Spring Cleaning on a Tight Schedule

The weather is finally warming up. The birds are singing. The trees are beginning to look green again. Your oven has splatter marks everywhere. Your baseboards look neglected. You can’t remember the last time you dusted your window blinds.

Does any of this sound familiar?

When the weather warms up, take the opportunity to salvage the damage done to your home during the holiday season. Refresh your house. “Treat yo’self” to a home you’re eager to enjoy.

I know, I know. Regular cleaning is overwhelming enough with a demanding schedule. So, how do you fit in Spring Cleaning!? Where do you start?

(Please keep in mind, the following plan is not inclusive. This is Spring Cleaning on a TIGHT schedule. It is designed for people who only have a weekend. Note: Spring Cleaning cannot be completely performed in one day! Give yourself some grace.)

There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, worse to clean than a dirty oven!

1. Start with your oven – at Honeysuckle Habits, we don’t save the worst for last. We knock it out and move on with our lives! You have a couple of options here:

• A) You can purchase Easy Off oven cleaner and some SOS Pads. Take the oven racks outside and spray them with blue Easy Off near your outside hose. Then, spray the inside of the oven with Easy Off. Let the oven and racks sit for at least 20 minutes. Then, using an SOS pad, or any steel wool pad, (and GLOVED hands), scrub every inch of your oven and the racks outside. Wipe off the mess with paper towels OR an old rag. Use a dampened pumice stone (these are not the ones you use on your feet) to eat away at any spots than didn’t come up OR do a second round of Easy Off spraying and scrubbing. No two ovens are the same. Some splatters are there to stay.
• B) You can purchase this handheld steam cleaner, or use any other steam cleaner, for a less-toxic way to blast oven splatters into last year. Note: Wear earplugs. Steam cleaners tend to be loud. You may still need to use a steel wool pad or a pumice stone to eat away at the hard stains, but the steam cleaner should do most of the work.

After you scrub, make sure everything is rinsed. Rinse the oven racks with your garden hose and put them back in the oven. This should take you about one hour.

2. After you’ve scoured your oven, clean your refrigerator. Throw out old condiments and expired leftovers. Wipe everything down. This should take you between 30 minutes and one hour.

3. Clean out the cabinets under the kitchen sink. Maybe you store all of your cleaning products there. Maybe your cabinets have become a catch-all area. Whatever the state of your cabinets, take everything out. Make a mess. Wipe it down. Then, decide what to put back. Buy some organizers or small shelves if you want! But if you don’t have time, that’s fine. This is cleaning on a tight schedule. This should take you between 30 minutes and one hour, depending on how many items you have to sort through.

4. Lastly, take about 20 minutes and wipe down all kitchen surfaces, including the outsides of your cabinets, and sweep or vacuum up any debris.

Total Kitchen Time: 3 – 4.5 hours

Next, head to the bathroom(s). The time on these will vary, depending on how many bathrooms you have. But, again, we’re just hitting the big items to meet our tight schedule.

1. Sweep out or vacuum the bathroom floor. (Never clean a bathroom with debris on the floor. It’ll get wet and stick to everything.)
2. Dust any light fixtures, shelves, or pictures on the walls.
3. Take off and wash the shower curtain liner, bath mat, and any towels.
4. Scrub the tub or shower.
5. Scrub the sink and countertops.
6. Wipe the mirror.
7. Clean the inside of the toilet bowl and the entire commode.
8. Take out the trash.

Total Bathroom Time: 1.25-1.5 hours per bathroom (Note: We’re not organizing underneath the bathroom cabinets. Again, this is not all-inclusive! If you had lots of time, you’d organize those.)

1. Take off and wash your sheets, comforter or duvet cover, mattress cover, and pillows. Yes, I said PILLOWS. Wash them like you would anything else. When you dry them, stick a couple of tennis balls in there to fluff them.
2. Dust your ceiling fan and the corners/walls of the bedroom.
3. Vacuum the floor and mattress (if you have the right attachment).
4. Mop the floor, if applicable.
5. Put on new bedding or put on old, clean bedding.

Total Bedroom Time: 1 hour per bedroom (This is a generous amount of time. We aren’t touching the windows or blinds – they take too long. And you can clean other things while the washing machine and dryer are cleaning your bedding.)

1. Assess the levels of dust. Dust walls, ceiling fans, and ceiling corners as needed. Forget the windows for now.
2. Dust surfaces. Dust shelves, tables, TV’s, knick-knacks, and laundry machines.
3. Replace your AC filter. These should be changed every 3 months or so.
4. Vacuum floors and couches. If you’re doing well on time, vacuum underneath the couches as well!
5. Wash any small rugs, doormats, throw blankets, and couch covers. We’ll save the throw pillows for another time.
6. Mop, if this applies to your floors.

Total Time: 1-2 hours. No matter how many common areas you have, 1-2 hours should be enough time.

There you have it! Spring Cleaning on a tight schedule. Total Time Taken: 8-12 hours over the course of 2 days.

Remember, it’s always better to do something than to do nothing at all.

If this helped you to clean your space without feeling overwhelmed, let me know!