Skip to Content
Home » Blog » You Didn’t Know It, But You’ve Been Doing Spring Cleaning Wrong

You Didn’t Know It, But You’ve Been Doing Spring Cleaning Wrong

Love it? Pls Share it!

GUEST POST 

spring_cleaning_woman_sitting_in_floor

Ah, spring. The snow has melted, and the flowers are in bloom; you can hear the bees buzzing and birds chirping as you sip sweet tea from the comfort of your front porch. As the days get longer, you start to empty out your winter den to make room for the fresh breezes of the warm-weather months.

Just one thing: You’re doing it wrong. Spring cleaning is a practice that has its origins in several ancient cultures, from the Scots to the Persians; historically, the practice is supposed to signal an end to the previous year and the start of something novel and good. Yet, modern spring cleaners aren’t putting enough elbow grease into the effort, and homes remain muddled and musty for the rest of the year.

This year, if you want to feel the true restorative powers of springtime, remember these spring cleaning tips.

Use a Checklist
Spring cleaning isn’t just dusting the bookshelves and vacuuming the rugs; any accomplished domestic goddess will tell you that those chores should be performed at least once a month, if not every week. Spring cleaning is a deep, thorough cleansing of every inch of every room. Still, for most people, this description isn’t enough guidance for an impeccable spring clean. Enter: the spring cleaning checklist.

You can find checklists to help organize your spring cleaning efforts around the Web, but the most valuable specs come from those domestic goddesses we mentioned earlier. Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, and others publish new checklists annually to keep up with the changing landscape of the home. For example, “wipe fingerprints off tablet computers with microfiber cloth” would be an incomprehensible direction for housewives of the 1990s, but this little task might easily be overlooked by hasty modern spring cleaners.

spring_cleaning_relaxing_in_hammock

Swap, Donate, Sell, Throw Away
Another thing spring cleaning is not is a simple hygiene sweep of your home. This yearly activity shouldn’t be the only time you swab your toilets and wipe your counters. Instead, the goal of spring cleaning is to make your home light and airy for the warm weather months ahead. While detoxifying your space is an integral step in this, organizing is just as crucial, but much more often forgotten.

It is much more difficult to make your home tidy when it is cluttered with broken, unused, or otherwise unwanted items. You should take a close look at every object in your house, from your clothing to your vehicles, to determine what can stay and what must go. Once you finish, you should have four different piles of items:

  • Swap. You don’t want to lose these items forever, but they are certainly inappropriate for the seasons ahead. They can go into storage while you substitute more apt replacements. The items in this pile may include heavy window coverings, coats, and boots.
  • Donate. You don’t need these anymore, and while they are in OK condition, they aren’t worth the hassle to sell. Virtually any item in any of your piles can be donated; even large unused vehicles like boats may help a good cause.
  • Sell. You have objects that are basically new and in perfect working condition, so you want some chunk of your investment back. You may be able to sell old clothes, but more likely you’ll sell unwanted toys and electronics.
  • Throw away. Most likely, this will be your largest pile. You’ll find piles of junk around your house, composed of broken, old, and used up items. There is no better place for these than the trash can.

Don’t Forget the Details
For a true spring clean, it is imperative you follow your chosen checklist to the T. However, there will definitely come a time during your scouring when you feel that one or more tasks in a room is simply unnecessary. You must fight these feelings. Here are some of the most important details you simply cannot overlook.

  • Remove lampshades and light covers to clean lightbulbs of dust and grime.
  • Flip and turn mattresses to keep then in proper shape.
  • Wipe out the insides of drawers, as moths love to live in these spaces.
  • Wash and vacuum all fabrics, including mattresses, upholstered furniture, and draperies.

It is laborious to go over every detail, but when you finally get to relax on your front porch with that gleaming glass of sweet tea, you will feel so much better for a job truly and completely well-done.

Pictures for Featured Image:
Cleaning by Julie G via Flickr
Daisy by MartinaK15 via Flickr
Broom by Kate Ter Haar via Flickr

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Johanna Ramos

Monday 30th of November 2015

Thanks for the tips. It's great to read how to cope with some dirty places at home. I agree that it's very important to have a cleaning checklist. Greetings:)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.