The arrival of flowers, awakening of trees, and warmer temperatures mean spring is here! Spring is a great time to clean your home from top to bottom inside and outside.
When creating your to-do list for this annual ritual, here are some things to consider:
- Evaluate the safety of your home. If you didn't already do so with the start of daylight saving time, replace batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. Clean filters in your dryer and washing machine. Replace HVAC filters (which should be done quarterly).
- Reduce clutter. This includes everything from clothes in your closet to expired food in your refrigerator. For clothing, shoes, other apparel, and gently used appliances, consider donating these items to a local charity, such as Goodwill, Volunteers of America, homeless shelters, etc. If you could use some extra cash, you can also sell items in a yard sale or at resale/consignment shops. For larger items, such as some appliances and furniture, you can donate them to local furniture banks and Habitat for Humanity's ReStore.
- Organize any seasonal items. Store what you won't need until cooler temperatures return and remove warm weather items from storage, such as lawn furniture, so you can use them again.
- Clean the entire interior of your home: kitchen, cabinet(s), bedroom(s), bathroom(s), closet(s)/pantry, living room, hallway(s), laundry room, ceiling(s), floors, walls, garage, etc. This can involve dusting, washing, scrubbing, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, wiping, etc.
- Don't forget to tidy the outside of your home. Clean porch(es), patio(s), sidewalk(s), windows, siding, roof, landscaping, etc.
Spring cleaning can be overwhelming, so consider breaking tasks into small realistic portions for you and your family. You also can schedule and prioritize them to make them more manageable. If you tackle one high-traffic area or a portion of it each time you work, you are making progress toward your goal of sprucing up for spring.
