Simple Sustainable Sovereign

It’s officially Spring!

Depending where you live, spring might be the most beautiful season of the entire year. The snow melts, the trees and flowers begin to bloom, and the sun starts making more frequent appearances. The feeling of that first day of clear blue skies and sunshine is one of the very best, and always tempts me to throw open my windows and run outside to soak in the spring sunshine.

The bummer of spring is that the warm weather doesn’t return all at once. It seems to come in waves, giving a small taste of summer, then a reminder of winter, until it gradually replaces all memories of cold with heat as summer finally arrives. But this is also a blessing, as in the meantime, on those cooler spring days where you’re trapped inside wishing for more pleasant weather, there’s no better way to pass the time then with a little spring cleaning.

What is Spring Cleaning?

Spring cleaning is the expression used to describe the tradition of participating in an annual deep clean of your home in the springtime. The origin of this expression is somewhat debated, with some attributing it to farming and agriculture, others to cultural or religious traditions from the Middle East and China, and some simply to the boost of energy we receive from the sun. One common explanation is that the term spring cleaning was popularized in the 19th century, before the invention of vacuums, as the warmer weather allowed for families to open their windows and doors to dust and sweep dirt and soot from winter fires out of the house.

Whatever the origin of the expression, spring cleaning is a great opportunity to shift your home from a battened down, winterized state, to a fresh new atmosphere ready for the long summer days ahead.

Why should I do a Spring Cleaning?

I grew up with the expression “spring cleaning” thrown around when springtime approached, and I’ll be honest, I always dreaded the thought of having to help with a yearly deep clean of my family’s home (luckily for me, we did not strictly adhere to the spring cleaning tradition). However, now as an adult with my own home to care for, I can certainly see the value and draw to engaging in a more methodical and extensive cleaning as we transition from winter to summer.

Some advantages of engaging in a good spring cleaning, from my perspective, are as follows:

• You likely just spent a large portion of the last several months of winter indoors, which means your house has probably collected some dirt and grime and is in need of a refresh.
• By doing a deep clean in the Spring, your living space will be in good condition as you head into summer, which will lessen the burden of cleaning in the warmer months and allow you to instead spend time participating in activities you enjoy more.
• Opening the windows, sweeping, dusting, mopping, washing, and scrubbing is gratifying work, as your home will feel renewed and refreshed when you finish.
• Intentionally performing a spring cleaning is a way to acknowledge the transition of seasons and prepare not only your home, but also your mind for the next portion of the year and all that it entails.

How does one go about Spring Cleaning?

There’s a million approaches one could take for this task. Below I will describe the method I follow for my home and how you can tailor this approach to work for your space, whether it’s an apartment, motor home, or rented room.

Step 1: Determine your Objective

What is your main goal here? Are you just hoping to accomplish those more detailed cleaning tasks that you tend to put off ? Or do you want to do a full overhaul of your possessions as well? Spring cleaning is a great time to declutter and simplify your home, in addition to deep cleaning.

When would you like to have this completed by? Having a goal without a timeline is like putting something on the stove but never turning it on. The intention is there, but the initiative is not.

So, to determine your objective, set your goal and create a timeline.

e.g. My goal is to deep clean every room in my home and declutter my possessions. I want to accomplish this before the first day of summer.

Step 2: Get Detailed and Make a List

Once you have your objective mapped out, the next step is to get more detailed. The way I approach this is by going through each room or area in my home, from top to bottom, listing what needs to be done.

For me, making a list is the key to accomplishing tasks. It allows me to organize my thoughts onto paper and visibly track my progress. Even if you’re not generally a list maker, I highly recommend giving it a shot in this instance.

e.g. I start in the entry way of my home, looking from the ceiling to the floor. I list that I need to:

• dust away cobwebs
• clean light fixture
• dust any wall hangings or pictures
• wipe down shelf in coat closet
• wash & declutter coats in coat closet
• clean door window
• wipe down door
• dust entry table
• wipe down baseboards
• sweep and mop floor

Moving on to the kitchen, I list:

• wipe any food splatters off ceiling
• clean the front and inside (including shelves) of upper cabinets
• declutter items in upper cabinets
• remove everything from counters and wipe them down
• wipe down or wash any appliances that sit on the counter
• deep clean stove/ run a cleaning cycle on the oven
• scrub sink
• wipe down the refrigerator
• remove items from each shelf in the fridge and wipe shelves down
• discard any old or expired food items
• clean the front and inside (including shelves) of lower cabinets
• declutter items in lower cabinets
• clean outside and inside of dishwasher
• wipe down baseboards
• sweep and mop floor

Continue throughout each room in your home until you have completed listing all that you would like to accomplish. Don’t worry if your list is long (you want to be hyper detailed here) many of these tasks are quick and easy to complete.

Step 3: Clean!

Once you have all your tasks listed, there’s nothing to it but to do it. Don’t let the list you made become a piece of paper clutter that sits around. Pick a room to begin with and start on that cleaning!

Finding the motivation to accomplish a big undertaking like this can be difficult, and seeing it through to completion will take time and dedication. However, the process is simple and if you go about it the right way, it might even be fun. Plus, the feeling of heading into summer with a clean and freshly decluttered house will certainly be worth the effort made.

It’s important to find ways to make spring cleaning simple and sustainable for your lifestyle. Here are my best tips to do just that:

• Add cleaning to your routine. Make sure you stick to the timeline you set by giving yourself enough opportunities to work on your spring cleaning, whether that looks like a couple of hours in the afternoon or one full day a week.
• Break up your list into one or two rooms per day. If you are spreading your spring cleaning into several sessions, work on one area per session and complete that before moving on to the next one.
• Listen to something to distract yourself while you clean. I find that if I have a podcast or audiobook on, I am much less likely to be distracted from the task at hand, and I tend to enjoy it more. Even having some music on while I vacuum helps me to stay on track. Experiment and see what works best for you.
• Enlist friends or family to help out. Ask a friend if they want to do a spring cleaning swap where you each spend time in each other’s house tackling your to-do lists, or just invite them over to chat while you work to help you stay on task. Cleaning doesn’t have to be boring!
• Clean from top to bottom. That way, you never have to waste time figuring out where to start, you won’t end up wiping crumbs onto a floor you just swept, and you’ll finish each room by vacuuming or mopping yourself right out the door.
• Designate a get-rid-of pile. Get a box or bag to hold any items you plan to give away, and another one for any items you plan to sell. I recommend putting them somewhere you will not be able to forget about, so that the items don’t end up just sitting around until your next spring cleaning.

Enjoy your squeaky clean home!

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Did you grow up doing a spring clean, or is this concept one you are adopting or avoiding altogether? Let me know in the comments below.

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