There was a softness and warmth in the air last Saturday that reminded me that spring is around the corner. So there are things to do - seeds to sow, spring cleaning and new projects to plan.

In the home

Here's a plan to get me started:

Grab 3 crates or boxes and label: Keep, Rubbish, Donate.
Start with my wardrobe and be ruthless in sorting through winter and summer clothes. It would be good to hang clothes according to season and in categories such as cardigans, jackets, trousers, skirts, shirts, dresses etc with coordinating scarves. I'm more likely to wear my scarves if they are hanging with coordinating cardies than if they are tucked away in a drawer.
Room by room, assess the clutter and decide what to keep, what's rubbish and what to donate.
Room by room, do a spring clean: cobwebs, dust, polish, vacuum.
Wash windows inside and out. Luckily, I have no curtains to wash and only blinds to dust.

I came across new blog today Practising Simplicity which talks about the concept of decluttering our lives. It featured a quote:

"Clutter is not just physical stuff. It's old ideas, toxic relationships and bad habits. Clutter is anything that does not support your better self." - Eleanor Brownn

Which took me to Eleanor Brownn's blog and three questions that Eleanor suggests we ask ourselves when dealing with "clutter":

Is this bringing me closer to my goal or taking me farther from it? What is our goal, and are our possessions, activities and relationships meaningful in helping us reach our goal?
Is this a reflection of who I am today? We all change over time and tend to hang onto baggage that is connected with a past self and past hurts and resentments. If something is not part of who we are today, get rid of it.
What would I do if I had faith? We often hang onto things out of fear - fear that we might miss something in the future. A treasured relationship or a precious photo we should hold on to. But otherwise, we should have faith that we'll move on okay without a particular item - lighten the load and clear the clutter.

Some of my inspiration for spring cleaning has come from Rhonda Hetzel's book, "Down to Earth - a Guide to Simple Living". Rhonda also has a great blog at Down to Earth which I thoroughly recommend. She writes in a positive, down-to-earth way and covers an extensive range of subjects such as all things about household management, gardening, keeping chooks, green cleaning and so on. I liked her suggestion to start a home management journal for each calendar year. It's just a binder folder with tabs so you can keep track of recipes, menu plans, random printed information, seed catalogues, plant tags, your budget, to do lists, birthdays, or any other category that's helpful to you. Her section on homemade green cleaning products is simple and clearly written and has inspired me to give some of them a go.

In the garden

I've sown seeds for veggies and herbs that arrived by mail from Greenpatch Organic Seeds last week. The veggies include Red Noodle Snake climbing bean, Prestons bush bean, Bulls Blood beetroot, Jimmy Nardello Capsicum, Anaheim Chilli (Heat level 3 - I'm a wimp), Green Gem cucumber, Mesclun mix (a mixture of green and red lettuce), Cherry Belle radish, Golden zucchini and Black Beauty zucchini. Aren't the names amazing! I've also sown seeds for herbs including Sweet basil, Licorice basil, borage, coriander, dill, and oregano. I've dug up and weeded a garden ready to sow seeds of Cosmos, Gomphrena (gorgeous globes of bright pinky mauve and white with soft grey foliage) and Love in a Mist. I would love to have more flowers to pick for bouquets and posies to go with the foliage and flowers from different herbs.