Don’t you think it’s time to get your hands dirty for spring cleaning? Guess what, we are here with some simple de-cluttering strategies that will make your summer a season of joy, keeping frustration at bay.
With seasonally mild weather and clear skies, spring cleaning can be energizing and motivating. During these warm days, you get the feeling of fresh start and anticipation. This is why trying your annual cleaning at the beginning of the spring makes so much sense. But keep one thing in mind – if your spring cleaning plan begins as an impromptu decision, it will end nowhere. You need to have a thorough and precise planning to make sure that you don’t leave anything out.
Make The Chore Entertaining!
House cleaning is not as boring as it seems to be – esp. if you know how. Rather than grumbling your children at the thought of chores, you can motivate fun cleaning with just a little bit of creativity. Here are some really effective ideas that can boost your and your kids’ cleaning habit.
Kids always love rewards: Tell your kids that if their room is spic and span, you will take them to J.P Licks. Obviously, this is just an example. Rewards can be anything – you can take them to a theatre to show them their favorite movie or to a park where they can play and spend some quality time. When they are offered such rewards down the line, they will certainly not hesitate to mop, sweep and perform other cleaning tasks.
Kids dare to challenge: Make your kids feel like they are in some kind of mission. Ask them if they can organize their Lego or other toys within 10 minutes. Can they sort the laundry in 15 minutes? Setting the clock tickling can add a sense of adventure to your little ones. But make sure that the time limit is practical enough. You can’t expect your kids to clean the whole room within 2 minutes.
Music is a remedy to every freaking thing: Not just with kids, this strategy works with adults as well. After all, who doesn’t love music? And nothing gets you moving like some upbeat tracks. Just queue up your playlist with refreshing numbers and start bopping. Trust me, you won’t even realize that you were moping and sweeping during that musical time frame.
Cleaning can turn into a game: Make different teams within your family and begin a healthy competition.Assign specific tasks to each group – say, one group can do the mopping while the other one can start vacuuming. Similarly, one can clean dishes and the next one can organize stuffs. You can also make a list of cleaning tasks on a piece of card and tag the team. The card is then passed back and forth and the cleaning tasks are ticked off. Seriously, you’ll have a good laugh throughout the cleaning process. The winner can also be awarded with some prize.
You don’t need that torn sweater anymore. Do you?
There might be many items in your house that have no use at all, but remind you of something special from the past so you prefer to keep them. Until you can’t get over the underlying emotional ties, you can’t make your de-cluttering process effective and refreshing.
So, before you gear up for cleaning, make sure that you reorganize rooms and de-clutter them. When you move items here and there, dust and dirt will inevitably get whipped up, that way, you can easily make the place spotless.
- Sort all your miscellaneous stuff into three boxes. 1. Useful items 2. Un-necessary items 3. Yet to be decided items.
- Find a proper place for the stuff you want to keep.
- Toss or donate all the items that you don’t need. You can donate to charity, recycle them or sell them online. As your emotional belongings can get a new lease of life somewhere else, getting over the stuff shouldn’t be a trouble for you.
- If you are still not sure about the stuff, put them in the box and keep it for about 6 months. If you need to break back into the box to reclaim the stuff, it means that you still need it. However, if you didn’t give even a single glance to any of the items during that period, they can be given away.
How to tackle Daily Grind?
Considering the daily grind, finding a break in our schedule, big enough for spring cleaning, may not be possible. Fret not! If you can’t set aside a few consecutive days to clean, break the tasks up into some logical batches – first off, de-clutter and then, clean one or two rooms thoroughly at a time.
While cleaning, don’t forget to keep your room well ventilated. If you are using any new cleaning chemical, read the labels before trying out.
Here are few guidelines to make this mission a piece of cake:
Allot a certain day to begin your spring cleaning: Do this 10 or 15 days ahead. The sooner you put this time aside, the better you can plan your chore around that time. By doing this, you can also ensure that activities and fun don’t disrupt your plan.
Commit your plan to paper: A general rule of thumb suggests that when you write up a detailed checklist of any plan, chances of completing it is significantly high. Here’s an example: you can set, say Monday afternoon, for bathroom deep cleaning, and work in the kitchen very next day. When you get organized in such a way, your commitments cannot shrink away.
Prepare a list of goals: Your cleaning mission tends to get vague if you don’t know your major priorities in advance. Rank in order of your major needs. Say, if you already have a clean bedroom, your major priority should be the other room which is not as clean. Or, your living room, which is regularly vacuumed but is still not free from clutter. What do you do here? Obviously, organize your books, throw useless papers, and keep everything in control – everything!
All of these tips don’t just look easy on words, but are equally easy in reality too.
Alright… we have come to an end now. BTW, where are you heading for a summer trip?
