Spring Cleaning in Less than a Day
Designing the home of your dreams.
We thought that title might catch your attention ;o) I mean, who wouldn’t love to get their Spring cleaning done in ONE SINGLE DAY?!
Spring Cleaning in Less than a Day
Here’s the catch… if you tackle this job on a lazy Saturday (which is ok) while still in your pajamas (also, still ok) with the temptation of a good book and a warm cuddly cat looking at you from across the room every time you walk by… well… your “one day” might turn into two. But you won’t hear us judge… lazy cat and good book days are a must for everyone, and cleaning is cleaning – it’ll be waiting for you when you take your next break.
Not your typical check list…
We’ve all seen (and maybe even downloaded) the online checklists for “keeping your home clean in 30 days”. And there’s nothing wrong with them, unless your month has 28 days, and then you’re only 59 days into your new year’s resolution and you may as well go back to bed – the house will never be clean.
This is not that list. This is a Spring checklist of things to remember as we anxiously await the warmer weather and days on the deck under an umbrella with that beloved book.
This feels longer than it is, but I promise you, it can be done. Read through in advance, and – pro tip – watch for the order of events as they will all flow together.
(Another pro tip, don’t cheat and do the easy things first – you’ll be too tired at the end of the day for the tough stuff. #imaybeguityofthis ;o)
Laundry
Yup, I said it. This one will run all day so let it be the first thing that starts your day. Not the everyday clothing, but the stuff that has likely been neglected all winter – blankets, mattress covers, curtains, throw pillow covers and blankets. Tips:
- Start with your heaviest blankets. These take longer to dry and can be hung over doors to air dry if they are taking too long in the dryer. But you don’t want wet blankets at 8pm.
- Wash curtains on hot water with a hot rinse. This will help with wrinkles. A fabric softener will also help. Alternate a heavy blanket wash and a load of curtains, and then back to a heavy blanket. You can hang your curtains back up directly from the washer and start the next blanket, giving the blanket that’s currently in the dryer a little more time under the heat.
- Use a long-lasting fabric softener or scent booster. This will make your house feel incredibly fresh for long after the dog has settled back onto the freshly cleaned couch with his pile of hair.
Cleaning your kitchen
Easy right? Check? Ok ok… this requires a plan. Start with the tough stuff so that you can let cleaner soak while you do other things. Here’s the list:
Organize under your kitchen sink if you can – you should only need garbage and compost bags and cleaners under there. Try using a small box or bin to keep everything tidy and in its place.
Wipe out your microwave (remember to get the top and under the glass plate) and your dishwasher – specifically along the sides that are often food traps not exposed to the clean cycle.
For your counter tops, you can use a good degreaser. If you have light coloured granite or quartz countertops, an easy trick to remove scuff marks (these always build up around the edges and are hard to remove), use Weinman’s Glass Cooktop cleaner. Yes, I know… Cooktop cleaner for countertops. It’s a trick our installers use to ensure your countertops are spic and span after installation – and it works!
Take a doubled garbage bag (or a reinforced box) and just start going through all items that need disposing of. Check for out-dated labels on condiments, or just old jars in the fridge that are never used. If you wouldn’t miss it, you don’t need it! If your drawers are hard to remove, try your vacuum wand to remove old onion skins (you know they’re in there!), and wipe out with a lemon or other grease cutting cleaner (yes, it can be natural, or just vinegar and hot water if you prefer).
Take a warm soapy cloth and give a quick wipe of your cabinet doors inside and out – especially the garbage receptacle one.
Whether you have a ceramic cooktop, or a gas stove with a ceramic base under the burners, it’s likely that you have crisped food burned on. Try sprinkling baking soda over the entire cooktop and then spraying it with hot water. Let this sit and then come back and scrub it later. This will take off all the grime. Then you can use the fancy cooktop cleaner to polish (we love Barkeepers Friend). For your oven, if it has a self cleaner, turn it on before you go to bed tonight. They usually stink up the house and tie up hours of time, so I like to leave these for bedtime, and just give it a quick wipe down in the morning.
We start this process first so that they sit and soak while you do the other items. Lay them out on your countertop, sprinkle with baking soda, and scrub each board side with a halved lemon. Let them sit before rinsing for stubborn messes. Once complete, run them in your dishwasher (if they fit) on a sanitize cycle. Otherwise, run them under (or soak in) hot water before drying.
(Remember to change the laundry!)
Clean your main living furniture
This goes beyond the usual dusting into something a little deeper.
- Remove couch cushions and vacuum down deep in the cervices. If you have fabric cushions, remove the covers and put them in the washer on a COLD wash and rinse (you don’t want the colour to bleed and not watch the rest of the couch). If you have leather, use a leather wipe to condition them AFTER you have cleaned them with a cleaning rag.
- Vacuum under the chairs, behind the couch, and use the brush to run along the baseboards on hard-to-reach places (chances are, you’re finding dust and hair collecting back there too).
- Use a Swiffer Extender or other duster wand to dust ceiling lights and fans.
Clean your bathrooms
Tackle these as one. You will go from room to room in a specific order, and before you know it, you’ve cleaned multiple bathrooms with time to spare. Have all your cleaners assembled in one bathroom, and you will, one at a time, walk them through your rooms. Here’s my steps, but you can use your own:
- Grab both your toilet bowl cleaner and your tub/shower cleaner sprays and start in the first bathroom, moving through to the last – at this point, we’re just spraying and leaving to soak.
- Back to the first bathroom – have a bottle with a cleaner + hot water solution in hand, along with a cleaning rag, and spray + wipe all surfaces (other than the toilet – leave that for now). This will remove dust, hair and dirt. Remember to wipe anything on the counters (decorations or hairspray bottles – everything gets touched). This is also a good opportunity to set aside for trash anything not being used. Remember the fridge motto – if you won’t miss it, you don’t need it!
- First bathroom again… take your glass cleaner (we love BonAmi’s spray glass cleaner foam!) and do mirrors and wipe over chrome surfaces like taps to remove streaks from your cleaning cloth.
- And finally, toilets and garbage. If you don’t like using reusable rags on toilets, use disposable ones, or paper towel. Spray each toilet all over the exterior and wipe (including down the front of the bowl). Then lift the lids one at a time and wipe. Using a toilet bowl brush (pro tip – have one brush per bathroom so you aren’t dragging toilet brushes throughout your house) clean what you can see in the toilet, as well as under the rim where you can’t (it can turn black under there). Flush, rinse and flush again.
Clean your floors
And last but not least, clean your floors.
Start with a good vacuum, and then a wash. Chances are, you clean your floors all year round so there’s not too much build up on them, however, take with you a duster so that you can run your duster along the edge of the baseboards as well.
And now that you’ve reassembled your cushions, hung clean curtains and sat back down in your freshly cleaned house, order pizza. The last thing you’ll want to do is cook In your beautifully clean kitchen! You may even need to hose the kids off outside before you let them in! (Or is that just me?)
Happy Spring!