What is Spring Cleaning?
Spring cleaning is a tradition that allows you freshen your home and get rid of those winter blues. With a proper spring cleaning schedule, you can jump ahead of the busy spring and summer times and give your home the appropriate feel that comes with the warm days.
The spring cleaning tradition is deeply rooted in the Jewish, Iranian and Chinese cultures. In these countries, spring cleaning is more of a ritual to celebrate their new year than a requirement. They turn the homes upside down and scour every inch of the house include rugs and drapes and even bring fresh flowers into the house.
Once the house is vibrant and all specs of dust shaken down, the new year and spring can finally arrive. One thing that does get neglected over the year is your carpets, through the year they will be vacuumed but one thing a spring clean is good for is getting a deep carpet clean.
Why do we clean during spring?
Even though spring cleaning has numerous meanings in different cultures, there is a biological explanation of why people are compelled to clean in spring.
First, because of the shorter days and lack of exposure to light, the pineal gland produces more melatonin that makes you feel sleepy most of the time. You are less active and the cleaning is less thorough.
When exposed to sunlight, you naturally become more active and you have more energy. In your melatonin-induced stupor, it’s easy to let the house run down a bit. Once the rays of sun awaken you from your stupor, you definitely want to get things back in line.
Why not also read: How to get a tidy office in 15 minutes.
Your Guide to Spring Cleaning
Whether you have a small or a big house, without a proper plan of action, it easy to skip spots and end up with less than excellent results. Having a blueprint of how to approach the cleaning is critical in helping you make the most out of your cleaning time.
Make a cleaning checklist
Before you jump into the cleaning, start by making a cleaning checklist. While it sounds easier to jump into the thick of things, it will take you more time and you might even have to do repeat jobs because there are areas you didn’t consider when starting out.
A cleaning checklist allows you to have a more planned approach that will deliver the right results for you. Create an overview of what needs to be done. This will enable you to better plan and get the right supplies for your cleaning.
Declutter
Once the checklist is ready, the first step of spring cleaning should be getting rid of things you don’t need. There must be something you don’t use and you can bear parting ways with. Decluttering will make cleaning easier and create more space and airflow in the house.
Anything from food, clothes, furniture, wrappers of items you bought over winter and even electronics that are just collecting dust is considered clutter.
Work it room to room
Don’t let the excitement of finally getting to clean around get to you. To make the most out of your time, clean one room before going to the next. You can decide to start with the rooms that don’t require a lot of work or start with those that need a thorough scrub.
But, make sure you dust first. Dust is easily kicked up in the air and it will sit on the surfaces you just cleaned.
You can also decide to go task by task. You can dust the whole house first then choose another task and complete it around the entire house. Both strategies are great. It’s a matter of preference.
Go deep into the cleaning
Once you complete the regular chores, it’s time to dig your teeth deep into the spring cleaning. Your back will hurt after this, but once the warm rays of the sun hit the clean and fragrance filled surfaces and fabrics around the house, and radiate, it will all be worth it.
The bathroom, living room, and kitchen are some of the areas that call for a closer look. The bathtub, bathroom floors, and other areas need proper cleaning to get rid of the mildew that forms during winter.
You also need to get rid of the oil stains and built-up stains in your kitchen and sweep under the sofas in the living room.
Tips for getting spring cleaning done the right way
- Get everyone involved – spring cleaning is best done by the whole family. It’s going to be easier and faster and the results are more impressive. Assign tasks according to age. To get the best results to choose tasks that interest different people around the house. For the young ones, decluttering and collecting papers sounds like fun!
- Watch out on the cleaning products – just because it promises to leave your floors spotless doesn’t mean you have to get it. Stockpiling your arsenal of cleaning products only means you clutter your cabinets and closets. Get a good all-purpose cleaner that can address most of the surfaces and use that. It will save you money and space.
Benefits of spring cleaning
There are numerous benefits associated with spring cleaning. Most of them are self-evident and others go unnoticed.
You end up with a clean and comfortable home that smells excellent. By decluttering, you create more space to move around with plenty of peace of mind.
A clean home also means less allergic reactions particularly to people with asthmatic conditions and are allergic to dust and other allergens.
There’s a debate on whether the cleaning products used can also cause other allergic reactions to flare up. If you ever suspect this to be the case, you can easily counter it by using less aggressive cleaning products that you’re not allergic to. You can also try going for scent-free cleaning products.
The only drawback with spring cleaning is your aching back, after all, is done and dusted. You might have to deal with it for a couple of days, but the satisfaction of your masterful cleaning, the smiling sofas and flows that are finally free of the winter gunk will definitely have you smiling as you go to hit the bed at night.
We know that doing deep cleans are hard work, which is why here at OCCO we provide a wide variety of cleaning services.
