Crazy😜 but feels soooo bloody good.xxx

  6. Katie Kelly says

    Hi Beth, I do love a good clean out especially the children’s old toys!! But when I read your story and you mentioned shopkins I thought I would let you know what we have done in the past. There are so many toys that the children are given over time and eventually they grow out of so I said to my 2 that they could research values of their toys and sell them on eBay. With a little help they took photos, figured out a start price/postage etc and sold them. Apparently (so my daughter tells me) some shopkins are quite rare and it appears there are people out there willing to pay….. just a thought for your older children.
    Good luck with your nesting, feels lovely when you’ve finished x

  7. Question – How often do you wash sheets on beds? Every week? Even the kids….
    I would love to have even 10% of your motivation hahahah
    Our house was only ever meant to be temporary but 8 years later we are still here…but still not permanently…we will eventually build a house on land we have so I have never totally made our house a home…and everytime I think I should just make it more homey I stop because it’s not my forever home….
    So my home is in a desperate need of a January cleanse….
    exhausting even writing about it hahahah

  8. Those hedgey pole things (technical term) on your veranda are SO pretty. That’s it. As you were, crazy cleaning lady

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