The idea of spring cleaning might have made more sense centuries ago, when people spent their winters cooped up in small homes with wood burning furnaces, which left every surface covered in soot by the time April rolled a round. These days, it can seem like a particular form of punishment to have to dedicate a few lovely weekend days in the spring to cleaning your home.
Although you might not like it, spring cleaning presses reset on your Philadelphia home and chases out any dust or debris that might be lingering after winter. You don’t have to labor long and hard over your cleaning, though. A few shortcuts make quick work of even the most onerous chores.
Start at the Top
One of the best tips you’ll ever get for cleaning in general is to start at the top of a room and work your way down to the floor. If you’re not a fan of cleaning, few things are more disheartening than to vacuum the floors before dusting, only to have some dust from your furniture travel to your already cleaned floors. Climb up on a ladder and use either a slightly damp rag or a microfiber cloth to dust the walls near the ceiling. Also, run a microfiber dusting cloth over the blades of any ceiling fans, so that you aren’t showered with debris when you turn them on.
Move Things Just a Bit
Although you do want to move furniture so that you can vacuum or mop underneath it, you don’t have to completely rearrange your home to do a thorough cleaning. When you’re vacuuming in your dining room, for example, flip the chairs up onto the table so that you can easily get under it. Push the table to the left or right a few inches, so that you vacuum where the legs are. Rotate your couch or any armchairs in the living area about 90 degrees, so that you can run a vacuum or mop under them, then slide them back into place.
Clean Outside
It’s frustrating to clean the windows only to have them continue to look dirty. Don’t worry, it’s not you — it’s them. A lot of the grime and dirt on windows is actually on the outside of them. Instead of using glass cleaner and wiping with a paper towel until your arm feels tired, take your cleaning outside. You’ll need a broom, a hose, and a bottle of window cleaner with a nozzle attachment to make short work of the project. Use the broom to knock any dirt off of the screens, then attach the window cleaner bottle to your hose. Spray each window for about 30 seconds with the cleaner. The pressure from the hose should allow the cleaner to slide off of the windows easily, so that you don’t have to rinse.
Befriend Baking Soda
When it comes to quickly freshening up areas of your home, baking soda can be your best friend. Use it to freshen up carpets and your mattresses. Shake a thin layer of baking soda over your carpets, then let sit for a few hours before you vacuum. Do the same to mattresses — strip them over sheets and covers, coat with a fine layer of baking soda, then let sit. You can remake the bed with the baking soda on it, then vacuum it up the next time you change your sheets.
Don’t waste a perfect spring day trying to get your home super clean. A few simple tricks help take the hassle out of a deep spring cleaning.
Image Source: StockSnap.io
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