Springtime is just around the corner, which means it is officially time to start your annual cleaning and decluttering spree. Spring cleaning involves a thorough cleanse of the entire house.
For carrying out this type of cleaning, make sure you get every nook and cranny of the house. This will make sure that your house is squeaky clean for the upcoming season, and that you and your family will have a wonderful time being in a clean house.
Everyone wants to live in a house that is clean, but if you don’t know how to go about cleaning it, then you might find it overwhelming to start.
To help you out, we have come up with some cleaning hacks that will aid you well on your next house cleaning drive.
Make A List
If you don’t a list of activities planned then spring cleaning can cost you a lot of time. If you start without any planned targets in mind, you could find yourself distracted every now and then by things that catch your attention, like finding a high-school photo album in your drawer that can leave you pouring over it with nostalgia for quite some time.
So, make sure you stay on track with a checklist of tasks to do, so that you aren’t distracted as much on your clean. You can have a master checklist for the entire house and several mini-checklists for each section of the house.
Declutter the Junk
Spring cleaning is an excellent opportunity for decluttering your home and ridding yourself of the junk you no longer need. You should start by organizing everything into 4 categories: trash, give away, store, or put away.
After binning useless items, you should donate useful items to a local charity or goodwill center. Then, move on to storing any valuable or sentimental belongings in a storage unit. If you are in Seattle, you can Google search for Seattle movers, and get your belongings stashed safely away. You can also sell old furniture and other items of value in a yard sale and make a few bucks in the process.
Work from Top to Bottom
The most practical approach to go about spring cleaning your home is to start at the top and move toward the bottom. You should start with dusting the ceiling in order to get the dust and debris down. Then, move on to light and fan fixtures to rid them of dust and cobwebs.
From there, you should move in on the shelves and counters and lastly the floor. If you follow this particular cleaning sequence, it will help you avoid re-dusting and re-cleaning same objects, surfaces and equipment over and over again.
Start Vacuuming
Once you have got all the debris down from even the hard-to-reach places, you can move on to vacuuming. If you have a good-quality vacuum cleaner, it removes more than just dust. Springtime is notoriously known for the prevalence of allergies caused by germs, particles, and pollen suspended in the air or lying on the floor. So, when you use a quality vacuum cleaner in your house, it will help catch those tiny particles as well.
In order to clean thoroughly with a vacuum, you should invest in a vacuum cleaner that comes with add-ons like hoses, dusting brushes, and crevice tools. These attachments help clean everything from ceiling fans, to furniture, to pillows, and even the hard-to-reach corners of the house.
Give Some TLC to Your Windows
Your windows, windowsills, and window glass also need your attention. Most people don’t clean walls and windows as often, so it is important that they be thoroughly cleaned during spring cleaning, at least.
A lot of dust, debris, and cobweb can collect on the windows. So, make sure you clean your windows, walls, and blinds using a damp towel. You should also clean the window screens outside as they tend to collect more dust from being exposed to the outdoors. Many cleaning experts suggest using a steam cleaner and a squeegee for your windows.
Don’t Forget the Bathroom
When doing a thorough cleaning of the house, the bathroom should not be neglected. While the cleaning of bathrooms is to be regularly maintained, a deeper cleaning is warranted every now and then.
You should start by washing and drying the sink. Then, unclog any of the clogged drains and remove hair that accumulates on the drain cover. Moreover, you should replace your shower curtain at least once every year. After cleaning everything, get down to cleaning the grout on the floor and walls. You can use a homemade cleaner or buy one from the market.
Clean the Countertops
By cleaning the countertops, we don’t simply mean using a damp towel and removing dust or stains from your kitchen counter. During your spring cleaning, put in a little extra effort in cleaning the kitchen countertops.
Get a specialized counter cleaner for removing grease and surface stains that won’t go away with plain water. After making the counters squeaky-clean, get a granite polish and restore the counter’s shine and eliminate the deep-set stains.
Freshen Up Your Makeup Brushes
Over time, your makeup brushes tend to get sullied with product accumulation, like oil-based foundations, concealers, and contour creams. If you keep using dirty makeup brushes, they can lead to different skin problems.
So, make sure you clean your brushes regularly. In order to do that, you can use a liquid dish soap combined with baby shampoo. You should rub the bristle tips into the solution and work the suds through the tips.
Then, hold the brush from the bristles under running water and rinse multiple times. Shake the brush gently over the sink to get rid of any excess water. Lastly, lay the brush down on a paper towel to let it air-dry.
Tidy Up Your Closet
A closet full of clothes and still nothing to wear? Well, we have all been there. On a spring-cleaning drive, make sure you get the closet in order, so you can notice what’s wearable and what needs to go.
Pile your clothes into 4 distinct categories based on the 4 categories rule mentioned above. Then, after you are done with giving away and handing down the clothes you no longer need, you can start organizing your closet.
Bottom Line
Spring cleaning allows you to declutter your home and clean it thoroughly for the upcoming spring season. Make sure you start with the ceilings and work your way down to the floors, declutter your house by throwing away items you no longer need, pay attention to the windows, vacuum clean the house, take special care in cleaning the bathrooms and use special products to get the tiles looking sparkly, scrub and polish the countertops, and lastly, arrange your closet.
