Spring Cleaning Tips

Spring cleaning provides the best opportunity to rid your home of clutter and debris gathered throughout previous months. Before actually getting down to cleaning, first remove clutter from each room of the house. Begin by organizing the things that you don't need into four categories:

• Things to put away; items in this category and things that simply need to be put in their proper place. Items such as toys, documents needing to be filed, DVDs, CDs, books, et cetera.
• Things to sell or give away; include items that you've not used in a long time. A good rule of thumb is, if you've not used it in over a year, then it's time to get rid of it.
• Things to put into the trash; include items that you will never use again, that are beyond repair and not able to be donated or sold.
• Things to store away; these are items that you cannot rationalize throwing away, selling, or giving away because you do use them perhaps yearly or every other year, and they would be expensive to replace.

Place four large boxes in a prominent place of your house, labeled PUT AWAY, SELL/GIVE AWAY, TRASH, and STORE, and ask family members to go through the rooms of the house, disbursing clutter into one the four boxes according to its classification.

Once you've cleared the clutter, you can get down to the business of cleaning. Organize your cleaning by using a fresh piece of paper for each room of your house, with the name of the room clearly marked at the top of the page, and then list everything that needs to be done to the room by way of cleaning. For instance, you page titled LIVING ROOM might include these tasks:

• Dust furniture.
• Swiffer walls and ceiling.
• Vacuum carpeting.
• Take down drapes and curtains and wash and dry them.
• Wash windows.
• Dust lamp shades.
• Vacuum couch and chairs.

If you've a large family, you could assign a room to each person, allowing the youngest children to simply clean a bathroom basin or toilet. If you've a small apartment and live alone, it's still best to make a checklist for each room and complete the list over several days.

Make sure that you have enough cleaning supplies on hand for your spring cleaning. It's a bad idea to schedule your cleaning, and find that you have to dash to the store for supplies, and possibly lose your helpers while you're gone!