The ABC of Spring Cleaning

We all have probably heard of spring cleaning but how many of us have actually done it? I hadn’t. Until this spring came along.

Getting myself into more and more tidying and removing the unnecessary from my life, I also reached an understanding that my home needs a thorough cleaning and airing out. The intention of this post is to share my thoughts on spring cleaning based on the theoretical knowledge and my this year’s experience.

It makes sense that you wouldn’t take on this type of cleaning every week but if you plan it well, you should be able to find time once (or maybe even twice?) a year for your dear home that takes care of you so well. You can, of course, do a deep cleaning at any time of the year but an especially great time for this activity is spring. It’s still sort of cold and wet and grey outside but there is more light and together with it, the fresher air and rays of hope start appearing again.

For all of you who are reading this from countries where the length of day and amount of sunshine are more stable throughout the year and have never lived in Estonia or around, you probably don’t know why all this melancholic talk, so go ahead and pick any time of the year :)

Why should you do a spring cleaning?

Spring cleaning brings along absolutely all the good stuff I have mentioned in the article about the benefits of organising and tidying. However, in addition, doing a big cleaning project once a year gives you even more positive effects, such as:

1. Removing all the dirt and dust that has collected in the areas of your home where you usually don’t clean gives space to the fresh spring air and reduces the appearance of dust mites and the allergies or other illnesses that come along with them.

2. Spring always brings a new awakening in nature. Cleaning and tidying will kickstart the awakening also inside you and your home because the surrounding cleanliness and freshness works as a mirror for your brain.

3. You’ll get to have a full-day (or days even!) workout without thinking about it! Spring cleaning is a very versatile sports and very likely includes a lot of walking, climbing, squatting, reaching, stretching, balancing, depending on the home possibly also stair climbing and lot more that is all good for your body! Even your brain will have a training session because you’ll have to ask yourself memory questions, such as: where does this belong?, when did I last use it?, where would it fit better?, what can I do so there wouldn’t be so much dust?, etc.

How to start?

1. First off, you need to plan your spring cleaning. That means you should definitely not start with it right after reading this post, without consciously separating some of your time for this and ONLY this. Do not plan any other activities, events, meetings, work or anything else for that day.

2. Make a list of everything that needs to be done. This way you’ll have everything in front of your eyes in a logical order and you won’t forget to do certain things. And oh what a joy when you get to cross things off the list! I love this feeling! You can either write the list manually on a piece of paper or you can use an app.

Our family has been using a free app called Cozi for quite a long time already - it’s a shared account app for to-do and shopping lists, shared calendar and for saving recipes from any website on the internet! I also like Any.do and I frequently use the iOS Notes app where you can make lists and add check boxes.

3. Once the planned day has arrived, eat a good filling breakfast and do your usual morning ritual (going for a run, showering, yoga, reading news, drinking coffee or whatever it is that you do to get yourself going). Get yourself mentally ready for your home.

4. Turn on your favourite playlist or do the opposite and switch off all the sounds so you can be with your home or just yourself in your thoughts. Again, whatever works best for you is the correct thing to do. Put away your phone or if you are using an app for your to-do list, switch off all notifications so you won’t get distracted. Note that collecting tidying ideas from the internet is not an excuse because this should’ve been done when you were planning your spring cleaning!

5. If you are doing spring cleaning with your family or partner, make sure that they know what needs to be done and what are their tasks. Like I mentioned before, we are using the shared-account Cozi app where we can each cross off tasks that have been done.

If you have children that are also involved, make a separate list for them with activities that are suitable for kids. Try to plan their activities with a little bit of playfulness in them or add small rewards for each completed task such as a big group hug, one extra minute of screen time or why not even a monetary reward if your kid is collecting money to buy something and if you wish to teach him/her financial wisdom).

What should you pay extra attention to?

Note that the below are just some examples of things people tend to have in their homes. Every home can have many more important things to think about. Also, if you have a garden and/or other buildings on your property, all of these would benefit from a good spring cleaning too! But since I don't have any personal experience with such properties, for the purpose of this post I will only mention stuff that I know about.

• Carpets/rugs - it would be reasonable to take your rugs and/or carpets to professional cleaning at least once a year. During a year there’s a lot of dust and other particles that hide in the fabrics and there is no home vacuum cleaner that would be able to extract all of it 100%.
  

• Cupboards/closets/cabinets - pay extra attention to the tops of these pieces of furniture. The kitchen will need the most scrubbing because everyday dust mixes with grease particles from the cooking area and comes down onto the kitchen cupboards as a sticky film. Have a look at the inside of any and all closets and cupboards you have as dust likes to settle down to any unused surface such as empty spots or things that aren’t in use very often.
  

• (Book)shelves - shelves are usually open and dust loves open surfaces! Dust every little thing standing or laying on your selves as well as empty shelf areas.
  

• Cobwebs - trust me, even the city centre apartments are homes to little spiders! Take a moment on a sunny day and just stare into your ceiling - for the purpose of spring cleaning, remember where you might have seen some webs hanging down. The likeliest places to find them are the corners.
  

• Floor surface underneath furniture - it’s usually the couch that hides some long-lost treasures like nuts underneath it. Dust rolls love to gather around for meetings in all places the human hand doesn’t reach very often, therefore take a close look at all the corners and spots that you can access but that you usually don’t when you do your regular cleaning.
  

• Mattress - a bed mattress should be turned over once or twice a year. Vacuum it and remove any stains if necessary, then leave the mattress in the sunshine and fresh air, if possible (if it’s not too cold outside, consider leaving the window open for a few hours).
  

• Fridge & Freezer - a fridge should be cleaned more than once a year but hey - sometimes you just forget some things! Cleaning your fridge should definitely be a part of your spring cleaning list. Toss all expired items, wipe the inside and outside walls with a clean cloth and wash the shelves and produce boxes. If your freezer has accumulated a bunch of snow and ice, you’ll need to defrost it. The best is to plan it ahead so you have time to make some food from the frozen items and not purchase anything new in the meantime to minimize the amount of things that need to be left out of the freezer for the time of defrosting.
  

• Plants - you can take care of the plants on a different day or have it done together with the rest of your spring cleaning chores. Since house plants are also going through a rough limited-light winter period, then they’re extremely happy when spring arrives. You should check if any of your indoor plants might need a new and larger pot or perhaps some fertiliser, extra soil or trimming would bring the new spring energy into them.
  

• General Looks & Decorations - if you’re a person who likes to swap sofa cushions and throws, bedding, curtains, candle holders etc. according to the season then now it’s the best time to go for the airier, brighter colours and materials. Your home will feel twice as happy after a thorough spring cleaning AND adding some summer-coloured touches.