Happy Spring... Cleaning!

Spring is finally here! I know much of the nation has had a very rough winter and is thrilled at the sight of spring. Now that it is officially here, it's time to jump into spring cleaning! Well, in my house it is anyway. I know that spring cleaning is a daunting task for anyone, myself included. It's really not that much fun to spend hours or days inside cleaning the house. I like to break up my spring cleaning tasks so that it doesn't feel quite so overwhelming.



Yesterday I marked the start of spring by tackling most of my kitchen. Sometime this week I plan on scrubbing my bathroom until it shines. Other spring cleaning tasks will just have to wait until April.

If you're one of those people who is too busy to even think about spring cleaning but knows it needs to happen, I have some tips for you on how to do just that:

*Start by making a list of what needs to be cleaned in your house - if you've got a really long list, as most people do, break it down by room or section of your house.

*Choose the one room or project that is of the highest importance and continue to rank order your list of tasks until it is prioritized.

*Now it's time to take a close look at your #1 priority and break that down into specific tasks. For example, in my kitchen I made a specific "to do list" so that I could cross off the little things I did instead of having to clean out the entire kitchen all at once.

Kitchen:
-Wipe out refrigerator
-Wipe out freezer
-Clean cabinet faces
-Wipe down pantry shelves, clean out
-Scrub oven inside
-Wipe out oven drawer
-Detail appliances
-Complete recipe organization

*Once you have come up with your specific task lists for each room or area in your house it's time to dedicate some time to accomplishing these tasks. I think it's perfectly acceptable to spend all spring getting this stuff done because, well, it's no fun and it's a lot of work. If you're one of those people who'd prefer to get everything done in a weekend - fine, clean your heart out!

*I like allocating part of a day most weekends to spend time knocking out tasks, plus I can usually afford to sacrifice one night each week to get some stuff done at home. After all, it's lighter out now and I usually have more motivation to be productive when I can see daylight.

*Don't forget about adding projects that you've been putting off to your spring cleaning list. Some of mine are: hanging art on the walls, vacuum cobwebs/clean out unfinished portion of my basement, and clean the car!