The arrival of spring brings longer days, warmer weather, and the perfect opportunity for a home refresh. All of the dust bunnies, cluttered closets, and streaky windows you ignored during the icy cold months have become really obvious now that sunshine is lighting up your home. Spring cleaning is easier than you think. Not only am I going to tell you step by step how to clean your home quickly, but I’ve got a list of cleaning tools and products to make this spring clean up quick and easy.
Spring cleaning in 5 easy steps
Here’s a quick list of tasks you can do to thoroughly spring clean your home.
1. Organize and declutter your home
The first step in a successful spring clean is to declutter your home. You’ll want to box up winter clothes, toss out or donate any items you no longer need, and go through your junk drawers and other cluttered areas. Once you have removed all of the stuff decluttering your space you can begin to organize. Spring is a great time to rearrange your furniture or liven up a room with new home decor.
2. Deep clean
Spring cleaning means deep cleaning and that includes your walls, windows, and other areas you don’t normally clean. For walls you can either spot clean or whole wall clean. Spot cleaning is easily taken care of with a double-sided sponge, while whole wall cleaning requires a damp cloth and a little elbow grease. You can use water if you’d like to, but I find if you add cleaning products to your water, you’ll have an easier time removing grease and grime.
While you’re cleaning your walls, you may want to give your doors a good wipe-down too. Once you start cleaning them, you’ll be amazed at how dirty they are. Hands placed on the door frame and handle can mean fingerprints left behind. Once your doors are clean, you can wipe germs off of the handles and light switches with a disinfecting wipe. My doctor swears that bi-weekly wipe-downs of switches and door handles in your home are the best way to ward off family illness.
Washing your windows will probably take the most time when you’re spring cleaning, but the reward is well worth the effort. You can use paper products and natural cleaners to get your windows sparkling. You can also use magnetic window cleaners that work quickly and get the job done without streaks and leftover dirt.
3. Dust
Begin by dusting all of the areas you normally dust, and then branch out into areas you usually leave just for deep cleaning. Blinds and shades are some of the biggest dust catchers you have in your home, and if you’ve been suffering from dust allergies all winter, your window coverings could be the culprit. You can wipe slat blinds down with a cloth, but I find the easiest way to clean window blinds and shades is with a cordless stick vacuum. You can use a stiff bristle brush attachment to pull the dust right off.
To clean curtains, you can take them off the curtain rod and put them in your washing machine. Depending on what type of fabric you have, you may have to use the gentle cycle. If you’d like to remove all of the allergens in your curtains, you’ll want to choose your machine’s sanitize or steam cycle.
4. Vacuum and mop
I used to dislike cleaning floors, but there are so many great floor-cleaning tools that make the job so much easier. Robot vacuums let you vacuum carpets, clean up dirt on floors, and mop—all without you lifting a finger. You can set a schedule and your robot vacuum will clean your floors at the same time every day. You’ll find robot vacuums with HEPA filters to prevent dust and allergens from floating through the air, models specifically designed for people with pets, and others with Wi-Fi on board so you can control them via an app.
There are also robot mops, robot mop and vacuum combos, and wet/dry vacuums. Robot mop and vacuum combos work just like a robot vacuum so they can pick up dirt and dust and then spray water or cleaning solution on your floor and mop up debris too. Robot mops will just mop your floor, but some types head back to the dock and empty out the dirty water too. Wet/dry vacuums are a bit different. They look like a regular vacuum but they have a compartment where you can place cleaning solution or water. This means you can easily switch between vacuuming your floors and carpets to mopping your floors. You can learn more about robot mops and vacuums and wet/dry vacuums in the vacuum cleaner buying guide.
5. Spring clean your furniture
Spring is a great time to deep clean your furniture too. You can run a damp cloth over wooden furniture and you’ll remove all of the dust in one swipe. Don’t forget to dust the back of the TV, TV screen, and other objects you have on your walls and shelves. Couches, love seats, and mattresses are all easy to clean when you have a stick vacuum cleaner with hose attachments. They also work well when vacuuming the dust off of furniture, and they can get into all of the corners of your ceiling and up on window frames that are hard to reach. For leather furniture, you’re best to use leather cleaner.
Handheld steam cleaners are also a great option for cleaning furniture. You can use steam to clean stains, remove marks, or steam the wrinkles out of the fabric. Steam cleaners are also great for cleaning grout in the shower, backsplash, or tile floors.
Bonus tip: spring cleaning your computer
There’s one device we all own that’s easy to overlook when it comes to spring cleaning—your computer. Your laptop or keyboard for your desktop computer is probably used more often than anything else in your home, but most people only give them a cursory wipe-down occasionally.
Spring cleaning time is a great opportunity to grab a can of compressed air and blow the dust bunnies out of your As, Es, Is, and every other letter on your keyboard. Use a wipe or microfibre cloth to wipe down the screen and case, and your computer will be ready for spring too.
You’re done spring cleaning!
Thanks to these 5 easy steps for spring cleaning, you’ll conquer the dust and dirt in your home in as little as one or two days. Once your spring cleaning is out of the way, your home will be so clean you might want to branch out and clean up your yard or redecorate your patio.
Take a look at everything you need for spring cleaning at Best Buy and usher spring into your home.
