Eight Spring Cleaning Ideas That Won’t Take All Day
I find the phrase “spring cleaning” rather daunting. Other than the obvious starting point, my clothes closet, where do I start? Obsessively checking items off a “master spring cleaning” checklist I downloaded from the internet doesn’t sound appealing (I’ve tried that, didn’t work). I also have no interest in starting a cleaning project only to have it take all day and leave me exhausted. So usually, I just feel overwhelmed with it all and end up doing the bare minimum. Don’t get me wrong, I could use a space and life reset, but in an approachable, doable manner.
As they say, a little progress is better than no progress at all. There are plenty of spring cleaning resources online. I am trying to keep it simple but effective over here, so here are a few suggestions I’m currently implementing – these don’t take up a lot of time and energy, so less overwhelm. Use a weekend afternoon or an evening after work to knock out one or two.
- Pantry. Toss expired items. You don’t have to do a full pantry deep clean yet. Just dispose of pantry items that have expired and you know you will not use. This creates space, so when you decide to do a full pantry deep clean, it will make that process faster and easier.
- Refrigerator/freezer. Dispose of any expired and questionable looking foods. Enough said.
- Bathroom. Dispose of expired bath products and makeup you haven’t used in a while. Replace old or worn down shower curtain liners and donate or dispose of old shower curtains and liners.
- Bed linens. Unused or worn out bedding can be donated or disposed of appropriately, depending on the condition of the item.
- Towels and bath mats. Repurpose old towels or donate them to your local animal shelter.
- Cleaning supplies. Dispose of any cleaning tools, rags, and products you don’t use. Check brooms, mops, and cleaning cloths to see if they need to be replaced.
- Candles. That “Fresh Balsam” candle that you got during the holidays and only used twice? Yeah go ahead and put it away for the next holiday season. Now is when you want to start welcoming refreshing, warm weather scents.
- Car. Clean out the inside of the car – all the little nooks where things get shoved routinely – old receipts, packs of gum, tissues, you know what I’m talking about. Who knows, once you’ve thrown all that away, you might even feel motivated to get the car washed!
This by no means is an exhaustive list. Think of it as a gentle nudge to get you feeling accomplished, centered, and ready to welcome the summer with less overwhelm. Happy cleaning! 🙂
P.S. What would you add to this list?
Photo by Dan Azzopardi on Unsplash
