Cut Your Spring Cleaning Time in Half with These Helpful Tips

When spring finally rolls around each year, it brings so many welcome sights. The snow thaws, days grow longer, flowers start to bloom, and there’s a lot of cleaning to be done. Wait, actually that last part isn’t welcome at all.

You may not want to be stuck inside for a long session of spring cleaning, when other options include playing with your children outside or riding bikes in the park. But, unfortunately, spring cleaning is something that almost always has to be done.

Fortunately, even if spring cleaning can’t be avoided entirely, there are ways that may help get it done faster. Follow these spring cleaning tips, and you’ll be out under the sun before you know it:

Let doormats do the work for you. Place a doormat in front of all the entrance ways to your home and ask your family to wipe their feet before entering. Then, have them take off shoes before walking around inside. By using doormats, you can prevent the majority of dirt or snow from making its way inside and keep time cleaning the floors to a minimum. Remember though, it’s important to clean doormats periodically too, or they will lose their effectiveness as dirt builds up on them.

Focus on the outside of windows. Since windows are dirtiest on the outside, it’s best to give that side priority if you’re going for a quick clean. For the best results, pick an overcast day that isn’t very windy. The lack of wind will keep dirt and cleaning products from flying in your face and the absence of sun will prevent streaking.

Steam is all you need. Instead of going through the arduous process of taking curtains down to vacuum, lint roll, wash, and then put back up, just steam clean them. When steaming cleaning, make sure to work from the bottom up. A simple steaming will not only revitalize curtains but remove odors too.

A lemon can aid you. Lemons have a number of cleaning applications around the home, and, as an added bonus, they’re eco-friendly as well. To clean hardened food in your microwave, cut a lemon in half and cover it with water in a microwave-safe bowl. The lemon will not only loosen the hardened food, but it will smell great too. After you’re done, put it down the garbage disposal. The peels will clean the blades, and it will freshen up any musty smells.

Wash walls like MacGyver would. Rather than climbing up and down a ladder to wash your walls, try a way that you will keep you on the floor. Soak a towel in Pine-Sol and hot water. Then, attach it to a dry Swiffer and use clean your walls as if you were painting them. This will speed up your time and help to avoid any ladder-related accidents.

Vacuum smarter, not harder. Normally, when vacuuming a room full of furniture, standard operating procedure calls for moving all the furniture to one side of the room, vacuuming, and then repeating the process for the other side. However, you’re trying to clean quickly, so the standard process will take too much time. Instead, just move each piece of furniture enough to vacuum underneath it and then put it back where it belongs.

By using these spring cleaning tips, you may drastically reduce the amount of time you actually spend inside scrubbing. With more time on your hands, you’ll be free to enjoy spring more than you ever have before.