Spring Cleaning Top Tips for Sprucing Up Your Home
There’s something about a hint of spring that has most people wanting to spruce up their homes. After several months of staying in to keep warm, naturally, things begin to accumulate. That means that a good cleaning is likely necessary. If you're looking for ways to declutter, organise, and deep-clean your home, we've got you covered. Keep reading for our top spring cleaning tips to help you kick off the warmer seasons with a clean and organised home.
Why is Spring Cleaning and Decluttering Important?
Cleaning and decluttering your living spaces can have a significant impact on your daily life. From improving air quality to reducing stress and increasing productivity, the benefits of spring cleaning are never ending. Decluttering allows you to rid your home of excess items, piles of paperwork and mess, which can leave you feeling less weighed down and more at ease. Additionally, spring cleaning can also bring physical health benefits, such as reducing dust build-up and improving air quality, which can help to prevent allergies.
When Should You Start Spring Cleaning?
Spring cleaning doesn't have to wait for the official start of spring, it can be done anytime when you realise your home is in need of a deep cleanse, and you have the time to do it! Instead of taking a full day for cleaning, we recommend breaking it down into smaller steps by creating a cleaning calendar. This way you can tackle the task bit by bit and make it more manageable.
7 Top Spring Cleaning Tips
When planning to spring clean your home, it's important to be prepared for more than just the standard wiping down of surfaces. To truly reap its benefits, it's important to consider all aspects of deep cleaning. To help you get started, here are our 7 top spring cleaning tips for sprucing up your home.
Give Yourself Time
Most people want to know how to spring clean their house in a day. But depending on your home, that might not be the best use of your time. Especially if there is a lot to do! For many, having a giant task of cleaning your home in a single day can feel intimidating, which leads to not getting anything done. We recommend giving yourself more time by scheduling smaller sessions for spring cleaning.
Instead of taking 8 hours to try and squeeze everything in, break it into 20 and 30-minute sessions in the evenings. So, instead of calling it “spring cleaning day” in your calendar, maybe change it to something more manageable like “spring cleaning month.”
Take It Room by Room
When you know you’re going to devote time to this, it can feel overwhelming. After all, when it comes to cleaning, where do you start? Rather than thinking of every last thing you have to do, it’s better to take it room by room. That’s why our strategy involves separating your cleaning checklist into different areas of the home, such as the kitchen, bathroom, home office, and bedrooms.
You can even take it a step further and come up with a plan on how you’ll tackle specific things within those rooms. For example, if you know you’re going to work on your kitchen, maybe you break it down into steps, including:
- Cleaning out appliances
- Organising pantry and cabinets
- Decluttering and re-organising under the sink
De-Cluttering
Before starting the cleaning process, it's important to begin with decluttering. As we've mentioned, decluttering and reorganising have many benefits. If you feel overwhelmed the moment you walk in your door or uneasy sitting on your couch, it may be time to declutter. Not only will this improve your overall mood, but it will also increase your productivity as you begin to deep clean the rest of your home.
3 Top Tips to Help You Organise and Store Items
Give Everything a Designated Place
One of the main reasons a home feels cluttered is the presence of multiple small items scattered throughout the space. Leaving things lying around on countertops, tables, and even on chairs, which can make the house appear messier than it is. To declutter effectively, make sure to assign a specific spot for each item in your home. If you can't find a suitable location for an item, consider if it is something you really need. This is also a great approach if you’re trying to maximise space for homes with limited storage space.
Go Through Your Wardrobe
The wardrobe is usually an overlooked task in the decluttering process, but it may need your attention. Spring cleaning your wardrobe and clothes is just as necessary as cleaning your bedroom or kitchen. Go through all of your clothes and set aside the ones you haven’t worn in the last six months. Ask yourself, is that simply because of weather changes? Or is it because you’ve lost interest in the clothing. If the reason is due to the latter, it’s a good idea to donate it.
Spend Time Organising Paperwork
A cluttered home office can lead to feelings of stress and disorganisation. When spring cleaning your workspace, focus on organising your paperwork by creating folders and designating a specific place for each document. This will not only improve the appearance of your workspace but also increase your productivity.
Work Top Down
As you’re cleaning, you’ll find that many of the tasks you complete involve removing dust, cobwebs, dander, and more. Inevitably, all of that will drift down to lower surface areas and the floor. There’s no sense in using the vacuum cleaner to clean the floors or wiping down countertops and tables if more dust and cobwebs will find their way back onto them. So always work from the top down. Wipe down light fixtures, light bulbs, and window blinds first.
Pay Attention to What Often Gets Overlooked
Many items in your home get regular use but aren’t regularly cleaned. Spring cleaning is your opportunity to give them some attention.
