Are you considering how to kick off your seasonal cleaning? Take a look at this comprehensive list for spring cleaning and effortlessly organize your living space.
The season of spring brings with it delightful flowers, fresh breeze, and a wonderful ambiance. All that sunshine can highlight the clutter that crept up during the winter. There’s a lot to be sorted out before you let the sunshine and breeze into your home through open doors and windows.
I Care Cleaning Spring Cleaning Checklist is here to help!
Deciding where to start with any kind of cleaning can be a daunting task, causing many of us to put it off indefinitely. Fortunately, we’re here to lend a hand with our ultimate spring cleaning checklist going through room-by-room, making the job a breeze! Remember that should you space out your Spring Cleaning over a few weeks, it is less overwhelming for the whole family.
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As you move through your home, you will come across items that are in need of organizing or decluttering. This is the perfect time to start three piles: keep, donate, and toss. Set a specific spot for these piles as you clean every room of your home so that you aren’t creating more mess as you clean.
Have you noticed some streaks, fingerprints and dust accumulating on the walls? No time like the present to wipe down all the walls in the house. Get your wall wiping on with a damp microfiber cloth or a clean, damp microfiber mop. Be sure to start from the top and make your way to the bottom; don’t forget to wipe the doorframes and baseboards too. To clean tiled walls in bathrooms, you can follow the same procedure, but it is recommended to use a disinfecting bathroom cleaner along with a damp microfiber cloth to eliminate any germs.
When was the last time you dusted your ceiling fans? If it has been a while they can collect a thick layer of dust and be grimy. Take a damp cloth and wipe each ceiling fan blade down to remove dust. If the ceiling fan is over a bed or piece of furniture set a towel down to capture any dust that may fall from the cloth.
Cleaning tip – make sure to start with your cleaning at the top of the room. Think of cleaning top to bottom and then you only need to vacuum the floor once.
Did you know that cleaning windows on a sunny day is a big mistake? It’s true, wait for an overcast day to clean your windows. Our recommendation is to use a mixture of warm water and soap for cleaning your windows. However, be cautious not to add excess soap, as it can create an excessive amount of bubbles that would result in stubborn stains on your windows. Use a clean lint-free microfibre cloth and change the water regularly so you’re not smearing on dirt! Use a soft, clean cloth to remove any drips.
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Kitchen
I Care Cleaning believes that cleaning the fridge needs to be done on a monthly basis but deep clean calls for total organization and scrubbing all those difficult places in the fridge. While cleaning the fridge this Spring, remove all bins and shelving and clean them in warm, soapy water to help get rid of food bacteria and spillage. Make sure to get into all the corners and in the little slots where crumbs can get stuck. To keep your fridge organized, remove the packaging from multipacks of drinks and single-serve yogurts, use roll-out refrigerator bins to keep small items together, and, to help reduce food waste, rotate older food items to the front before adding new groceries. Don’t forget to check the expiration dates on your condiments.
Is there a kitchen sink smell that doesn’t seem to go away no matter what you do? Grab coarse salt, white vinegar, and baking soda to pour down each drain.
- Start with a combination of salt and baking soda, followed by a healthy dose aka one cup of white vinegar.
- Let it bubble and work through the drains for 5 minutes.
- Then pour freshly boiled water down the drain to help clear out the remaining guck.
As part of your spring cleaning routine, it is important to clean your oven. You can use the self-cleaning feature on your oven to eliminate tough, baked-on residue. If your oven doesn’t have this function, you can soften burnt areas by putting a hot, damp cloth on top of them. Afterward, apply an oven cleaner, such as one of the top-rated ones we have tested, and leave it on for the recommended amount of time. Rinse with a damp cloth and dry with a towel.
Steaming isn’t just helpful for your skincare routine! Do you have lingering tomato stains in the microwave? I Care Cleaning knows how to get rid of them. To clean your microwave, fill a large microwave-safe bowl with one cup of water and your choice of citrus fruit: lemon, lime, or orange cut into thin slices — or several tablespoons of vinegar — and stick it inside. Set the device to high heat and leave it running for a few minutes or until the mixture reaches boiling point and the glass window becomes foggy. Afterward, allow it to cool for five minutes prior to opening the door. Take out the container, and use a sponge or microfiber cloth to wipe down both the interior and exterior areas of the microwave.
Don’t forget to give all your small appliances a good wipe down, even the ones tucked away in the cupboards.
Livingroom
Pull furniture away from walls and vacuum behind and under it. It’s amazing what gets trapped under furniture from kibble to dust bunnies. Make sure to vacuum the woodwork and air vents while you’re back there. Next, utilize the upholstery attachment on your equipment to clean both surfaces of the cushions and the area underneath them. To eliminate any remaining crumbs and other debris in the borders and seams, you can also use the crevice tool.
After all of those cozy winter reading sessions, it’s time to dust off your home library. Take a few minutes to organize your coffee-table books, bedside novels or favorite magazines. It’s a new season and perhaps you want to arrange your shelves in alphabetical order, grouping them by hue, or categorizing them based on size. Remember to clear away any accumulated dust from the shelves before replacing the items.
