The harsh winds of winter will be replaced by the new beginnings of spring in a matter of weeks. After a long winter and an eventful festive season, it’s once again time to start thinking about spring cleaning.
There really is no better time of the year to give your home a complete makeover. Spring always ushers in a period of new life, optimism and excitement, and sprucing up your home is a great way to mark the occasion.
But if you’re going to completely transform your home from top to bottom, you’re going to need a few tips and shortcuts along the way. This is a massive undertaking — whether you live in a five-bedroom mansion or a studio apartment.
This is the time to start planning your big spring clean, and here are a few tips to get you started.
1. Make a plan
Think logically about what lies ahead. It usually makes sense to start from upstairs and work your way down, so schedule the cleaning of bedrooms and bathrooms first. Give each room a time limit, and try to stick to it.
Make a list of all the rooms in your home, and then create sub-lists of everything that needs cleaning in them. This will also give you an indication of the cleaning agents and tools you’re going to need.
Create a schedule that works for you. This might be a single day, or it could involve a long weekend.
2. Prepare
A couple of days before your big spring clean, gather all of the tools and cleaning agents you’re going to need. If it makes things easier for you, create cleaning stations so that the necessary items are always close at hand.
3. Always start with a big declutter
A spring clean is hard enough without having to negotiate your way around various personal possessions and general clutter. Before you start cleaning anything, sweep your entire home for those everyday ‘things’ you just don’t need. This is your opportunity to do your bit for charity or raise a bit of extra cash at the local car boot sale.
4. Early to rise
When the big day finally arrives, you don’t want to miss a second of daylight. Getting surfaces, carpets and appliances spotless is always easier when you have natural sunlight leading the way. Set an alarm for dawn, and get to work right away.
5. Enlist some help
Spring cleaning a home is a massive undertaking, so any help you can muster should be utilised fully. While you should remain in charge of the project, delegating individual tasks to friends and family will make the entire process faster and more effective.
6. Clean one room at a time
To keep mess and disruption to an absolute minimum, clean one room as a group before moving on to the next. It’s great to be able to close a door to a room and tick it off as ‘cleaned’.
7. Schedule cleaning time appropriately
The chances are you aren’t going to spend as much time in a bedroom as you are in your bathroom or kitchen. It’s therefore important that you schedule your cleaning appropriately. Devote extra time for cleaning high-traffic areas.
8. Use steam
The power of superheated steam delivered by a Shark steam mop can help you in almost every area of your home. The optimum amount of steam is delivered using a range of tools and accessories.
If you’re cleaning your kitchen surfaces, the steam mop will kill up to 99.9% of household bacteria. Your mop can be used to steam clean hanging curtains, upholstered furniture, carpets and tiles around you home. You won’t need to work nearly as hard to get results, and you can save yourself a huge amount of money on cleaning products too.
9. Attend to maintenance issues at the same time
This is a perfect opportunity to carry out those niggling repairs and maintenance jobs you’ve been putting off throughout the winter. Whether your paintwork needs a touch-up or a door handle needs tightening, include these small jobs in your cleaning plan. If you need help from someone with the necessary skills, make sure they’re available during your spring clean.
Being organised and structured in your approach to spring cleaning should make the task faster, easier and a lot more effective.
