With the #pandemic restricting social gatherings and the severe winter weather, many people have been spending a lot of time indoors — and it probably shows. To renew your space, give it a thorough cleaning. Good Housekeeping offers an “Ultimate Guide to Spring Cleaning” that can help with almost any household cleaning task, and its best suggestion is to go room by room. Start by refreshing a single, heavy-use room such as the living room or kitchen, and dust, wash, wipe and organize everything in it.
Tag: spring cleaning
Clean Top-to-Bottom for Best Results
Now that you’ve gotten some of your household #clutter out of the way, it’s time to start a spring deep #cleaning in earnest. Pick a room and go top-to-bottom to ensure you get every surface, says One Good Thing. Dust the cobwebs from the ceiling, clean the fan blades, wipe down the walls and switchplates, wash the windows, dust the baseboards and finally, sweep, mop and/or vacuum the floors. Not only will the room sparkle when you’re done, it will be nearly free of dirt and allergens just in time for spring.
Use March to Declutter Like a Lion
March: It comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, or so they say. Whether or not there’s any truth to the old saying weather-wise in your part of the country, you can take a cue from it as you begin #decluttering for the spring season ahead.
Instead of approaching decluttering slowly this season, roar through your house to make the first crucial dent in what needs to be done. Every little bit you can accomplish can help make your home more organized and comfortable, so attack the trouble spots as fast as you can.
Pick a room and “start by tossing the obvious trash,” More Than Organized says. “Look for packaging and the broken bits first. Get them out of the way. Expired coupons, empty used envelopes, bottles and dried-up glue can also go.”
As you get rid of the trash, you’ll reduce the overall volume of stuff and likely uncover lots of other items that are out of place, unnecessary or unwanted. And just as quickly as you trashed the unusable stuff, you can reshelve or remove these things.
Other things you can declutter quickly include duplicate items, decorative items you don’t love enough to display, clothing that doesn’t fit, inactive files and paperwork, and basically any practical item you haven’t used in a year, Home Storage Solutions says.
Deciding what to keep and what to trash or donate isn’t easy, we know. Given enough time, you can probably find some sentimental attachment or dream up some future plan for every little thing that’s cluttering up your space.
That’s why you have attack task fiercely, like a lion. “Be as ruthless as possible with your decluttering decisions,” says the Simple Lionheart Life blog. “The more you get rid of during each decluttering session, the quicker you’ll clear the clutter.”
If you find any still-useful items such as clothing, toys, books and household items that you no longer need or want, bag them up and contact ClothingDonations.org for a free donation pickup. This will get that extra junk out of your sight fast.
Decluttering isn’t really “done” until the clutter has left your home completely. Once it has, you’ll breathe a sigh of relief — and March can go out like a lamb.
Transition Your Clothing from Winter to Spring
With spring just a few weeks away, you should be transitioning out of winter wear and into breezier clothing. Start by storing the bulkiest stuff such as parkas, heavy sweaters, down jackets and clunky winter boots first, advises Livible. Keep a few versatile items handy for the transition to warmer temps — lighter-weight blazers, jackets and cotton sweaters that can be layered year-round. Look at the change in seasons as an opportunity to shed some stuff, the blog adds, “so give yourself a break and think about the transition from winter to spring as an opportunity to #declutter your closet.”
Spring-Clean During the Spring Rains
There’s no better time than a rainy spring day to “clean and organize something really well,” says Apartment Therapy. The site suggests scrubbing and #decluttering the kitchen cupboards, sorting through a linen closet and organizing the home library, but there are likely a number of areas in your home that could benefit from a carefully considered purge and wipedown. Take advantage of the weather and contact ClothingDonations.org for a donation pickup when you’re done sorting through that stuff; the proceeds from your donations will help fund veterans’ programs nationwide.