The snow has melted, the grass is turning green, buds are blooming — spring is in the air. Now is the time to give your home a deep cleaning. To kick off the new season, it’s the perfect time of year to give your home a refresh.
However, rolling up your sleeves and mopping your floors may feel like a hassle. If you’re struggling to get it done, here are some ways you can make spring cleaning easier.
Make a List
The first step in spring cleaning should always be to make a list. Walk through your home and write down everything that needs to be done. You can make separate lists for each room to ensure you don’t miss anything.
Writing things down will give you a concrete idea of how much you need to do. You can then plan out when you will work on everything. You may even put things on your calendar, like Monday: wash and change sheets; Tuesday: clean shower and toilet; Wednesday: clean microwave and oven; and so on.
The added benefit of a list is the satisfaction you’ll get every time you cross something off. It will be a great visual representation of all your hard work.
Do the Chores You Typically Avoid First
We all have rooms we like to avoid or cleaning tasks we don’t enjoy. Whether it’s dusting the furniture or scrubbing the toilet and shower, some chores get tossed aside more often than others.
After cleaning the rest of the home, you’ll be even less motivated to take on those tougher chores. Instead, do the hard things first. By cleaning those less-than-pleasant rooms first, you’ll feel relieved when finished and can move on to less time-consuming tasks you don’t mind doing. Checking a big task off your to-do list will energize you to knock out everything else.
Minimize Your Supplies
If you need to restock your cleaning supplies before you get started, avoid overbuying. When you walk down the cleaning supply aisle at a store, there are hundreds of products that target different things, but the truth is, many of them serve the same purpose. You don’t need separate products for the toilet and the shower, for example.
Instead, go for multi-purpose products and supplies. An all-purpose spray can clean all your surfaces. Baking soda and vinegar can handle your drains and washing machine. You can even skip buying paper towels in bulk by switching to microfiber towels, which pick up dust and absorb up to eight times their weight in liquid.
Complete Multi-Room Chores Simultaneously
Save time by doing chores in several rooms simultaneously. If you’re stripping bedding, hit every bed in your home at once rather than dragging the chore out over a few days.
The same goes for vacuuming. Take the vacuum room by room rather than using it once, putting it away and then pulling it out again the next day.
Multi-room tasks allow you to touch every room in your home and get more done.
Fit Chores Into Your Hectic Schedule
Most people lead busy lives, from work to child care and other daily responsibilities. That makes it difficult to fit bigger chores into your schedule. You may not have a full free day to clean the whole house, which can lead you to put it off altogether.
It’s actually better to spend time each day cleaning, rather than trying to find a full day to do everything. Schedule your spring cleaning tasks in your calendar whenever you have free time.
The next time you cook dinner, spend an extra 15 minutes wiping down the surfaces in your kitchen. While you’re watching TV, you can multitask by sorting through the mail that’s been piling up. Incorporating tasks into your normal routine will make them feel less time consuming.
Get Everyone Involved
Whether you have a spouse, kids or roommates, cleaning the house should be a group effort. You should sit down with everyone and talk about how you’ll split up the chores.
Kids of all ages can contribute to spring cleaning. Little ones can put their toys away and help dust easy to reach spots. Bigger kids can handle larger responsibilities, like doing laundry, decluttering their closet or vacuuming.
For those with roommates, try to delegate tasks evenly when it comes to cleaning shared spaces. One person could take the bathroom while the other cleans the kitchen.
Prioritize the Tough Jobs
Certain household chores make you break a sweat. For example, scrubbing the toilets or touching up the paint on baseboard trim may require getting on your knees.
Other jobs like changing the air filter or moving furniture and heavy items around, could leave you feeling sore.
Move the most labor-intensive jobs to the top of your to-do list, so they’re out of the way. Then you can focus on simpler chores afterward.
Think About What Will Have the Biggest Impact
Many of us are guilty of doing the easiest task first, which sometimes doesn’t make much of a difference in the end. When planning your to-do list, ask yourself what chores will make the biggest impact in your home.
Is your closet overflowing with clothes? Cleaning it out may be the most time consuming chore on your list, but it will likely improve your daily routine the most. Vacuuming may seem like an easier thing to accomplish, but it’s not going to make your room feel cleaner if your closet is still a mess.
Outsource When Possible
There are some projects that may be too hard for you to do yourself. Tasks like changing air filters, cleaning large carpets or repairing broken fixtures may be outside of your capabilities, but that’s okay.
Hiring a professional for these projects will ensure they get done properly. On top of that, it will free up your time to focus on other chores.
Plan Ahead for Spring Cleaning
Create a checklist, gather your cleaning supplies and decide if you’ll complete your chores in one day or over several. Planning your spring cleaning adventure ahead of time can help you stay inspired, organized and on task.
