In Japan, it is customary to do a thorough house cleaning at the end of the year. The roots of this tradition can be traced back to “susuharai” (soot sweeping).
In the past, homes had hearths and cooking stoves that caused soot to accumulate, so sweeping away the soot became symbolic of cleaning. Additionally, the word “harau” (to sweep) also means to purify. It is considered good to complete the year-end cleaning between December 13 and 28. By doing a thorough cleaning, you can welcome the New Year feeling refreshed!
The end of the year is busy with preparations for the New Year, so I might not be able to dedicate a whole day to cleaning. Therefore, this year, I plan to start early and clean a little bit at a time.
Today, I’m going to clean up my son’s toy storage area. It’s the one that’s always messy…
First, I’ll take all the toys off the shelves. Many toys that haven’t been played with for a while and some that were being searched for will come out. I’ll wipe the dirt off the shelves with a household cleaner called Utamaro. Utamaro is versatile and makes it easy to clean the entire house with just this one product. It’s an essential item for a thorough cleaning.
I organize my son’s favorite Tomica toys by color and put them into boxes. Tomica cars are treasures for children of this age. Fire trucks, police cars, construction vehicles, and other favorite vehicles they see in the city are miniaturized, making them incredibly fun. While collecting and playing with many of them is great, tidying up all the small toys can be quite a challenge. But we can’t just say that. We need to clean up!
Red includes fire trucks and dump trucks; white includes helicopters and police cars; and green includes dump trucks and crab cranes. It’s colorful, so sorting it is fun. I also arrange the picture books by size. A frying pan picture book was his favorite. When you turn the flaps in rhythm with the words, various dishes appear. Another book is called ‘Greeting Play.’ The animals bow and greet by saying ‘thank you’ and ‘hello’. Kids can learn how to bow and greet.
Keeping your house clean and tidy when you are faced with toys from every angle can be tough! But tidying up brings peace to the mind.