A deep cleaning ritual during spring is popular in some cultures and is often paired with traditional spring holidays. It’s the practical side of a ritual cleansing and a clearing away of the old to make room for what the year will bring.
However, that practicality also makes it a beneficial secular activity, cleaning your house and making it ready for the year to come. It will make your home healthier and brighter, clearing away the accumulated dust and clutter of winter. Below, you’ll find a detailed guide for each room of the house to get you started on your spring cleaning journey.
Items Needed
- Old clothing for cleaning that permits free motion
- Extended-handle dusters
- Stepladder or a short ladder
- Cleaning clothes
- Dry mop/Broom (for wood or tile flooring)
- Vacuum cleaner
- Carpet Cleaner (for area carpeting)
- Screwdrivers (Phillips and flathead)
- 5-gallon bucket
- Liquid soap and water
- Sponges
- Squeegee
- Rubber Gloves
- Mop
- Light bulbs
- Batteries
- Furniture polish
- Glass Cleaner
- Distilled vinegar
- Baking soda
- Boxes
- Plastic bags
- Dust mask
- Steel wool
- Barkeeper’s Friend (stainless steel)
- Oven cleaner
- Scrub brush or pad
- An old toothbrush
The Living Room
This is usually the place where the family gathers each evening after the day’s tasks are done. After a long winter in which dust and debris are accumulated, this shared room is a great place to begin. As a general rule of thumb, think about cleaning rooms from top to bottom. Save time before you start by clearing out and sorting any clutter.
Living Room Tasks
- Arrange for cleaning and maintenance of any working chimneys
- Clean ceiling fan blades
- Remove glass shades from light fixtures to wash
- Replace light bulbs
- Clean crown molding
- Take down drapes and curtains for laundering or dry cleaning
- Remove intake and outtake vents for cleaning
- Dust and wipe down walls
- Dust and clean picture frames and mirrors
- Dust and wipe down bookshelves
- Dust and wipe down blinds
- Clean chair rails and baseboards
- Dust and wash doors
- Touch up paint or stained wood
- Dust and wipe down windowsills and wooden panes
- Wash windows inside and out
- Clean electronics and organize any entertainment center
- Clean furniture, included under pillows
- Polish wood tables and parts of chairs or sofas
- Dust and wipe down or wash lamps and lampshades
- Remove any rugs and beat them outside
- Vacuum or sweep floors, including corners and under moveable furnishings
- Shampoo or spot-clean carpets
- Mop tile/clean and condition hardwood
Sitting Room
Although this is a more formal entertaining space than the living room or den, many of the same tasks and materials used for those rooms will be needed here. Remember to clean top to bottom, leaving floors until last. If your décor includes many delicate decorative items or family photographs, consider removing these first and setting them aside. You can clean and polish them separately to ensure careful handling.
Because it is a room dedicated to entertaining guests, you may want to pay particular attention to cleaning light fixtures, touching up paint or wood stain, and ensuring that all the corners receive plenty of elbow grease. Formal tables and chairs with more beautiful wooden features should be dusted and wiped down with care before applying furniture polish.
Den or Study
These rooms are spaces for retreat and contemplation. They usually include personal or professional collections of books, working desks, and sometimes furniture covered in leather.
This room’s materials and tasks are similar to those needed in the living room and drawing-room. However, if leather furnishings or leather-bound books are a part of your decorating scheme, remember to tote along leather polish to care for the furniture and books.
Entertainment Room
Depending on your family size and whether your children are still young, this can be an involved project or one relatively similar to the other shared living spaces in the home. The first step you’ll want to take is to clean out the clutter. Use this time to assess what you want to keep and what should be thrown out, donated, or marked for resale.
Pull out any game boxes or toy chests you have to clean the game pieces and ensure all parts are unbroken. As children grow, they outgrow pastimes and toys. Save those that have sentimental value and store them elsewhere. Once you’ve made a thorough assessment of what you’d like to keep, organize your possessions—devoting storage space to board games, electronic console games, and other specific types of entertainment.
Then, you’re ready to clean. As described in the first segment, the same general tasks are essential, especially because play and snacks tend to go together. Be sure to devote specific attention to cleaning away scuff marks on doors and walls, vacuum thoroughly (especially under large furniture), and clean under furniture cushions. If you do have children and they’ve spent a significant portion of winter in the room, go ahead and shampoo the whole carpet.
Bedrooms
Now, we’ll move away from the shared living spaces. There are a few cleaning needs that are specific to bedrooms. However, the rule of clean out before you clean applies. Take this time to assess your wardrobe, donate or mark for resale the winter clothing you never wore, and pack it in plastic bags. Look around the area and clear away any accumulated clutter—put books back on their shelf, take water glasses to the kitchen, and pull out any stacks of items from the corners to sort through them.
