As we find ourselves spending more time indoors due to shelter-in-place, we might find ourselves staring at that overstuffed closet, or considering finally cleaning out that “junk drawer.” Now is the perfect time to start spring cleaning, disinfecting, and organizing your home with the products you already have. Creating a clean and tidy home allows you to have a calm workspace and lowers the chances of clutter transferring to your mental space. Here are some tips to start spring cleaning in a manageable way:
1. Create a To-Do List
Organizing everything might seem extremely overwhelming and you might not know where to start. It’s best to start by creating a list of what you need to do; you can either work room by room or by category. Sparking Joy author Marie Kondo suggests that laying everything out by category and then discarding anything that “doesn’t spark joy.” Both strategies can help you discard or donate things you no longer need.
2. 15-minute clean up at the beginning and end of the day
The reason our space gets overwhelmingly disorganized is that clutter compounds each day it isn’t taken care of. To avoid this, we recommend a 15-minute clean to start and end your day. If your family or housemates are willing to help, you can split the work and try to get as much done in 15-minutes as you can. This likely will include putting things back to where they belong and wiping down surfaces. Doing this every day will make cleaning a lot more manageable and keeping up with this routine will make a “deep clean” a lot less daunting and more manageable.
3. Make your bed every morning
Though this task might take you 5 minutes, it’s a great way to start your day and a made bed instantly transforms your whole room! Start your morning off right by accomplishing one simple task. Navy Admiral William McRaven says, “if you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another… Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter.”
4. Upcycle old jars to house other dried goods or miscellaneous items around the house
Reusing old jars can reduce waste while displaying your things in a way that allows you to easily see what you have and what you don’t have. You can remove sticky labels from glass jars with these tips! Aside from using the jars to organize, you can also use old kombucha bottles to store surface cleaner; just pop a spray top on it or add a pump on top for hand or dish soap!
5. Find DIY disinfectants to use around the house if you’re running low on cleaning products
With shortages on cleaning supplies, it’s easy to use this excuse to avoid cleaning. However, there are plenty of DIY cleaning products that you can make with ingredients you likely have around the house already. Good Housekeeping provides a few recipes to make your own cleaning solutions at home. The CDC shared tips about how to properly clean and disinfect surfaces in your house and included an at-home bleach solution recipe to properly disinfect surfaces.
6. Make cleaning enjoyable and fun
Cleaning can often seem like a chore; however, with the right environment, it can be fun. We recommend putting on a TV show or listening to music to make cleaning a little more enjoyable. Spotify has plenty of cleaning playlists online or make your own! Turn up the volume and have a dance party while vacuuming your floors. Do you need to let off a little competitive steam? Turn cleaning into a game and race against the clock! Compete with housemates or family members by cleaning as much as possible in an allotted time, or turn on your favorite Netflix show and try to complete a task before the episode is over!
Spring cleaning can seem overwhelming at first, but with the right environment and mindset, it’ll go by quickly! We hope these tips can help you organize your home and therefore create a space that relaxes you. Happy cleaning!
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