So spring has arrived and with it, the siren song of spring cleaning. These are the days when my sights are drawn to cluttered closets, overstuffed drawers, and neglected corners. I also tend to turn to Pinterest for ideas on how to make spring cleaning faster, easier, and maybe less work next season. I’ve compiled my favorite blogs for tips, tricks, and advice below to help you in determining your plan of action for seasonal cleaning.
One Good Thing by Jillee – I admit, I am obsessed with this woman’s blog. I use her laundry soap recipe, her cleaner recipes, essential oil suggestions, window washing solution, and pretty much stalk her site on a regular basis when I need a little inspiration. She has great suggestions on organizing your spring cleaning and tips for DIY solutions to make the whole process cheaper by using common, inexpensive household items. Search “spring cleaning” on her site for additional tips and advice, you won’t be disappointed.
Simplify. Live, Love – She has a great list of blog posts with tips for every room in the house and she is careful to list simple, easy ingredients for DIY cleaning recipes which don’t contain a lot of commercial chemicals. I have this one bookmarked – and, no surprise here – several of her tips are from One Good Thing as well!
Good Housekeeping – Of course, the magazine has great tips online as well. They have a good chart to spread the cleaning out over 30 days, which is helpful for those who don’t have the time or the inclination to do one “big bang” sweep.
The Intentional Mom – I admit, my windows are less than appetizing after a cold, damp, Midwestern winter passes us by yet again. I have two massive sliders to clean, plus a bunch of casement windows, which just seem to collect gunkyness. I use her trick on cleaning these with just baking soda and vinegar – which is simple and cheap. I prefer to vacuum mine first to get the worst of it and then I use a spray bottle for the vinegar, because it is a bit less messy and I can better control how much I get in the track. I have vinyl windows, so I don’t know how this will work on wood or other materials, but it works well for me.
I’ve been spring cleaning since I could hold a mop, so the thought of not doing it never crosses my mind, but I am an advocate of cleaning as I go to make it less daunting each year. My plan starts with closets, moves to the kitchen cabinets, and then tackles the “junk” drawers. I do this over a week in little bits each night. Then, I take a day or two off to do the big stuff including washing the walls, cleaning baseboards, scrubbing all the floors, and steam cleaning all the cushions and pillows. I let the professionals handle the carpets.
How about you – what are your spring cleaning rituals? Do you have any tips to share to make this process easier in your home? Comment below and join the conversation.