Once you’ve finished vacuuming the furniture, turn your attention to your carpets. Vacuum fully in one direction, then vacuum again in the opposite direction; like you’re making big hashtags on your floor. This technique will result in a more precise and uniform cleaning of your carpet while also reducing the clogging of fur in the cleaner. Additionally, it will simplify the cleaning process of the machine once you are done.
Bedrooms
Light fixtures are found throughout the home and need to be cleaned as well. Light fixtures can be easily cleaned with warm water and mild dish soap. Soak them for a few minutes before wiping them down and rinsing them off. Make sure to use a dry towel to thoroughly dry them, especially on the inside.
Bulky items can be hard to clean but it’s time to tackle them: Give those duvets a good cleaning and wash those pillows! These things only require cleaning two to three times yearly, so they should be at the top of your spring cleaning checklist! Remember – check the manufacturer’s instructions before popping them in the washing machine.
This time isn’t about the elephant in the room, it’s the opposite. To deep-clean your mattress, fuse a good quality clothing steamer to kill dust mites near the surface. Vacuum your mattress afterward, and use your vacuum’s crevice and upholstery attachments with firm pressure to effectively clean both the top and sides. You can also sanitize the mattress with a disinfecting spray.
Bathrooms
To make sure your bathrooms are thoroughly clean, start with the shower curtain. Clean your plastic or vinyl shower curtain by washing it in the washing machine on a gentle cycle with your preferred laundry detergent, and add in some old towels for extra scrubbing power. Allow the curtain to hang dry before using it again. If you want to maintain the cleanliness of white and clear shower liners, you can spray them a few times each month with an all-purpose cleaner that contains bleach. Then, let the shower rinse it off before taking a shower.
It can feel like a never-ending battle with grout since white grout picks up, well, everything. Not to mention making sure to keep the bathroom clear of mold and mildew. To clean tile grout and help restore its sparkle, spray it with a top-tested grout cleaner and grab a toothbrush to help with scrubbing as needed.
Similar to how you would clean your kitchen drain, you can refresh your drains by combining half a cup of baking soda with a quarter cup of coarse salt. Pour the mixture down the drain and follow it up with white vinegar; this will cause the mixture to foam and bubble. Allow it to sit for a maximum of 15 minutes before turning on the hot tap water for approximately 15 to 30 seconds to finish the process.
While you wait for the drain, take a look above the sink and clean your medicine cabinet. Go through the contents to make sure nothing has expired and give it a thorough cleaning inside and out.
Last but not least, spend some time making sure you have clean baseboards. They are often overlooked but can get grubby quickly. Use wood-safe cleaning supplies and make them sparkle.
Entry/Porch
When was the last time you cleaned your doormats? Yes, the inside and outside ones. Having two mats helps with trapping more dirt but that also means that they need deep cleaning like everything else. Vacuum the indoor mats on both sides; vacuuming the backs of the mats will push trapped dirt out of the mat onto the floor, and will be easier to clean up. The outdoor mats can be hosed down and then air-dried.
Exterior doors endure rough weather conditions, dust, grime, and everyday usage. It’s not surprising that your clean front door can go from shiny and new to grimy in the blink of an eye! Whether your front door is constructed with wood, metal, or fiberglass, we’ve got you covered.
- Mix two cups of warm water with a teaspoon of distilled white vinegar and a few drops of dish soap
- Scrub the door in the direction of the wood grain using a soft sponge
- You don’t need to use a lot of pressure on painted wood doors but put some muscle into it for stained or varnished front doors
- Rinse and wring out the sponge to clean the sides, top, and bottom of the door
- Use a clean damp microfiber cloth to rinse off the soap and water residue
- Dry the door with a bath towel working from the top down
Utility Spaces
Spring is an ideal season to clean or replace HVAC and window air conditioner filters before you start using them frequently during the summer months. It’s best to check with your unit’s manufacturer for the recommended way to clean filters if they’re washable.
A lot of the new washing machines have a setting to remind you to activate the self-cleaning option. If yours does not, clean your washing machine by adding bleach and turning on the special washer-cleaning cycle on your machine.
Did you know that more than 15,000 fires start in-home laundry rooms every year, according to the National Fire Protection Association? After every load, you should be removing the fuzz from your dryer’s filter. This Spring makes sure to pull out hard-to-reach lint with the crevice tool on your vacuum to suck up debris. Vacuum under, around and behind the dryer as well. Unplug the dryer and use your vacuum’s hose to clean as far into the dryer vent as possible.
Ah, the junk drawer that no one likes to admit they have! Empty out the drawer, in a controlled way, onto a table. Grab your vacuum and get rid of the dust and crumbs that are there, followed by a wipe-down with a cloth. You may want to add a non-slip liner to the drawer before putting anything else in. You may want to declutter the items in the junk drawer as well.
Once you are finished with your spring cleaning checklist, you have to clean your cleaners. Replace the vacuum bag or clean the dust cup, and replace or wash the filters. Clip tangled strands caught in the brush using a pair of scissors or a stitch cutter.
We’ve created a great spring cleaning printable checklist for you to use in every room in your home! You can get it here and start tracking your progress!
I Care Cleaning pride itself on offering high-quality residential and commercial cleaning services throughout Indianapolis and Greenfield areas. Our experienced cleaners have a great eye for detail and our cleaning packages are flexible to accommodate your unique needs. Contact us today to get a free estimate – we would love to help you tackle your spring cleaning.
