Are you the type of person who absolutely hates the thought of spring-cleaning? There are many people that do. The idea of spring-cleaning causes plenty of anxiety to those who view it as a chaotic time made worse by having to deal with the dirt and grime of the winter season. However, it is what it is. Spring-cleaning is one of those necessary chores that have to be done in order to fully enjoy our homes during the spring and summer.
Spring-cleaning is still a couple of months off for most of us. Nevertheless, do not wait until the end of March to start making plans. With a few minor preparations now, your spring-cleaning chores can be completed much more quickly and efficiently. Here are five tips you can use to prepare for spring-cleaning:
1. Inventory Winter Items
Every household has a set of winter items that never get used beyond March or April. These are things such as boots, winter coats, snow shovels, etc. A winter day, when you are trapped inside by the weather, is a good day to walk around your home and inventory your winter items. Creating an inventory list will help you do two things:
decide ahead of time what items need to be discarded after the season; and
plan a storage strategy for those items you intend to keep.
Making decisions about your winter items ahead of time means you will not have to make them during spring-cleaning. It will be one less thing to worry about.
2. Maintain the Garage
If you use your garage to actually store your car, you know how much filth is generated by road salt and snow. Things can get so bad that it can take you the better part of a full Saturday to clean your garage in the spring. Yet if you put in 10 to 20 minutes per week during the winter, you can save yourself a lot of trouble in the spring.
Once per week do some basic garage maintenance. Sweep the floor and, if practical, hose it down. Use some old rags to wipe down your tool bench, your bicycles, and anything else that might collect dust from the road salt your car tracks in.
3. Empty Kitchen Cupboards
A thorn in the side of many spring cleaners is the kitchen cupboards. Nothing is worse than having to pull everything out to scrub them down. Where food storage cupboards are concerned, you can make your spring-cleaning easier if you work on a strategy now to empty them – by using all of the food products you now have stored.
For example, make a point of using up all five cans of tuna sitting in the back corner. You will not have to pull them out for cleaning if they are eaten. The idea here is to gradually use up all of your canned and jarred foods in order to make cleaning the cupboards easier. It is also a great way to force yourself to use food before it reaches its expiration date.
4. Get out Your Calendar
Our busy schedules can lead us to continually put off spring-cleaning until the very last moment. You can avoid this annual trap by getting out your calendar now and setting your spring-cleaning dates. Make sure you choose dates when everyone in the household will be available. Remember, many hands make light work.
5. Schedule a Concierge Service
If circumstances prevent you from doing a thorough spring cleaning job on your own, you can always hire a personal concierge service such as ours. Nonetheless, schedule your cleaning as far in advance as possible. Spring is a busy time for the concierge industry, for obvious reasons.
Spring-cleaning does not have to be chaos and misery. With a little advance planning and some common sense, you can take care of this annual chore quickly and easily. That will give you more time to enjoy the nicer weather spring affords.