Do you have the itch yet? The urge to get down on your hands and knees and scrub all the nooks and cranies of your house? You’re not alone! The start of spring brings on the start of spring cleaning. Where do you start? Check out this spring cleaning check list to help get you started!
We woke up this morning, and my son has a cold. Mucous, cough, runny nose, all of it. I am praying that this is the last cold of the season (it’s March 18). I took this opportunity to try out a new bathroom cleaner I snagged at Target. I cleaned, my son watched Power Rangers, and my daughter napped. It’s what I call a win for all-especially since the kids’ bathroom hadn’t been cleaned since the last time I cleaned the bathrooms… I just didn’t have time for it.
After the day I had, I am SO ready to crack open the windows and dig the pet hair out of the creases between the baseboards and the carpet. I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy my green cleaning products AND I also enjoy the smell of bleach after a long germ-filled winter. So if you come to my house between March and April, you will very likely catch a whiff of bleach.
Here is my spring cleaning check list!
Carpets
This isn’t an ad, but for the carpets, I love using Zerorez. There was an incident…where I rescued a dog a month before my husband returned from a deployment. All in all, a terrible idea. The dog peed all over half of the carpet in our home. Zerorez came to the rescue and got rid of the smell, 10/10 recommend.
Floors
I get down on my hands and knees like Cinderella (don’t kill my vibe) and clean my hard floors. I can get more into the creases and cervices than just using my wet mop. I honestly feel like that thing pushes dirt around most of the time. So after I’ve done the once over with the rubber broom and got my Cinderella on, I hit it with the wet mop to add a certain sparkle to the space. We call this triple cleaning.
Walls
If you are like me and not good at getting your kids outside during the winter, your walls are likely filled with black marks and dirty fingerprints. I love magic erasers for this job, but be sure to get the Costco-sized pack because you will go through them quickly if you have a lot of wall space.
Windows
Get them sparkly and free of finger smudges for 22.3 seconds! You can hire a service for the outside of the windows or do it yourself. It gives your house a little facelift, and you may even notice some more natural light.
Kitchen
One of my least favorite places to clean is the oven. Still, I go on this rabbit hole of moving the major appliances and cleaning behind and under them. I find a lot of ABC magnets when I do this.
Living Room
Clean under that couch, and don’t forget the cushions! We have removable cushion covers, so we like to throw these in the wash every once in a while. Since we have pets, we also use a fabric fuzz remover or furniture shaver (whatever you would like to call it) to give the couch that “just purchased” look.
Bathrooms
If you have boys…or a husband bleach. Enough said.
Bedrooms
Time to flip those mattresses and wash those curtains! Dust the blinds, do a deep clean on the carpets or area rugs maybe put in some extra work with the fabric shaver in these rooms too. Don’t forget to check under your children’s beds.
HVAC Vents
It’s always a good idea to get your vents cleaned out and get your AC serviced for the great Minnesota get-together…I mean summer (who else is ready for the State Fair?).
De-cluttering
I’m also ready to offload a bunch of things that have conglomerated in piles around our house called “get rid of piles” at a garage sale this Spring. Not to mention the many junk drawers overflowing with expired coupons and crayons. I recommend sifting through your kitchen cabinets, too. You may not be using all of those witty coffee mugs you got at Target in the last year. My decluttering house tour includes all closets, dressers, kitchen cabinets, bathroom drawers, office desk, and the playroom. To declutter your playroom, you can either rotate toys or send your kids off to grandma’s for the weekend and hit up the local recycling center or Goodwill. Go through your storage rooms, too; chances are these are spaces you haven’t hit for a while. Finally, get rid of the things that don’t bring you joy (I think this is a Marie Kondo reference, I’ve never watched).
Yard
Got dogs? Time to get the shovels and Target bags out. You may also find that sled you lost due to the freak storm last week or random trash that blew into your yard on garbage day during the unexpected high wind gusts we had this winter. We have also been impressed with Sunday Lawn Care. I’m sure our neighbors will appreciate our yard not being a dandelion field this year.
It’s also an excellent time to start prepping your garden beds for planting season!
My favorite cleaning products, because I am not a DIY your own cleaning products person, and I’m ok with being green-washed on some things.
9 Elements Bathroom Cleaner smells like a lemon drop, and I am here for it. I was very impressed with it today as I cleaned through built-up toothpaste and urine. Oh, don’t forget the bathtub!
Thieves Household Cleaner is a must for me. It’s my everyday cleaner. It smells great! I put it in my wet mop mix, and I feel good about letting my kids help spray and wipe it up. You just put a capful in a glass bottle and mix it with water. It’s really versatile if you do want to venture into making your own cleaning products.
I think we have hit most of the major spots for your spring cleaning to-do list. What are your favorite cleaning products and go-to’s for spring cleaning?
