Tag Archives: ~Cleaning

Spring Cleaning – Living Room

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Couches and Chairs: Use the vacuum cleaner attachment for crevices to get underneath the cushions of your couch. This might also be the time to rent an upholstery cleaner and steam clean the fabric of your couches and chairs.

Tables, Lamps and Knick-knacks: Dust and fully wipe your tables, lamps and knick-knacks. Don’t forget to vacuum the lampshades as they tend to get extremely dusty.

Bookcases: Remove all books from your bookshelf and clean the shelves. Don’t forget to dust the books before putting them back!

Entertainment Center and Electronics: If you’ve got a wooden entertainment center or armoire, you should dust and polish the wood surfaces. If you’ve got a laminate, an all-purpose cleaner will do. Most stereos can be cleaned with a damp rag. For your television, there are different cleaning methods depending on what kind of set you own. If you have an older, traditional tube, you can use glass cleaner and a rag. Avoid paper towels for any electronics because the paper fibers could slightly scratch the surface. If you have plasma screen, use just a clean damp cloth. If there is serious dirt, you can mix it with a gentle cleanser, but try to avoid using any cleansers if possible. For LCD screens you want to be especially careful. Wipe very gently with a damp cloth, then dry immediately with a dry cloth. Don’t press onto the screen or you could damage the display.

Spring Cleaning – The Bathroom

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Shower and Tub: Scrub as you normally do, this time also removing your shower curtain to launder or use a heavy duty soap scum remover to get the grime off of shower doors.

Toilet: Get into all of those nooks and crannies, and that includes the parts that no one sees behind the porcelain throne and underneath.

Medicine Cabinet: Remove everything from your medicine cabinet and any other cupboards or cabinets you use to store bathroom products and thoroughly clean all surfaces. You’ll be surprised at how much soapy residue or old shampoo – or just plain dust – has accumulated in there. This is a great time to throw stuff out- and don’t be bashful! If you feel bad about throwing away half-full cosmetics or shampoos, put them in a yard sale. People will buy them.

Sinks and Mirrors: Follow your usual routine, but this time, add q-tips to your arsenal to really get into each crevice of your mirror and bathroom fixtures.

Bathroom Trash Can: Can liners only can do so much from keeping dirt and germs from the surface of your trash can. Spring cleaning is a great time to actually clean and deoderize this container. Hint: the tub is a good place to do the cleaning, before you scrub the tub.

Spring Cleaning – The Kitchen

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Walls and Appliances: When grease splatters or cake batter flies, you probably wipe it off in the moment, but you might not catch all of the grime that ends up covering your walls and appliances. Spring cleaning is the time to get rid of that caked-on dirt and grease. Spray all of your walls and appliances with an all-purpose cleaner and/or de-greaser and scrub them clean with a towel or sponge. Afterwards, rinse thoroughly to avoid leaving any sticky soap residue on the walls that could attract even more dirt and dust.

Kitchen Wall Hangings: This includes your kitchen clock and could extend to a hanging pot rack or even a spice rack or even a phone if you’ve got one mounted. Basically, anything that’s hanging on your walls or ceiling needs to come down for a thorough cleaning because nothing is safe from grease and dirt in the kitchen.

Oven: If you have a self-cleaning oven, run it now and wipe it down thoroughly when through (waiting several hours for the oven to cool down). One tip for self-cleaning ovens is to remove the temperature knobs because they tend to heat up and could melt. For regular ovens, follow your manufacturer’s instructions and/or the instructions on the oven cleaner you purchase. Always open any available windows and turn on vents when cleaning your oven to avoid fume contamination.

Refrigerator – Inside and Out: Throw out any expired food, empty jars, and other half-used products that are taking up space. Take out the refrigerator shelves and drawers. Wash them down, being careful with glass shelves. Wipe down the entire inside of the refrigerator and freezer before replacing shelves and food. Vacuum the coils of your unplugged refrigerator and wipe the outside completely, not forgetting the door handle (usually the filthiest part of the fridge!). If you can, ask someone to help you move the refrigerator to sweep and mop underneath it.

Stovetop: Remove the knobs, burners, burner covers and spill catchers off the stovetop and either wash by hand or put into the dishwasher to clean and sanitize. Use a gentle abrasive and/or hot soapy water to thoroughly scrub the top of your stove. Use a crevice tool from your vacuum cleaner to remove crumbs or dirt from the cracks between your oven and the wall or counters.

Microwave: Wipe down and clean the microwave, washing the turntable by hand or putting it into the dishwasher. If the spills in the microwave are old or burnt in, boil a glass of water in the microwave. The steam should help loosen the crud. If the microwave smells, boil lemon juice to help freshen it up. Use glass cleaner on the outside surfaces and soapy water or all-purpose cleaner on the inside.

