How To Cut Spring Home Cleaning Time Down

Introduction

When the daylight hours start getting longer, bright colored crocus blooms peek up from the ground and birds start to sing in the early morning hours, it's time to tackle spring home cleaning. Even if you're a great housekeeper, freshening up the house as a new season dawns is an invigorating experience. Traditionally, spring home cleaning time was an enormous undertaking. It involved removing soot and musty odors that had collected from the cookstoves and fireplaces that kept a home warm during the long, cold winter months. With modern heating and ventilation systems, spring home cleaning is not quite as daunting as it was for earlier generations. A good, deep cleaning can be done quickly with attention to detail and a few handy tools.

Step 1

Plan your spring home cleaning schedule in advance. Trying to fit the tasks into little chunks of time between your regularly scheduled life can turn the chores into a long, drawn-out process. Instead, set aside one or two mornings or evenings to accomplish the whole thing without getting bored and angry before it's all done. Get everyone in the household on board with the project, dividing and assigning responsibilities to each member of the household. Write it all down on a large piece of paper and post it where everyone can see exactly what needs to happen and in what order.

Step 2

Make a shopping list of cleaning supplies and tools that you'll need to accomplish the spring home cleaning project. A new broom, a new dusting wand and fresh bottles of cleaning spray brighten up the start of the project. Review the task list you've posted to make sure you don't miss any necessary items. Then do all the shopping for the project at the same time you do your regular weekly grocery shopping. This will save the time for extra trips to the store before you even start, and reduce the chance that you'll have to stop in the middle of a task to run out for something you forgot.

Step 3

Start the project by stripping linens from the beds, throw rugs from the floors and doilies or other fabric items from all the surfaces in the house. Wash and dry these items as you work on the remaining projects. You only need to pause from other home spring cleaning tasks briefly to empty and load the washer and dryer. Wait to put the clean items back in place after all the surfaces in each room have been cleaned.

Step 4

Load all the small cleaning items into a bucket that you can carry from room to room. This saves a lot of extra footwork running back and forth to pick up items from the kitchen or storage area when you need them. Park the vacuum cleaner in the hallway near the door of the room you are cleaning. This way it is easily accessible as soon as you've finished dusting all the surfaces, washing the inside of the windows and wiping down any marks on the woodwork. 

Step 5

Save mopping wood and laminate floors for the very last step in your spring home cleaning project. If you mop first, chances are you'll have to take extra time to mop again after you have attended to all the other details in the room. Wait until the floors are completely dry to put in the clean floor rugs and any other linens in the room.

Tips

Plan a nice, quiet night in when the home spring cleaning is all done. Order pizza delivery or have someone pick up take-away food so that you can all relax and enjoy your accomplishment. 

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