Denise Cavanough Miss Spring Clean Blog

For the love of order

4/1/2021

I feel that for eons I have had a love of Order, it has a settling feeling on my body, I feel balanced within, on an even keel. Able to withstand anything that comes my way because there is a solidness and a holding inside me. I get the picture of that statue in America of the lady holding the torch, there for all to see.

When we think of order the first thing that usually comes to mind for most people is that we have a tidy home, having an ordered space around us. This can be in our homes or our work space. Any space that we come into.

But what if the ordered space has to first come from the space within our bodies. We need to be in order within to be able to then have an ordered space around us. It can be like people say that you cannot love another until you love yourself. It feels like the same thing, if you live an ordered life from within then that will reflect on the outside.

I feel that our cupboards also reflect in the same way, telling us far more about ourselves then what we could have imagined. We can get caught up in the ideal that what our house looks like is most important, making sure that it is seen to be tidy, ordered and clean. But could it be the unseen that delivers the true picture.

I am now realising that all the ideals and beliefs that I used when trying to keep our home tidy were not supporting me, they were only superficial. This is why I would have to return in a few months to spring clean all over again.

What if there is so much more, a deeper way of looking at order, brining a loving order from a place within us. What if this is where we get the solidness from, the holding, commitment and attention to detail. Everything comes from inside us and when we connect to this everything flows from there. This then builds a solid foundation to be able to keep your home tidy. Then when you clean it takes on a whole different way of being. Your house literally glows, it shines from the inside out, just like you.

Forever Learning

2/17/2021

I once did a decluttering job with a difference. It was for 2 young ladies. Piper who was 7 and Tayla who was 6 at the time.
I would usually start by taking everything out of the wardrobe and wiping and cleaning, then folding and returning things to the cupboard .
But this time I had to stop. I knew this was not going to work for these 2 young ladies. They are the same size so share most of their clothes. They have their own undies which have their initial on the tag so as to make it easy to sort and store. First I sat and considered what might work for them. There was no use going through and folding everything as I knew this was not going to work, so off I went, just lying the clothes in organised piles. Dresses on dresses, shorts on shorts and tops on tops I had strict instructions from Tayla where everything was to go. Dresses, tops, short, PJ's. She knew were everything was to be put.

On inspection after I had finished I was informed that there was somethings that I had put in the wrong pile. Which was so gorgeous.

I'm not really sure how long this may have lasted for the girls but for me it was a great lesson. Maybe the lesson wasn't for the girls it was for me.

Normally I would not be the one putting things into other peoples draws as this is usually done by the client, but with the girls they did not see the need to have them in the room when there was better things to be done outside.

seeing more clearly without the distractions.

12/26/2020

For years I struggled to keep my home tidy, it would either be super tidy or I would be struggling to kept it tidy, there was never a holding and I was always exhausted trying to keep up with the ups and the downs.

I was just pondering on how I had always made it about making the house look better, better ways to clean, better ways that I could store my things, reducing the space needed to pack things away, being more organised, having a better system.

But what if it isn't about being better, it's about building a steady consistency, it's not just about the bigger picture, it's about the little things that make up the bigger picture. Its about making choices, one little thing at a time, that builds, and doing so it is building on the consistency that then holds the whole house, not just the things that you see but also the things that you don't see.

Before you know it your whole life has a solidness to stand on – not just your house. A leg may fall off occasionally, things might get messy, but the whole place does not fall to bits, it's just a hick up. Just jump back on board. Simple but easy.

Unpacking life.

7/9/2020

When I go away on holidays, I love to unpack my bags as soon as I get home otherwise they would sit there for a week.
This has not always been the case but for the past few years it has been growing stronger in my body that now it is a given. I automatically do it. There is something really beautiful in doing it straight away. Something confirming.

Building consistency, commitment in all the tiny things that we do in our lives is life changing. These are the things that can change our lives forever. The tiny little choices that we make.

