Spring Cleaning in the Summer!!!

Sometimes Healing Looks Like Letting Go — Even When the Season Says You’re Late

By Dr. Rachel Hill

Okay, so technically spring-cleaning season is supposed to be over.

But here I am — a Saturday morning, 4oz Alani in hand, staring down my closets, my garage, and my basement — still cleaning, still healing, and not even a little bit sorry about it.

I caught some good prices on Sterilite Totes for the packing away of all those winter clothes!

You know the sweaters, sweatpants, scarfs and hats that I kept packed in my closets year round.

And why?

I attempted to get things handled in Spring, but Spring ended up laughing at me!

So I get to try this all over again.

We have a bit of Spring overflow into the Summer.

And here is what I have learned:

Letting go does not follow a calendar.

It follows a readiness.

And I am ready.

Out with the old — and in the newness of absolutely nothing else.

Because I do not need anything.

And that, my friends, is the most freeing sentence I have said all year.

The Wisdom Hidden in the Old Sayings

There is a saying I grew up hearing — the elders in my life would shake their heads at someone holding too tightly to things and say it plainly:

You can't take it with you.

I did not fully understand it when I was young.

Now?

I understand it in my bones.

My kids are grown.

The house that once held the beautiful, beautiful chaos of a full family life is now mine alone.

And somewhere between the last goodbye and this quiet Saturday morning, I looked around and thought — there is so much here.

So much that accumulated the way things do, naturally and lovingly, over a life being fully lived.

School papers.

Old assignments from years of studying and becoming.

Craft supplies I bought with the best of intentions.

Things the kids left behind.

Things I kept because they once mattered enormously — and still do, in a way, just not in the way that requires them to take up physical space.

It is so easy to accumulate.

We gather things the way we gather memories — because life is worth keeping.

But at some point, the gathering needs to give way to the releasing.

When Clutter Becomes More Than Clutter

Here is what I know as a wellness practitioner — and as a human being who has spent considerable time thinking about how we carry what we carry:

Clutter is stagnant energy.

That pile in the basement is not just a pile.

It is weight.

It is unfinished business.

It is the energetic equivalent of a door that will not quite close all the way — something that is always slightly, quietly in the way.

When we clear physical space, we clear something inside ourselves too.

The air moves differently.

The mind settles.

There is room for what is actually happening now rather than what happened then.

This is not mysticism.

This is the simple experience of anyone who has ever cleaned out a closet and felt lighter walking out of it than they did walking in.

Letting go does not have a season — but it does have a feeling.

And that feeling is exactly why I keep coming back to it, summer and all.

The Closet Negotiations Are Real

I want to be real with you for a moment.

Because this process is not as clean as it sounds.

There are negotiations happening. Loud ones.

There are clothes in my closet that I am holding onto because fashion is cyclical and everybody knows it.

Those pieces are not old — they are ahead of their time.

They will come back around.

They always do.

And when they do, I intend to be ready.

So those are staying.

For now.

(Don't judge me.)

Then there are the books.

Oh, the books.

I have a whole relationship with my book collection that I am not sure I am prepared to fully examine today.

Here is what I know:

I have actually gone back and read books I bought ten years ago.

Ten years!

So there is precedent.

There is hope.

The stack by the window is not a pile of good intentions — it is a promise to my future self.

A well-read, very wise future self who finally has a rainy Sunday with nowhere to be.

She is coming.

I believe in her.

I may need an intervention with the books.

And then there is the basement situation.

My daughter has wedding supplies down there.

Beautiful, carefully chosen, lovingly stored wedding supplies.

Now — I am single.

Currently.

But what if I find a boo?

What if love comes knocking and I need those centerpieces?

What if the universe has a whole romantic chapter planned and I have already donated the tulle?

I cannot take that risk.

The wedding supplies stay.

This is practical planning, not hoarding.

There is a difference.

Just kidding.

I already have permission to toss them!

Order in the Court!

And finally — I run an herbal business.

Which means I have jars.

And bottles.

So many jars and bottles.

They are for housing my goods.

They are necessary.

They are inventory.

Yes, there may be more than I currently need.

Yes, some of them have migrated into corners that were not originally designated for jars.

But order is coming.

Order in the court! Order in the court!

The jars are getting organized.

The bottles are getting sorted.

And the herbal business corner of my life is about to look like somebody actually runs a business from here — which I do.

The point is:

Decluttering is not all or nothing.

It is discernment.

Some things go.

Some things stay.

And some things get a very passionate defense before the jury of your own good sense.

Honoring What Still Matters — Differently

I want to be honest about something, because I think it matters.

Letting go is not the same as forgetting.

