How To Create A Spring Cleaning Checklist
Having a daily morning routine within your home is one of the best things you could do for your state of mind. Moreover, having daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal cleaning routines is a added bonus. I do know how hard it is trying to keep up with your home, especially when you have work, children and other responsibilities.
I do suggest making a variety of lists in a planner or notebook that consists of the tasks you would like to accomplish daily, weekly, monthly and seasonally. But here I go again getting off topic, all though these cleaning routines will help to lessen the burden of your seasonal cleaning. Let’s get back on the reason for this post.
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There are so many positive-life changing benefits to having different cleaning routines in place within your home. Not only does having a set cleaning routines make it much more easier to keep your home clean, most importantly it makes your home way more tidy,
Being completely honest, my mind is a beautiful disaster, overly creative, extremely scattered and severely disorganized.
Looking back, if it wasn’t for making many lists in multiple notebooks In combination with using my Erin Condren Life Planner daily, I couldn’t imagine what my home or life would look like.
Last but surly not least, another huge health benefit of using a paper planner alone or even just in conjunction with a notebook to just make all your cleaning routine lists. This hells to get everything out of your head and onto paper. This is extremely important if you struggle with anxiety, adhd or any other physical or mental health challenges, as I do.
If your into paper planning the then the 2020 Cultivate What Matters PowerSheets is perfect being there is now seasonal goal sections.
These seasonal sections consist of :
FALL
WINTER
SPRING
Check out Laura Casey’s Newly Revamped 2020 PowerSheets Now.
Now that spring is here, we’ll for most of us Devon where you live along with the Corona Virus Pandemic in full swing most of the country are on a stay at home lock down order, it may not be easy if you have children or you work from home, but there isn’t a better time to at least get your Spring Cleaning Checklist Created.
You Want To Get Rid Of All The Germs From This Unknown And Deadly Virus.
In my opinion, I feel the easiest way to create your spring cleaning checklist is by going throughout your home, room by room, writing anything down that needs deep cleaning, refreshing or fixing. You may not get to everything but at least you could always reference back later on.
I have already written many blog posts on cleaning routines, schedules and cleaning hacks for busy families. If you are interested in reading any of these blog posts, I will link them below.
9 Tasks To Do Everyday For A Cleaner Home + Free Daily Routine Printable.
Where To Begin Cleaning When Your Overwhelmed By A Messy Home.
Also, be sure to check out my Free Printable Planner Resource Library. This library is packed with many different styles and sizes of FREE-downloadable planner inserts, from cleaning routine checklists, daily planning, weekly planning, blog planning along with multiple sizes.
All downloads in this library are free for personal use, no distribution of any kind.
How To Create A Spring Cleaning Checklist.
Before you even start beginning spring cleaning your home, try to get some type of order in your house. Get done anything that may have piled up over the winter months. Tasks such as:
Dishes
Laundry-folded & put away
Bathrooms-wipe down with disinfectant wipes
Clutter-purge anything that’s lying around such as papers and mail.
I’ve found that by breaking down your spring cleaning process into three sections, then taking the sections and breaking them up into tasks going room by room. The three categories are as follows:
Decluttering
Organization
Deep Cleaning
Here is an explanation of this process.
1- Decluttering
Lets start with purging. Purge anything throughout your home that isn’t in use, even if you think you may use it in the future. This was always a problem of mine until recently, I would be hesitant about getting rid of certain items thinking I may need them later on. Donate or throw it out. You will never use it and in turn your home will feel much much more lighter.
2- Organization
Now that everything in your home has been decluttered and purged, the next step is to organize these areas you just purged in your home. I suggest to walk from room to room, writing down a list of areas that need organizational attention.
Tip:
You could also create a mud room/entry area if you don’t have one already, Some homes already have a designated mud room/entry room area, but if your home does not have one, you can easily create one of your own. This is what I did, I used the wall behind my front door after walking into my house.
