How do you go about spring cleaning?

Ruth n Jersey

Ruth n Jersey

Well-known Member
Location
Northern New Jersey
My daughter is having Easter dinner for us so I decided to get a head start on my spring cleaning.
After 49 years of cleaning I have my ways.
In January I wash my carpets. They seem to dry better with the heat on and a window cracked a bit.
Early spring I do what I call the guts of the house. I clean and go through all the cabinets, drawers, and linen closets.
Then I go room by room and clean what is in sight. Touch up scratches on the furniture if need be and clean the inside of the windows..
Anyone still wash lamp shades? I slosh them in the bathtub with tide and borax, then let them drip dry hanging on the wash line on the porch. Must be quite a sight for my young neighbors.
I am trying to switch over to lamps with glass shades. Easier to clean.
That's a fun thing to look for in the Salvation Army. I'm way to old to buy new ones and it gives me a valid reason to visit the store.
I do blinds in the bathtub also.
When I'm all finished I do a general cleaning so its all done and I can admire my completely clean house. This makes the hubby very happy also. It means he lived though another year of me tearing the house apart.
Some people just keep up with things on a day to day basis.
I like to know my home is in good shape so I can enjoy being outside when the weather gets better.
How do you handle cleaning?
 

Well in my case, I gear up and follow my wife's lead. It is pretty simple for me since I don't have to get involved in the "planning" part of it.
But like you, my wife has some pretty definitive ideas about how is should be approached and what the final result should look like. That "final result" part is generally the tough part LOL.
 
We try and keep ours clean all the time but the windows that aren’t double hung or cleanable from the inside get done. Mats gets washed and hung on the clothesline. Coats , clothes, boots and shoes get switched around and usually the ceiling fans get cleaned extra well. The windows get opened so the rooms get a good airing out.
Sometimes I wash the walls.
 
Ruth, you've got a very good strategy there! I don't do my Spring Cleaning any different than the rest of the year. Right now I'm trying to catch up on my vacuuming and dusting. I also need to clean my oscillating fans.

I tend to do bigger jobs of cleaning when the urge hits me--and it hasn't yet this year:LOL:
 
Ahhh... a topic that speaks to me!

Another spring and fall cleaner here, Ruth!

I typically select the room that I feel needs cleaning the worst, and that's my starting point, and to be clear, nothing get's dirty in our house, just that I hate dust in behind and under furniture, blinds that need dusted, etc.

Furniture is moved, walls are scrubbed (Pepper, I use a 100% cotton cloth with a pail filled with hot water and general purpose household cleaner, and LOTS of elbow grease).

Baseboards are scrubbed-down when I'm doing the walls, everything is vacuumed meticulously, furniture moved back to either the original location or for a change, I'll often change-up the layout of the furniture.

I tend not to do light fixtures until fall, because with the windows opened throughout summer, I feel it's a waste, so the cleaning of fixtures I reserve for fall.

As for blinds, I use a wet cloth and pinching the cloth and blind slats (one at a time), I run the cloth from one end of the blinds to the other, working from top to bottom, slat after slat, then close them and swipe the blinds with a freshly wrung cloth to pick up any residue I may have missed.

Lampshades get a good vacuuming, and then it's onto closets, cabinets, cupboards, and dresser drawers. A good vacuuming, a wiping if needed, then replace all neatly when done.

I always take the time to oil down and polish furniture as I work my way through the home from room to room, upstairs to down.

Back in my silly days I used to empty out the kitchen cupboards and wash everything (by-hand), before replacing it back into the cupboards again. I don't do that anymore.

I used to be able to smack-out the house in a few weeks when I was younger, these days it takes me longer, but I don't have the oomph that I used, so after a few hours of messing around cleaning I like to move onto putting a nice meal on for supper.

When my children were younger I used to offer them a bonus allowance for helping me. Was always nice when my daughters helped, because us 3 girls could gossip, chat, and have a few laughs as we worked, and of course it made my job and life easier.

I used to help my mom with her spring and fall cleaning when I was growing up, and she always appreciated my help so much.

As for the carpet in our house, we're fanatical when it comes to not wearing outdoor footwear in the home or dirty socks, so carpeting stays clean, but as soon as hubby retires at the end of this year we plan on putting hard surface flooring down throughout, so they'll be no more carpeting in the home at all, though I do have plans on seeing one or two nice area rugs added to help pull a room or two together and to help keep things cozy.
 
I do spring cleaning and do a little cleaning every day, very little. Deep clean kitchen once a week on weekend day. Spring cleaning means wash curtains, wash every single item of clothing I have, washing the clothing today. Wash all the coats, sweaters, etc, everything.
 
JonDouglas said:
I don't do spring cleaning. I do regular cleaning, some every day, so there's no need for some episodic burst of housecleaning.
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That is the best approach by far. Sometimes I wish I lived in the city, rather than the country...where a lot of that country dirt is indoors.

...but then I slap myself, and rejoice that I am still living in the country.

I have developed an extreme tolerance for dirt and dust bunnies, I wait until they turn into dust-bears. :LOL:
 
Nathan said:
That is the best approach by far. Sometimes I wish I lived in the city, rather than the country...where a lot of that country dirt is indoors.

...but then I slap myself, and rejoice that I am still living in the country.

I have developed an extreme tolerance for dirt and dust bunnies, I wait until they turn into dust-bears. :LOL:
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We had dust bunnies all over our basement ceiling. It’s unfinished so I never noticed them until a couple of weeks ago. They were the dust bears variety.
 
JonDouglas said:
I don't do spring cleaning. I do regular cleaning, some every day, so there's no need for some episodic burst of housecleaning.
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I partake in such, too, but seldom move furniture and scrub walls when I regularly clean, so being able to do an all-out official deep-clean when spring and fall roll around, just makes me feel that much better about how I keep home.

Spring and fall cleaning was tradition in my childhood home, and to this day it reminds me of my mom when those two seasons are upon me.
 


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