family,  homes

Spring Cleaning Made Simple – All the Things You Usually Forget #CloroxMeansClean

Spring cleaning is a great way to get a fresh start for the season. Seems like over the winter months we accumulate so much stuff. When the weather changes it’s time to give the house a good purge. You might as well clean too. I started reading Spark Joy this week by Marie Kondo, and it has inspired me to start the spring cleaning process too.

From getting the dust bunnies out from behind the couches that never get moved to flipping mattresses and changing the sheets, spring cleaning is time to give your home a good purge and clean. But even when you think you did a thorough job there are tasks many of us forget to do and those things can make a big difference.

Spring Cleaning Made Simple

When you start your big clean, remember the little things count, as well. A good cleaning includes culling and organizing. Remember, the less stuff you have, the less messes too. Clutter weighs you down. And right now we have clutter. This house has needed a purge for months. So, I decided to get my youngest daughter involved. Many hands make light work.

The Before picture. This washroom is often a disaster. Clorox and Glad help make it easy.

Cull

DITCH the old clothing that you haven’t worn. When was the last time your husband wore that awful shirt? When’s the last time you wore that sweater that is so far out of style, it will never come back in? How often do the kids really play with those old toys?  These are the questions to ask yourself when you begin spring cleaning. If you haven’t used it in a year, get rid of it. Make some space and create peace.

I am the worst possible offender here. My kids are the same. We hold onto things that have an emotional connection long after they’ve outlived their use. My kids hate getting rid of old toys. One of us still has a Backyardigan and the kids are now 13 and 15. It can be a battle moving things on here. But I do find with toys and clothing that if the girls know the gently used items are finding a new home at their cousin’s house then they can get behind the cleaning and purging initiative.

This weekend I took a bunch of Clorox products and I bought several small organizing bins from the dollar store. Clorox wipes make cleaning easy, so my kids can help clean surfaces too. If you are organizing and culling, let your kids personalize the bins if they want. Clorox disinfecting wipes are also affordable at $3.25 for a canister. I really like these because they are convenient and they kill 99.9 % of bacteria that lives on surfaces in your home.

We started in the girls’ bathroom because it always looks like something girly exploded in there. Not joking. My girls like makeup and hair and beauty products and their shared washroom overflows with them. We pulled everything out of the drawers and tossed a few things we no longer need. Then we checked expiry dates on things like sunscreen. Eventually we also moved a few more items into the bin going out the door to charity and organized the rest into separate bins. We also did a big clean of the space. Clorox Disinfecting Bleach Foamer Spray works beautifully on bathroom surfaces to kill germs. It also kills athlete’s foot fungus and I have athletes so I am hanging onto this.

Spring Clean the Drains

Do you ever notice a funky odor coming out of your drains? It could be sewer gas creeping up through the pipes, or it could also be a year or more’s worth of gunk stuck to your pipes. A good drain cleaner helps. At our house it’s always hair. Disgusting, yes. But reality because let’s face it three of us are girls with long hair and that takes a toll on drains, carpets, and vacuum cleaners. I actually let out a happy yell when I realized Clorox has a product just for hair clogs. Brilliant! Liquid Plumr Hair Clog Eliminator sticks to trapped hair and dissolves it. This product is only used by adults in our house.

spring_cleaning
AFTER a good spring cleaning

Door Knobs

You should really be doing this all year anyway, but spring cleaning is the perfect time to really get those door knobs clean. Don’t just give them a quick wipe, get in there with a cloth or wipe to get in all the nooks and crannies that house bacteria and germs. You’ll also be surprised at how much physical gunk built up on those knobs that you never even noticed.

Molding 

One of the biggest forgotten areas in spring cleaning is dusting the TOP of the molding around the house. I am so guilty of this. It is both amazing and disgusting how much dust comes off the top of your molding when you spring clean. You would NEVER suspect so much has collected up there. It’s especially bad if you’re like me and you never remember to dust that area.

Grout

We all mop or use some other cleaning method to clean our tile. The grout is a secondary thing that might get a little cleaning action just from the act of cleaning the tile. When spring cleaning rolls around, however, you should give your tile some extra love. You can use a bit of Clorox bleach to give your grout a good cleaning and get it spruced up in no time.

Don’t forget the Glad Easy-Tie Regular Garbage Bags and the Glad Easy-Tie Tall Kitchen Catchers with Febreze fresh scent. I like the Tall Kitchen Catchers because they are a good size for kitchen garbage. But my favourite this year is the Glad 100 % compostable bags with Febreze Fresh Lemon Scent. ($5.99 for 20). These are great for your green/ organic and food waste.

Spring Cleaning for the Forgetful

This year I am breaking this huge job into chunks, purging and cleaning one room at a time. Spark Joy talks about doing it all in one go, but that’s a huge commitment of time for me right now. Spring cleaning can be overwhelming. I hope this list of often forgotten items is a big a help to you too. Get all the nooks and crannies, and declutter your space so you feel less overwhelmed and your home should spark joy again.

This spring cleaning post was sponsored  by Clorox and I received compensation. My opinion is all my own and it is also truthful. 

Mom of two beautiful active girls, traveller, fitness junkie, social media consultant, and keeper of the sanity.

23 Comments

  • robin rue

    I need to get a serious move on with my spring cleaning. The thing I always forget are my blinds.

  • Alli Smith

    I’ve been spring cleaning like crazy! I love the feeling I get when the entire house is deep cleaned and ready for summer. I even cleaned out my master walk-in closet a few weeks ago and it’s so refreshing to have an organized, cleaned-out closet.

  • Jeanette

    We need to clean so bad. I am hoping that today I can start organizing and getting rid of stuff that we don’t use anymore. Then I want to clean up the whole house from top to bottom.

  • candy

    Spring cleaning has been going on around my house now for weeks. I am taking one room at a time and completely cleaning from to bottom. Plus getting rid of stuff which is really nice.

  • Olivia

    Oh geez, this has been on my list since last spring. I have some time off from work coming up though, and my goal is to do a thorough deep clean of my house then. Like you, the decluttering is the hardest part for me!

  • lisa

    I started spring cleaning weeks ago. We have lots of spring birthdays and such so I had to start my cleaning early. I love Clorox products.

  • Laura

    I had no idea you can get Liquid Plumbr hair clog removal, I need this as part of my Spring cleaning! With three girls in the house that is one problem, we run into all the time.

  • Monica Parlee

    Love all of these great ideas and tips for making spring cleaning more efficient and less of a pain to do. I’ve been putting it off, but you have inspired me to get at it!

  • Claudia Krusch

    Clorox is one of my go to products for my tough cleaning jobs. I am working on my spring cleaning list this week. It feels like it is never ending.

  • Jenn

    I have been working on spring cleaning our house on the weekends for about a month now. My list is long, and my time is short, so I appreciate any and all tips.

  • Jacqui S

    I love Clorox products. I use them all the time and got that from my mom, who used them all the time too. You can definitely feel confident that your house is clean when using them.

  • My Teen Guide

    I am almost done with Spring cleaning. The only rooms I have left are the boys rooms. You know how scared I am to go in there! I can just imagine the clutter! I guess I have to restock on cleaning materials when I start cleaning those rooms.

  • Dawn McAlexander

    I am bad to leave clothes hanging in the closet that I have not worn in years. I should really be going through them, and I keep saying that I am going to, but it never happens. I do need to get rid of some of those clothes.