Tips

Simplify Your Spring Cleaning

Yippee – spring is here!  Throw open the windows, let the sun shine in, and…  wow, how did I not notice all that dust and clutter that gathered over the winter?

Some people (not me) love spring cleaning.  They hunker down for a week and spend dozens of hours deep cleaning the whole house top to bottom all at once.  If you’re one of those people, more power to you – enjoy this time of transformation!  If you’re like me, though, you might benefit from these tips to organize your cleaning routine so you can get through it quickly and easily all year long.

• Store it where you use it.  Just because your builder left a big space under the kitchen sink for cleaning supplies doesn’t mean they all have to be there.  Buy duplicates of the supplies you use in multiple areas of the house (duster, antibacterial wipes, toilet cleaner) and store them in or close to the rooms where you use them.   A small dustbuster is great near the kitchen so you don’t have to drag out the heavy vacuum every time your child pours his own cereal. 

• And speaking of that black hole under the kitchen sink, a rollout basket is terrific for corralling all those cleaners that do belong there.  The Container Store, Target, even your local hardware store all sell inexpensive wire baskets that can be screwed into the floor of your cabinet and rolled out for easy access.  Take measurements of the space available (noting where the pipes are), and keep them in your PDA or purse, so the next time you’re out at one of those stores you know which one to buy. 

• Spread it out.  Commit to spending 15 minutes a day on regular cleaning, so you never get overwhelmed.  In just 15 minutes, you can vacuum a whole floor of your house, you can surface clean a bathroom, you can declutter the kitchen counters.  Make a 15 minute playlist on your Ipod and dance while you do it!  Put it on your “to do” list every day for a month until it becomes routine.

• Is your house too cluttered to clean?  Do a whole house sweep with an empty laundry basket, capturing everything you find that belongs in another room.  Then tour the house again, returning everything in the basket to its rightful home.  Don’t forget this second step, though – that’s the “cleaning” part!

• For major decluttering like closets and garages, schedule a Salvation Army pickup before you do it so you have a deadline and motivation to really purge.  For donation and recycling resources, check the “Resources” section of my website www.spacesimplified.com.

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