Kitchen Cabinets:Remove everything and wash the shelves, relining if necessary. Remove mismatched lids and bowls. Take out anything that isn’t being used on a regular basis. Reorganize and outsides of cabinets last.

Dishwasher:Try adding vinegar or baking soda to the empty dishwasher before running it. If your dishwasher has a food trap in the bottom, clean it out. Wash down the outside of the dishwasher.

Countertops: Don’t forget backsplashes.

Drawers: Remove everything and wipe the insides. This is a great time to tackle your “junk” drawer. If it’s really junk, throw it out. Remove utensils or cutlery that you don’t use and take the opportunity to re-organize and prioritize your kitchen items if you don’t feel they’re arranged in the most efficient manner possible.

Sink and Garbage Disposal: If you have a garbage disposal, now is the time to pour baking soda with warm water and/or a lemon peel down the disposal to freshen the drain. Put ice cubes through the disposal to sharpen the blades.

Spring Cleaning – The Basics

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There are a few tasks you should do in every room, so rather than repeat them in each section, they’re listed here and will be referred to as “The Basics” in future.

Light Fixtures and Ceiling Fans: Remove all light fixtures and clean thoroughly, inside and out. If you have a ceiling fan in your kitchen, you should be able to remove each blade of the fan to clean it with soapy water or whatever the manufacturer’s instructions suggest. If not, dust thoroughly and wipe with a cloth.

Draperies, Curtains and/or Blinds: Remove all window treatments and wash or have dry cleaned according to the manufacturer’s instructions. For blinds, use your feather or furry duster to dust between the slats and a vinegar based cleaner to wash afterwards. If you have cloth blinds, they need to be vacuumed.

Windows: To get that professional look, invest in a squeegee so you can truly have a streak-free shine. Fill your bucket with whichever solution you choose (we have a homemade window cleaner in this E-book.) Use rags to wash the windows down, then squeegee the moisture off and wipe clean with newspapers. Wash windows inside and out for a thorough Spring Cleaning Shine!

Ceilings and Corners: Dust and vacuum all room corners and ceilings.

Vents: Dust and vacuum. Use a ladder if necessary to reach ceiling vents and get on your hands an knees if you have floor vents.

Art or other Wall Decorations: Dust and or clean framed pictures or other wall décor you might have hanging around your home. When cleaning framed pictures, don’t spray glass cleaner directly onto the glass surface because the liquid could seep under the frame and damage your picture. Spray the cleaner onto a rag and wipe the surface clean.

Floors: A few times a year, we recommend getting on your hands and knees and really scrubbing those floors to achieve a deep clean. This is one of those times. Be sure to save the floor for last so you can let it dry while you’re cleaning another room in your house. Don’t forget the baseboards!

Carpets and Rugs: It might be time to rent a steam cleaner if you have a lot of carpets – or a lot of stains. You can also try spot treating a stain and giving it a thorough vacuuming afterwards. Bathroom rugs should all be washed and other area rugs washed or taken outside to be beaten or shaken if they’re made from wool.

Clean it Up & Clean It Out – The Four Bin Method

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Clean Up and Clean Out – The Four Bin Method

Before you do spring cleaning, you’ve got to do Clutter Control. Take the opportunity to clean out all of the junk that’s been accumulating in your house and get rid of it!

Choosing what to get rid of and what to keep can be extremely difficult. Entire reality shows have been based on this very struggle. One school of thought is to toss anything you haven’t used in a year – within reason. Grandma’s china can stay, but her costume jewelry might be better served in a yard sale.

To do clutter control, first, find four different large containers and assign them all with four different purposes:

• Trash • Sell/Donate • Store • Put Away

Go through each room and into every drawer, cabinet, closet and cupboard to sift through what belongs and what needs to have the heave-ho. Be vigilant!

Now is the time to get rid of the kitchen utensils you can’t even name, the spaghetti sauce-stained plastic containers, the knick knacks Aunt Sally gave you in 1997, the boots you wear once a year. You don’t necessarily have to trash everything, but you’ll probably find that there are tons of items that you don’t use every day or even once a week that you can re-house.

Three Clutter Control Tips:

If it doesn’t fit, don’t save it: Don’t keep clothing that’s many sizes too small. If you’re hoping to fit into that size again someday, reward yourself then with some new outfits. Keeping those old clothes can actually be depressing and not helpful in losing those extra pounds anyway.

If it’s broken, don’t keep it: Broken items that are missing parts, the ones you said you’d fix ages ago aren’t doing you any good at all, so get rid of them!

If you have more than one – you’re done: No one needs two salad spinners, collendars, footstools – or anything. Go through your house, and where you have duplicates, toss them into the yard sale pile – pronto!