Spring Cleaning Tips

Spring brings with it flowers and warm breezes and thoughts of love. It also brings the formidable task of spring cleaning your home. Your home should be your haven and spring cleaning helps to keep that haven a pleasant place to be. The major tasks of spring cleaning include getting rid of clutter and cleaning areas of your home that you normally do not touch. This can be a tedious and back breaking time of the year. Here are some tips and tricks, simple cleaning methods and cleaning products that will help to make any chore manageable. With slightly more than minimal effort you can have fabulous results with your spring cleaning this year.

1. Make a list of cleaning chores. Break each chore down into manageable jobs. Mark them off as they are completed to give yourself a sense of accomplishment.

2. Finish one task before starting another. With a major cleaning job such as spring cleaning, it is easy to get distracted and start ten jobs at once and never complete one.

3. Listen to music! Turn up the stereo or plug in your i Pod to get yourself moving and grooving. Dance around with your dust mop and use the vacuum hose as a microphone. Have fun with your spring cleaning!

4. Use the buddy system if you can. Clean with a friend. Make a pact that you will help clean her home if she helps clean yours. Cleaning with a friend makes it easier and the time just flies by.

5. One of the first things I do every year is deep clean all of the doors in my home. A clean door brightens up every room. Use a bucket of warm water and a good all purpose cleaner to wipe away grime and disinfect the surfaces. Don't forget the doorknobs!

6. After a long winter of being shut up, your home may smell musty and stale. The carpeting in your home has soaked in odors for the entire winter and needs to be refreshed. Expensive carpet powders and fresheners just waste your money. Using an empty canister with a shake top (like a Parmesan cheese container) sprinkle pure baking soda over all of your carpeting. Shake on a good layer before you go to bed. Leave this on overnight to soak up odors and moisture and vacuum up in the morning. This will freshen the entire house.

7. Sluggish and slow drains can emit foul odors. One chore that many people do not think of is to disinfect and clean their drains. An easy and inexpensive method to do this is to pour ½ cup of baking soda down the drain. Then pour in ½ cup of vinegar. Cover the drain with a damp cloth and leave it for 5 minutes. Remove the cloth and flush the drain with hot water. This helps to clear gunk from your drains and disinfects and deodorizes them!

8. Organizing your linen closets can be a quick and easy chore. Keeping them organized can be the real challenge! As you or organizing your linen closet this spring, put your sheets into sets. Fold your flat sheets in half lengthwise. Place the fitted sheets, folded lengthwise, on top of them. Add as many matching pillowcases as you need for that set. Fold the entire set up together and place in the linen closet. This will allow you and your family to grab a set of sheets without having to plunder and find matches.

9. Spray your broom or dust mop with a light layer of furniture polish. This will help to pick up and control dirt and dust.

10. Work from the top to the bottom. It doesn't do you much good to scrub your floors and then have to clean your ceiling fans and have them drop dirt all over your clean floors! Start with the top on any chore and it will make it easier on you in the long run.

11. If you have knick knacks and small items to be dusted and cleaned, try washing them in the dish washer. Or in your sink. While these are cleaning, dust and wash the areas where they normally sit. Then return the items after they are dry!

12. Allow your cleaners to do your work for you. Spray down a really dirty spot, go clean elsewhere for a while and when you come back the area will be easier to clean.

13. Take your mini blinds outside to be washed. Lay them on an old blanket and use warm soapy water to wash them down on each side. Rinse them and shake to begin drying. Hang them on a clothesline or lay in a sunny spot to dry completely. This will keep you from having to deal with the huge mess in your home.

Great Products To Use

Use disposable dusting cloths like Scotch Brite Dusting Cloths and Mitts. These allow you to trap dust and allergens and them throw them away, therefore removing them from your home altogether.

Use a good, all purpose cleaner like Mr. Clean Multi-surfaces Spray with Febreze. This will not only clean your home but deodorize and disinfect it as well.

For wood surfaces try using Murphy Oil Soap Soft Wipes. They are simple and easy to use, less messy than other cleaners and great for your wood surfaces.

You can purchase any of these cleaning supplies at mass market stores like Walmart or Target as well as at most supermarkets.