The cold weather is (mostly) behind us and spring has sprung, which means one thing – it’s time for that big old spring clean that you do every year. Each year when the daffodils begin to bloom, the trees turn green and blossom, and the birds begin to sing again, we know it’s time for our annual deep clean, a tradition that it is believed goes back as far as ancient Egyptian times.
When it comes to spring cleaning, a lot of us make the mistake of focusing purely on cleansing our homes, when actually it’s a chance to get on top of any maintenance that needs doing. If you are going to dedicate time to improving your home with a deep clean, you may as well get some home maintenance tasks done at the same time, both inside and outside of your home.
To kill two birds with one stone, make this year’s spring clean more of a spring spruce, where you combine a deep clean with all the essential home maintenance tasks. It might take a little longer than usual, but at least you will get it all out of the way in one go.
Inspect your home and make a list
The first step that you should take when it comes to this year’s spring spruce is to go around your home inspecting each area of it for any potential problems that need dealing with. It’s also important to note down any cleaning jobs that need doing and aren’t already on your spring cleaning list, such as cleaning the exterior window frames, for instance.
Go around each area of your home looking for any issues, such as window sills that are coming loose; door handles that need replacing, appliances that aren’t working as well as they could do – put a list together of everything that needs dealing with. The chances are that you can deal with most maintenance and cleaning tasks yourself, but there may be some that you need a little help with, such as appliance repair, carpet cleaning, and gutter clearing, for instance. You might prefer to deal with as many tasks as possible yourself, but it’s important to realize that some tasks it’s okay to get help with.
Focus on maintenance tasks first
As maintenance tasks tend to take longer than cleaning tasks and cause mess to occur, it’s best to focus on these first. That way you won’t end up cleaning up twice, so you will save yourself time. Once you have the list of tasks that need dealing with, such as replacing the kitchen door handle, repainting the kitchen cupboards, replacing the wallpaper on your living room accent wall, etc., you can then work through these tasks. It’s best to start at the top of the house, working on one room at a time.
If there are some tasks that you can’t do yourself (or don’t feel comfortable doing), don’t be afraid to call in some help. There’s no point trying to deal with a task that you have no knowledge of, as you could end up making things worse. So it’s best to admit defeat and call in a professional as soon as you realize you’re out of your depth.
Leave the deep cleaning until last
Once you have dealt with the maintenance tasks that need doing, you can then move onto the cleaning. Again, it’s a good idea to work through the house, starting at the top and focusing on one room at a time. This helps to make deep cleaning a little less stressful as you aren’t worried about everything that needs doing, you are just focusing on one room.
Before you get started, make sure that you have all of the cleaning products and equipment that you need, so that you don’t have to stop halfway through. If you don’t already have one, a piece of kit that’s fantastic for making household cleaning easier and safer is a steam mop. There are basic versions of these that can just be used to clean the floors, or there are specialist ten-in-one designs that can be used to clean almost every area of your home, from refreshing your soft furnishings to cleaning your windows. Although an investment, the fact that they don’t require anything but water to work, means that in the long run, they will save you a lot of money, so are a worthwhile buy.
There you have it, a guide to not only spring cleaning your home but dealing with all of those pesky maintenance tasks that you’ve been putting off.
