Chinese New Year is tomorrow and I am busy getting our home and family ready for the celebration this weekend. I just finished my least favorite but very important preparation task, a thorough cleaning of our home to symbolize sweeping out or “cleansing” any misfortune or lingering bad luck from the current year. Because it is such a thorough cleaning, I tend to start right after the American New Year, drag my heels a little, and finish right on Chinese New Year’s Eve.
Guidelines to Chinese New Year Cleaning
- Avoid sweeping during Chinese New Year season, Chinese New Year’s Eve to 15 days after Chinese New Year, especially the first three days because any upcoming good luck would be swept away. If you absolutely must sweep, collect the dust in the corner to keep any good luck inside the house.
- Trash old and unused items. This includes dated magazines and paper, clothing, toys, and expired food in your pantry. Clean out the closets and garage.
- Clean sheets and towels.
- Repair or replace anything broken. Everything from a squeaky door to a burnt lightbulb. You don’t want anything weighing down any positive energy.
How I do My Chinese New Year Cleaning
- I use a vacuum and a microfiber mop to clean the floor. Using a broom to sweep isn’t efficient for me and never feels quite as clean as a vacuum. I usually clean the floor on New Year’s Eve and then do my best to hold off until after the first three days of New Year to clean again. With two little ones always spilling and tracking dirt from outside, it can be very challenging.
- This is a thorough cleaning so I make sure I go behind furniture, inside light fixtures, and around crown molding. This is a great time to catch up on my backlog of podcasts and audiobooks.
- I try my best to organize, recycle, dispose of things as they come into our home. Because the girls get toys all the time and need new wardrobes each season because they grow so fast, I put away and give away these things on a regular basis. For the Chinese New Year cleaning, I focus on closets, the pantry, and junk drawers.
- Of course we all clean our sheets and towels on a regular basis. This time of year, I do it all within a day or two.
- Anything important like a refrigerator, lightbulb, or television,would be fixed soon after it was broken. Anything not very important like an alarm clock or play jewelry would probably find it’s way into a junk draw or closet and would be thrown away because it clearly is not a necessity. I try my best to reserve this time to fix or replace things that don’t fall into either of these groups. This year I replaced all our bed pillows because they were stained and the ends were tattered.
Did I miss anything?
Happy Cleaning,
The Dumpling Mama xo
source: Huffington Post