Spring cleaning may be more difficult this year if you’ve got everyone either working or attending school from home. However, with a little planning and some tag-team parenting, one person can be cleaning while the rest of the house is elsewhere. Here’s a basic checklist to help you knock out your spring cleaning.
Before you start, carefully inspect under and around furniture for signs of pests, such as roach droppings or termite damage. These signs generally mean you need a pro to assist.
Evict the pests from your home and yard
Whether you’re looking for pest control in Salt Lake City, San Diego, or Nashville, it’s never been easier to find a reputable service provider. Search engines like Google make it easy to see who does business in your area, and social platforms like Facebook and Yelp are great at providing helpful reviews to narrow down the best ones.
When the pest control company visits your home for an inspection, complete a thorough walkthrough inside and outside the home to spot infestations. The representative should be able to provide same-day treatment for most pests, and you can come up with a plan for regular visits to keep everything under control.
Clean from the top down
Now that the pests are gone, it’s time to start cleaning. Make your way around each space with an extendable dusting tool and wipe down corners, door trim, and ceiling fans. If you’ve got the room to yourself, let dust land on the floor. To work over furniture, drape the chair or bed in an old flannel sheet. Flannel is a great dust catcher.
Clean from the edge in
Once you’ve dusted, move furniture to the middle of the room. Dust down the walls and around any frames on the wall. Polish frames that call for it and wash any glass or mirrors. Vacuum along the baseboard and wipe or polish as needed.
Finally, vacuum that stretch of floor. If it’s carpet, consider running a carpet cleaner over it or hire a carpet cleaning professional once you’re done with everything else. If it’s wood or another solid, damp mop it with a suggested cleaner. Put the furniture back and address the center of the floor.
Vacuum inside the couch
Take apart all of the furniture, particularly in your living room or television viewing area. There’s probably been a lot of snacking going on, so make sure to remove cushions and vacuum up any food crumbs to prevent pests from snacking on your furniture.
Disinfect surfaces
Take care to disinfect all the surfaces you can. A mild bleach solution, such as 4 tsp bleach per quart of water, can be put in a spray bottle for wiping down door handles, cabinet knobs, and light switches.
For your safety, never mix basic household cleaners. Bleach and ammonia are well-known for their dangerous properties, but did you know that vinegar and peroxide are also a bad combination? Never mix bleach with anything but water.
Clean cupboards and closets
Kitchens and baths present special opportunities for spring cleaning. Remove everything from your kitchen and bathroom cabinets and assess it. Have you used it in a year? If not, toss or donate it.
In bedrooms and hall closets, use the three container system. Put trash in a black garbage bag, items to donate in a white garbage bag, and things you want to keep in a cardboard box.
Once you’ve sorted through the drawer, wipe out the bottom of the drawer with an alcohol-based disinfect. Never use a bleach-based cleanser around clothing storage. Now you can go ahead and put back the objects you want to keep before moving to the next drawer.
Don’t Rush
Give yourself time for your spring cleaning. Break it out over several days and set a timer so you don’t spend more than an hour or two in any one space. Getting tired will just make you sloppy.
A big, one-day cleaning will be exhausting and may not be as thorough as you like. If possible, get everyone out of the house (or at least one room) and set a timer for an hour. Dust, wipe, disinfect, inspect, sort, and pitch before moving on.
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