Spring cleaning made easy! Part One

Part one of how to tackle Spring Cleaning.

Tackling Spring Cleaning may sound incredibly daunting, and admittedly, it is a ‘deeper’ clean than say your normal weekly cleaning routine, which is more about keeping on top of your household and maintenance. However, this does not mean to say, that it has to be difficult or arduous.

The professional domestic cleaners, MOLLY MAID, have a few top tips as a two part ‘how to guide’ on Spring Cleaning, which will hopefully help you in this task.

1. The first rule of thumb when thinking about Spring Cleaning is to have a PLAN. This will help you be more focussed and time efficient. Doing a Spring Clean does not have to be completed all on one day and if you can plan it over a period of time, say a week, or even two weeks, you will find that it isn’t praying on your mind so much.
2. Break down your PLAN by rooms in your home. For the kitchen for example, start a checklist that should include the following:

Organise

• Update your pantry and cupboards by throwing away expired foods, such as tinned items, herbs and dry food, or in the case of the living room, old magazines, diffusers, candles and so on.
• Ensure that you take chipped plates, glasses, crockery or ornaments to the charity shop or recycling point.
• Throw away stained or lidless containers which you’ve managed to collect over the year that are cluttering up your cupboards.

Clean

• Clear out the fridge and then wipe down with disinfectant and make sure you wipe all lids and handles for any germs, which may be lurking in the crevices.
• Give your kitchen appliances a good clean from the oven to the microwave – see next week’s blog for specific advice on cleaning the oven and microwave. This task in itself could be planned to do on a separate day. Don’t forget about cleaning the inside of your kettle if you live in a hard water area. You can descale your kettle by simply filling your kettle half with water and boiling it. Then unplug the kettle and place in the sink and pour in a good measure of white vinegar to almost fill the kettle and allow to ‘fizz’ and to stand for a few hours. Pour out the solution and then rinse out a few times before using it for a drink.
• Don’t forget the rubbish bin! All sorts of germs will be hiding in here, so make sure you rinse these out and disinfect inside and out.

Dust

• Using a damp cloth, wipe all surfaces in the kitchen including cooker hoods, shelves, tops of cupboards, top of the fridge. If you find that some surfaces are particularly grimy, try mixing some bicarbonate of soda with a little water to form a paste and use on your damp cloth and rub! You will soon notice that the grease and grime will come away.
• Remember to wipe down skirting boards with a damp cloth as they tend to gather dirt and dust. You can really notice the difference once you’ve spruced these up!
• If wiping down any electrical appliance, please ensure that you have turned off the electricity at the wall!

Revamp

• Chuck away torn or badly marked kitchen towels or oven gloves and replace them.
• Could your kitchen blind do with some rejuvenation, or simply a clean to brighten it up?
• Is a cabinet looking rather tired or has a chair broken over the course of the year? Use this time of year to consider replacing broken or damaged furniture, or if you are feeling more creative, why not try out a new look by painting some furniture or changing the colour of your walls? (Please see our blog on Painting Do’s and Don’ts later in the month).

MOLLY MAID suggests breaking down tasks in each room into the above four categories – Organise, Clean, Dust and Revamp. Write a plan, or a checklist if you prefer, for each room and where appropriate delegate to a few members of the family.

Please see Part Two of our Spring Cleaning blog for tips for on how to clean the more tricky items around the home, such as ovens.

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