Spring Cleaning, Organizing & a Few Home Hacks

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Now that the spring months are upon us and the mercury is beginning to rise, what do you say we start tackling some spring cleaning and get organized (insert groan here).  There’s no need to attempt to do it all in one weekend, though.  Let’s break it down into smaller, more manageable, “groan-free” tasks.  After all, the dirt and clutter didn’t just show up in one weekend saying, “Hey, good luck taking care of this mess!”  The good news is that you don’t need luck when you have a plan.

YOUR 4-STEP PRE-PLAN FOR A CLEAN HOME

1. Grab a notepad and a pen (because ink will make your plan more real).  Designate one page for each room in your home.  Don’t forget to include garages, storage sheds, and basements.
2. Go into each room and make a task list.  Do you need to declutter?  Do you need to go through clothes and decide what to keep, donate, or sell?  Do you need to clean the windows?  Are there any repairs that need to be made?  Write all of these chores on each room’s page.
3. Note also the cleaning and/or repair supplies you’ll need for each room, so you can make sure you have them on hand when you’re ready to start.
4. Estimate the time you think it will take to complete the task and make a note of that as well.

THE EASIEST PLACE TO START IS WHERE?

Once your pre-plan is done, decide WHERE to start.  There are two philosophies here.  Some of you might agree that choosing the easiest, or smallest room to finish first is the best way to go, thus giving you the feeling that you’re progressing towards your goal.  But what if you do what Brian Tracey says, and “Eat That Frog?”  That is…choose the room that you dread cleaning the most and go ahead and knock that one out.  What a joy it will be when you handle the room that is so mountainous that you feel like you can now tackle the rest of the home with hardly any effort.  Sure you might need to spend two weekends on this first room, but after that, everything from here on out should be as smooth as freshly polished floors.

Using that same idea of prioritizing the rooms from the most dreaded to the least dreaded, rank your entire home so you have a plan of attack.  Start carving out time in your schedule to handle each room and get it on your calendar (again, use ink to make it real).  NOW…it’s time to dive in.  Let’s “Eat That Frog” and get started on that dreaded first room.

DECLUTTERING

We all do it.  We save belongings we think we might need one day, and those items pile up.  It’s time to separate everything into categories of Keep, Donate, and Sell, whether it be clothing, toys, books, or pots and pans.  If you’ve heard of Marie Kondo, then you already know about her KonMari Method™ of tidying up.  In this method, you only keep the items that “spark joy,” and then those items are given designated spaces.  For the pieces that are to be donated, they are donated “with gratitude.”  Marie’s order of tidying up involves tackling by category instead of by room. Whichever way you choose, the decluttering principles still apply.

“When you’re choosing what to keep, ask your heart; when you’re choosing where to store something, ask your house!”

– konmari.com, 2022

For more about Marie & the KonMari Method™, visit her website!

If you find you’re unable to do this decluttering thing alone, maybe it’s time to call in a professional. Lasting Order has a team of specialists that can help you go from overwhelmed to overjoyed! Contact Amy Payne and her team here or call them at 812-858-2457 for a free phone consultation.

CLEANING

The internet is packed with cleaning tips and hacks, including uses for coffee filters, dryer sheets, AND, believe it or not, white bread.  Here are a few of our favorites:

1. Clean glass and mirrors with a 50%/50% mixture of water & vinegar and unused, large coffee filters.  The vinegar is a great cleaning agent and the coffee filters are lint-free and sometimes less expensive than paper towels when purchased in bulk.  You can also use coffee filters to clean your TV, laptop, phone, and tablet screens (minus the liquid of course).
2. Clean shower heads with a combination of baking soda and vinegar.  Place the mixture in a plastic bag and wrap it around the showerhead submerging it in water and secure with a rubber band or a hair tie.
3. Remove the hard stains that can be found on faucets and steel using lemon and salt, sprinkling the salt around the area you want to clean and lightly scrubbing with lemon halves.  Rinse with warm water.
4. Use dryer sheets to clean baseboards, blinds, chandeliers, and other delicate light fixtures.
5. Remove greasy fingerprints from your walls with white bread.  Who knew there was a solid use for the heel?
6. Use ice cubes to clean your garbage disposal.  Follow up with a hot water rinse with fresh citrus peels.
7. Take care of that smell in the trash can with, guess what, bread and vinegar.  Pour the vinegar over a slice of bread and place the slice in the bottom of your trash can overnight.  Remove it the next morning and insert a fresh garbage bag.

EASY QUICK REPAIRS

Do you have nails to fill or squeaky doors, and floors? Check out these quick and easy tips:

1. Use crayons to fill in nail holes.  Choose a crayon that closely matches the color of your wall.  If you were looking for permission to do some adult coloring, here it is.
2. Fix a tear in your screens with clear nail polish.  It acts as an invisible glue.
3. Treat carpet dents with ice cubes.  If you’ve wanted to move some furniture around, but don’t want those indentation marks in your carpet, here’s the solution.
4. Use cooking spray to fix a squeaky door or cabinet.
5. Use baby powder to repair squeaky wood floors.  Sprinkle the powder on the cracks and use a makeup brush to fill them in.
6. Remove dents in wood floors by placing a damp cloth on the dent and running a hot iron over it at the highest setting, using a circular motion.

EASY ONGOING MAINTENANCE

Would you like to make spring cleaning less of a chore next year?  Here are some tips to make ongoing maintenance easier:

1. Keep cleaning supplies in rooms where it makes sense and store them in a decorative box.  Grab that bottle of dust polish and the microfiber rag (or your dryer sheets) that’s within arm’s reach and touch up furniture, doors, and baseboards in a snap.  Your supplies are easily accessible and the decorative storage is easy on the eyes!
2. If you’re short on space, store your cleaning supplies on a rolling cart that is easily moved from room to room.  If you have a second story, keep a rolling cart on each level.  Having your cleaning supplies close at hand will make cleaning and touching up a cinch!
3. Order your paper goods online and have them shipped directly to you in a large box.  Items like paper towels, tissues, napkins, toilet paper, diapers, etc. usually take up a lot of space in your shopping cart.  The next time you see something in your home you no longer need, toss it in the box to donate.  Once the box is full, put it in your car and drop it off at a donation center the next time you’re near one.  #cluttergone

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For all of the latest information on our local real estate market in Southwestern Indiana, you can always trust the professionals at F.C. Tucker Emge.  Our agents have superior training and resources at their disposal so they can better educate you about the road to homeownership.  Even if you are 6-12 months (or more!) out from making a change, there is a lot to learn about the home buying process, and our agents can help you learn what you need to know so that you can be confident in your decision and have a smooth experience when the time comes.  Let’s Talk!