For many people in Australia, the 1st of September represents a very important day. It is the first official day of spring!
After shivering through single digit temperatures most days of winter and living in homes where the windows remained shut for the best part of three months, the coming of spring represents a change of mood and temperature, as nature awakens with colours, energy and sound.
Overall, ver tempore is a time that signifies new beginnings, growth and renewal. However, it is also a period which signals that it’s time to give your home a thorough spring clean.
But how do you do that when you are busy with your work, study or parental responsibilities? Here are 10 quick and efficient spring Cleaning tips that you can adopt to help you dust out the cobwebs and breathe new life into where you live.
Spring Cleaning Tips for Busy People
1. Create A Plan
The thought of Spring Cleaning your entire home can be daunting, particularly if your property has several bedrooms and bathrooms. But while it might be tempting to just pick a room and dive straight into cleaning it, your first course of action should be to create a proper cleaning plan.
It doesn’t have to be too thorough, but you should assess each room in your house to determine what work needs to be done. Once you understand the scope of the task ahead you can then work out a strategy for completing it.
This should incorporate factors like the order in which you will clean rooms, how long you will clean for at a time, what are the main priorities to focus on and when you will start.
Doing this gives you a clear timeframe in which to work with. It will also enable you to tick off items on your to-do list, as and when you complete them, and give you a clear indication of how much of the spring cleaning is still left to do. Ultimately, this puts you in full control of the spring clean and should prevent you from being overwhelmed by the size of it.
2. Air Out The Whole House
During the winter months, because it is so cold, many people don’t open the windows of their home. In addition, they might also have a heating system regularly running to warm their place up.
Although this keeps them nice and warm when the mercury drops, it can create a breeding ground for nasty bacteria and harmful particles. This, in turn, can expose you to very poor air quality that triggers health issues such as colds, flu or allergies like hay fever to flare up, which could end up making you sick.
For this reason, one of the first things you should do on your spring clean is to open all the doors and windows in your house. Generally speaking, doing this for an hour or two will significantly improve the air quality in your home. Though, even a shorter burst of 5 to 15 minutes will make a difference.
If the weather is too cold to open all your windows and doors, it is a good idea to do this one room at a time. A good starting point is the rooms you spend the most time in, such as your bedroom or TV area.
3. Declutter
Spring cleaning isn’t just about wiping down surfaces and washing curtains and carpets. It is also about getting rid of things you no longer need or use.
Therefore, before you start cleaning and dusting, take the opportunity to declutter. To do this you will need to be ruthless. Get rid of that portable stereo that you haven’t used in months. Take out the chair from the lounge that doesn’t really match the rest of the furniture. Streamline the trinkets and items you have on display.
By taking a less is more approach, you are actually increasing the amount of space you have in your home and also reducing the amount of cleaning you will have to do.
When decluttering, be sure to divide your possessions into four sections – what you will sell, recycle, donate to charity or throw away. Several companies, including 1300 Rubbish can help you dispose of your items in a responsible and environmentally friendly way.
4. Focus On One Room At A Time
When starting your spring clean, it is a good idea to focus on one room at a time. Otherwise, it would be easy to get overwhelmed and feel like you are not getting anything done.
Begin with the room that needs the most attention and break the work that needs doing to it into small, manageable tasks. This could include wiping down the walls, washing the curtains, hoovering or steam cleaning the carpets, mopping floors and dusting/polishing surfaces.
Where possible, take out the furniture and possessions in a room and clean them outside. This will reduce the amount of dust and particles that circulate in the air within it.
Approaching the spring clean in this way will make it a much more manageable proposition.
5. Rope In The Family
It is within everyone’s interest to ensure where they live is thoroughly cleansed, polished and spotless. So, cleaning is not something you should do alone.
As a result, you should make sure you get all members of the family involved. Although kids (or your partner!) might complain, a good way to get their buy-in is to give them tasks to do that are appropriate for their age, for instance, taking the bins out or tidying up their toys.
Doing this will reduce some of the work that needs doing, while giving your children responsibility and teaching them about the importance of living in a clean home.
6. Be Realistic
Rome wasn’t built in a day and for most people, their home won’t be properly spring cleaned in one either.
While you might want to have the cleaning completed ASAP it is important to be realistic about your ability to do so. Most people will find it very difficult to clean a four-bedroom house in a day without cutting corners (where would the sense be in that?).
So instead, you need to set yourself achievable goals over a particular timeframe to make sure you meet your overall objective of thoroughly cleaning your property.
7. Use Good Quality Cleaning Products
Unfortunately, not all cleaning products are made equally, and some do the job much better than others. Subsequently, it is worth paying for a good quality, all-purpose brand that will do the job properly the first time around.
The last thing you want to do is buy cheap cleaning sprays that don’t provide you with the level of clean you are after. Therefore, choose water-based products that are a commercial or industrial cleaning grade. Also, try to pick an environmentally friendly version and always choose something that is odour free and has no allergens.
If you don’t want to spend lots of money on cleaning products try making some natural, homemade solutions instead.
8. Know When To Stop
One of the hardest parts about cleaning is knowing when to stop because if you are not careful you can end up wiping the same surface or hoovering the same bit of carpet over and over again.
To avoid you spending hours unnecessarily cleaning, make sure you only clean a surface once, in one direction i.e. left to right or right to left. The same applies to hoovering.
Moreover, when cleaning a room, you should always start at the top before making your way down to the bottom. This strategic approach will prevent you from having to redo an area four or five times.
9. Hire In Professionals
If you find yourself facing a big task when it comes to spring cleaning, and you just can’t find the time or fancy doing it, outside of your busy schedule, maybe you should call in the professionals.
There are several companies you can use that will give your home a deep clean and leave it looking shiny and new. If you are looking for a recommendation, ask your nearest real estate agent who they use as their bond cleaners.
10. Don’t Forget Outside Your Home
It is easy to focus your spring clean on the inside of your home. But you should also give thought to the outside of it once over too. A few months of cold weather and rain may have significantly affected the curb appeal of your property.
Consider getting the exterior of your home power washed to leave it looking shiny and new. Also, it is worth clearing out the gutters on your roof from any leaves or other debris that might have ended up there during high winds.
Final Thought
At the end of the day, spring cleaning doesn’t have to be a millstone around your neck. So, it is worth implementing the ten quick and efficient strategies outlined above.
If you do, you’ll soon whip up your home into tip top condition in no time and be able to relax in the comfort of a properly spring-cleaned home.
