People like to say that dirt isn’t chometz, but as Rabbi Dovid Orlofsky says, if dirt isn’t chometz, how can you tell? Besides, are you really going to take apart the whole closet and then not wipe it down before you put everything back? If you’re not going to clean the mess now, when will you?
Some people have this misconception that I love cleaning and therefore relish the upcoming holiday of Pesach. They assume that because I write about organizing – it must mean I spend the whole day dusting and mopping. Sadly, that is not the case. In fact, I do not enjoy scrubbing until my skin falls off (I really should invest in gloves), or sweeping the floor for the fifth time in one day, or wiping the accumulated salt-encrusted snow from my mudroom floor. On the other hand, what I do love is relaxing with my family in a clean, airy, organized space, where I can find what I need, when I need it. When the time comes to clean, I do it by keeping my eye on the prize of a relaxing environment even as I mumble to myself over the inability of skirts to hold their shape while ironing the pleats of my daughter’s uniform skirts over and over.
So if I love the end result of an organized, clean house, I will find the easiest way to achieve that goal. Can you guess what that would be? That’s right: avoid clutter and grime in the first place. This is a method that takes practice before it comes with ease, but with Pesach a couple of months away, this is the best time to begin perfecting good habits.
I’ve spoken many times before about the ability to stay on top of household chores by developing a daily and weekly schedule which includes doing laundry, washing dishes and sweeping, setting aside a fixed time to mop and clean the silver, etc., and making sure to include all the children, thereby instilling in them not just the important midda of responsibility, but also granting them the gift of organization.
There are a few areas that can quickly become a gathering place for dust and clutter. Here are some specific ways to deal with them:
Mail: With the advent of e-mail, most snail mail these days consists of bills, junk mail, solicitations, and invitations from those who have not embraced the ease and economics of e-vites.
1. Junk Mail should be chucked while you are still standing at your door or, even better, write return to sender, wrong address on the envelope and put it back in the mailbox.
2. Bills can be easily disposed of by going paperless. Most, if not all, companies sending you a paper bill have an option for paperless, and allow you to sign up online for monthly reminders to view and pay your account. Some companies even offer a financial incentive for having an online account, as this saves the company a lot of money, not to mention trees. Being able to view your account online has many other benefits as well – you no longer have to go hunting for the paper bill that corresponds to that month; you can simply click on the billing cycle of that month, and voilà, the list of expenses appears.
3. For solicitations, I recommend deciding which organizations to donate to, and then calling them up and asking them to send you an e-mail request instead of a paper one. This will save them money, thereby making your donation go even further. For those organizations that you are not interested in donating to, call them and politely but firmly ask them to remove you from their list.