How to Welcome Spring

Laundry memories and some rituals for spring.

One of my least favorite activities is doing laundry. I wait until the last minute to do it, and when I finally finish, I don’t fold it or put it away until days later. But the other day, I did my laundry and enjoyed it. It was even pleasurable.

A photo I took of the stone washing sink at my aunt’s house in El Salvador. This is my exception—I LOVE handwashing my clothes here.

For the first time in many years, I thought about the laundromat I grew up going to. There were arcade games in the corner where I’d play Pac-Man and run around with my brother and snack on Goya Maria crackers and complain about having to be there. During that time (for my parents and their friends who moved from El Salvador to Texas in the ‘80s and ‘90s), upgrading to a house with space for a washer and dryer was a clear sign you had officially “leveled up.” Slowly, people started moving out of their small apartments and buying their first homes with washers and dryers. Finally, it was our turn. In 2003, we moved to our first house and bought our shiny appliances. I wouldn’t go to a laundromat again until 14 years later when I moved to New York, where laundromats were the norm and at every corner.

When I do laundry, I usually just go in, set my timers, go back to my apartment for a few minutes, and then rush back to the laundromat when my timer goes off. It’s exhausting, but on days when I feel like going at my leisure, I linger, which is what I did on Friday. Outside on the benches, a woman was taking a Zoom call with her Spanish tutor. Another man was reading a history book with a title I couldn’t quite make out. Two women were catching up and talking about what they cooked this week and how their sons still weren’t married.

I thought about how much I loved that we were all neighbors, doing our laundry at the same time, on a really beautiful spring day. We’d all be going home that day with clean clothes and fresh bedding—probably one of the best small pleasures.

Two springs ago, when I spent some months in Florence. I loved seeing the laundry hanging from windows.

How to Get into the Spring Spirit

I keep reading how spring is the actual start to the year, and I see it. It makes sense. Nature is defrosting, flowers are blooming, of course. Here are some spring things I’m doing.

Take a look around your home

I’ve had a “Clothes to Sell” pile haunting me from the corner of my room for maybe two months now. It’s on my to-do list to finally go sell them this week. For items I don’t want to sell, I usually just schedule a St. Mary’s clothing pickup.

I’m also going to take a look at my dinnerware, glassware, and home decor and see if there’s any opportunity to get rid of a few things.

If you’re curious about my approach to decorating my home, I recently spoke with

Florencia Ornelas

for her lovely newsletter series, Sobremesa. You can read it here.

Start a project that brings you joy

I love the idea of starting a new project every season. This can be as small or big as you want it. A small project? Hanging some curtains in your kitchen or painting your bathroom. A big project? Organizing a community event or starting a ceramics class.

I’m currently working on a few projects outside of work and this newsletter. I’m on the zine team for Groundcycle, a composting organization I’m a part of, and we’re finalizing our second zine. It’s going to be all about flowers! Stay tuned—it’s coming out next month. We spent time at Lucky Risograph earlier this week, and it was fascinating seeing how the printing process works and finally holding the pages of the zine we’ve been working on for months now.

I’m also helping my friend Sara organize an Earth Month film screening at the Brooklyn Museum next Friday, 4/11. You can RSVP here!

P.S. Speaking of work, if you’re curious about what I do (I’m a copywriter at a mental health company), I wrote a Day in the Life for one of my favorite newsletters and copywriting resources,

The Subtext

. <3

Day in the Life with Sandy Sanchez

Read or watch something energizing

I’m always reading a mix of non-fiction and fiction, but I’m currently leaning non-fiction and poetry for spring:

• Mary Gabriels’s Ninth Street Women — It makes me feel like I’m taking a modern art history class

• Graydon Carter’s When the Going Was Good: An Editor's Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines — A fantastic read so far

• Pablo Neruda’s Ode to Things — I love that it’s filled with the most wonderful odes to everyday things

• Love Hotel (1985) — I just booked tickets so I actually haven’t seen it yet; I’ll report back!

Plan a trip—big or small

I need to constantly be planning something. It’s who I am. I just booked a weekend trip upstate and saved some spots in neighborhoods I don’t frequent often. Yesterday, I went to Ridgewood to see friends and we went to Mama Yoshi Mini Mart. I had the best spicy katsu chicken sandwich. It was my reminder that I’m overdue for a proper Ridgewood day.

Treat yourself to something nice

I know I said to clean out your home and closet, but I also think we all deserve something cute for spring. I got a few fun things lately:

• Linen skort from Uniqlo!!! I just know I’m going to be wearing it non-stop this summer. I love a skort. And on the topic of linen, I have these Quince linen pants in probably 5 colors, as well as some linen tops. I recently got a teal one.

• A stunning pink skirt from J.Crew that maybe I’ll wear on my birthday.

• When in Texas, I go to the outlets for shoes. I don’t know if I can handle super tiny kitten heels, so these are the perfect ones for me.

This and a cute skirt?

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this, please share it with a friend, leave a comment, and subscribe. Say hello on Instagram or TikTok and see my favorite home and fashion items here. And if you’re a brand interested in collaborating, send me an email at sndy.snchz@gmail.com ⭐️