Spring Cleaning Tips

Written by April Reinhardt (last updated February 20, 2009)

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!

Author Bio

April Reinhardt

An admin­istrator for a mutual fund man­age­ment firm, April deals with the writ­ten word daily. She loves to write and plans to author a memoir in the near future. April attend­ed More­head State Uni­ver­sity to pursue a BA degree in Ele­men­tary Edu­ca­tion. ...

MORE FROM APRIL

Caring for Roses

Roses have developed a reputation for being finicky. Roses are no more particular than other plants. They simply require ...

Discover More

Fixing Leaky Pipes

Fixing minor pipe leaks is not a labor-intensive chore. The worst part of the job may be that you have to fit into tight ...

Discover More

Cabbage Rolls with Warm Chunky Applesauce

An old German tradition, cabbage and apples have been paired for centuries. This dinner of cabbage rolls complemented by ...

Discover More

Remove Stubborn Stains Quickly Get everything looking clean again: Walls, floors, baseboards, counters, blinds, appliances, and more. Micro-scrubbers easily reach into surface grooves, lifting dirt away. This low-cost 8-pack is great for stubborn stains and touble areas. Check out Mr. Clean Magic Eraser 8-Pack today!

More Cleaning Tips

Removing Urine Odor

It doesn't matter if you have young children or a pet; you can pretty much expect some kind of bathroom accident to ...

Discover More

Organic Cleaning Recipes

Just because you have a bunch of dirty things to clean up doesn't mean that you have to spend and arm and a leg to get ...

Discover More

Cleaning Water Dispensers

Water dispensers are a wonderful item to have both in the home and in the office. As with most water related items ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in Cleaning Tips from Tips.Net. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is six minus 6?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in Cleaning Tips from Tips.Net. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.