It’s that time of year again! The sun is breaking through the gray clouds, the birds are chirping, and the weather is warming up which can only mean one thing… Spring is coming! And with that warmup comes the well-known tradition of Spring-cleaning.
Now while we all love leaving the heavy coats behind and breaking out the light layers, some of us may dread the deep cleaning that generally comes along with this season change. Many people use the Spring Equinox as a motivator to do a deep cleaning of their homes and belongings to welcome the warmer weather. Whether it’s changing your filter in your Sharp Range Hood, or even just cleaning out your closet you can always find the perfect dose of cleanliness. I personally love spring cleaning and resetting my space to start fresh for a new time of year, but it can be overwhelming with so much to clean and no clue where to start.
First off, it’s okay to feel stressed when it comes to giving your whole home a good clean, just don’t let that stress shut you down entirely. Use this as an opportunity to decompress, let go of all those winter blues and even jam out to your favorite playlist. Here are a few tips from the internet, friends, and my cleaning-obsessed mom that I’ve found helpful in order to reduce the overwhelming feeling of Spring-cleaning and get that fresh-start feeling.
Make a List
Start by making a list of priorities. Write down all the chores you want to accomplish during your Spring-cleaning venture with the most pressing chore at the top and tackle that first. Go on from there by listing what may not be as pressing but you would still like to see done in the coming weeks. Remember that not everything needs to get done in one day. Making a list always helps to organize your thoughts by seeing them on paper in order of importance. Take each item on the list one by one to keep from trying to achieve every goal at once.
Make Sure Everything Is Put Back Clean
Before I go on and mention everything else in this list, I want to express the importance of this pillar. You are going to be going and touching many items and personal belongings, re-arranging them to find them new homes. As you are going through this process, make sure that you practice cleanliness through each step.
As much as I love living and cooking in my dream kitchen, every year I always seem to manage to stuff my cabinets with all these dishes and extra plates that I find on sale at my favorite home decor store. For example, start by going through your items and thinking about what you’ve used the past year and what you’ve used the least. Come across some items that you didn’t even remember you had (chances are you will)? It may be time to let those go!
For the ones you want to keep or the ones that have been sitting there for a while, it may not be a bad idea to run it through the Sharp Dishwasher, taking advantage of the Power Wash sprayer for extra scrubbing power and the adjustable third rack, ideal for flatware and serving instruments such as spatulas and other baking utensils. Sounds awesome, right?
Start on the Inside
Work from the inside-out. Something my mom has passed down to me is the feeling of relief I get from going through and cleaning out my belongings a few times a year. Before you get to dusting, washing, or vacuuming, look at what’s inside your closets, drawers, cabinets and everything in between and clear out what you might not want or need anymore. There’s a sense of freedom that comes with tossing out or donating bags of stuff that have formed clutter throughout the year. Don’t ignore what’s on the inside!
Reassess Your Possessions
While you’re going through your closets and drawers, reassess everything. Is it worn or doesn’t match your style? A cardinal rule in my house is if you haven’t used it in the last 12 months, you probably won’t use it again. If you don’t have a ton of storage space, this is a perfect time to choose what cold-weather items to pack away and make more room for your warm-weather clothes. Now, over the last two years things may have changed quite a bit and the clothes you used to wear to work every day probably aren’t being used too often right now. If that’s the case, hold off on tossing all your professional clothes until you know what your permanent work/work-from-home schedule will be.
Work From Top to Bottom
When it’s time to start the dusting, vacuuming, and washing, always remember to work from top to bottom. While spring-cleaning, we usually will take this opportunity to clean those pesky places in our homes that probably don’t get too much attention throughout the rest of the year, like the top of the wall-unit or behind the dressers. When you’re cleaning a room, start by cleaning the tops of the surfaces in that room and work your way to the bottom. If you’re taking down the curtains to wash them, for example, take the curtains down first and then start cleaning the rest of the room and surfaces below it so that the dirt and dust from the curtains doesn’t fall to the already cleaned surfaces. There’s nothing more annoying than cleaning a whole room just for the dust from higher surfaces to make it dirty again, so always make sure to start at the top.
Hopefully these few tips help motivate you to jumpstart your Spring-cleaning regime with a little less stress. If you like this article and want to see more like it, connect with us on social and subscribe to Simply Better Living. Have a Happy Spring!
