1. Make a Plan
To maximize your time and ensure that you're not spring cleaning well into summer, you need to make a plan. Planning your spring cleaning regimen will help you avoid and minimise uncertainty, so you'll never feel stuck on what to start cleaning next. Having a plan and laying out what you need to do when can help you eliminate items on your checklist without thinking about where to devote your energy next.
Start by looking at your home. What tasks need to be done? Break it down, room by room, until you have a practical checklist to run through. Plan from the most challenging room to tackle so that you can end your spring cleaning with the easiest room. With a plan, you'll never feel like you're scrambling for what to do next.
2. Declutter First
The more you declutter your home, the less you have to clean. Spring cleaning is not just a time to knock the dust off of things — it's a time to go through what you have and see what you don't need anymore. If you don't know where to start, look to the famous KonMari Method, which helps you choose which items to keep based on how you feel about them. You shouldn't be saving anything in your home if it doesn't serve a purpose well or make you happy to have.
You may find that you don't have enough storage space at home for all the items you want to keep. Consider placing your seasonal items and decor in a self-storage unit that can protect your belongings from pests and the weather. A storage unit can be perfect for once-a-year decorations that just take up space during the other months. Knowing that your items are safe in the unit could be worth a monthly or annual subscription fee.
3. Clean Top to Bottom
When you clean, make sure you notice how you're cleaning just as much as what you clean. You should always start with the most challenging tasks first so that you can coast across the finish line. However, you should also work from the top of your house down. That doesn't necessarily mean you need to start upstairs rather than downstairs if you have multiple floors. Segment your rooms and treat them like individual boxes.
Start with the ceiling. Dust away cobwebs in the corners and any dirt and allergens that may have landed on your ceiling fan blades. Once you're sure that the ceiling is clean, work your way down the walls. Dust picture frames, clean mirrors and knock the debris out of curtains. Once that's done, focus on knick-knacks lower to the ground and your floors.
By working on cleaning your house from top to bottom, you can knock the dust and allergens free, then get it all up at once when you deal with your floors. If you started bottom to top, you'd be stirring up dust and neglecting the things you've already cleaned. Clean smart, and you'll have to work a lot less.
4. Take Breaks
You don't need to clean your house all in one go. You can take breaks occasionally to reset your mind and your body. Taking breaks can be good for your mental health and help you alleviate stress to get back to working sooner. If you've been working for hours on end, it's okay to step back and take a break. Once you refresh yourself by taking a meaningful break — such as going for a walk or spending time with loved ones — you may come back feeling reinvigorated.
5. Make a Routine Cleaning Plan
After you've finished with your spring cleaning, the best thing you can do to save your home from falling into disarray again is to plan for your next cleaning. You don't always need to deep clean your home, but it's nice to go to that level once in a while. Once you create a routine, you'll feel less stress about keeping things clean — as you'll have a plan to follow whenever you need it.
You can start building your plan by determining how often certain things in your home need to be cleaned. For example, you will want to clean your bathrooms every week, but you may choose to wash windows and drapery once a month. Choose what chores you need to complete often and which you can put off for a while. Doing so is key to building a manageable schedule that won't leave you feeling overwhelmed throughout the other seasons.
Annihilate Your Spring Cleaning Checklist
A checklist is a small price to pay to have a clean home. Remember, you don't have to do everything at once. Spring cleaning is challenging to master, so it's okay to break it into manageable parts. If that schedule works for you, you may consider cleaning one room per day or a floor per weekend. If you follow these techniques, you'll likely have a streamlined experience and be looking forward to spring cleaning next year, too.
*Collaborative post
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