I hung two-5 hooked wooden planks to organize my family’s coats, hoodies and backpacks. I added a bamboo shoe rack from Amazon in between the two wall planks. I added some framed portraits of my kids, a decorative mirror and framed weekly dry erase schedule. Lastly, I hung a smaller wooden hooked plank for baseball hats along with a bin for winter hats and gloves.
3- Deep Cleaning
Walk through your home going room to room, just like the organization section and write down anything that catches your eye and needs attention. Usually this is things that need deep cleaning, unless there were normal tasks that were neglected that need attention. Don’t forget to disinfect all the door knobs throughout your homes, along with yourself and your family’s cell phones, air pods, headphones, television remotes and any other electronics you may have. these carry the most germs.
Deep Cleaning
The last section will focus on deep cleaning schedule. Just like the three step process I just mentioned up above, you want to go room by room making a list. You may find that you do have different rooms then I have within your home, just adjust this list accordingly to the rooms in your home.
Entry Way or Mud Room
Declutter anything that is off-season and store away. Get rid of anything that your family grew out of. Organize what’s left making sure to have a place for everything.
More so, make sure there is a place for everything. Certain items such as coats, hoodies, hats and gloves, backpacks, shoes and baseball hats.
Hang wooden planks with hooks onto the walls. Add a bamboo floor shoe rack to keep shoes on. Add a bin for hats and gloves and if you have boys in sports, a hat holder. Hang up some family photos and finishing touches above. I also added a dry erase framed weekly schedule for my 3 boys and school.
Dining Room
Clear and purge any papers and mail. Keep your dining room table clean and clear of clutter. Mop the walls and wooden baseboards using the hurricane spin mop.
Dust any light fixtures or ceiling fans. Light fixtures get really dirty inside and out, unscrew and wash them in warm soapy water. Dry them off and rehang.
Living Room
Dust all furniture and electronics, purge anything lying around not in use. Grab some windex and a microfiber cloth, clean any glass doors and windows in your living room.
Using your Hurricane Spin Mop and some all purpose cleaner, clean all the walls, baseboards and doors. Mopping your walls may sound silly, but when I do this, 90 percent of the crud will come off my walls with ease!
Next up, if you have carpet flooring, give your carpet a good cleaning using a rug cleaner. Furthermore, if your couches are dirty (more then likely they are if you have children or pets) use a portable steam cleaner with attachment to deep clean your couches and get any stains or odors out.
I have the Rug Doctor Spot Cleaner. This amazing little handheld steam cleaner is just as powerful as a full size one.
If you have laminate flooring, deep clean using a bucket and mop. Depending on the type of floor you have, use the appropriate floor cleaner to match your flooring.
Kitchen
Anyone with a really busy household knows that the kitchen (mainly dishes) is the hardest area within a home to keep clean. Roll up your sleeves and just get it done.
Start off by doing any dishes lying around, dry and put them right away. If you have a dishwasher, empty and put dishes away, load any dirty dishes. Get some sort of dishwasher cleaner, this helped my dishwasher tremendously. Give your sink a really good scrubbing using a cleaning powder and some dish soap. Clean garbage disposal with plink tablets and wash out the trash cans.
Wipe down and clear any clutter off of the countertops also tiding the sink area. Purge and clean out your fridge and freezer, purge and clean out your pantry and kitchen cabinets. Wipe inside the kitchen cabinets, reorganize and clean the outside of your kitchen cabinets with cabinet cleaner/polish.
Clean out and purge items underneath the kitchen sink. Thoroughly mop the kitchen floor using a mop and bucket, also deep clean the grout. Replace any lightbulbs or filters.
Clean all appliances inside and out, replace the refrigerator water filter if your refrigerator has one. Clean any removable light fixtures and dust ceiling fans. Purge any non important papers and mail lying around. Windex glass windows and clean walls and wood baseboards.
Laundry Room
Get rid of anything taking up space within your laundry room such as old blankets or clothes, cleaning products and empty bottles. Clean out fabric softener dispenser and your dryer vent.
