Spring Cleaning Tips
There’s something about spring that drives even the most sloppy housewives into a cleaning frenzy. Maybe it’s the crisp air or perfectly blue skies that make us want to replicate the freshness of the outdoors in our own homes. If you feel the need to start sprucing things up but don’t know where to start, here are some tips that are sure to make your home shine in no time:
Start with the clutter.
Spring cleaning is a process that requires planning and organization. We’re not talking about the kind of quick cleanup you do before your in-laws drop by; we are talking about deep cleaning. It’s not going to happen overnight, but with the right approach, slow and steady, that is, it will happen.
The first step is to get rid of unnecessary clutter in your home. And I don’t mean just the ground. This job requires an inside out approach. That’s right, take whatever’s inside—your drawers, your cabinets, your kids’ toy boxes, and every other container in sight—and throw it away. This probably won’t feel like a cleanup at first, and you’ll likely have what appears to be a bigger mess on your hands than you did to begin with. But stay with me here, remember, this is a process.
Start with one bin at a time, empty everything out, and start sorting. Separate items into three piles: what you want to throw away, what you want to keep, and what you want to donate (or sell at a garage sale). Then, pack up everything you plan to throw away and move it out of the house. Find a storage place for the items you plan to sell and give the items to charity. Replace the items you are putting away in a neat and organized way. Repeat this process for every cabinet, drawer, or bin in your home. Once you’ve gotten the clutter out of the house, you can start the actual cleaning process.
Focus your efforts on one room at a time.
As you prepare to give your home the kind of serious deep cleaning you’ve been asking for all winter, it helps to compartmentalize the process. Try to tackle it all at once, and you’ll likely find yourself too overwhelmed to even pick up a broom. What you need is an action plan. Count the rooms in your house and spend a day in each of those rooms. At the end of the day, reward yourself with a cup of hot tea or a glass of wine and celebrate your victory over dust and dirt.
Deep cleaning.
The concept of deep cleaning can mean different things to different rooms in your home. Let’s take a look at the first three: the kitchen, the bathroom and the living room.
The Kitchen: Besides the bathroom, the kitchen is the best breeding ground for nasty germs and harmful bacteria. Here are the top deep cleaning tips for your kitchen:
Clean the dirty dishes from the sink and wipe down the countertops to give yourself some space to work.
Remove the burners from your oven and use a scouring pad like an SOS scrubber and some hot water to scrub down the spill pans and burner covers, as well as the stove top.
Clean the inside of the microwave with a damp cloth and a mild cleaning solution. You can loosen the dirt beforehand by heating a cup of water in the microwave for about three minutes. Add baking soda or lemon juice to the water to remove odors.
Clean out the fridge by throwing out the old leftovers, taking everything else out of the fridge, and cleaning the interior with a degreaser or scrubber.
Clean the kitchen walls and baseboards with a degreaser such as Grease Lightening. You’ll be surprised at how much cooking grease ends up on your kitchen walls.
Dust the top of the refrigerator and any other surfaces that appear to be dusty, such as ceiling fans, shelves, or wall art.
Sweep up crumbs and accumulated dust from the floor. Find someone to help you move the refrigerator and any other heavy furniture and bars under them as well. You will be surprised what you can find!
Mop the floor several times with hot water and a floor cleaner, changing the water as needed.
The Living Room: You probably need a break between cleaning the two dirtiest rooms in the house, the kitchen and the bathroom, so take a breather and let’s work on the living room.
Dust the corners of the walls as well as any dusty surfaces such as the top of the entertainment center, coffee table, ceiling fans, and end tables.
Polish wooden furniture.
Use a glass cleaner to clean any glass in the living room, such as mirrors or glass-topped coffee tables.
Remove the rugs, shake them out and wash them.
Remove the curtains and wash them, or have them cleaned according to the instructions on the label.
Use the vacuum attachment to clean between the creases of the sofa and chairs.
Sweep or vacuum depending on the surface of your floor.
Use a hardwood floor cleaner or steam cleaner if you have carpet.
The Bathroom: There’s a reason we saved this room for last. The most dreaded of all spring cleaning chores, deep cleaning the bathroom is not a job for the faint of heart. Put on some gloves and maybe even a mask, and let’s get started:
Take out everything that can be removed from the bathroom, the trash can, toothbrushes, shampoo, everything.
If you haven’t tidied up this room yet, throw away empty bottles, dull razors, etc.
Use a bathroom cleaner, preferably the foaming type, to spray down the sink and tub; yes, we are saving the toilet for last. Let the hot water run in the bathtub and scrub it with a washcloth. If you have tiles, use a toothbrush to clean the dirt in the crevices.
Use a damp cloth to clean the sink. The toothbrush can come in handy for cleaning around the drain and faucet handles.
Spray the foaming cleaner in the toilet bowl and use a scouring pad to clean the ring around the toilet bowl. Spray the entire toilet and wipe up the germy mess with a rag or paper towel.
Clean any glass surface, such as a bathroom mirror, with a glass cleaner.
Spray some all-purpose cleaner on the walls and wipe them down as well.
Sweep and mop the floor as many times as necessary to make it sparkling clean.
If just reading this article has left you tired and unmotivated, take a deep breath and visualize your home in all its resplendent glory. Enjoy the idea for a moment and then get up and make it happen!