As busy mothers, we don’t often have hours on end to do a head to toe clean of the home. And let’s be honest, if we had that much time to spare, we probably wouldn’t want to spend it cleaning! Instead, we might find we have 5 minutes here, 2 minutes there, and with a season that’s conducive to freshening things up, it can actually feel really good to spend those few minutes cleaning or organising something that will have a big impact on how we feel.
There are 6 particular tasks that fall into this category for me. They are non-negotiables for my spring cleaning. They always make me feel better about my home and just that little bit lighter – in fact, I love the impact that have so much that I try and do these every month or so, and not just once a year.
In no particular order, these tasks are:
1. Clean the inside of the fridge
I am telling you, a quick wipe over the fridge does WONDERS for the headspace! In under 10 minutes, you can pull everything out, wipe the shelves and put everything back in with a degree of order that wasn’t there before. As a bonus, you might even find enough leftovers for lunch or dinner. It’s a good idea to do this before you go grocery shopping so you know exactly what you have and what may have turned mouldy.
2. Hose the entrances
With 8 people using our home entrances multiple times a day, they can become pretty grimy. Now, we blow/sweep the entrances whenever we mow the lawns, but here I’m talking about something more. I’m talking throwing some sugar soap down, scrubbing with a broom and then hosing off to refresh the place where we enter and leave our home every day.
3. Overhaul the utensils drawer
The utensils drawer in most kitchens is opened multiple times a day, painfully sifted through and then closed again until the next time we want to use one of the half a dozen or so utensils (out of around 30 in there!) that we actually use. This quick task will eliminate the painful aspect of opening this drawer. Start by taking everything out and putting it in a box. Take each item back out of the box only when you need to use it. Once used, don’t put it back in the box. Put it back in the drawer or cupboard. This is obviously a keeper! After a few weeks, you’ll notice that there are a lot of items you still haven’t taken out of the box. If you can’t bring yourself to part with them yet, keep them in the box a little while longer. If, after three months, there are any remaining items in the box, evict them from your home!
4. Get your calendar in order
As we head into the final quarter of the year, it can be really useful to set aside a few minutes with a cup of tea and go through the remaining months in our diary, adding in any upcoming events, removing anything we don’t want to be there, penciling in reminders and getting our headspace in the right place. This is a good thing to do every quarter, but particularly in spring, ahead of any end-of-year school activities and functions that need to be scheduled in, as well as any Christmas, New Year or summer holiday preparations that need to planned for.
5. Do some “virtual” spring cleaning
Next time you’re on Facebook (or any other social media platform), take a few minutes to go through the list of pages you ‘Like’. Chances are there will be a lot in there that you don’t want to follow anymore, so just unlike them. Easy. Cut the noise out of your newsfeed and see more of what you want in there.
6. Clean under the kitchen sink
Ok, so this isn’t exactly your front door and perhaps you’re the only one that will even notice, but that’s ok! It feels great to know exactly what’s in that stinky little cupboard that we open frequently. Pull everything out, throw anything that’s mouldy or rusty, wipe and then put everything back. 5-10 minutes maximum.
How about you? What quick, simple spring cleaning tasks do you find have a huge impact on your home and headspace?
