Spring Cleaning

Oh Spring. I love Spring. I love the flowers starting to bloom and the warm air. I love being able to go on walks without having to bundle up and I love the longer amounts of sunlight. I do not love spring cleaning. Spring is just around the corner and I admit that I have never done a great job of spring cleaning. Typically it hit during a very busy time at work and I would spend a Saturday cleaning as much as possible, but never really did a thorough job.

 

This year I want to do a very deep cleaning of the house for Spring. The task seemed daunting when I started to think of every thing that needed to be done and because I knew there were things that I wasn't even thinking of. So I started searching for lists online of things that needed to be done to get our house in order. I found a great list on the Martha Stewart website. It breaks it down by whole-house tasks and then room-by-room.

 

 

With a baby in the house, I knew that it will be impossible to do a whole day of cleaning, and I knew I wouldn't want to either. Spring Cleaning wouldn't be so bad if it was split up over several days. The lists that I found from Martha Stewart helped remind me of things that needed to be done that I don't normally think of.

 

 

So, I love a good to-do list/plan! I used the lists to decide what needed to be done in our house and then made a calendar to get it done over several weeks instead of one weekend. Here's what I came up with:

 

I didn't plan anything for Sundays so that we have a whole day for family time. For Saturdays, I planned simple tasks that I also needed Dan's help for. He is home on Saturdays so he will be able to help with moving furniture, climbing ladders, etc. on those days. Having a plan helps spring cleaning not seem so daunting. I left the last week blank so that I could add tasks that I forgot about. I've already added that I need to vacuum and clean the couches and each bathroom needs a good scrub. By the end of the month, our house will be completely cleaned and ready for the new season! I do hope to work some garage organization into there too!

How do you manage spring cleaning?