What is a spring cleaning?
Typically, a spring cleaning involves decluttering and cleaning your entire home from top to bottom. However, your personal spring cleaning can encompass what you want it to. This could stop at your home, or extend to your yard, your car, and your office.
The benefits of spring cleaning
Decluttering and organizing your home or office can save you tons of time looking for or replacing lost items in the future. Deep cleaning your home provides a sense of new beginnings and a sense of pride. While a deep cleaned, tidy home is always the springtime boost we need, the process of spring cleaning can be daunting.
Remember that you are the one who decides how much of a cleaning is just right for you! That may mean dusting baseboards and blinds, cleaning the oven and inside the fridge, and cleaning the windows. The list below is just a reference, you may do less or more than the suggestions here.
If a house cleaning service isn’t in your budget, here are a few tips that will help you welcome spring with a cleaner home.
Assemble the Equipment and Supplies needed for Spring Cleaning
An all-purpose cleaner
Scouring powder
Baking soda and vinegar
Floor cleaner
Window cleaner
Bathroom and kitchen cleaners
Microfiber cloths
Cleaning rags
Scrub brushes in varying sizes
A HEPA filter vacuum with all the attachments
A mop with an extendable handle
Squeegee for windows
Start at the Top
Start your spring cleaning by taking down curtains. Wash what you can, and take other items to the cleaners. Next dust crown moldings, frames of windows and doors, tops of tall furnishings, shelves, cabinets, static dust walls, then clean the top of your refrigerator. Vacuum heavy drapes and valances. Clean blinds and door facings.
Dust floats down to countertops and floors, therefore, always clean from top to bottom and left to right.
Remember the Refrigerator
When you get to the kitchen, pull the fridge out from the wall, and dust the coils on the back. Dust forces your appliance to work harder to maintain a cooler temperature. Also, if your refrigerator is more than two-thirds full it will be a le
ss efficient appliance. Removing leftovers each week, and outdated items once a quarter, will promote circulation and lessen cooling time.
Don’t Forget the Invisible Areas
Water filters are commonly forgotten about when cleaning. Make sure to change the filter every two to six months.
Change your air exchange filters every month or two. This eliminates excess dust from settling in your home, and makes your breathing easier.
Pull everything out from under beds and furniture, vacuum then dust items and return them or change their location.
People remember to take their trash out, however, many forget to clean the actual trash can. To eliminate lingering odors in your home, create a mixture of half vinegar and half water and wipe the can down. Wipe spills immediately, and spray with disinfectant each time you remove a bag.
Remember the Small Things
Items such as TV remotes or doorknobs that we use constantly tend to attract a lot of germs, be certain to wipe them down with a disinfectant wipe.
Refresh your Drains
It’s important to keep kitchen and bathroom drains clean not only for odor control, but to avoid clogging them. Pour a cup of white distilled vinegar down the drain, allow it to sit for half an hour, and then run cold water through the drain to wash it out.
Clean your Mattress
Cleaning your mattress removes dust mites, dead skin cells, and other bacteria. At least semi-annually when you change your sheets, remove your mattress protector, and vacuum the mattress. If you finds stains spray them with vinegar and sprinkle baking soda over the top. Place a towel over the area, let it sit for one to two hours, and then vacuum again.
Don’t Forget the Windows
For streak-free glass, use a 3:1 mixture of water and white vinegar and wipe with old newspapers. Newspaper absorbs the liquid and cleans more efficiently than paper towels. If newspapers are not available you can use paper coffee filters.
Clean the Carpets
Believe it or not, carpets are the largest air filter in our homes. A thorough spring deep cleaning can reset that filter and keep not only our carpets fresh but also improve our indoor air quality.
Deep Cleaning Checklist for Homeowners
Print this handy list to keep yourself organized and ontrack.
Hire a Professional Cleaning Service
Don't have time or energy to clean? Hire a cleaning service! If you'd like a free estimate for a Professional Deep Spring Cleaning Service, and you live in or near the Greensboro, High Point, Winston Salem, NC area, call Maid in North Carolina. You can also complete our online Spring Cleaning Checklist.