Spring cleaning is a great way to freshen up your house.
You get to remove clutter that’s been making your home harder to navigate. Take care of stains and (ugh!) smells that have been lingering throughout the colder months. And maybe even make a few bucks to do something fun if you post unwanted items on Craigslist or have a garage sale. After spring cleaning, your home can feel like a new, better, more welcoming place to live.
Well, guess what? You can use the exact same principles of spring cleaning in other areas of your life. For example, your relationship.
How do you do this? Here’s a few tips:
Out With the Old.
We donate or throw away bags and bags of clothing or items that we don’t need when we do our big spring cleaning. Use this time to get rid of “junk” in your relationship, too! Bad habits? Start working on them! Old arguments that are still lingering? Time to kiss, make up, and move on. Having trouble doing that? Use this time to work on the communication skills necessary to not only solve current problems, but prevent future ones.
Do You Need It?
Along the lines of “tossing out things you don’t need,” look at the various commitments in your own life. You probably had perfectly good reasons for making those commitments at the time, but do those reasons still hold up now? If not, consider dropping them. Especially if they are causing any friction in your relationship.
While you’re doing that, use this time to sit down together and revisit your commitments to each other. Are there things that you could be doing better? Have new needs or desires arisen?
Clean Together
I mean it – actually clean. And while you’re taking the time to do your spring cleaning, talk about how you can both contribute to a welcoming, happy home. You and your partner are making this home together both literally and figuratively. What kind of home, or setting, do you want for your relationship this year?
As a nice little bonus, it will hopefully minimize the number of times your partner asks, “Honey, have you seen….”
Get Out in the Community
Shed your coat and take a walk to the nearest farmer’s market – you might just see a few of your neighbors. More people are out in the community during warmer weather, so use this time to reconnect and get in touch with the people around you.
What events or fundraisers can your partner and you attend this spring? What organizations need volunteers for the season? What event can you host? Getting out in the community not only gives you and your partner an excuse to get out of the house, it can also give you a new hobby or great date ideas!
Run, Don’t Walk!
Before you know it, you’ll have to break out your bathing suit. So shed any extra pounds you accumulated over the winter by taking a hike or a jog together in the beautiful weather. Your endorphins will get pumping, you’ll look fit, you’ll feel healthy, and you’ll find that you have more energy.
And by doing it together, you’ll be able to reconnect with your partner – and you might even find that you’re encouraged to do something with all that extra energy you both have when you return home.
Start Something New
Getting new living room furniture or bathroom tiling for the spring season? It feels good to see something new and fresh in your home, right? Transfer this idea over to your relationship.
Add something new to your routine. It could be a class, a new restaurant for date nights – even something as seemingly small as a new television show. Adding new and interesting things to your relationship will give you the ability to see your relationship (and your partner) from a fresh perspective.
Want more ways to spring clean your relationship? Contact a Delaware relationship counselor.
