Spring is a time of renewal…lengthening days, flowers in bloom, greening lawns, yard sales, and outdoor activities. Perhaps because of this sense of renewal and energy—or maybe just the scrim of pollen that accumulates in April—spring is also the traditional time to give your home a good cleaning and de-cluttering.
Seniors at Brandermill Woods enjoy our housekeeping services and maintenance-free exterior care so they can focus on enjoying the retirement lifestyle they’ve always wanted. But for the rest of us, spring cleaning can be a real chore. Here are five tips to refresh and rejuvenate your home this season so you can get back to the business of enjoying the warm air and long days:
1. Go for the low-hanging fruit.
If you really dislike the job of spring cleaning, break the job up and go for a few easy wins. Set aside 15 minutes a night for a week and go through one room per day. You might think there’s not a whole lot you can do in 15 minutes, but sweep your eyes around the room for anything you can throw away or donate. A stack of old newspapers? Some shirts you received for Christmas three years ago that you’ve never worn? An old appliance or a piece of furniture that’s gathering dust? Grab what you can to quickly de-clutter and straighten up, and then run a vacuum over the room and a dust rag over the surfaces. You can do a lot in 15 minutes, and it’ll feel great to chip away at what could otherwise be an overwhelming job.
2. Tackle one big project.
Have you always wanted to re-organize your closets, or hang shelving in your laundry room, or re-landscape your backyard? Pick one big project this year and commit to tackling it. Maybe that means hiring someone to do the job. It might mean spending some time to plan out what you want. But if there’s a job you’ve always wanted to do around the house, imagine how great it will feel to finally have it done come the Fourth of July. Taking care of one big job this spring might inspire you to take on another big job this fall, and before you know it your house is exactly the way you’ve always imagined it.
3. Store paperwork and photos in the cloud.
Considering people 30 years ago were imagining a paperless world, we certainly have a great deal of paper in the 21st century. Important documents like the deed of a house or a birth certificate need to be kept in a safe place, but most papers that accumulate are wasting space in our homes. Consider investing in a software like Evernote, or even Google Drive or Dropbox. Scan or take a photo of the paperwork you need, children’s report cards, birthday cards, family photos and the like, and upload the digital copies to the cloud. Then take a deep breath and recycle the originals.
4. Wash the windows.
If you’re like most people, you likely don’t have window washing in your regular routine of chores. Maybe you clean the window by the front door when you see a smudge, or the French doors leading to your patio, but our houses have a lot of windows, and washing regularly isn’t all that important. There’s a good chance, therefore, that your windows could use a good scrubbing, so take an hour or two on a cloudy day to pull out a ladder and wash all the windows in your house, inside and out. You’ll be delighted by the difference it makes.
5. Hire a cleaning service.
A one-time deep clean from a professional service will change the way you view your house. Having someone else come in to take the cushions off the couch and vacuum up the deep-down dirt will make your house look like new again, and will outsource the headache of scrubbing every nook and cranny. If you already have a regular cleaning service, they likely offer a “deep clean,” which is well worth the investment once a year. With the dirt vacuumed up and the pollen wiped away, you can kick your feet up and enjoy the beautiful weather. Happy spring!