It is not a betrayal of the memory or the season of life those things represent.

Those old papers and assignments?

They represent years of work, growth, late nights, and the specific kind of becoming that studying demands.

I am proud of every one of them.

And I also do not need them in a box in my basement to know that.

The knowledge lives in me.

The growth lives in me.

The papers can go.

The craft supplies?

They represent a version of me that wanted to make things, to create, to sit quietly and bring something beautiful into the world.

That part of me is still here.

She just needs a more organized, more intentional, more actually-usable space to work from.

Not seventeen bins of possibility.

A curated, workable collection of what I actually reach for.

The difference between honoring a memory and being held hostage by an object is a distinction worth sitting with.

The Sacred Joy of Giving Things Away

This is one of my genuine joys in life — finding out that something I no longer need is exactly what someone else has been looking for.

There are so many places that make their entire living off what one person calls junk and another calls treasure.

Someone out there needs exactly what is sitting in your closet collecting the weight of inattention.

• Thrift stores
• Donation centers
• Community organizations
• Churches
• Buy Nothing groups
• Shelters

There is a generosity in releasing things.

There is something almost sacred about saying:

I have had this, it served me, and now I am sending it forward to serve someone else.

That is not losing something.

That is participating in the ongoing circulation of what is good and useful in the world.

I genuinely believe the energy of that exchange matters.

When you give freely, you make room — and room invites new things, new possibilities, new breath into your life.

Though let me be clear —

I am not filling that room with anything new.

I do not need anything!

What This Weekend Is Really About

I am spending this weekend bringing my home — and honestly, something deeper than my home — into integrity.

That word matters to me.

Integrity does not just mean honesty.

It means wholeness.

It means the inside matches the outside.

It means the space I live in reflects who I actually am right now, not who I was five years ago or ten years ago or during a season of life that was beautiful and that is also, genuinely, complete.

Still cleaning.

Still healing.

Still becoming.

My home should reflect the person I am today — not archive every version of the becoming.

A Few Things That Help Me Let Go

In case you are doing this work too — in your home, or in your heart — here is what has helped me:

• Ask the right question. Not "might I use this someday?" but "does this belong in the life I am living now?" The first question keeps everything. The second one creates clarity.
• Honor before releasing. If something carries a genuine memory, take a moment with it before it goes. Thank it. Acknowledge what it represented. Then let it go without guilt.
• Give with intention. Know where your things are going. The thrift store that benefits the community. The neighbor who mentioned needing exactly that. The organization that serves the people who need it most.
• Don't do it all at once. Clearing takes energy. Work in sessions. Finish one space before you move to the next.
• Notice how you feel when it's done. That lightness is real. That is energy moving. That is your home and your nervous system breathing out together.

You Can’t Take It With You — But You Can Send It Forward

The elders were right.

None of this comes with us in the end.

But here is what I have added to their wisdom over the years:

You can send it forward.

You can release with love and generosity.

You can choose to let the things that served you go on to serve someone else.

That is not loss.

That is legacy in its most ordinary, most beautiful, most human form.

Out with the old.

In with the newness of nothing else.

Because I do not need anything — and knowing that, really knowing it, might be the most abundant feeling there is.

My home is getting lighter this weekend.

My energy is getting clearer.

And somewhere out there, something I no longer need is making its way to someone who needs it more.

That feels exactly right to me.

Places to Give With Purpose

National Organizations

• Goodwill — accepts clothes, household items, furniture, electronics
• The Salvation Army — clothes, furniture, appliances, household goods; they will even pick up large items
• Habitat for Humanity ReStore — furniture, appliances, building materials, home goods
• Dress for Success — professional women's clothing specifically for women entering the workforce
• One Warm Coat — coats and winter wear specifically

Community & Local Options

• Local churches and faith communities — often run clothing closets and community giveaways
• Homeless shelters and women's shelters — especially need clothing, toiletries, and household basics
• Domestic violence organizations — women and children leaving often need everything
• Community centers and social service agencies — distribute directly to families in need
• Buy Nothing groups on Facebook — hyperlocal, your neighbor gets your stuff directly
• Little Free Pantries — some communities have these for household goods too

Specialty Donations

• Books — local libraries, Little Free Libraries, schools, prison book programs
• Craft supplies — schools, after-school programs, senior centers, art therapy programs
• Herbal/wellness items — community health fairs, wellness nonprofits
• Wedding supplies — Brides Across America, local bridal Facebook groups, community theater groups

Online

• Freecycle.org — give anything for free to local people
• Facebook Marketplace — free section
• Nextdoor app — great for neighborhood giveaways

--Dr. Rachel