101 Spring Cleaning Tips To Tidy Up The Spaces In Your Life
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Springtime is a time of renewal, and that doesn’t just go for the budding flowers outside and the changing weather, it goes for people too! After a long winter of being shut inside it’s time to open up those windows, air out the place and start tidying up the various places in your life. From your home, to your vehicle, to even your cell phone, things clutter up fast. Now’s the time to get things back in order, reorganize and transform into a lean, mean cleaning machine.
What are you waiting for? Get your home (and life!) spring ready with these cleaning and organization tips for every space in your life!
Table of Contents
General Tips –
1. Start by concentrating on one room at a time, instead of overwhelming yourself with everything at once.
2. Wear gloves when going through things that you have an emotional attachment to in order to create a barrier and make it easier to let go of.
3. Make a rule that every time you buy something, you get rid of something else.
4. If you don’t have the time to get your house in order, hire a Professional Organizer who does!
5. Clear the lint out of your dryer screen to reduce fire risk.
6. Cut out some of the clutter in your home by storing things you don’t need in your home with a storage company (like Zippboxx!)
7. With Zippboxx the transportation, manpower and storage are all taken care of so you can even store things seasonally so you have them delivered back when you need them, and the space is free when you don’t.
8. If you’ve been meaning to switch to a more green cleaning regime, now’s the perfect time to start researching other products and utilizing things like vinegar and baking soda.
9. Keep like items together so that you know where to find things when you need them.
10. Sanitize the various door knobs and handles throughout your home.
11. Do quick clean sweeps each day in five minute bursts to keep clutter manageable.
12. Organize your home in a way that works and makes sense for everyone, that will make it easier to maintain.
13. If you hate vacuuming, invest in a robotic vacuum like a Roomba to do the vacuuming for for while you’re busy doing other things.
14. Set up a shoe rack and coat rack or hooks to catch the items that people tend to shed right as they walk in the door.
15. Dust the tops of any ceiling fans with a long handled duster or with a far reaching vacuum attachment.
16. With the nicer weather on the way, get your sliding door tracks cleared out by using a toothbrush to loosen up dirt, vacuuming that area and then wiping it with a wet rag.
17. Don’t forget to look and clean underneath furniture where messes often get forgotten!
18. Replace any burned out light bulbs that you’ve been meaning to change, but putting off.
19. While you’re doing that, why not upgrade your light bulbs to full spectrum bulbs that mimic natural light and boost your mood.
20. Test your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and replace batteries if needed.
21. While cleaning up and going through your things, keep this question in your mind, “Do you really need this?”
22. With the above question in mind, make piles for donations and things to be thrown out.
Bedroom Tips –
23. Inspect your closet and pull out any clothing that doesn’t fit anymore, or clothing that you dislike, and donate those articles of clothing.
24. Go through your shoe collection and do the same as you did with your clothing.
25. Pick a fun new way to organize your closet and go for it!
26. Clear up even more space in your closet by keeping your seasonal clothing at a storage facility until the clothes become relevant for the season again.
27. Vacuum your drapes to get rid of dust buildup.
28. Remove everything from your shelves and dust them, instead of just dusting around them.
29. While you’re dusting your shelves, throw out the things that you no longer need.
30. Wash your sheets, blankets and pillowcases.
31. Use a microfiber cloth to clear your television of any smudges or dust.
32. Look under the bed and clean up that area.
33. Go through your underwear drawer and trash socks and undergarments with holes, tears or stains.
34. Disinfect non absorbent children’s toys with a bleach solution of one tbsp of bleach to one gallon of water.
35. Clean stuffed animals by tossing them in the washing machine on the gentlest cycle with cold water, a mild detergent and inside a mesh bag if possible – be sure to take off any attachments that the plush toy might have!
Kitchen Tips –
36. Go through your spice cabinet and get rid of any herbs and/or spices that are expired.
37. Get rid of old coffee stains from mugs by rinsing them with hot water, followed by a little bit of salt and dish soap, and then rinsing out with warm water again.
38. Wipe down your countertops!
39. Clean out the garbage to get rid of any gunk and/or smell that has collected and festered there.
40. Inspect your sponges and scrubbers to see if they should be replaced.
41. Pick up large appliances and clean the areas underneath and around them before putting them back in their spots.
42. Get the stains (and any lingering odors) out of your cutting board by scrubbing it clean with a lemon and coarse salt then rinsing it with hot water.
43. Tackle the grime build-up in your microwave by heating up a bowl (about half full) of water mixed with white vinegar, wait 15 minutes and then wiping & scrubbing it away.
