For many, spring holidays not only mean gathering your family together but also opening a new chapter with longer days, more sunshine, and a better mood. But since it may be hard to make the quick switch from the cold season to warmer days, spring cleaning is a perfect way to sort out not just your home but your thoughts too.

Whether it’s decluttering, dusting, or organizing, spring cleaning refreshes the space you live in. So if you too are planning to brush off some dust right before Easter Sunday, we have some practical advice shared by Helen Youn, a certified KonMari consultant and cleaning expert.

Helen told Bored Panda that tidying up your home is not just cleaning. “It’s a special event called a Tidying Festival.”

The first step, according to Helen, is to start to think about why you want to tidy and the life that will bring you the most joy. “Often when people decide it’s time to change, they just want to have an organized and clutter-free space, but you need to also think about how that will actually impact your life - Would you read more as a result? Entertain more? Start working out? Think about all the things you enjoy doing that bring you joy.”

The tidying-up expert argues that by choosing to keep only the things that bring you joy, you will create a home that supports your ideal life. “If you’re more of a visual person, you can also consider making a vision board that reflects the space and the life that brings you joy to use as inspiration and motivation.” So, in reality, tidying up can become a much bigger endeavor than most of us understand it to be.

The good news is that organizing your home doesn’t mean you have to spend money on buying extra things. In fact, Helen explained that many people even end up with more money after their Tidying Festival by finding lost checks, gift cards, cash or by selling items that no longer serve them.

“An important thing to remember is not to go and buy any organizational products or furniture because you likely already have everything you need,” Helen said. She suggests focusing on discarding first, but if you come across any boxes (large or small), you can set them aside to use later on.

For many people, spring cleaning is associated with stress, but it doesn’t have to be. Helen’s advice is to completely change your perspective on the process of tidying up. “This is a process about joy so don’t stress about how much work is ahead. Think of it as a process to reacquaint yourself with your own joy.”

The tidying-up expert argues that there is no prescribed number of items to keep as it’s all based on what sparks joy for you. “If you feel you’re keeping too much, think about the environment that will bring you the most joy. For example, if you love plants, do you want to live in an urban jungle where your indoors feel like the outdoors? Or do you want to have a few in your home that serve as decorative accents? When you choose to keep only what sparks joy for you and discard the rest with gratitude, you can make your ideal life a reality.”