What NOT to Spring Clean

I partnered with Maids.com for this post

This time of year there is so much talk about Spring Cleaning. Obviously I have a handful of Spring Cleaning posts as well but today I’m going to talk about what NOT to Spring Clean. I think the idea of Spring Cleaning can be overwhelming to some of us because we stare at the huge checklist and don’t know where to start, so instead we get paralyzed and do nothing.

Well nothing is never the right answer so let’s figure out a better solution by finding things we can take off the list!

I’m going to use this incredibly thorough list that my friend Jennifer put together (if you want to print it you can find it here). In a perfect world I would love to have time to do each of these things every Spring, but in reality there’s no way I’ll get to a lot of them.

For today’s topic of what NOT to Spring Clean I’m going to take some of the things off the list and put them into 2 categories – 1. Things you don’t need to worry about because no one will ever notice and 2. Things you should be doing on a regular basis so they never really become a big chore. Ready, here we go!

Things you don’t need to worry about because no one will ever notice:

1. You don’t need to worry about wiping down your ceilings and walls because I guarantee no one, not even you, will notice if it has been done or not. Sometimes cob webs can sneak into the corners so if you need to grab a cobweb duster and snag those but as far as wiping down every wall and ceiling in your house, you can go ahead and take that off the list.

2. Dusting skylights is another one you can cross off the list. We had a couple skylights in our first house and I honesty never wiped them down in the 3 1/2 years we lived there. If you see a cobweb, grab it with your duster but don’t worry about going through the hassle of dragging a ladder through the house to get up there to actually clean the skylight.

3. Curtains are another thing I never clean. In our house the curtains get opened and closed every day, which keeps the dust from sitting on them, so I never go through the hassle of washing them or vacuuming them. So if you open/close your curtains regularly then don’t worry about going through the chore of cleaning them every Spring.

4. This one may shock you, and here’s my confession, I don’t ever wash my baseboards (gasp!). There was a time where I used to be good at this but that time has come and gone and is now consumed with running a business, making the house run efficiently and making sure the hubs and kids are happy. If I see an area of the baseboards is dirty or scuffed up then I’ll get down and clean it but you won’t catch me on my hands and knees wiping down 2000 linear feet of baseboard any time soon! I DO however clean the baseboard in the bathrooms, especially around the toilets (SO gross!) but that’s about it. And you know what? No one has ever come over and said, “Wow, your baseboards are really dirty.” and you know why? Because no one cares and because all their baseboards probably haven’t’ been cleaned either! 🙂 So take the pressure off yourself to break your back cleaning your baseboards and commit to spot cleaning them if you ever need to!

 

Things you should be doing on a regular basis so they never really become a big chore

1. Deep cleaning the fridge is something I never do, however what I do is clean out the fridge every time I go to the grocery store. Before every shopping trip I look through the fridge to see what we have/what we need, what’s expired (salad dressings expire often) and if there are any spills I clean them up. Deep cleaning your entire fridge can be an overwhelming task but if you are cleaning out the fridge every week or two, then it never has the opportunity to get really messy/dirty.

2. Wiping down light switches is another task you can go ahead and cross of the Spring Cleaning list. This is actually something I have my daughter do on a regular basis because it’s an easy chore for her and it keeps the germs from building up. I give her a sanitizing wipe and have her wipe down the light switches and the door handles, at least every couple of weeks. So cross it off your list and assign in to your kiddos, they might actually enjoy helping you out. 🙂

3. I don’t know about you but I’m super sensitive to smells and blankets and throws are something that start getting musty after a few weeks of not being washed. Instead of washing all your blankets and throws just once a year, get in the habit of throwing them in the wash once a month. This will keep them fresh and you’ll be more likely to want to cozy on up in them!

4. There are so many other tasks on the list that I consider daily/weekly/monthly taskss because if you do them often enough then they’ll never become a huge daunting “Spring Cleaning” job. Here are handful of them – wiping down cabinets (spot cleaning when necessary), cleaning flat surfaces throughout the house (counters, tables, etc.), cleaning the sinks, cleaning the floors throughout the house, washing windows (I only do this when I notice smudges on them, no unnecessary window washing happening over here), dusting decorations, etc. If you’d like to print my daily, weekly, monthly cleaning checklists you can find them here.

Now that you know all the things you don’t need to Spring Clean take another look at the list and I think you’ll find it much more manageable! Check out this post on Maids.com for more ideas for what NOT to Spring Clean. Also remember to have grace for yourself because you don’t have to get all the tasks done in one day, take your time and do it at your own pace!