Clean Sweep

Spring cleaning made a lot of sense for centuries. When homes were heated with wood or coal, the winter heating season brought a build-up of soot and ash on walls, furniture, and fabrics. Spring cleaning marked the end of the heating season, when the entire house was aired and scrubbed clean, when windows could be opened and the winds of spring would blow through the house, refreshing it.

In modern times, there usually isn’t the need to air out the rugs and mattresses, to scrub the soot off the walls or beat it out of the furniture. So the whole concept of turning your house upside down in this modern world just isn’t going to happen with most of us. Trying to organize it, plan it, and execute it will simply cause more stress in an already stressful life.

If you maintain a cleaning regimen that is custom-suited to your household and that allows a deep, thorough cleaning of each room on a regular basis, then there is no need for spring cleaning. What would traditionally have been accomplished during spring cleaning will actually be accomplished regularly for you.

If you do not maintain a cleaning regimen, now would be a good time to create one. With the dawn of spring, longer days, more energy, sunlight on our skin brightening moods and outlooks, you can take this time to get a handle on the things around you. Start by making the beds and doing the dishes every day and grow from there, creating a list (actually create one on paper) and a schedule that will work for you and your family.

Despite the modern move away form the traditional intense spring cleaning, there are still some things that need to be accomplished on a seasonal basis. So, as you go into your housework this week (or this month, depending on how your household runs), and you see some of these things haven’t been done yet, now might be a good time to do them:

Replace your shower curtain liner. I replace mine at the beginning of every season. This time, I’ve purchased a fabric liner. We’ll see if washing it seasonally will work or if I’ll go back to simply replacing it.
Wash your shower curtain
Vacuum out your heating vents.
Vacuum out your dryer vent.
Dust those baseboards behind the furniture (because you’re dusting the baseboards that are out in the open already, right?)
Flip your mattresses over
Wash bed skirts and comforters
Steam clean furniture and rugs
Wash your curtains
Sweep out the fireplace
Go through your medicine cabinet and discard old and expired medicine (this flu season was a rough one!)
Clean your oven
Clean out your refrigerator and wipe it down.
Clean out, defrost, and wipe down your freezer