Mop or wipe walls, wooden baseboards and door (if you have a door). Wipe down washer and dryer with Lysol wipes. I’ve found that using a fabric softener sheet first gets rid of all the lint. Create a sorting area for dirty clothes and if you have the space, add a folding area.
Lastly, add some shelves and laundry room signs and decor. I just did this recently and it makes a big difference. If you use powder detergent, get a old fashioned laundry tin with lid.
Coat Closet
Store away all out of season coats hats and gloves. Clear and purge any clutter, organize what’s left. Add some bins on the top shelf and a large storage bin to store cleats and shoes. Hang a couple hooks on the inside of the closet for hanging items such as purses and baseball bags.
Garage
This is going to be a big project but if you have an extremely cluttered garage, you will thank me afterwards. Your main task is going to be majorly purging, if it doesn’t serve a purpose then throw it away. Put decorations into storage bins and stack them. Add heavy duty hooks for hanging baseball or sports equipment, beach bags or or bike helmets.
If you have a problem with mice make sure you have nothing in cardboard boxes. You will have a bunch of ruined items along with mouse poop. I like to create a pathway through the garage into the house. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stay that way for very long.
Basement
Clean carpets if you have them that is along with your couches. Go through any toys and get rid of everything not used. Any toys you are keeping, organize hem in bins and ikea cubes, you could also use a toy box.
Replace any lightbulbs in your ceiling. Mop the walls and flooring. Wipe down doors and railings. Dust all furniture and windex any glass. Clean out closets and use the closet for storing heavy winter jackets, snowsuits or boots. Wipe down the closet doors.
Lighten up your space by hanging photos, wall shelves and plants. A great idea if you have kids is to create a DIY reading nook, hang one or more ledge shelves up above to display your children’s books.
Master Bedroom
In order to get a good nights sleep, you want your room to be your safe haven. Start by removing and washing bedding and curtains. Dust the furniture and blinds, windex any glass or windows. Clean the walls using the spin mop and wipe the doors down, not forgetting about the light switch’s and door knobs.
Dust the ceiling fan and wash light fixtures with hot soapy water. Polish all wood dressers, nightstands, desks, shelves and picture frames. Wash curtains or clean the window blinds with a microfiber cloth. Steam clean the carpet if need be and vacuum really good.
Clean out and organize any nightstand drawers, items under the bedS and dresser drawers. Purge anything that no longer fits or that you won’t wear. Store any off season clothes in a flat vacuum bag and store underneath the bed.
Now you need to tackle the closet(s). Again purge anything that you no longer wear or haven’t wore in a while. Make sure everything is either hung or folded neatly inside your dresser drawers. Add a shoe rack, purse rack, cap rack and tie rack to neatly organize all accessories. Make sure the surfaces are free of clutter. Put the curtains back on the curtain rods along with putting the bedding back on the bed.
Kids and/or Other Bedrooms
Start off by taking down any curtains and throw them in the washer. Move on to stripping and washing the bedding. Dust any blinds, furniture, shelves or ceiling fans you may have. Windex any glass or bedroom windows. Wipe down all light switch covers and socket covers. Unscrew any light fixtures on the ceilings and wash them with hot soapy water, dry and replace.
Steam clean and vacuum any carpeted floors. If you have hard wood or laminate flooring give them a thorough mopping. Lastly
Use a mixture of peroxide, water and dawn dish soap to sprinkle on mattress to get out any odors or stains. Vacuum the mixture off the mattress after an hour or so. This is the best thing I’ve yet to find on cleaning mattresses.
Again, mop your bedroom walls with the spin mop and all purpose cleaner. Purge anything that is not in use, whether that be clothes, shoes, toys or hats. Declutter all drawers, most importantly your nightstand drawers.
