7 Step Guide To A Successful Spring Clean!
Spring has officially arrived which means we get (a little) more sunlight, plants have started flowering and we’ve got that niggling urge that there’s something else we should be doing! Yes, we mean cleaning!
The Spring Clean is an age-old tradition that helps us clear out the old to make way for the new and it’s a great way to give yourself and your home a fresh start. A cleaner, more organised house means you’ll be less stressed and more able to relax in your personal space.
However, we know the idea of cleaning your home from top to bottom can sound a little daunting, so we’ve put together a handy guide to get you started and well on your way to a whole new look for your humble abode.
Step One: Arm Yourselves For War… On Dirt, That Is!
You won’t get very far in your cleaning campaign if you’re not equipped for the task, so head out to the shops and make sure you’re kitted out to do your worst to those dust-balls!
We recommend that at the very least you have in your kit:
- rubbish bags
- a dustpan and brush
- rubber gloves
- an all-purpose cleaner
- glass cleaner
- carpet cleaner
- a duster
- disinfecting wipes
- a few empty boxes
- plenty of sponges and cloths!
Step Two: Make A List… The Game Plan Starts Here!
Make a list of every room or space in the house that could do with a freshen up so you can work through them systematically. That way, if things take longer than you intend, you can pick up where you left off the next time you carry on with the task at hand.
In our opinion the key zones which need your attention are:
- kitchen
- bathroom
- bedroom
- living room
- carpets
- windows
Step Three: Declutter Your Home First!
A Spring clean is the perfect opportunity to not only give your house a good scrub but also to get rid of all those things you really don’t need any more.
We’re all guilty of a bit of hoarding, whether we’ll admit to it or not, so it’s good to take a weekend to look through everything you own and really consider whether an item is something you need or not.
Work your way through all (and we mean ALL) of your possessions one by one and consider whether it’s something you use regularly, occasionally or (as is often the case) almost never. And be ruthless! The chances are that if you have to stop and consider whether you need something, it’s usually not worth keeping!
We’ve picked out a few key tips to keep in mind during this stage of the process:
- Start with your wardrobe and go through all of your clothes. If there’s something you haven’t worn in ages (or ever), doesn’t fit you properly or looks a little worse for wear then bin it or bag it up to take down the local charity shop
- Collect up any old magazines and newspapers lying around your home. Nine times out of ten you can recycle them all without giving it a second thought
- Empty out your purse, wallet or bag and go through everything in it
- Take a good hard look at your book collection. While we’re all understandably fond of our reading collections it’s worth considering letting some of them go if you’re unlikely to read them again as books take up a lot of space in the home. And if it’s a book you’ve never read – find a home for it with someone else
- Go through all of your kitchen equipment, utensils and crockery and separate the weak from the strong. Discard anything that’s seen better days or hasn’t been used in years. Having lots of free space in the kitchen is so important to both food hygiene and a good meal preparation workflow. Be ruthless!
Step Four: Tackle The Kitchen
It’s the big boss battle of the Spring Clean – taking on your kitchen! Over the course of a year this room is bound to build up grease, grime and dirt so start here and get things off to the best start.
Follow our lead and work your way through the kitchen using the following as your go-to guide:
- Empty out all your food cabinets and throw away anything that’s out of date
- While they’re empty give the cabinets and doors a good wipe down with an antibacterial cleaner
- Run your pots, pans and crockery through a dishwasher cycle (or wash them up yourself) while you do the same to their respective cupboards or cabinets
- Buy a kit to deep clean your oven – this should be done at least once a year and, trust us, you’ll notice the difference!
- Clean your dish-washer by emptying the filter of any old bits of food, refilling the salt and rinse-aid and then running it on an empty cycle using a commercial dishwasher cleaner
- Empty your fridge/freezer of everything and then throw out anything that’s past its best
- While empty, clean both the inside and the outside of your fridge/freezer using an antibacterial cleaner
- Clean and wipe down the microwave. This can be just a tad gross!
- Hit the oven hob next and get that stainless steel looking sparkly bright
- Use a cleaner to go round and clean up anything that sits out on your kitchen counter day-to-day. From toasters to utensil pots, you’ll be surprised how much grime these can accumulate
- Next clean the worktop counter itself to get it sparkling
- Finish up by giving the floor a once-over with the vacuum and then a mop and bucket. Be sure to hit those areas you normally miss on your weekly cleans!
Step Five: Bathroom Brawl
The bathroom is just as guilty as the kitchen of picking up grime over time that doesn’t always get cleaned up in your usual monthly once-over. But keep a cool head, take a deep breath and follow these steps to achieve bathroom bliss:
- Put all your toiletries into a box and out of the way while you clean
- Start with the bathroom furniture – including any mirrors – to polish off any dirt or grime
- Using a cream cleaner, work your way from the shower and bath to the sink and finally the toilet – but throw your sponge away after the latter!
- Clean the shower partition if you have one using a glass cleaner
- Get scrubbing the tile grout using a commercial product to get it back to its original colour
- Use a mop to work your way over the bathroom tiles with a strong cleaning product
Step Six: Take Back The Bedroom
The bedroom should be the one place in the house you can relax better than anywhere else, but more often than not it becomes a dumping ground for old clothes, odds-and-ends and forgotten hobbies. Give it a good deep clean and you’ll thank us for it:
- Once you’ve thrown out anything you don’t need, organise your wardrobe and drawers so that anything you wear all the time is easily accessible
- Wash all of your bedding (including spares!) and make sure they’re folded up and ready to be used
- Before you make the bed, wash any mattress protectors and vacuum/wipe over the mattress itself
- Polish around any furniture you have
- Hit the skirting boards to clean off any grime accumulated over the past year
- Give the whole room a vacuum. Then vacuum it again – just to make sure you have a proper fresh start!
Step Seven: The Odd Jobs
Now the big jobs are out of the way you can wrap up the Spring clean with a few mini-jobs that will make the year to come a whole lot easier. Trust us – they won’t take long but they’ll make a world of difference:
- Clean your windows on both the inside and outside. As an extra tip – do this on a cloudy day to make sure your window cleaner doesn’t dry on the panes before you get a chance to wipe it off
- Disinfect your washing machine using a commercial cleaner to make sure your clothes stay super fresh
- Take stock of your walls and touch up any areas where paint has chipped off or been marked
- If you have a tumble dryer, de-lint the filter to make sure the machine has a strong airflow
- Empty out your vacuum cleaner. It’s one of those jobs people should do a lot more regularly, but often don’t!
- Consider hiring a carpet cleaning machine. They do the job fantastically, don’t cost too much and can really give your textiles a new lease of life
- Check your fire and carbon monoxide alarms. Very important!
That’s a wrap… happy cleaning!
