Every year, the winter season starts to clear out and we start to open windows and feel the warmer weather seeping in. The colder months have meant that most of us are home and hibernating for longer chunks of time inside the house. With this increased time inside, that tends to mean the dirt and grime have been hanging around the house, too. Hence, the yearly ritual we all hear about: Spring Cleaning.
But spring cleaning doesn’t have to be some crazy chore that takes a whole day or a whole weekend from your life and your newfound ability to spend more time outside. Spring cleaning can be as easy as taking a few manageable bites out of a cleaning list here and there so that within a few days or even a few short weeks your home feels refreshed and ready for the new season. (Note: if you are a crazy person like me and just start cleaning and won’t stop, you can always go wild cleaning for a day or two and be done with it, as well.)
When it comes to a springtime refresh, these are the key areas of the house that you’ll want to hit (tip: try to look for nooks, crannies, and under things that you don’t usually move. That’s where you’ll find the most buildup!):
The Fridge
Pull everything out and give this bad boy a full wipe down! Once a year can be a minimum for doing this if you are good about wiping out a mess if/when it happens. Plus, this gives you a chance to pull double-duty and check the expiration dates on everything before it goes back in. You’d be surprised what you find in your fridge that is already bad!
The Pantry
Same as the fridge! It needs a good wipe down or maybe even a vacuum to get all of the dust and crumbs out of the corners and crevices. Check those expiration dates to clear out the old, and maybe even try a new organization system. I use these black metal baskets in mine. Each family member has their own basket for their snacks, and the rest are for grouping things like spices, vitamins, or anything else that needs to live in the pantry.
Baseboards
Whether you have baseboards/trim or not, the edges of a room tends to be where hair/dust/etc shove to the side and can be missed in a normal run of the vacuum. Most vacuums have an attachment to get into those creases, so now is the time to use it! When you vacuum the room like normal, take that extra minute to run the tool along the seam where the wall meets the floor. I also have a thicker baseboard, so I take that attachment along the top ledge to clear off pug hair and dust there, too.
Vacuum Vent Covers
Same as above! While you have the vacuum out, take the attachment over all of your vent covers, too.
Change Your Air Filter!
Homeowners, this is your friendly reminder that your air filter should be changed about every six months. For those of us with pets, that may be more frequent depending on the pet and the age of the unit.
Dust Your Blinds & Window Wells
Pro tip: knock out all of the dusting you want to do right before you vacuum a room! You always want to clean from top to bottom so that anything that falls from higher in the room is collected when you clean the floors.
These get nasty! I mean gross with dust. You’ll be surprised just how much your Swiffer Duster picks up when you run it along the slats. Tip: Close the blinds completely one direction, dust, and the turn them completely the opposite direction and dust that too. This gets both sides of all the slats clean for most versions of blinds.
Sliding Door Track
My sliding door’s track gets so nasty with….I don’t even know what. On top of that, cleaning it is tougher than it looks. Cleaning it at least once or twice a year is key to make sure you don’t go years down the line and have gunk caked on with no chance of getting it cleared out. Tip: take a toothbrush to get in the grooves of the track and loosen up the debris, vacuum, and then go over it after with a cleaning cloth and all-purpose cleaner to wipe out the rest.
Under Couches and Appliances
You may need a hand to get the bigger pieces around your house moved for this one. Moving aside couches and appliances is key so that you can get under and behind them for a good vacuum and wipe down.
Overwhelmed by all the options and things to do? Take it in chunks. You can always go room by room. Spend just 20 minutes cleaning one room. This may spur you into other projects or to declutter, too. If you take a room a day or a room each weekend, you’ll have your home feeling lighter and cleaner in no time!
You’ll also find my favorite cleaning products linked HERE to help you get started!