If this is a kids bedroom, go though dresser drawers and closets purging any clothes or shoes no longer in use or that your child may have grew out of. If there are any off-season clothing, store away in jumbo vacuum storage bags in a closet or underneath the bed.
I like these flat jumbo storage bags the most being they fit perfectly underneath the beds.
Make sure all clothes In the closets are hung up and organize the inside of your dresser drawers. Keep surfaces free of clutter, put the curtains back up, light fixtures and the bedding back on the bed.
Tip:
If you have little kids, print out pictures of their toys and clothing to place on each bin and drawer when organizing. You can print it onto sticker paper and cut it out. I love this idea being it will help your child be able to pick up by themselves and put their own clothes away. They will feel so independent being they can choose and put away their own clothing.
Bathrooms
Start off by washing your bathroom rug, toilet lid cover and shower curtain. If you can do so, you can buy a new bathroom set (if that’s in your budget that is) to give your space a mini makeover. I’ve found just throwing my shower curtain and rug in the washer works just as well. Also you can run your toothbrush holder and or soap dish in the dishwasher, if your don’t have a dishwasher you can clean them in sink.
*This is a great time to replace your family’s toothbrushes.
Deep clean your bathroom from top to bottom. If you have grout in your tile floors, scrub the grout with a mixture of bleach and water and scrub with a scrub brush. A non chemical approach is to use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. You will see a huge difference in the color of your grout, the very first time I cleaned mine, I couldn’t believe it was actually white!
Mop the floor after cleaning the grout with a bucket and mop using whatever floor cleaner you prefer. Mop the flooring making sure you get around the toilet base. Refill bucket with clean water and cleaner, mop walls, baseboards and doors. Use a bathroom cleaner and sponge/cloth to scrub the surfaces of your bathroom sink, toilet, toilet seat and toilet seat cover. Make sure to get inside all the grooves within the toilet. Scrub around the toilet base really well.
Use a cleaning pumice stone to clean off stains and build up inside your toilet. I swear this little stone is amazing for the inside of your toilet.
I highly suggest investing in a steam mop with a removable head and attachments. If you have children or pets within your home, this is a great non chemical alternative. I have and love the Bissell Lift Away Power Fresh Slim Steam Mop.
It has a removable hand held steam cleaner to clean every room in your home, also a large variety of nozzle attachments to tackle any stick on grime. I used the scrapper attachment to remove wax build up from my laminate floors. I also used the hard scrubbing attachment to clean the stuck on grease off of my flat stove top.
Linen Closet
Purge anything not in use. Reorganize and sort out blankets, comforters, sheets, towels and washcloths. You can place items in bins to make in Pinterest worthy or just fold everything and put it back on shelves separated.
Wipe down the door of your linen closet, using a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to remove any scuffs or marks that won’t come off of with your standard wipe down.
Final Tip
If you have set in carpet stains, I have a remedy to remove all stains without harmful chemicals or scrubbing.
Get a spray bottle with white vinegar and water, find some old white t-shirts. Get your iron and fill up the water compartment, yes your using a plain old iron with steam.
Spray the stain with the vinegar and water mixture
Place a old white t-shirt over the solution and stain.
Making sure your iron is fully heated up and your steam setting is fully up. Iron like you regularly would on top of the white t-shirt.
Now watch how the stain magically lifts out of your rug onto the t-shirt. Repeat this process as many times as it takes to completely remove the stain.
Wrapping Up,
The above list an assortment of tasks to give your home a great spring cleaning. I will be following up with a second spring cleaning post focusing on the outside of your home. Make sure to subscribe to my newsletter so you can get updates for when I post.
Be sure to download my free spring cleaning planner insert checklist down below, free for personal use.
Lastly, just breath. Take a time out, practice self care. Times are really hard at the present moment, so hard in fact that some of us who already struggle on a daily basis have a even harder time just finding the motivation to start. Go at your own pace, however that may be.
Let me know what you think of the list above. But most importantly, let me know in the comment section below how you and your family are coping with this Coronavirus Pandemic.