Now that the weather is getting warmer and we're pulling ourselves out of our winter funks, the daunting task of spring cleaning lies ahead. Not sure where to begin? Below, we've gathered some of the best and most helpful books for organizing your home. But it's not just how-to books that shed some light on spring cleaning.
There are moments in great literature, like in "Jane Eyre" when she goes to live with St. John --
"My first will be to clean down (do you comprehend the full force of the expression?) -- to clean down Moor House from chamber to cellar; my next to rub it up with beeswax, oil, and an indefinite number of cloths, till it glitters again; my third, to arrange every chair, table, bed, carpet, with mathematical precision: afterwards I shall go to near ruin you in coals and peat to keep up good fires in every room; and lastly, the two days preceding that on which your sisters are expected, will be devoted by Hannah and me to such a beating of eggs, sorting of currants, grating of spices, compounding of Christmas cakes, chopping up of materials for mince-pies, and solemnizing of other culinary rites, as words can convey but an inadequate notion of to the uninitiated like you."
And then there's the scene in Terry McMillan's "Waiting To Exhale" when Bernadine (played by Angela Bassett in the movie) throws her soon-to-be ex-husband's clothes out of the house, but that might be a different kind of spring cleaning.
And while we were looking for these great books on spring cleaning, this popped up: "The Spring Cleaning Murders (An Ellie Haskel Mystery)" by Dorothy Cannell. Should we watch our backs when organizing the garage?
Maybe we should stick to the books below for our spring cleaning advice. Vote for the ones you think are most useful!