Spring Cleaning Checklist for This Upcoming Season

Spring is around the corner, and that means it’s almost time to freshen up your surroundings with your yearly spring cleaning tasks. To help you get your home clean from top to bottom, here’s our spring cleaning checklist.

First: Declutter

Every spring cleaning should start off with some good decluttering and organizing. Sort through your items and see what you can trash, find a new home for, or keep around. If there are items you’re not using regularly but still hold value in your life, place them in a self-storage unit until you need to access them again. Once you get decluttering out of the way, you’ll have less to dust, less clutter to look at, and an easier time finding things you need. If you need in-depth decluttering tips, check out our blog post to give you a hand.

Put Away Winter

Spring means the weather is warming up! And it also means it’s time to put some winter items away until next fall. Some items you can happily store away might include:

• Heavier knits and outwear
• Winter boots
• Snowblowers
• Shovels
• Winter sports gear

If your garage is small or you’d rather keep your home clutter-free, store these items in a storage unit. However, no matter where you store your winter items, be sure everything has been cleaned thoroughly.

Work from the Ceiling, Down

When cleaning, it’s important to remember to clean the highest parts, like the ceiling fans and walls, first before you vacuum and mop the floors. That’s because if you work from the bottom up, you’ll just have to clean the bottom again. Work smarter, not harder, and make less work for yourself! Start at the ceiling and work your way down.

Also, if you clean this way in every room, you’ll always be sure of what you’ve cleaned and what you have left to do.

Dust the Smart Way

Some cleaning hacks weren’t passed down to people by their parents. That’s okay – we’re here to share one with you in case you haven’t heard it already. When you’re spring cleaning, make sure you dust before you vacuum. You stir up dust as you try to remove it, and it can settle on the ground. Once you’re done dusting, you can then vacuum to be sure there’s no dust left milling about. Shelves, dressers, tabletops, and bookshelves are common dusting areas. But don’t forget baseboards, ceiling fans, and decorative objects that have been sitting around.

If you’re the type to get allergies, dusting can stir up allergens that have been sitting undisturbed for months. So to avoid allergies, take the right precautions and wear a bandana and gloves when you clean.

Clean the Inside and Outside of Your Windows

Over the long winter months, debris like dirt, dust, and pollen can build up on your window sills. Make sure you tackle the interior as well as the exterior of windows in your spring cleaning routine. Glass cleaner is a fine option inside, but if you are looking for something a little more natural that can be used everywhere on your windows (inside, outside, and in the nooks and crannies), mix a quarter cup of white vinegar with two cups of warm water in a spray bottle.

Ensuring you have clean windows will not only let more light into your home but ensure your windows can open and close easily. And opening your window to allow your home to get some fresh air is always a wonderful mood booster!

Tackle Your Kitchen in a Few Steps

Cleaning your kitchen can be an overwhelming spring cleaning task. But if you break it down into steps, you can make it more manageable for yourself and will be done with the kitchen in no time.

Whether you handle this in one go, delegate tasks to others, or do one task each day, don’t forget to:

• Go through your fridge and cupboards and throw away expired items
• Wipe down cabinets and shelves, including the ones inside the refrigerator
• Clean the inside of your oven, dishwasher, and microwave
• Reorganize cupboards for ease of access

Don’t Forget the Bathroom

The bathroom is most Americans’ least favorite room to clean. And being a “wet” room, it can get dirty pretty quickly. If you don’t want to spend a lot of time deep cleaning your bathroom this spring, try only attacking the trouble areas. That includes the shower curtain lining and exhaust fans. Your shower curtain lining can gather mildew quickly, so sending it through the washer can help. If you have an old exhaust fan, consider replacing it, so mold and mildew don’t become future problems.

Replace Batteries and Filters

The final spring cleaning item on the agenda: replace batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and replace the air filter in your HVAC system. Doing it at the same time every year is a great way to ensure your home is being kept safe. It will also help to reduce smoke detectors randomly beeping in the middle of the night to alert that batteries need to be changed!