Imagine that. We seem to always focus on the big things. Like Change your Job, Buy a new house or car. But it is the little things that support us to make lasting changes. The things that we imagine would not make much difference, if any, to the big picture.
Well think again.
The little things make all the difference, they can be the most important things, they start to build a solid foundation, baby steps, implementing little changes in your day, no pressure, no judging. Having a steady flow that is building silently in the background.
Now this is life changing.

Discover who is really living in your wardrobe.

5/8/2020

That may sound funny to some, but who is living in your wardrobe, who are we reflecting if we are living with everyone else's ideal and beliefs. We listen to what other people think, we see in magazines what everyone else is wearing, we are bombarded with pictures everywhere of what we should wear, how he or she should look, we listen to all the old rules and traditions that govern our beliefs about everything including clothes. None of these are reflecting who you truly are.

How often do we buy things and get them home and wonder what the hell was I thinking? Only to return it in disbelief or leave it in the wardrobe to sit. These are very common issues, things that I hear a lot.

But what if you were to stop, have a really good look at your wardrobe. Stand back and ask yourself :
How much do I truly love and feel gorgeous and sexy in?
How many thing in your wardrobe sit beautifully on my body?
Are your clothes soft and comfortable or hard and scratchy?
Do you feel your whole body and your clothes walking as one?

No one can tell you how your body feels in the clothes that you wear. If I need to ask for someone else's opinion then I instantly know that I should walk out the door.

When I go shopping I like to take my best friend with me. Thats my body.
Connect with my body and off we go together.

Getting my house in order.

3/30/2020

Getting my house in order is about so much more then just cleaning.
When I was first married with children, if I felt like I was out of sink, then I would spring-clean the whole house. It was a cleansing for me as well as the house, and for that matter for everyone that was in the house. When I finished I would feel centred, re balanced, like my life was back on track. It wasn't about the house looking perfect. It was about how I would feel on the inside. I would feel very settled, able to see things more clearly.

The thing that always stood out the most for me was my cupboards. I knew they were not just cupboards hiding my stuff. They were the inside story off my life and how I was living. It didn't matter that they were closed and no one else saw inside them. They were a true reflection for me as to how I lived my life in every way. How I cared for everything in my life, me as well as the things in my life. Like a microscope highlighting every part of my life. It wasn't just about the cleaning, looking after and putting away of all the things, it was the bigger picture, a true reflection of how I was living my whole life.

The simple Things In Life.

1/30/2019

I have always had a love of Order, since I was a little girl and I read Wind in the Willows where Mole was white washing and Spring-cleaning his little home.

Over the years that I have been supporting women and men to eliminate clutter from their homes, my awareness and understanding has grown in that there is so much more at play here then we could possibly have ever imagined.

Have you ever considered that the way you keep your home could be nurturing yourself? It is the bed you lie in so to speak.

Our homes are constantly reflecting to us the way in which we live, far beyond just doing our housework and keeping the house tidy and clean. What if something as simple as putting gloves on to do the washing up then affected every movement that you made with your hands. It's like you can then take that love and care into everything that you touch during the day, the way that you washed your face, the way that you put your cups away or the way you put clothes onto the clothes line. The list goes on and on.

How amazing would that be that something as simple as putting gloves on to wash up could change your whole life? It’s interesting that when we go looking for the things that can make a difference to our lives we look for the big things. Like loosing weight, but what if it is the tiny little things that make the most profound impact on our choices. Who would have considered that learning to love yourself could support you to loose weight. Its the simple things in life.

I feel that my home is like my reference book on how I’m living my life. Something that is always there for me, supporting me, reflecting back to me, I just need to remember to STOP and look around and appreciate the offering.

My 5 Top Tips for keeping your kitchen clean and tidy.

5/21/2018

1. Building consistency is my Top Tip. Committing to doing things on a regular basis is building a routine that will support you each day in your kitchen as well as the rest of your home. I like to run the sink with hot water as I’m about to start cooking, it keeps the kitchen in order as I’m cooking and that way I don’t finish with a pile of dirty dishes.

Building consistency is something that needs to be in every part of our lives.
You then get to see so clearly when something is amiss, if something is not right. These are little signposts for us to stop and have a look at what is going on.

