6 Tips for Spring Cleaning
Confession, as a child I loved to clean. I used to tidy, rearrange and organize my room just for fun. If someone invited me to help clean I was giddy. Don’t judge me.
When spring rolls around I find those same feelings start to rise in me again. Something inside me knows it’s time to dust off the cobwebs of winter and clean everything up. Sounds like fun to me! (No sarcasm font necessary.)
Whether you’re a neatnik, an organizational wannabe, or even in the “Cleaning? Why bother?” camp these few tips can help make spring cleaning a smooth, even enjoyable experience:
Pinterest is your friend. Whether you want to know how to organize your refrigerator, garage, sock drawer, kids toys, or your bottlecap collection there are Pinterest pins waiting to help you out. Use Pinterest to get ideas, find checklists and successfully distract yourself from the task at hand.
Use the funnel system. Pick zones in your house for different items that need to be organized. For example, all clothing goes in the living room, all paperwork lands in the dining room, toys get piled in the kids’ room and so on. Once you’ve collected all the specific items from around the house begin sorting them into categories. What will you keep? What will you toss? What will be given away or sold? From here work your way farther down the funnel and make decisions about what you’re keeping. Put like items together, find a place for them to live, add a label then put it away. Once you’ve finished with one area move to the biggest part of the funnel for your next pile of items. Keep in mind this process will take longer for some items.
Join a Spring Cleaning Challenge. Find and stick to 30 days of getting your house in order one project at a time. Use this one or find another that works for you on Pinterest or Google. Doing a challenge is a great way to invite friends and family into the cleaning fun with you!
Slow and steady wins the race. If you expect spring cleaning to only take a few hours you’re setting yourself up for a frustrating experience. If you’re going to deep clean and organize most of your home this project could take days or even weeks. Work on one area at a time and take breaks as you need them. Remember, the end result is worth the effort.
Set rules for what to keep. You can make your own rules but here are some to consider:
Keep only those things which you consider to be useful or believe to be beautiful.
If you haven’t used an item in the past 6 months it’s time to let it go.
If it’s broken, toss it.
All items ready for a new home will be… Choose one: donated, sold, given away.
If it doesn’t fit, it goes.
You can keep only what will fit in this… bin, closet, room, etc.
Set a yearly routine. To keep spring cleaning manageable, set a yearly routine. Pick twelve cleaning projects and disperse them throughout the year, one each month.
Looking for a cleaning checklist? We’ve got you covered with this one from some of our Vintage Family.
What project will you start with this year? We can’t wait to see how your cleaning goes!