To put this room in order, you should first clear out everything that doesn’t belong in the bedroom—including other people’s laundry, children’s toys, or damaged items you were getting around to fixing – but never did. Even before dusting and vacuuming, the room will feel more open once you’ve cleared away the clutter of everyday winter life.
Now, get ready to clean. The tasks listed for the shared living spaces apply here, too. Be sure to dust thoroughly in the corners and clean the blades of any ceiling fans. Wash or wipe down woodwork and buff away scuff marks.
Remove lampshades and decorative items with care for thorough cleaning. If you have a traditional mattress, there’s a good chance you haven’t flipped or rotated it as often as is recommended. Do this now. Then, vacuum or dry mop your bedroom floor. Be sure to move and clean under any furnishings you can.
Bathrooms
While most of us keep the bathroom tidy, spring cleaning is essential for this room, too. The usual rule of top-to-bottom cleaning applies here, but special care should be taken since the toilet is a unique feature. While you’ll dust corners, wash doors, and clean molding, first, you should clean out the clutter.
This adage applies to makeup or hair products and personal bath products, including unused cleaners, dog shampoo, and any implements you do not need. Go through everything. If it’s expired or you don’t want to use it—toss it. Then, while your drawers and cabinets are relatively empty, wipe them down with rubbing alcohol, vinegar, or an astringent cleaner of your choice.
For vanity and sink areas, shower and tubs, and the toilet, this is an occasion for deep cleaning. Whether you’re using a favorite bathroom cleaner or a basic bleach solution, be sure to pay close attention to tight spaces or corners—such as where tile meets the tub, the space between water taps and metal fixtures, and the outside of the bath or shower surround.
Clear slow drains with a liquid cleaner or with a less harsh option of baking soda and vinegar. Check to ensure that the chain and plunger in your toilet tank are operating correctly, and replace any bleach tablets or other long-term toilet cleaning products you may use.
While you may typically include mopping the bathroom floor in your weekly routine, now is the time when you want to be exceptionally thorough. Be sure to get behind the toilet and pay attention to the toilet pedestal or base since these are frequently areas people overlook. Then, replace light bulbs, remove and wash glass light shades and vent covers, and clean any windows and window sills.
Kitchen
While this room sees the most frequent use in many homes, it’s often one that’s overlooked for more than daily cleanup. Clean out food storage areas. Break it up into refrigerated and dry storage, so you don’t feel overwhelmed.
For the refrigerator and freezer, remove food and clean shelving with vinegar or glass cleaner, being sure to do a thorough job of it. Throw out any old food—if you haven’t eaten the freezer-burned pork chops by now, you probably won’t. Give the same treatment to your spice cabinet and your pantry.
While you probably wipe down the open countertop areas daily, clean behind canisters and small appliances. You might consider removing everything from the counter so you can apply a cleanser. Dust on top of the fridge, and care for any lighting fixtures or wall decorations.
Clean the vent hood over your stove and wipe down the knobs. Thoroughly wipe out the microwave and clean the door, removing months of food residues. Then, before you replace your appliances and canisters, make sure they’re clean, too.
The oven can be cleaned manually or with the automatic heat clean option many have. However, if you’re shy about using a harsh oven cleaner, baking soda and distilled vinegar can be used. Sprinkle soda and pour vinegar over any spills or messes. Then, rub vigorously with a cleaning cloth. Rubber gloves are advised.
Another task most overlooked is cleaning the dishwasher. Unless you have a newer model that hooks to the disposal unit, food builds up in the trap. Clean this out and run an empty dishwasher with a bit of vinegar in it. You may also cut up a lemon and put some of the peel down the disposal to clean and remove any built-up residue on the mechanism’s blades.
Finally, deeply clean the floor. If you have linoleum, this can mean a sweep and mop with your cleaner of choice. If you have tile with grout, this is a great time to scrub, bleach, and seal it. Be sure to get under cabinetry and appliances that overhang the tiled area.
Laundry Room
How frequently do you clean out your laundry room? Remnants of old cleaners, unused items, grocery bags, and other detritus tend to find their way into this area of the home. Clean out before you clean up, throwing away, or putting in storage whatever is not directly related to laundry or will not be used shortly.
While dusting and cleaning the floor are essential tasks, the most vital spring chore in this room is clearing the dryer vent. Lint often builds up in the hose or around the outtake vent, becoming a fire hazard. Remove and clean these parts of the dryer, making sure to properly reattach the hose when you’re finished.
While this guide has addressed each room in your home, there are a couple of tasks still to be done, but which aren’t necessarily in a specific place. Replace batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Change out your HVAC air filter and schedule a routine maintenance check with Wade Heating Cooling & Geothermal to extend the life of your system. Then, you can take a break, enjoy a refreshing drink, and bask in the sense of open space and the cleanliness of your beautiful home.
