Time to clean your home yet again. Spring cleaning is never boring for people like Martha Stewart, but what about ordinary people like you who find home cleaning rather tedious and complex? Even Martha Stewart says the annual house cleaning is not a walk in the park. She said, “Your cleaning may never become effortless,” but with a little organization, it can become easy, manageable and even fun.
Spring cleaning does not have to be difficult. Here are some easy tips for you.
- Organize. Gather all your cleaning tools first and make an inventory of everything that is available at your disposable. Bring boxes and bins. Map your way away around the house, cleaning larger items first. As you map out a route, make sure not to miss any spot. Try this: work from the top down, and inside out.Here’s another suggestion. Clean closets and cabinets first, then proceed to surfaces (light fixtures, windows, refrigerators and counters), and end with window coverings, baseboards and the floor. Do this for each room.
Dust your light fixtures using a stepladder, all-purpose cleaner, a sponge, and a cloth polish. If you have hard-to-reach surfaces around the house, make sure to buy a stepladder and other extend-able cleaning gadgets.
- Relax.Don’t pressure yourself into doing everything pronto. Do one room at a time and reward yourself after finishing one. If one room is too difficult for a day, then decide to do just one portion of a room. Then sit down, look at that shiny portion of the room and tap yourself or your partner for a job well done. That should get you motivated for the job ahead tomorrow.Reward yourself. Get ice cream. Give yourself a relaxing bath, sip a glass of wine, or go watch a movie. If you’re spring cleaning with your lover, have sex.
If you’re not a natural handyman and could easily destroy house items than fix them, don’t kill yourself. Hire someone.
- Don’t relax too much. Try multi-tasking. While laundry is going, start scrubbing surfaces or shaking and dusting doormats. This can also spice things up. Give yourself coffee breaks but stick to the time. The 5-minute break extensions you give yourself can easily go up to 10 or 15.
- Motivation. Think of ways to keep you moving around, sweeping, wiping, dusting or scrubbing. Music is good. Blast with your favorite music, just make sure they are upbeat and cheery. You can sing along at the top of your voice if you wish. Some can work best when the TV is on, believe it or not. But don’t make this an excuse. Don’t fool yourself when you know you can’t resist sitting in front of the TV set for hours whenever a show is on. Get beverages that perk you up, but easy on the beer or else you’ll get tipsy and start breaking things.
- Invest. Buy high-tech, far-reaching cleaning gadgets and aids to make spring cleaning fun and easy. Buy a stepladder, new vacuum cleaner, soft cloths, an all-purpose cleaner, dusters, mop with a squeeze mechanism, gloves, cleaning agents and other things you can think of that can make spring cleaning cool for you.