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With summer now fast approaching, you may be starting to consider hosting some events with friends and family, or simply looking forward to having a nap in an air-conditioned room when it’s uncomfortqbly hot. Unfortunately, most of our homes don’t feel quite so relaxing, with the year-long build up of the stuff that we’ve acquired just sitting around, no matter how much you try to control it. Luckily, it’s spring, which means that there’s still time to get some jobs done before summer holidays, starting with a good spring clean. We’ve bought together some of the best tips and tricks to help make the cleaning process as painless as possible.
The biggest mistake most people make when they want to begin a thorough spring clean is to just dig right in. Might as well take advantage of this motivation, they think to themselves. Unfortunately, this only gets you so far. While short, directionless bursts of motivation will get you started, it won’t get your home as clean as you want it to be. When you account for the amount of time a thorough spring cleaning can take, and the sheer amount of jobs you might have to get through, most people find they finish cleaning after doing just one area. This is why you need a list.
You need to start by listing all the areas you want to clean: rooms, gardens, the roof perhaps? Once you’ve gotten all of these down, you need to brainstorm all of the jobs that need to happen in that space. For example, in the master bedroom you list might read:
It doesn’t have to be perfect, but a fairly thorough list will give you a better idea of the amount of time you need to devote to each space, what cleaning materials you will need, and whether you’ll have to enlist help from friends or professionals to get it done.
When you’re moving through the different areas of your house, you might find that you have a lot of stuff that doesn’t necessarily have a home. The best way to sort through this is to take three boxes with you when you move between each area you are cleaning, labelled ‘keep’, ‘throw away’, and ‘undecided’. This way, you can quickly and easily sort the knick-knacks, mail, and random possessions, freeing up time to get the cleaning over more quickly.
It’s the small things that really make a space feel clean. A shiny doorknob, now devoid of fingerprints, or a perfectly clean fan, with all the dust that was collecting on top now gone. Taking the time to look after the small details will really help you feel like you have given your home a proper spring cleaning. You want to go for things and areas that you often unconsciously touch or use, because these are the areas that will be dirtiest. Often forgotten places around the house include:
If you’ve cleaned the whole house and you still feel like it’s just not clean enough, it might be time to consider updating some areas in the house. It might be as simple as swapping the couches around so they are arranged differently, or moving your bed to rest against another wall in the room. Small updates, like picking up new cushions or maybe getting a new rug, can really make the space feel different and won’t have to blow the bank. It might be more difficult if you decide the living room needs a full update (not to mention expensive), but sometimes that’s what you need — and in any case, you’ve had that couch for, like, 10 years already, it’s definitely time for a new one.
No matter how you do it, you can’t deny that a little spring cleaning is good for your physical and mental health. Do it now, while it is relatively cooler, so you can enjoy the summer months and Christmas without having to worry about whether you’ve cleaned the guest room recently.
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