10 Spring Cleaning and Decluttering Tips

So, we’re getting near that time of the year once again. With spring just around the corner, one could hardly not think about the upcoming housework. Of course, we’re talking about the whole spring-cleaning ordeal. Still, this shouldn’t mean one should lament over this tradition, so to speak. There are many ways you can make the process easier. That’s precisely what we’ll talk about today. Here are the ten spring cleaning and decluttering tips you might find helpful!

1. Start with decluttering

Some people love to declutter, while others dread even the sound of that word and never seem to get around to doing it. If you belong to the second group, don’t worry – it may even come easily to you after all the winter maintenance you’ve been doing around the house. What’s more, there’s an overly simple rule for this: if you haven’t used an item in the last six months, consider throwing it away. Unless, of course, the object has great sentimental value, or it is a seasonal item (mainly: clothing). There’s no need to throw everything away; you can donate or even try to sell certain things (the good ol’ yard sale is always a good option).

By decluttering in this manner, you’ll probably find out you’ve got too many excess items around your home, gathering dust and adding up to basically nothing. Also, you’ll be pretty proud once you notice how much additional room you’ve cleared up. For all we know, you might end up adopting the minimalist philosophy.

1.2 Another reason why decluttering’s good

If you’ve only recently found a new home in Boulder and decided to move here, you might want to declutter before the big day. For one thing, the price of your move’s greatly affected by the size (more precisely: the weight) of your moving inventory. It is not that the moving services are particularly pricey in Colorado, but we’re guessing you’ll want to save a few bucks. Second, by downsizing before the move, you won’t be bringing all that excess clutter into your brand-new home.

Nowadays, most of our homes are filled with too many excess items we don’t even use.

2. Use the top-down approach

If you are selling your home, you cannot skip cleaning the entire property from top to bottom. It’s one of the first rules of staging your home for sale. So, how exactly does one implement a top-down cleaning approach? Here’s how: you’ll start with dusting and cleaning the ceiling, molding, and light fixtures. Next, you’ll continue wiping down the walls, treating the windows, dusting the photographs and art hung on the walls, and sanitizing the doors and switches. Once you’re done with the walls, you can do the furniture and outside/inside of your storage pieces (if you haven’t done it already following the tip we’ve shown you above). Lastly, finish up with the floors.

3. Give the carpets a deep clean

Next up: carpeting! You’d be surprised to find out how much dirt, dust, hair, and other not-so-favorite household essentials find their way into your carpet. Of course, this issue’s especially bad in bedrooms or dining rooms, where you’re not so likely to move heavy furniture around while you’re cleaning. Restore your carpet’s old glory by giving it a deep clean using a high-performance vacuum cleaner or even hiring pro cleaners to handle the task!

4. Introduce some order to your home’s storage

There are certain (valuable) items that have luckily avoided the decluttering phase. Still, they might fit into your home’s storage better than any other room after all. So, if you think you need more space for those things, you might want to think about organizing the rest of your home storage (closets, for instance). However, before you do anything, make sure you clean your storage space first (whether we’re talking about a storage room or clothing closets) and always keep it organized! There ain’t a worse sight than dirty storage. As if someone needs to emphasize that one for you, right?

By introducing some order to your storage space (including the clothing closets), you’ll do yourself a big favor.

5. Clean your fridge thoroughly

Rare are those who clean their fridge as often as one should. In other words: most folks just let the stains, food, and water pile up and create a mess. To battle this, one must first obtain a couple of simple household items. First of all, get yourself that tried-and-true toothbrush and toothpaste combo as your cleaning solution. The chemicals from which the toothpaste’s made will help you remove any stains regardless of their origin with absolute ease, and the toothbrush will provide the friction and accuracy necessary to finish the job.

Also, is your fridge smelly? If so, just cut a lemon in half and place the two parts in your fridge. You’ll put one half on the top shelf and the other on the bottom one. The thing is: lemons naturally absorb any odors and help you keep a nice-smelling fridge. This comes in particularly handy if the reason why you need our list of spring cleaning tips in the first place is that you’re listing your home for sale. Buyers love to take a peek everywhere, especially the kitchen.

6. Children’s toys in the dishwasher?

Your dishwasher isn’t only good for cleaning the dishes. You can easily place children’s plastic toys (without the batteries, of course) into it, along with your standard detergent or tablet. It will help sanitize the toys, so your little ones can enjoy playing with them time and time again. This is one of the most unusual spring-cleaning and decluttering tips, but it works.

7. Soda to the rescue (oven cleaning)

Oven cleaning is everything but an easy task. Still, a small amount of bicarbonate of soda will help you handle it with ease. Just add bicarbonate of soda mixed with water inside a spray bottle, and there’s your homemade oven-cleaning solution. Spray it on the inside surfaces of the oven, avoiding the heating parts. Leave it overnight and clean the next morning. In case some soda remains, spray it with vinegar for removal.

8. Early bird gets the worm

Since spring’s just about to hit us, you want to begin your spring cleaning as early as possible. Use the winter temperatures that keep you from going anywhere to complete some portion of the work. Of course, you’ll only handle the interior since the outside of your home mightn’t be so approachable for cleaning. Once the spring comes, you’ll have a lot of free time to enjoy the weather instead of cleaning.

Start early! Don’t wait until spring to begin spring cleaning!

9. Do an overnight bathroom deep clean

Right off the bat – no, we aren’t suggesting you wait until the night to start cleaning. The thing is: you can clean your bathroom while you sleep. Anyway, as you might know, limescale is infamously tough to remove, and that’s where (smelly) white vinegar is your best buddy. Spray on your shower, toilet, and sink, and wipe it off tomorrow morning.

10. Remove pet hair

The final item on our spring cleaning and decluttering tips list is all about your dear furry friends. If you have a pet, we don’t need to tell you they like to spread their hairs everywhere. You’ll want to use a pair of ordinary rubber gloves to remove them. The hairs stick naturally to them because of the material they’re made from. If anything needs to be pet-hair-free, use your trusty gloves.

Key phrase: spring cleaning and decluttering tips

Meta description: With spring just around the corner, the topic of cleaning can’t be avoided. Here are some spring cleaning and decluttering tips you’ll love.

https://unsplash.com/photos/n5qirFAe6rQ

https://unsplash.com/photos/wh9I0jokix8

https://unsplash.com/photos/my5cwTzhmNI https://unsplash.com/photos/jCPL0oxBhB0