44. Create more kitchen storage space by utilizing spaces like the inside of your cabinets!
45. Remove all of your silverware from your cutlery organizer/trap and clean that before putting them back in.
Living Room Tips –
46. Take a microfiber cloth to your television screen to clean off any smudges and/or dust.
47. Use a duster to clear off any dust that has accumulated on the top of the tv and the tv stand.
48. Vacuum and lint roll your couches to get rid of any hair, especially if you have pets, that has accumulated.
49. Untangle the cords of your electronics that are on your entertainment system.
50. Label those cords so you know what it is that you’re unplugging at any time.
51. Lift up the couch cushions and vacuum up all of the crumbs, dust, hair and other items that have fallen in between them – and collect any loose change to add to your coin jar!
52. Audit your bookshelves and donate books you’ve already read.
53. Take a look at your candles and throw out the ones that are spent.
54. Do the same with air fresheners that have lost their scent.
Bathroom Tips –
55. Go through your medicine cabinet and properly dispose of any medications that are expired.
56. Get rid of old makeup, and makeup that you don’t like or use regularly.
57. Wash your makeup brushes.
58. Replace old razors and toothbrushes.
59. Clear hair from brushes and combs.
60. Unclog your bathroom sink with a drain cleaner tool to keep it functioning smoothly.
61. Use a mixture of baking soda and distilled white vinegar to get rid of soap scum in the shower.
62. Place a hanging organizer on your shower head to store all of your shampoos, conditioner and soaps and keep mildew buildup at bay!
63. Drawer dividers are also very useful in the bathroom for keeping like items together and in an easily accessible spot.
64. The space above the toilet tank is seriously underutilized but is the perfect place to set up a leaning ladder shelf adding extra bathroom storage for towels and toilet paper rolls.
Office Tips –
65. Use dividers (like small baskets) in your desk drawers to keep your drawer from becoming a dreaded, “junk drawer.”
66. Organize the files and photos on your computer by creating folders and deleting what you don’t need anymore.
67. Tame your wire chaos by untangling and labeling your wires so that you know what each one is.
68. Blow-out your keyboard to get rid of dust, dirt and food particles stuck between the keys.
69. Use a toothpick to get out any dust that still remains in your keyboard.
70. Reorganize your desk and clear distractions off of the top of your desk and keep only important things within reach.
71. If after you’ve cleared off the top of your desk you find you need more office storage space, install some shelves with specific purposes so they don’t become catch-alls!
72. Arrange your thoughts by writing them out on a whiteboard.
73. Minimize excess paper by investing in a filing cabinet for necessary paperwork,or going paperless and converting your important paperwork to digital files.
74. When you do get paperwork, put it in the correct tray or file it right away to keep yourself from creating a large unsorted pile of papers.
Car Tips –
75. Clutter can really build up inside a car, make it a point to take things out of your car every time you’re leaving your car!
76. Use a microfiber cloth to get rid of the dust that’s collected on the dashboard of your vehicle.
77. To get your windows smudge free, spray some glass cleaner then wipe clean.
78. Shake out the mats in your car to get rid of surface dust, dirt and hair.
79. After you shake out your mats, finish up the job by vacuuming them.
80. While the mats are off, vacuum the floor of your car as well.
81. And, since you’ve already got the vacuum out, your seats too!
82. Go through your glove compartment and get rid of the mess of old food receipts, napkins and other junk that has accumulated inside of your glove compartment.
83. Organize the important things in your glove box, like your registration, insurance, handbook and service/repair receipts so that they are easy to find when needed.
84. Keep a small trash can or bag in the vehicle so that when you do have garbage in the car you don’t end up just throwing it on the floor, in the backseat or in the side pockets.
85. If you have a garage, keep your car in there when it’s not in use to keep it cleaner than it would be if it was outside dealing with the elements and the dreaded bird droppings.
86. Use a toothbrush to clean out hard-to-reach cracks and crevices in the car.
87. If you enjoy bringing your four legged friends out with you for drives and walks, protect your backseat from tears, dog hair and dirt with a seat cover or dog hammock.
88. Car hooks and hangers are a great tool to have in the car for groceries so that they don’t topple over and end up on the floor.
89. Invest in a storage tote/divider for the trunk of your car to keep that area organized and keep your things from rolling around all over the place in the trunk.
90. It’s hard to always follow, but make a general rule not to eat in your car!
Smartphone Tips –
91. Backup all of your photos to Google Drive, iCloud or your computer at home.
92. Then, once your backup is complete, go on ahead and erase any photos that are stored on your phone!
93. Go through your apps and see which ones you don’t use anymore.
94. Once you figure out which ones you no longer use, go ahead and uninstall those apps!
95. Take a look at your list of contacts on your phone.
96. Erase the contacts you no longer communicate with, and don’t intend to communicate with again in the future!
97. Hide apps you don’t use regularly by erasing the shortcut to that app on your home screen.
98. An alternative to that is creating folders of similar apps and organizing them that way.
99. Clean up any files that you’ve downloaded onto your phone in the past that you no longer need to have on your phone – like restaurant menus!
100. Clear the cache in the apps that you use a lot to free up memory on your device.
101. Forget about filling your phone up with MP3 files, switch to a music streaming service which doesn’t store the actual files on your phone!