It's that time of year again where you can officially call it spring cleaning (much like cleaning at any other time of year but it's more exciting because spring is coming!). Boxes are being filled here for the charity shop as we speak, I'm venturing into every nook and cranny of this here house, evicting any spiders, half eaten biscuits, broken toys and everything else under the sun that we just don't need weighing this house down any longer.
Spring cleans are all about going deep, getting down and dirty in our homes and NOT in a good way. Knowing that our homes are clean and fresh is such a nice feeling and as the weather starts to warm (probably after a month of snow first) we can get to hanging that washing up outside, cracking open the windows and letting our houses breathe a little more. Until then, knowing what's in cupboards and drawers, knowing whats lurking under sofas and beds and having a general feeling of cleanliness and freshness in our homes is so rewarding and there's no better time to get started.
When the weather gets better, we want to be letting the air in, enjoying the outdoors and really just anything but being cooped up indoors tidying, so if we start on these jobs now, crank up those cleaning tunes and get stuck in, we can kick back when spring properly rocks up, knowing our homes aren't hiding any nasties or unwanted items which is much better for our families health and well being.
So where to start? When it gets to this time of year, the list is longer than my t-rex like arms for what needs doing in the house, so unless you need a full overhaul (in which case you may be best to follow a proper method like Marie Kondo), Pick a room at a time to tackle a deep clean, with a little decluttering thrown in along the way.
Start with the room you use most while you're awake, the one you feel relaxed and happy in. By starting here, you know that you've always got this calm happy place to retreat to when the spring clean gets too much. From there, tackle bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, communal rooms and hallways. Save the outside for nicer days or when the mood takes you as we'll spend less time looking at that until warmer days come.
A checklist for each room
Having a general checklist for each room is really helpful to stay on track, tick off those achievements and see the job list going down. My checklist for a deep clean in general areas would go something like this;
Kitchen
Kitchens are all very different but essentially have the same items, so here's a rough checklist suitable for your kitchen deep clean;
Bathroom
Again, bathrooms are all very different, with wet rooms, single toilet rooms, en suites, shower rooms etc etc, but as a general rule I'd try to follow something like this;
Bedrooms
I hope this helps with your spring cleaning, now I just need to practise what I preach, and get stuck into making this house a fresh sparkly home again.