2. When I put things away every thing has a place and everything goes in its place. That way I know were things are, and everyone else knows where things go as well. It puts an order in the cupboards and it is easy to see when you are running out of something so that you can pop it on your grocery list as you go along.

3. Cleaning out the fridge is something that I like to do before I unpack the groceries, that way I can sort the vegetables and know which ones need to be used first.

4. My husband and I do the washing up together each night, we unpack the dishwasher together, the kitchen is our responsibility not just mine. Before we go to bed I like to check that everything is off the bench and put away, the kitchen is tidy and ready for the next morning and feeling beautiful.

5. I like to wipe things as I’m putting them away, they might be the sauce bottles or other containers, that way you don’t have sticky things in your cupboards or fridge. It makes me more aware of the kitchen surfaces, the cupboard doors, the drawers, fridge doors and the pantry shelves. All these little things that help keep a clean and tidy kitchen and by regularly doing them the kitchen stays organised and sparkling.

Commitment and Consistency, it’s a choice.

4/5/2018

Yesterday I had a little giggle as I was walking around the house as I remembered that in the past I would always have a room that was messy. It was like a collection of all the things that I didn't know what to do with, they would all end up in the one room and then I would shut the door. What I felt was that I had to keep something incomplete, like I was holding myself back, staying in a pattern.

I feel that I have come a long way since then. Things are always and will always be unfolding for me. Now when I look around the house I can see how I am building a commitment and a consistently in my daily life.

Now if I see something that I want to make part of my daily routine, something that makes my life simpler, I committee to myself that I am going to do this regularly, make it part of my daily routine.

I have found that if I don’t make that choice to commit, it will just drop of my radar.

The other day my husband came into the house and said to me why don’t I use the orange mop each day to mop up the small things that appear on the floor.
This brought me to a stop, this was something that had fallen off my radar. I had completely forgotten that it was something that I used to do. I would vacuum once a week and then use the mop each day to keep the floors clean. It was simple, it only took 5 minutes to do the whole house and it makes such a difference.

When I build consistency and commitment into my life they feel like anchors, they support me to keep our home sorted. As I build these little anchors, they constantly bring me back to me, a moment to stop and look around and appreciate the things in my life that I am holding. As I walk around the house all these little rituals that I am making part of my daily/ weekly routine support me in a way that is far beyond just keeping the house tidy and making my life simpler. I get a feeling of Joyfullness each time I stop and appreciate.

These choices are deeply nurturing choices that support me to build a life that holds consistency and commitment in more parts of my life. Building an appreciation for the choices that I’m making.

Shopping with me.

10/11/2017

Have you every noticed that sometimes you can go shopping and you instantly know that what you have tried on feels exquisite, you don't have to get a second opinion, you already know in your body that you love the item and you will wear it.

But then at other times you feel completely at a loss, you need someone else's opinion to help you make up your mind. These are the moments that you should walk out of the shop because you are shopping to fill something, and no amount of spending is going to fill that feeling inside you that something is missing.

What if we stopped and asked ourselves "What is really going on?"

What if instead of shopping we went and had a cuppa, we took some time to spend with ourselves enjoying our own company. Filling that empty space with doing things that we love that are just for us without spending money. Like going for a walk, looking at gardens along the way, enjoying nature.

If we stop for a moment and take the time we have an opportunity to break these patterns that may have been running in us for years without us even knowing. I know that I no long want to have a collection of clothes in my wardrobe that I don't wear or love.

Author

Denise works with people to support them to bring their true reflection to their homes, their clothes, their wardrobes and their lives. "Its so amazing to see the changes in people as they rediscover more of who they truly are."

Book a session with Denise

SUBSCRIBE

Subscribe to the blog to receive FREE tips to support you in your home. SUBSCRIBE

Archives

April 2021
February 2021
December 2020
July 2020
May 2020
March 2020
January 2019
May 2018
April 2018
October 2017
May 2017
April 2017
January 2017
June 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
December 2015
October 2015
August 2015
July 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
October 2014

Categories