15 Spring Cleaning Organization Tips

So a few weeks ago when we were all sooo sick around my house, I remember laying on the floor in misery and then looking at my baseboards. DUST and DIRT all situated nice and pretty on all those cute baseboard ledges. How did this happen? I was sick all over again. I knew I would have to get to cleaning that dust up ASAP. It is finally March and we are heading out of the doom, gloom and cold of winter. I am pretty excited. It’s about this time that the snow starts losing its pretty sparkly qualities and starts looking dull, dingy and dirty. Sounds about like my house. Ok not really but sort of. The doors and windows have been shut and everything needs just a little polishing. Now don’t get me wrong I’m no super cleaning lover. Or even an expert at spring cleaning, but I do know it can be overwhelming to the best of us. I love a clean house yes, but would I rather have a maid do it while I watched Project Runway, Downton Abbey or Once Upon a Time.

The sad truth is I don’t have a maid so I will have to watch my shows and clean at the same time. I have whipped up my tips for Spring Cleaning & Organizing after a long winter. Let’s get started.

15 Spring Cleaning Organization Tips

1. Gather your supplies!!! Make sure you are stocked up on all your favorite cleaning supplies, paper towels, sponges, etc. If I don’t have something I need, I am more likely to put it off and save it for a rainy day. Be prepared before you dive into a the big job of spring cleaning!!!

2. Pace your self. Do your spring cleaning and organizing over time. Somedays my head pops off my little pillow and I say to myself, “I could get my entire house cleaned today.” Wrong. Maybe I could, but I get too distracted by email, pinterest, my phone, pinterest, projects, pinterest, family, you see what I mean. It is hard to do such a big task in one day. Create a schedule or list. I write what I want to do in my planner, that way I might actually do it because I wrote it down. One day do bathrooms, another bedrooms, or however you need to pace it out to get it all done right.

3. Get the right junk in the right place. I am a great pile maker. I make a pile for the office, to go downstairs, to put in the bedroom. This is great, but it also makes spring cleaning hard. All the piles and junk everywhere get in the way. Get the junk into its proper place. If it goes in the craft room get it to the craft room so you can organize while you clean.

4. Do each room one at a time. I’ve decided I get distracted. Do I need to say the word pinterest again? Oh I saw the best recipe to try on pinterest it was a… you get my point. I get focused on cleaning, but instead of focusing my energy on one room I try to do it all at once and then at the end of the day, I have a semi clean house, but no one room is completely done. Start with one room and do it until it is completely finished and clean. This will give greater satisfaction that you’ve accomplished a whole room, when you do reward yourself! You deserve it!

5. Throw out crap as you go. Whether you throw it in the trash, donate to goodwill or have a garage sale. Round up the crap and get rid of it. It holds you down and makes it harder to have a clean home. As you deep clean this spring ask yourself if you’ve used something in the last 6 months. If you haven’t and you are pretty sure you could live without it, toss it.

6. Start from the top and work down. In each room start up high with light fixtures, then windows and blinds on down to the baseboards and floors. This is the law of gravity. If you vacuum your floors and then wipe the blades of your ceiling fan off, chances are you are going to have to vacuum again. Make it easier on yourself. Do things in a progressive order top to bottom.

7. Move your furniture. When I used to dust as a child, I thought you just had to get all the visible dust and you were good. Just wipe around all the books and stuff on the tables and you were good right? Wrong! My mom had a lot of doilies and table decorations. Those things needed to be moved if not there is still a bunch of dust that gets missed. If I didn’t move the doilies, then there was still dust in all the doily holes. Same goes for furniture. Move it and vacuum underneath. Maybe rearrange the furniture some. It could be fun.

8. Wash Everything. I mean it. Walls, cupboards, sheets, mattress pads, pillows, bed spreads, drapes. It will leave your house with the fresh smell of laundry and spring.

9. Solve Problems. Our big problem: SHOES. They seem to end up everywhere. By every door. In the middle of the kitchen. Never on feet just spread across the house. Ok Ok part of it is my fault, but we all could improve, right?. My solution: a shoe rack near the garage door. I don’t know if will work yet, but I am going to try it and see. I will put our most used shoes on the rack all others go to closets. Solving problems like this will make it easier to keep your home clean. On the flip side, if you have a problem you’ve fixed, but the solution isn’t working, don’t be afraid to change it again.

10. Get Creative with your Cleaning Supplies. Use things that you wouldn’t normally use to clean. I love to use an old or cheap toothbrush to get in little corners, cracks and crevices. What other unconventional things do you use for cleaning supplies?

11. Air your house out. Even if it is a bit chilly I love to get the windows open while I am cleaning. It brings a nice breeze to get rid of the stale closed up all winter air. Hang out things that can’t be washed like dry clean only bed spreads, pillows, large area rugs. Get that spring fresh outdoors scent and bring it inside.

12. Touch up paint. So this may not be cleaning, but it may as well be. I have a couple of places where the paint has been nicked around my house. It is driving me crazy. My eyes go right to the nicks. Touching up these nicks is like the icing on a spring cleaning cake.

13. Tighten screws, change light bulbs, check smoke detectors. Ok I’m weird. These things are just good things to check right now. Make sure things are working properly. Or if something has gone undone all winter that needs your attention, schedule it on your spring cleaning schedule. Like change that hard to get to light bulb on your porch. Do it you will feel better.

14. Create a Weekly/Daily Cleaning Schedule. After your house is all spotless from spring cleaning, maintain it. Maintenance is key. It will make the deep cleaning an easy thing rather than a huge chore every few months. Find what works best for you. Do you like to get all your cleaning done in one day, or do you like to spread it out doing a little bit each day? Whatever your cleaning style: Make a PLAN.

15. Don’t do it all alone. Enlist your husband, boyfriend, roommates, and/or kids. Maybe ask a friend to help you and then do the same for her. I always find it is easier to keep going when someone is helping me out.

I hope this helps you to tackle your spring cleaning organization this year. What great tips did I miss? I would love to hear what helps you get through it all!

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