Spring cleaning is one major chore that people often set out to do but never quite get around to doing it. The key reason for avoiding or delaying this particular venture is because most of us lack organizational skills.
It is important to keep in mind that spring cleaning is not a one day job but something that should be performed in a structured fashion over a span of 7-14 days. At the same time, it is not something that should go on forever or else there is a very good chance you will get bored and simply abandon the project altogether.
It is generally a good idea to limit your spring cleaning activity to the indoors because including the outdoors will add more time and may result in you losing the motivation to continue. The goal is not to rush as you will not do a great job.
There is no one way to spring clean the home. The best approach is to do it the way you like best. But make sure you are organized. Assuming that you are a typical family with limited access to any outside help, here are some tips on how to spring clean the easy way:
Your first step should be to create a checklist. This list should ideally include the following:
The number of rooms that need to be cleaned. This would usually include:
A list of cleaning supplies that you would need. In most cases, your list of cleaning supplies should include:
Since spring cleaning will require 7-14 days, it is best that you prepare some extra meals over the weekends so that you don’t have to spend too much time in the kitchen after a hard day’s work. Assign tasks to everyone at home and make one person in charge of monitoring that the assigned daily tasks are completed on time. Write out each day’s activities on a whiteboard and check them off at the end of the day.
Almost every home these days has a lot of junk. This is becoming quite common as many households tend to hoard stuff without even realizing how much they’ve accumulated over time. To make your spring cleaning project a success, you should throw out all the junk that you have accumulated over the past year. If you have any doubts about what you should keep and what you should throw out, use this very simple formula: anything that you have not used over the past six months is considered JUNK. Things that most people collect are newspapers, shoes, jackets, coats, boots, old makeup, old food cans, mail, clothes, appliances, and utensils. Spring cleaning becomes a lot easier if you declutter the home FIRST.
There are several ways to get rid of your junk:
1) Throw it in the garbage
2) Hold a garage sale
3) Take it to a second hand or thrift store.
If some items are still functional, you could always ask a homeless shelter if they would take them as they are often in need of common household items. Therefore, before you start with any clean-up, get large garbage bags, fill them up with all the junk that you don’t use and get rid of them. This one measure alone will change the look of your home almost immediately.
Organize your spring cleaning activities in the following manner:
First 1-2 days
Vacuum your entire home. If you don’t have a vacuum cleaner or if your vacuum cleaner no longer works, try to find an affordable one online. There are some great discounts on state of the art Air Ram vacuum cleaner at Plusvouchercode.co.uk.
Days 3-4
Start with the kitchen. Clean all the countertops and wipe them with an alcohol sanitiser (vinegar and or baking soda are quite effective and often work much better than store cleaners). Clean each drawer and organise the items. Chuck out all cutlery, plates, cups, and glasses than you have not used in the past six months. Clean all the appliances. Empty the fridge, wipe all the shelves and throw away old food. Wipe the outside of the fridge. Clean the oven both inside and outside and change the foil covering around each heating coil (if you have them). Clean the microwave inside and outside. Wipe down all the other appliances like the toaster, blender, kettle, etc. Wash the sink thoroughly and sanitise it.
Day 5
Clean all the bathrooms, shower, the tub and the sinks. Replace the bathroom curtain or wipe the glass doors. Remove all the mould from the edges of the bathtub with vinegar and baking soda. Empty the medicine cabinet and throw out any unused stuff.
Days 13 & 14
Polish the floor. Get the carpets professionally shampooed (You can rent a shampoo machine if you want to save money).
The one thing that can make your spring cleaning efforts more successful is to avoid overdoing it. Go slow and enjoy each day. Take breaks for coffee and lunch. Think about how nice your home will look afterward, and that should keep you motivated.
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