Mattresses and Sheets
Believe it or not, your mattresses do need to be cleaned. Strip the bed and run your sheets and the mattress covers in the washing machine. While you do so, clean the mattress by sprinkling baking soda over the top of it and let it sit for several hours before vacuuming it up.
Couch
Similar to your mattress, your couch needs to be cleaned too. You can sprinkle baking soda on it and let it rest for several hours before vacuuming it.
Appliances
Go through your major appliances, like the refrigerator and the oven. Discard anything outdated, then remove anything else inside it. Wipe down all of the shelves with an all-purpose cleaner. For your oven, place all of the racks in the sink with hot water and oven cleaning solution. These can soak in the water while you wipe down the inside of the oven with an oven cleaner.
Rugs
Just like with your mattresses and your couch, your rugs and carpets need a good clean too. They absorb moisture and dust and hold onto odours that can keep your house from feeling totally refreshed. If you can remove your rugs, hang them outside. Then, use something sturdy like the handle of a sweeping brush to beat them. You’ll remove a lot of the dust, cobwebs, and animal fur that gets trapped in the fabric. Bring them inside and use the vacuum cleaner over them. Finally, use a carpet detergent to get them looking and smelling brand new.
Use Your Supplies to Your Advantage
You may not need to buy brand new cleaning supplies for everything. Your kitchen may house many eco-friendly cleaning products already.
Baking Soda for Stainless Steel and Upholstery
Use baking soda by sprinkling it on stainless steel and upholstery. As previously mentioned, simply sprinkle baking soda on upholstery and let it sit for several hours before vacuuming it up. For stainless steel, you can wet it down, sprinkle baking soda over it, and then scrub it with a wash cloth or a sponge.
Vinegar for Your Washing Machine
With time, your washing machine can become dirty. A simple solution is to use distilled white vinegar. To clean your washing machine, pour the vinegar into the detergent compartment and run a normal or delicate cycle. That will take it through a cleansing process. If you don’t want to use vinegar, or would prefer a thorough clean, you can also use a washing machine cleaner.
Cream of Tartar for Toasters and Kettles
Similar to baking soda, cream of tartar is perfect for making stainless steel toasters and kettles shine just like new. Mix a pinch of cream of tartar with water to create a paste. Then, rub it onto small stainless steel appliances, then just wipe it away.
The Best Spring Cleaning Checklist and Supplies
Start your spring cleaning project well prepared with these supplies and a master task list of what to do.
Tools for the Job
Sample Spring Cleaning Tasklist
Kitchen
- Declutter fridge, freezer, pantry, drawers
- Wipe down interiors of all of the above
- Soak oven racks in cleaning solution
- Wipe down inside oven with oven cleaner
- Clean and shine stainless steel appliances
- Wash cabinet and pantry doors and door knobs
- Sanitise all countertops and surface areas
- Wipe down backsplash
- Clean sink drain
- Wipe down sink and tap
- Wipe down any lighting fixtures, switch panels
- Wipe down trim and baseboards
- Sweep floor
- Mop floor with floor cleaner
Living Areas
- Open windows to allow fresh air
- Wipe down lighting fixtures
- Dust and wipe down blinds
- Clean window glass and window sills
- Wash window curtains
- Clean upholstery
- Vacuum upholstery
- Dust shelves and furniture
- Wipe down electronics
- Wipe down doors, knobs, switch panels, baseboards, and trim
- Vacuum rugs and carpets
- Shampoo rugs and carpets
- Sweep and mop hardwood floors
Bedrooms
- Wipe down all light fixtures
- Wipe down blinds and wash curtains
- Wash windows and windowsills
- Declutter and reorganise wardrobe
- Wipe down inside of all drawers
- Dust furniture, shelves, and surface areas
- Clean and vacuum mattress
- Flip or rotate mattress
- Wipe down doors, switch panels, trim, and baseboards
- Vacuum carpet and rugs
- Shampoo carpet and rugs
- Sweep and mop floors
Bathrooms
- Toss all bins
- Dust and wipe down all light fixtures
- Empty and wipe down drawers and cabinets
- Check expiry dates on makeup and medications
- Reorganise drawers and cabinets when putting items back
- Clean mirrors and windows
- Wash window sills, if any
- Sanitise all countertops and surface areas
- Clean showers, tubs, sinks, and drains
- Clean toilet, both inside and outside
- Wipe down doors, knobs, switch panels, baseboards, and trim
- Sweep and mop floors
Spring cleaning can be a refreshing, rejuvenating experience and can leave your home feeling spruced up and relaxing. When you’re ready to get all of your spring cleaning supplies, check out our cleaning range! Or if you need more inspiration on how to refresh your home this spring, be sure to check out our other home and decor blogs.