Spring Cleaning Tips & Inspiration
Where to begin?
It’s the middle of Spring Break right now in Michigan and if you are home with your family this year, this may be the perfect time to get the whole team on board for a whole house Deep Cleaning Party! Put on some Justin Timberlake dance songs & some comfy sweats for all & your home will be spiffy in half the time.
Age-Specific Cleaning + Decluttering Tasks
If you think that your 2 year old is too young to participate in the party, don’t fear: Window Washing is here to keep them happily-busy and entertained.
Here are some tasks for children of all ages:
Sorting Socks: Teach your 5+ year old how to marry socks and make a pile of all of the remaining “single” socks to put into a large, ziplock bag. Keep the single socks for 1 month in the laundry room until all of the socks are married. After a month passes, throw away the remaining socks.
Window Washing(from the inside): Toddlers are so great at this task and feel encouraged when they get to participate in big-kid activities too! Buy a few plastic spray bottles from the Dollar Tree and fill the bottles with water and a few drops of your favorite essential oils: Lavender in a purple bottle, Lemon in a yellow bottle and Eucalyptus in a green bottle(if you fancy fragrance); this will provide a fresh aroma to your home and will be gentle enough on your little ones hands. Plus, they will get excited about using the different color bottles. Next, give them a couple dry kitchen towels and show them how to spray and wipe the lower windows until they are dry. You can also ask them to wipe down any excess water that drips onto the floors while they are sweetly working so hard to glisten the windows.
Vacuuming the bedrooms & under the couch cushions: This is a great task for 7+ year olds who tend to be strong enough to whip the vacuum around and also may enjoy using the crevice nozzle attachment to deep clean the couch. It also helps to set a timer for 30 minutes to see how many rooms they can get done in that time period.
Decluttering Clothing: Our kids are constantly telling us that they have outgrown their shirts and pants. Therefore, I will often have them make a pile of all of the items that don’t fit from their dresser and closet, including: (underwear, pajamas, shirts, swimwear and pants) for me to go through. This task is best for 5+ year olds as they will surely hold onto items that they still love to wear & excitedly pile up items they don’t want you to dress them in anymore. When I go through their piles, I will throw away any torn or permanently-stained clothing and save the good items in a labeled bin in their closet that reads:
”One Size Down + All Seasons.” If they don’t have a younger sibling or cousin to give the items to, I will immediately place the items in a labeled trash bag, put it in my trunk and drop it off at the nearest Good Will that week.
5. Refrigerator Clean-out: This is for sure a Mom or Dad task because kids tend to jump ahead to the finish line and simply want to finish the task asap. This is something I like to do once/week, especially if a Costco run is on the to-do list. Bringing home all of those Mega-sized items does not feel as overwhelming if there is a clean fridge with space to fit 4 lbs of strawberries, a massive amount of chicken breast & a double package of Tortellini! Cleaning out the fridge before we head to the store allows me to waste less food, spruce up the shelves and get inspired as to what to cook in the week ahead.
6. Mudroom Shoes Clean-Out: Do your kids love trying on other kids shoes? My little ones definitely do & often try to get away with stealing their siblings or parents shoes on the way out the door, especially if they are high heels. Since Spring sports are approaching & snow season is behind us (crossing fingers), it’s a great time to play “Shoe Store.” Remove all of the shoes from the mudroom, line them up for each child to try on one at a time and place any shoes that need to be washed in a laundry basket. Then, take all of the shoes that no longer fit & put them aside in a labeled shoe bin for the next child down, donate them, or throw them away. I also like to keep all of the sports gear separate for each kid: Cleats can get SO muddy and those gorgeous shin guards tend to get quite dirty as well, so it helps to keep them in an easily-accessible space away from the clean shoes.
7. Goodbye Winter Gear: I can’t wait to empty the car and the mudroom of all of our winter wear that occupies so much space for 3+ months every year. It’s hard to predict what the weather will gift us with in the Midwest, but you can at least launder the heavy coats, ski gloves and thick hats and happily store them away in a bin for next winter. Then, your mudroom can be warm weather ready with colorful raincoats and fleeces for soccer games. I like to have a couple clear bins labeled with “Winter Coats” ready to re-fill in our storage room and then I keep all of our gloves, hats and scarves for all seasons in a stationary 3-drawer dresser in the laundry room.
I hope you have the most delightful time sprucing up your space and an even better time frolicking outside soon!
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Thank you so kindly for visiting our page!
-Kate Kelley, Professional Home Organizer in Saline, MI 48176
