Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Spring Cleaning: Five Easy Tips

Does anyone do "spring cleaning" anymore, or has it become optional, like ironing your t-shirts or folding hospital corners when you make the bed? When I was a kid, every April my mother would wash all the windows and walls, air the quilts and pillows, scrub everything that could be scrubbed and polish everything that could be polished. This work would be accomplished in about five twelve-hour days. Do any of us spend twelve hours doing continuous housework anymore? Confession: I sure don't. Still, having a clean house is nice, I must agree. I just think we need a new approach. A somewhat more relaxed approach. After all, there is more to life than a clean house. (We're supposed to stop and smell the flowers, remember?)



 Here are my top five Spring Cleaning tips:

 1. Don't spring clean in the spring Never tackle a big housecleaning project when the sun is shining and the world is calling you to come out and play. Pick a cold, rainy day or a nasty snowy day. November and January are my personal, favorite months for "spring cleaning."

Perfect day for "Spring Cleaning"


2. Break the job into small bits: Don't attempt to clean the entire house in one weekend. Pick a room, or if that's too much commitment for you, single out a closet, or if even that seems overwhelming, a shelf in the closet. If you even clean one drawer in your bathroom, you'll be amazed at how satisfying it feels.

 3. Donate to Goodwill I am constantly dropping off things at Goodwill, because I'm not a fan of clutter. Clutter makes it difficult to find things. Clutter collects dust and trips you in the dark when you're trying to find that book you were reading and can't stop thinking about.

Like this book, for instance


 4. Listen to Good Music and Drink Wine Hey, why not?

 5. Share your Accomplishment With Others You've worked hard--it's time to get some accolades. At a recent dinner party I invited everyone to inspect my Tupperware drawer. So tidy and clean! Everyone was suitably impressed. And by impressed, I mean they'd had plenty of wine.

 I'd love to hear your favorite spring cleaning tip. Share one below and I'll enter your name in a draw for your choice of two of my books on Kindle (you get to pick the titles) or 1 of my back-list autographed books (I'll surprise you with a title).

15 comments:

linda s said...

Spring cleaning. I am the one room at a time kind. I really only have the energy to do it in the Spring, when Spring fever hits but the days are drizzly. For me it's about the light. winter days are too dark to do anything.

Melissa Ann Goodwin said...

Hi Barbara - thanks for your visit to my blog. My biggest tip is: try not to accumulate too much stuff to begin with!

Rosalind Adam said...

Tried to post the guide for putting a blog link but it showed up as a link. Sorry. I also said that my theory about spring cleaning is that it's the sun shining brightly through dirty windows that makes me start cleaning out of sheer embarrassment.

I'll send you the code in a tweet.

Rosalind Adam is Writing in the Rain

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the great tips. I like cleaning in stages too.

Coyote Quilts said...

I agree, one closet or room at a time. I am one that has to have the 'bug' to clean. To many other things (like reading and quilting) that are a LOT more fun to do with my time ;). I guess my spring cleaning this year was putting new fabric on our favorite sofas....

Unknown said...

I do it a little bit at a time.

Lynn Proctor said...

i wish i could share a tip--maybe hire someone if you can--not that i can----great tips :)

CJ Carmichael said...

What great comments! I see I'm not the only one who likes to clean in stages. :)

Lynn--maybe you have the best tip of all--hire someone! I always find, though, that you can't get someone else to do the closets and drawers, etc.

I'll be drawing the name of a prize winner on Friday. Feel free to keep sharing cleaning tips--every person who comments until Friday will be elligible for the draw!

Amy Jarecki said...

My mother never did the "spring cleaning" thing. I do a big clean once a month. And the great thing about giving your stuff to charity? It's tax deductible...now that's music to my ears!

Unknown said...

Hello,
Dropping in from the A-Z challenge.

My fave tip I think you have already, don't try to do too much at once.

I tickle the glassware with a feather duster one day, then the nextg day it's the light shades. See, never too much at once.

Kind regards,
Debbie W
http://writingworkshopsandcompetitions.blogspot.co.uk/

Christine Rains said...

Great tips! Now that I have a child, I don't want to be inside on nice days. I also have to work harder to keep a clean house!

CJ Carmichael said...

Christine, smartest thing I ever did when I had children was get a dog. Best darn vacuum cleaner ever!

When we sadly lost our dog a few years ago, suddenly I was noticing all these crumbs on our floor. By then I had no little children to blame them on!

CJ Carmichael said...

Thanks for dropping in Amy and Debbie!

Joyce said...

Music definitely motivates me while I'm cleaning. And it needs to be loud : ) Thanks for visiting my blog!

CJ Carmichael said...

Oops, a little late posting our winner's name, but here she is: Coyote Quilts.

The winner can contact me at: cjcarmichael@shaw.ca for prize details.

Thanks for sharing all those spring cleaning tips folks!