A Week-By-Week Guide to Spring Cleaning Your Home

A week-by-week guide to spring cleaning your home. For many people, spring cleaning is a yearly ritual. It’s an opportunity to complete all the things we didn’t get around to during the year and make sure your home is clean and ready for guests you may have come over. But if you lead a busy lifestyle and find yourself unable to complete all of it in one day, don’t worry.

Here is a week-by-week guide to spring cleaning your home, as well as tips and techniques on how to be more efficient in your work!

Week 1 – De-cluttering & Tidying Up

Instead of labeling these categories as ‘spring cleaning,’ it is more appropriate to call them general cleaning since they are essential throughout the year. If you have not done so lately or at all, go through everything you own, be it clothes, books, electronic gadgets, or anything else. Toss out what you don’t need – for instance, dust-collecting knick-knacks and doubles of necessities like toiletries.

Be ruthless when discarding things! We all have items that are sentimental but if they cause memories to bring about negative emotions or have no practical use in your life anymore, get rid of them. These will only weigh you down mentally and physically, so think about it – do you need these? If not, toss them out.

Once you’ve gotten rid of the things that are useless to you now, fold up or hang up any clothes that are still wearable but are just taking up space in your drawers. When you’ve done that, move on to bookshelves or other items that are holding multiple items. Put everything back into its right place but also think about what you want to get rid of next.

If you haven’t touched it in over a year, chances are you won’t need it anymore, so don’t be afraid to get rid of more things!

Week 2 – Wash & Varnish Furniture

More often than not, people neglect this task because they see it as too time-consuming and tedious for them to finish within one day. However, there is no reason why you can’t conquer this job during the weekends! Plus, having clean furniture will instantly make your home look neat.

What you will need to do this is a few simple supplies like:

• A glass jar (Make sure it’s not too big as you want the furniture piece to fit in there as well)

• Duct tape

• Fabric softener

• An old toothbrush (a nail brush will work great if you don’t have an old toothbrush)

• Washing soda (also known as Sodium Carbonate) or even borax powder

Week 3 – Wash Windows Inside & Out

Most people would assume that this is also best done on the weekends (and you’re partially right). The reason for this is that it needs some extra care, especially when you’re working with glass.

If you want to clean out inside of your windows while they are still in place (i.e., without removing them), simply mix ¼ cup of white vinegar with a bucketful of lukewarm water and wipe away any dirt or grime using a soft cloth. Make sure not to use too much pressure so as not to cause any cracks or scratches.

Once you’re done inside, it’s time to do the actual windows! For this, simply take a metal set of squeegees and place them about an inch apart from one another so that all the dirt is pushed to the outer edges of your window.

Now depending on how dirty your windows are, you will have to mix either 1 cup of white distilled vinegar with 5 cups of water or 2 tablespoons of cornstarch with 3 cups of warm water. Dip a soft cloth into the solution and move it in small circular motions over your glass window before rinsing away using lukewarm water. Once done, let them dry out completely before putting them back up.

Week 4 – Clean & Condition Leather Furniture

Most people don’t realize that leather is skin and should be treated as such! Not only will the products you use to clean your leather furniture determine its softness, but they can also affect how supple or delicate it might become in the long run.

To avoid any mishaps, stick to a mixture of 2 tablespoons of white vinegar with a bucketful of warm water for cleaning purposes before conditioning them using a very small amount of petroleum jelly.

Week 5 – Wash Curtains & Blankets

Most curtain cleaners would recommend not doing this on the weekends but rather during weekdays since weekly loads are usually supposed to be washed anyway, right? Now here’s something useful to remember: NEVER wash ALL your curtains at one go unless they come from the same manufacturer and are all made of the same material!

If you do this, not only would it be a very time-consuming process, but it can also shorten the lifespan of your curtains. To avoid any mishaps, always wash 2-3 panels at a time so that they don’t rub against one another while laundering them.

For blankets and other fur items, hand washing is strongly advised against it since most machines cannot spin these types away thoroughly enough (and we wouldn’t want our blankets shredded into tiny pieces before drying, right?).

Thus for this type of item, always go for a gentle cycle together with cold water and use either 1/8 cup of white distilled vinegar or 1 tablespoon of salt (preferably the latter) to prevent any stiffening.

Week 6 – Clean & Strip Kitchens

To strip your kitchen, simply mix a cup of Borax with 1 gallon of warm water before washing down all cabinets and other surfaces using a soft cloth. To clean them, use ¼ cup of baking soda with 1 gallon of warm water (add the baking soda before the water if you like, although either way is fine).

For white kitchens, mix 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar in a bucketful of warm water before adding about 4 tablespoons lemon juice for extra cleaning power! When done, wipe off dirt or grime using a soft cloth until everything is spotless. And if you want to minimize any streaking afterward, make sure your cloth is always wrung out thoroughly before using it.

Week 7 – Wash Walls & Windowsills

For walls, simply mix 1/8 cup of Borax in a bucketful of warm water before adding about 1 tablespoon dishwashing liquid. Apply the solution onto your wall and use either a broom or sponge mop to clean off any dirt or grime (do not forget to push them slightly towards an outer edge so that nothing goes back inside once you’re done).

For windows, make sure to check if there are any loose window casings first since these can get in the way! If everything looks good, take two squeegees (about 1 inch apart) and run along your panes until all dirt is pushed outside.

Week 8 – Clean & Polish Kitchen Appliances

For stainless steel appliances, use a mixture of equal parts vinegar and water as well as 1 tablespoon of cornstarch before scrubbing off any stuck-on dirt or grime using either a sponge or dishwashing liquid. Rinse away with lukewarm water until everything is spotless.

Week 9 – Wash Bathroom Tiles & Countertops

To wash tiles, begin by cleaning the edge first since it’s usually dirtier than the rest! Once done, mix 1 cup of Borax in a bucketful of warm water before scrubbing all surfaces thoroughly. Rinse away with clean water to prevent streaking afterward.

In bathrooms where countertops also have similar white tiles, use a mixture of 1 cup vinegar and 2 cups water with 4 tablespoons baking soda for extra cleaning power.

Week 10 – Wash & Disinfect All Surfaces

Use a combination of ¼ cup of bleach in a bucketful of warm water to disinfect all surfaces inside the home while stripping any lingering odors away. Always wear protective gloves before starting the process, prepare your bucketful beforehand, and rinse everything thoroughly with clean water when you’re done!

Conclusion

it’s always best to clean your home thoroughly before the start of any major event. After all, who wants to spend more than necessary and deal with all that dirty laundry and excess dirt afterward? Here is a week-by-week guide to spring cleaning your home. As long as you keep things simple, this checklist should help guide you throughout the cleaning process so give it a try! Good luck!