Spring cleaning is about to hit the (dirty) fan

I've written about spring cleaning before, but I feel like every year I find new ways to make it easier...more efficient...and.......................fun?

It's never 'fun'...but for me, spring cleaning is all about the hype. Saving up some of my favorite podcasts...buying a book on Audible just for Spring Cleaning Week (read: month). It means new sponges and gloves and re-stocking my cleaning supplies. I send Mav outside each morning, light a candle, crank the music and then...get down and dirty behind my washer and dryer, inside my oven and even underneath the living room furniture.

THINGS I DON'T DO WHILE SPRING CLEANING:

• Play dates
• Organizing/Sorting/Donating
• Sleep
• Unnecessary craft projects
• Cook
• Errands
• Things I can hire out (ie: window + screen washing)
• Swap seasonal decor

For the past few weeks I've been feeling the urge but never pulled the trigger. Spring Cleaning is easiest to accomplish when it's planned in advance and is focused and efficient. Otherwise it's too easy to get side-tracked and lose momentum. I posted this blog a couple years ago that mentioned some of those things...but I've come to realize I do best with a comprehensive list. Like...a HUGE list.

When I say 'List' I don't mean your basic list of chores. I'm talking about every. single. thing. that needs to be done. Wiping down woodwork/baseboards. Dusting air return vents. Ceiling fans that you haven't seen the top of in the past calendar year? Those definitely need attention. I'm even talking about inside and behind all appliances...underneath all the beds. Washing every sheet, curtain, pillowcase, and bathroom rug. I list it ALL, room by room, even including hallways/entrances. Some days, deep cleaning the hallway doors and corners of cobwebs and mopping the floor is all I can accomplish, and that's ok! It gets another space cleaned and checked off the list.

In this massive book of lists I also include things like testing smoke detectors...replacing light bulbs...touching up obvious paint scuffs/scratches/dents...I do a little closet/drawer organizing as needed, but I like to keep my organizing overhaul separate from cleaning because it can get very overwhelming if you combine the two. I'm also not sure people organize their spaces as frequently as I do, therefore I think it's probably a good idea to separate the two.

While I'm working in each room, I continue the list making. I note things that need to be purchased, replaced, or projects that need to be finished. I want to add shiplap to a couple areas in our house but fun projects are kind of my 'reward' for getting this massive spring cleaning done. Having a goal to work toward always seems to help me. The reward is the fun part...filling nail holes and doing touch-up paint is the part that I loathe (even though every time I look at my trash cupboard, the paint scratches drive me NUTS!). I'd put it off for years and years if I didn't have this big, 'fun', Spring Cleaning project to motivate me. Lumping crap like that into a bigger project when everything is already out and kind of a mess helps the process.

Another thing I do that most people probably will never understand...I like to start Spring Cleaning with a clean house. I know, I know...kind of insane. BUT. It's impossible for me to accomplish BIG THINGS when there are two baskets of laundry and a pile of dishes in the sink. Staying on top of the usual daily grind stuff is KEY to being able to accomplish anything else above and beyond the normal household stuff.

I take the Spring Cleaning a step farther by including the exterior of the house. This spring I have quite a few paint touch-ups on our metal gutters from where an ice storm pelted the house and knocked the paint right off...that's going on the list. I need to hose down all of our porches/decks and lightly power wash the house in a couple places too...then I'll hose/wipe down all the furniture and that brings me to the windows. We have a million. They're all different styles and sizes and the screen porch is a whole other monster, so this is one of the things we outsource. We hire Josh's friend who owns a window-washing business to knock that out in a morning (it would take me a couple of days and it wouldn't be done nearly as well).

After that I can get my flowers planted, the landscaping finished, and be ready to fully enjoy summer without feeling like the house is falling apart inside and the dust bunnies are growing by the second. This is THE BEST PART OF SPRING CLEANING. We get to spend the entire summer outside, at the pool, eating on the porch...without feeling like all I'm doing is trying to get my head above water with the house projects and cleaning.

Mainly I just try to use my time really well when I'm in Spring Cleaning mode. Lots of independent play and naptime hustle. There's not a lot of deck-sitting or reading or entertaining during these weeks...the time for that comes once everything is clean and in order! Of course we have things come up and random things get scheduled but if I stick to the list, I can usually keep the momentum going to knock it all out before the pool opens (that's currently my goal...we have a wedding during my usual cleaning schedule, therefore the schedule has been thrown off a bit). I finish one thing at a time, one room at a time. And somehow, it all gets done!

I'll check back in a month to let you know how I did...I might even post some of the gross stuff I'm conquering along the way to my InstaStories.

MmB