Choose Your Own Spring Cleaning Plan
The thought of spring cleaning can be as entrancing as a fairy tale — but getting through a giant list of tasks while having a busy life can be just as unrealistic as a cheerful Snow White twirling about in the forest, with birds tweeting and helping sweep with brooms in their little beaks. The key to successful spring cleaning, then, is to not try to do it all. Instead, pick from one of these six themes for your spring cleaning — and focus your energy where it will count. And if you decide to put on music, fling open the windows and twirl around with your mop, we won’t tell.
1. Bust Dust and Clutter
This can be a satisfying plan to follow because when you’re done, your home should be noticeably cleaner and less cluttered. Start with clutter clearing, because the less stuff is in your way, the easier it will be to clean surfaces. Just don’t consider the decluttering done until you have actually removed the items you don’t want from your home; otherwise, it will have a way of working itself back into your closets, cupboards and drawers. If you know you will have many items to donate (especially if some of them are furniture), see if a local charitable organization is accepting items and will do a pickup — having a pickup scheduled can be a good way to get motivated to get the work done. Or you can sell items, give them away or store them for now.
For any clutter-clearing endeavor to be a success, it’s best to get the other members of your household onboard. Ideally, each person would be responsible for decluttering his or her own belongings — at the very least, try to garner some support for your clutter-clearing efforts and encourage people to pitch in as they can. In each space (room, closet or cupboard) you tackle, follow these three steps:
Remove everything.
Vacuum or wipe down the empty space.
Put back only what you want to keep.
2. Get Cooking
If you love to cook (or want to cook more), it can be well worth the effort it takes to give the kitchen and pantry a thorough cleaning. Start by clearing out old food and spices, and wash the interior of your fridge and food cupboards. Clean all of those forgotten nooks and crannies, including inside the oven, microwave and toaster oven, plus the dish drainer. Finish by wiping down the walls (which can get surprisingly grimy) and windows.
If you have a bit more time, give your breakfast nook or dining area a once-over. Chairs and table legs (especially in households with kids) can use an occasional cleaning. Put pads on the feet of chairs to protect your floors, clean dust from the corners of the room and set something pretty in the center of the table.
3. Textile Refresh
If it’s been a while since you’ve cleaned your rugs or upholstery, this could be the right focus for you. Start by laundering small washable items, like shower curtains, cotton rugs and washable slipcovers, at home. When laundering slipcovers, try putting them back on while they’re still barely damp for a better fit.
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Take larger area rugs and removable pillow covers to be professionally cleaned. If you have wall-to-wall carpeting, have it professionally cleaned or rent a carpet cleaner and do it yourself. Drapery and upholstery that cannot be cleaned by another method can usually be safely steam cleaned using a real steam cleaner designed to be safe for textiles — not a carpet shampooer or hard-flooring steam cleaner. (Always check for care directions and test a spot first.)
4. Green and Clean
Give your home a healthy, eco-friendly makeover. Consider making one or more of these changes during your spring cleaning:
Use natural cleansers (or baking soda and white vinegar) to tackle cleaning projects like mopping, wiping counters and caring for furniture.
Cut up old T-shirts to make rags and use them in place of paper towels.
Replace disposables with reusable items, like glass water bottles, stainless steel straws, cloth shopping bags and cloth napkins.
To clean the air, bringing in an air purifier is a good idea — but don’t neglect simpler methods as well, like opening windows to let in fresh air and keeping plenty of healthy houseplants.
5. Deep Clean
Let’s face it: In the course of a regular weekend, it never seems like a good time to get to those truly deep (and often pretty yucky) cleaning projects you know you should be doing. Why not dedicate a day to doing all the dirty work you’ve been putting off? Just be sure to plan a nice reward at the end of it!
Here are a few tasks to consider putting on your deep-cleaning to-do list:
- Vacuum all of the hard-to-reach places you usually skip, such as deep under the beds and behind furniture.
- Clean out the dryer hose and vacuum inside the lint trap.
- Clean behind the fridge and vacuum the coils.
- Scrub the grout in the kitchen and bath.
- Clean out the garbage can and recycling bins.
- Dust the light fixtures.
- Clean the blinds.
6. Exterior Scrub-Up
Perhaps staying indoors to clean just when the weather outside is getting bearable sounds like a horrible idea altogether. In that case consider making your spring cleaning all about the exterior of your home. Hose down the siding, clean out the gutters and downspouts, wash the windows and stain the deck. If you feel really inspired, make your way into the garden and clean your tools, edge the lawn and mulch the flowerbeds.